Dive reports: Semana, Aruba, Curaco, Belieze, Cozumel - Bit of a long post

[redlef]

Just got back from the Norwegian Jewel trip that visited Semana, Aruba, Curaco, Belieze and Cozumel. Here's a few opinions and experiences for anyone interested. Note: I've got 250 logged dives in the cold, dark Northeast Atlantic (New Jersey). I'm a dry suit diver, so this was my first real experience in tropical diving.

 

Oct 31, 2008 Samana, Dominican Republic:

 

Ship excursion. $99, 2 tanks, all gear included. Tender port. The dive shop picked us up at the cruise ship in their too small boat. Myself, Stanley and Dave L. had our own gear. Most of the other divers just brought masks & snorkels, or nothing at all. It wasn't sunny and I dove without a shirt.

 

We descended on a line to a block of concrete and gathered there. There were 8 divers. A few Moray's and a sea star were living there, and the bottom was 9ft, sandy with eel grass. No organized buddying, we followed the dive guide as a group, a second guide in the rear keeping count of the divers. The leader pulled a float to mark our position above.

 

We swam over a sandy area that had a few corals interspersed. The water was an area where the bay and ocean meet, and it looked very syrupy, shimmering, sort of like the mirage vibrations you see over the highway when it's very sunny.

 

Eventually we reached the wall, where we descended to about 60 feet. The water had a bit of sediment in it from the currents bringing in nutrients.

 

Several of the divers had problems with their awareness of the area and their buoyancy. I was kicked in the head once by someone who kind of descended from above who didn't bother or couldn't see that I was beneath him. Two or three times I was collided from the side by someone swimming laterally across my path and not looking where they were going. After the second time I was hit, I just swam a bit to the side and a few feet shallower to avoid the other divers. I ended up parallel to the dive guide, but about 20 feet to the side where I wouldn't miss anything he stopped to show, but I avoided the other divers.

 

One of the less experienced divers spent half the dive bouncing up and down off the bottom, smashing whatever was beneath him, including some staghorn corals, and churning up a lot of sand and silt. I mentioned to him afterward's that he should put a little air in his BC, and he said he did and kept asking about what kind of equipment he should buy. I told him he needed to dive more often and see what other divers buy and ask them about their preferences and he'd know what to get. Than he went on about his sailboat, his 6mm wetsuit for windsurfing in the winter, his gas powered speargun, etc. A tech toy diver. Oh well - if he's really got the diving bug, he'll eventually learn. Or kill himself trying.

 

The dive ended up in front of "the aquarium," a large, 200 ft square penned in section with two 8 foot nurse sharks, 2 spotted eagle rays with a wingspan of 5 feet, and an enormous puffer fish, about 2 feet long. (Underwater magnification not included.) It was cool seeing them at first glance, but the more I thought about it, the less I liked it. This is their ocean and home, we shouldn't pen them up like that to give tourists a cheap thrill. TBT: 50 mins. water: 82 degrees. air remaining: 900 lbs.

 

At the boat, the crew took our weights, BC/Tanks and fins so we could walk up a standard ladder. I stayed in the water and snorkeled around a few minutes while all the other divers got settled down on the boat.

 

They had already hooked up my BC to a tank. I checked the tank and the air was turned on. I tried to turn the valve all the way open, but it appeared the knob was stripped so I left it alone and made a mental note to check it later. I ate an apple and drank a cup of water. Suddenly, we were at the next dive site and divers were hitting the water. Surface interval was only about 40 mins.

 

Dive 2: Wreck of the Samana Ferry

As soon as I descended, I heard hissing. There were no leaks on my regs, but I remembered that I was going to check the tank, which I had forgotten to do, and I swam back to the boat and asked the back dive guide to check it for me. He said there was a little air escaping from the first stage O-Ring and would be alright. Note to self: you know better. Don't let anyone set up my tank for me again.

 

We descended 45 feet to the ferry wreck and I kept a very close eye on my air the entire dive.

 

The wreck was covered with coral and teeming with brightly colored fish. The ship was rusted a bright orange in many places and even though it was cloudy, there was quite a bit of color evident. Lots of garbage was on the sea bottom, especially plastic bottles. Those were from careless boaters and fishermen. Shame.

 

The leader swam under some metal plates and I followed him. Sort of an "open" overhead environment. When he did the same on the other side of the wreck, several other divers followed and there was so much silt kicked up, I didn't bother. I just watched their bubbles and followed from outside the wreck. I picked up a dead sand dollar and brushed off the sediment until it was bright white, and was going to bring it up, but decided against it and laid it in the sand. A few minutes later, I saw a pair of divers excitedly passing it back and forth, amazed at their discovery.

 

At the boat, there was a mad rush for the ladder, and I stayed away while everyone else knocked each other over trying to get up. They took my BC and I just floated there for about 5 minutes. With my big fins, it's almost no effort at all to tread water. bottom time: 50 mins. Air in tank: 600 lbs. My guess is that I leaked close to 300 pounds.

 

The dives were fun, but not exhilarating or exciting. I love being in the water and that's the bottom line on how I want to spend my time. But a sunken ferry boat is not the same as a real shipwreck.

 

Final note: All rental gauges were in bars, not PSI. It was a good idea to bring my own, it would have been a real pain to have to swim around and try to figure out what was in my tank.

 

November 2 Aruba.

 

Ocean calm as a lake. The ship excursion was for one dive. I saw another diver at the beach who called up the dive shop in Aruba directly and booked a three dive trip for the day, and he ended up at the same dive shop with us. After we got back from our dive, I went to the shop and booked for their afternoon trip.

 

Dive 1: Antilla wreck.

The dive was on a 400 foot long ship wreck. It was a really great swim, water is 85 degrees, clear, no waves. Tons of brightly colored fish, sponges, corals. 48 mins bottom time. Pressure in: 3100 Out: 600

 

I had 2 hrs until the afternoon trip, so I went snorkeling on my own on a shallow reef a couple hundred feet off the beach. It was okay, lots of little colored fish seemed to follow me around, I guess waiting for a handout. An octopus was living there, but I never would of seem him except than when I swam by he moved to hide himself. If he had stayed in place, I wouldn't have seen him at all.

 

Dive 2: met up with Stan from the cruise. I had paid $99 for 1 tank through the ship, and the dive shop charged me $55 for one tank. Damn, Aruba is expensive. He did 3 tanks directly through the dive shop for $140.

 

Anyhow, the same dive site, the Antilla. I could probably do this wreck a few more times and it would still look different. Bottom time: 55 minutes. Pressure in: 3100. Out: 800

 

One of the mates from the dive shop drove us back to the cruise ship. He also drove his family, so it was me, two other divers, the driver, his wife and 3 little kids. We gave him a few bucks for the effort.

 

November 3. Curaco

Beach dives with "The Dive Bus," which I learned about from this message board. Thanks for the info.

 

Got off the ship at 8:15 and met 4 other divers from the ship that I told about "The Dive Bus." We grabbed a minivan/taxi who took us there for $5 each. Not bad, being able to share the ride like that.

 

The "Dive Bus" is a counter on the patio of a small un-fancy restaurant, at the a resort area known as Pierbaai Beach. It doesn't look like much, but the people who own it are wonderful people. I believe they're from England, or at least the owner, Mark, was. The dive guide, Crowley, might have been English or Australian, I'm not sure.

 

There is a small lagoon behind the Dive Bus, surrounded by a man-made jetty. The jetty is pretty old and constructed of natural rocks, concrete rubble, and a concrete poured walking path on top.

 

Dive 1: You just walk into the lagoon, wade out a few feet and slip your fins on. When everyone was ready, we descended to 3 meters and followed the guide out into the Caribbean. He took us to a shallow reef, about 55 feet max depth. It was very colorful and I enjoyed just looking around. I buddied up with Stanley, and he used me as an ugly model for some of his photos. I just calmly floated around and watched him take his pictures, sinking down to the bottom occasionally when a patch of sand appeared that I could lie on to look under the coral or inside the nooks and crannies. Saw this tiny, almost translucent shrimp on a pink anemone, and got Stanley's attention, but his camera kept focusing on the anemone instead of the shrimp. Not a lot you can do about it with a point & click digital camera.

 

We ended our dive in a 15 foot deep section of the reef, which did double duty as our safety stop. I found an empty beer bottle that I brought up to throw away, as a couple of other divers also brought up trash.

 

900 lbs air left in tank. bottom time 55 mins. Water temp: 84.

 

Dive 2: We swam at 15 feet around the jetty, at a heading of 30 degrees east, over some lightly coraled area, for about 200 feet until we came upon a long steel girder. The dive guide changed direction heading into deeper water, and more debris became visible. There was truck, automobile and construction debris, encrusted with corals, sponges and of course lots of fish. As per our plan, The others divers stayed with the guide at 60 feet due to their Basic OW certification. Stanley went down to 130 feet to take photos, and I hung above him at 95-100 feet so I could keep an eye on both Stanley and the dive group. I told him I would go down if there was anything worth eating up my air supply on, but construction debris doesn't thrill me. I've seen enough of it in NJ. I did take a photo of Stanley hovering in front of an upside down truck; the camera wouldn't wind but I did hear the shutter click. Hopefully I got the photo. That's what you get for using a 50 foot disposable camera at 100 feet.

 

I kept ascending in 5 foot increments, because my bottom time at that depth was elapsing and I wanted to have the bottom time available to me in case I had to go down to help Stanley. I finally hovered at 80 feet while he finished his picture taking.

 

We swam back to the shore, spending the next 20 minutes exploring the shallow portion of the reef.

 

600 psi left in tank. TBT: 50 mins.

 

$55 for two hours of guided diving is the cheapest I've seen, although Mark told me we could just rent tanks & weights for $10 if we know where we're going. That's what Stanley told me he tries to do when he goes diving in the Islands. I'll have to remember that for next time.

 

They had a fresh water rinse tank, and I washed all my gear at the Dive Bus, and took a shower, so when I got back to the cruise ship, I just put everything on the balcony to dry. Doesn't get much easier than that.

 

November 6 Dive Report Belieze

 

Two dives in Belieze on the Turneffe Atoll. We were picked up at the cruise ship by the dive operator's tender, Peter Hughes Belieze, which took us to their dive shop on the Turneffe Atoll so the other divers could rent gear. There were these cool mangrove swamps all around the shop, which was a series of small buildings on a very low island.

 

The first dive was on a reef that they called Aldo's Anchor. The water conditions were very clear. Visibility was at least 75 feet. We swam along a reef and the guide pointed out all the local inhabitants, such as eagle rays, eels, lobsters and a toadfish. Air in: 2800. Out: 900

 

Dive two: Creekozeen. another clear reef with lots of fish. 2900 In. 700 Out.

 

Getting a little tired of looking at fish. At least in NJ, when I dive I can kill something and eat it!

 

November 7 Cozumel

Ship's stop in Roatan canceled due to riots, but NCL got us a dock space in Cozumel, which all the other divers were very excited about.

 

Cozumel was completely different than the other islands we dove at. First of all, it was very Mexican, but I mean that as a positive. You didn't feel like you were in Miami, which is what it felt like when in Aruba or Curaco. The buildings, architecture and people are all very friendly. Walking along the street, the shopkeepers stand on the sidewalk and are very friendly, and constantly trying to sell you something. They're almost like carnival squawkers. $1 beers and Cuban cigars!

 

The cruise ship didn't have a dive excursion set up, but Stanley was familiar with Cozumel and suggested a dive operator about 10 minutes from the pier. The cab was only $6, the first indication that we finally found somewhere where the American dollar could buy something.

 

The dive operator was "Papa Hogs" dive shop. They charged us $65 for two boat dives. He had a boat going out with only 2 divers on it, and since we were four, he was happy to have enough divers to make his charter profitable.

 

The dive shop was excellent. When they told us where they were going, Stan said those sites were boring and asked for "Columbia Deep." None of the other divers objected to the site, and the shop said "Sure, whatever you want."

 

The ride out was very bumpy but fast, and with that cool air blasting my face, it really woke me up and cleared my head. I felt fine within a few minutes.

 

The crew started setting up our gear for us, but I told them I wanted to do it myself. Stan did the same.

 

Dive 1: "Columbia Deep." Awesome is the only word I can think up that describes it. We swam along these huge coral pinnacles, which look like small mountains totally enveloped with colorful sponges and corals. We swam through breaks in the mountains. It reminded me of the land speeder races in Star Wars. All of Cozumel is a "drift dive," which means you jump off the boat into the water and the current pulls you. In other words, no work swimming. The visibility was over 100 feet.

 

I was swimming out of a short "through-way" which was kind of like a short cave, going from one side of this coral mountain to the other. When I came out, I saw a motion to my left side and this huge turtle was on the bottom about 10 feet away watching me. I'd guess his shell was about 4 feet across.

 

Swimming further along, we saw more turtles, large grouper and a nurse shark sleeping on the bottom. We slowly ascended, completing our dive in 15 feet of water (which was about 90 feet deep), watching the reefs drift under us as we approached the boat. In air: 3100 lb Out: 800 feet.

 

This is the best dive I have ever been on, anywhere. The only thing nearly as cool was the Kelp forest in Catalina.

 

Dive two: Delia (yes, that's the name of the dive site). Pretty deep for a second dive. Saw lots of fish & turtles. A nurse shark was swimming along the periphery of our group, and two barracudas joined in to check us out. During our safety hang, a turtle showed up and joined us. Sort of. Air 3000 in, 600 out.

 

We decided to stay for a 3rd boat dive, since they only charged us another $22. Grabbed some lunch and were back out to the boat.

 

Dive three: Los Palmos

More fish. Boat operator screwed up and dropped us about 100 feet down-current from the reef on a sandy bottom. I wasted almost 500 lbs of air swimming across the current to the reef.

 

This was an unremarkable dive site, lots of fish & coral. Max depth was 80 feet, but I did most of my dive at about 60. Getting too old to suck up all that Nitrogen. Did an extra long safety stop, about 6 minutes; doesn't hurt to be safe. Air in: 3000. Out: 500

 

My final impressions of Caribbean diving is: It doesn't suck. I still like my NJ diving, collecting lobsters, scallops, spearfishing; and digging around in old uncharted and unknown wrecks, but there's definitely something to be said about diving in a dive skin instead of a dry suit with thermal underwear. I can't wait to get back to the Caribbean and do some more.

[w&k]

Thanks so much for posting your experience.

 

We're heading back down to the south end in February, and can't wait to see Suzy and Mark at The Dive Bus. By the way, both of them are British.

 

Wendy

 

dive pix

http://community.webshots.com/user/wendyandkeith

 

next up

http://www.freewebs.com/grandprincess-02-27-09

[TreeCity]

Do you remember the name of the dive shop in Aruba? would you go back and dive with them again?:confused:

[redlef]

Do you remember the name of the dive shop in Aruba? would you go back and dive with them again?:confused:

 

It was Unique sports of Aruba, they are right next to the Westin Hotel, and yes, I'd dive with them again. They were very accommodating and the boat was comfortable. From what I could see watching the other divers, their rental gear looked very well kept too.

[NYHartChapp]

Great review. Loved all the details. We're going in March with Samana as the only common dive site with your trip. Can't wait someday to get to Cozumel.

[vplsh]

My husband is diving with Papa Hogs in December. Glad to hear you liked them. Would you recommend his asking to dive at the same places you did, or go with their choices? He's dived only a couple of times after his certification, which he got in NJ. We're in Roxbury. He got certified in Rockaway.

[redlef]

My husband is diving with Papa Hogs in December. Glad to hear you liked them. Would you recommend his asking to dive at the same places you did, or go with their choices? He's dived only a couple of times after his certification, which he got in NJ. We're in Roxbury. He got certified in Rockaway.

 

It was my first trip to Cozumel, so I just went with the crowd. Columbia Deep was awesome, I'd love to do it again and next time I'm in Cozumel, I'm going to request it. I think one of the considerations on diving a 100 ft dive is the experience of the divers on the boat. If there are a couple of resort course divers, they won't take you to that site. Also, is your husband comfortable at that depth? He may want to get a little more bottom time on shallower dive sites first, but that's his call.

 

Lots of time, wind and sea conditions dictate where you dive. There are so many sites in Cozumel, I'm sure your husband won't be dissapointed regardless of where he goes.