Cozumel or Grand Cayman for discover scuba

[soupercb]

Hi all,

 

My DH, DS, and DD have done two discover scubas in the past, once in St. Thomas and once in Tortola. On our upcoming cruise, we have stops in both Cayman and Cozumel and they want to do a discover scuba in one of those ports. Does anyone have any recommendations one way or the other for those two ports and any dive operators you would use?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cindy

[rsldonk]

Best recommendation because it sounds like they enjoy scuba is to get certified before they go. Talk to you local dive shop and see how much it is and if their previous discover dives count for anything. It's much better when you do not have someone holding your hand and don't have to waste time in the classroom session while you are on vacation.

 

Diving in both places are great, so either way, you would not be missing anything at all.

[soupercb]

Best recommendation because it sounds like they enjoy scuba is to get certified before they go. Talk to you local dive shop and see how much it is and if their previous discover dives count for anything. It's much better when you do not have someone holding your hand and don't have to waste time in the classroom session while you are on vacation.

 

Diving in both places are great, so either way, you would not be missing anything at all.

 

they do enjoy it alot and I have tried to convince them to get certified, however they don't feel it is worth the cost for one dive a year. If we ever go stay at one of these places, then they would probably get certified so they could go a couple of times during the week, but they don't want to spend the approximately $900 it would take for them to get certified.

 

But thanks for the help.

[rsldonk]

$900 seems a bit steep to get an open water certification. Most PADI dive shops run around $300 pp + or - a little bit. If the local dive shop that does the certification is trying to charge that much or is trying to require that they buy a lot of gear up front, then you should look somewhere else.

[soupercb]

$900 seems a bit steep to get an open water certification. Most PADI dive shops run around $300 pp + or - a little bit. If the local dive shop that does the certification is trying to charge that much or is trying to require that they buy a lot of gear up front, then you should look somewhere else.

 

OH NO...I meant for the three of them...right that would be exorbitant. Yes, they want around 300 pp, so for the three of them 900.

[AsksQuestions]

I'm getting certified right now, the instructor is a professor at Baylor U and does the lessons for free. I have to pay about $60 for dive tables and log book and use of pool, plus cost of checkout dives. The prof is really good too, he has certified like 2000 people and is very experienced. Anyway, he said both Grand Cayman and Cozumel are nice, but that Grand Cayman was a little more spectacular.

[AsksQuestions]

I know that an accelerated course is convenient, but with so many dangerous factors, do you really want to do that?

[tximprov]

I have dove in both locations as a certified diver. I enjoyed both. Cozumel had so much more marine life. However you are drift diving there. So its kind of like driving past something, you better look or your going to miss it. The reefs in cozumel are some of the best around. Grand caymen I thought was very nice and relaxing. I saw a variety of marine life just not alot of it. The reefs were damaged alot but still nice. I would dive in both locations but if I went on a dive trip soley, I would go to cozumel.

[soupercb]

I have dove in both locations as a certified diver. I enjoyed both. Cozumel had so much more marine life. However you are drift diving there. So its kind of like driving past something, you better look or your going to miss it. The reefs in cozumel are some of the best around. Grand caymen I thought was very nice and relaxing. I saw a variety of marine life just not alot of it. The reefs were damaged alot but still nice. I would dive in both locations but if I went on a dive trip soley, I would go to cozumel.

 

Thank you for the input. Any good dive operator suggestions?

[Middleager]

There are 130+ dive ops in Coz, most are good ops. There are 20+ dive ops in G Cayman, mostly good. The challenge is to find one that has suitable schedule to your ship's port time.

 

Coz with drift diving, is nice for more experienced divers. For beginners, boat diving and drifting, adds some more complexity. Maybe it'll be fine, but something to think about.

 

The Eden Rock at Cayman, is a few hundred yards south of the cruise terminal. You can hire a guide, for nice shallow shore diving. When I was at Cayman, I did two morning boat dives on the west side, then a nice afternoon 1hr shallow diving at Eden Rock.

 

It's till good to get certified. Discovery scuba costs more than certified dives, and each time you need to take the lesson, and only one tank dive in very shallow waters. By becoming certified, you can do a 2-tank boat dive for less money, and get to see way more. After getting certified, they might enjoy diving so much that they do it more than once a year.