Do I Scuba Dive in Belize or ?

[loose.money]

Do I Scuba Dive in Belize or ? My cruise will be on CCL in Oct. Belize will be the 3rd port of call. The 1st will be Grand Cayman the 2nd Cozumel. I have been diving in the Keys and the Bahamas. Which port will be a better place to dive? Thanks.

[ltbw038]

Grand Cayman!

[clackey]

Do I Scuba Dive in Belize or ? My cruise will be on CCL in Oct. Belize will be the 3rd port of call. The 1st will be Grand Cayman the 2nd Cozumel. I have been diving in the Keys and the Bahamas. Which port will be a better place to dive? Thanks.

All three are great for diving. We have snorkeled Coz and Belize and the water there is fantastic. Going to GC in Dec. From all of the reviews that I have seen I would probably dive the Caymans. That is "IF" the hurricanes will leave it alone this season.:mad: It is hard for us to make plans too far ahead after Katrina.

[jdbmga]

I would dive in Grand Cayman and/or Cozumel. We've been diving in all three locations and Belize is nice but diving with the ship is easiest in Belize and we try to avoid ship dives. We went to Key Largo b4 our cruise and my kids both preferred the diving in the Keys better when compared to Belize.

[Chosen One]

We have dived Cayman and Cozamel a couple times per. Cozamel's Santa Rosa wall is outstanding and has been a delight each time we went - bought the DVD last time and it is just gorgeous! Maybe we were post hurricane but found Cayman to be bland and over-rated on all three trips. We will dive Cozamel and Costa Maya this trip (next week :D) and skip Belize. Some friends of ours who dive without cruising tell us Belize has a "conservation park" that cruise lines are "encouraged" to use (to pay the park fees) and all you will see there is a lot of other divers :eek:

[CaribQween]

Do I Scuba Dive in Belize or ? My cruise will be on CCL in Oct. Belize will be the 3rd port of call. The 1st will be Grand Cayman the 2nd Cozumel. I have been diving in the Keys and the Bahamas. Which port will be a better place to dive? Thanks.

 

From what I've heard, Grand Cayman and Cozumel would be better, but Cozumel is drift diving because of the currents there. So that is something to consider or inquire about.

[williamsboyjohn]

The diving in Belize is awesome! I visited on the Carnival Glory about one month ago. Either dive there or Cozumel. Have fun!

[2112]

I have dove all three multiple times. I would pick (in order) Cozumel, then Grand Cayman and then Belize. Belize has some amazing diving, but you can't reach those amazing locations on a cruise ship day. Spend your day in Belize going to a Mayan ruin or going cave tubing instead.

[foxor]

What about snorkeling? I am going to Roatan and Belize in February. They are apparently both part of the same reef system so would it be better to go snorkeling in Roatan to free up time for other stuff in Belize? Is the snorkeling in Roatan comparable and/or better than Belize?

 

If so, I'm looking at booking a private tour in Roatan with Ocean Connections (anybody gone with them before?) and they will take us wherever we want to go. What sites do you recommend for best snorkeling, best wildlife, without thousands of cruise ship passengers sharing the reef?

 

All three of us are fairly experienced snorkelers/swimmers (even went to the Great Barrier Reef and snorkeled and dived...will be hard to top that!) so I'm hoping to do enough research that I get the best out of my cruise to this part of the world! So excited!!!

[girlpower]

I went on a 7 day in June and Roaton was one of the stops. We dove there and it was amazing. I have dived Keys, Bahamas, Costa Rica, and Roaton and it was the best. The corral was colorful, the fish were diverse, and the visability is the best I have seen. At one point I went down to 90 ft and didn't realize it because the colors were still so bright.

 

We did cave tubing. com. The caves flooded and so they gave us the option of going ATV' ing or refund our money. We chose to go with them and had a blast. The guides were great.

[ajgag57]

Hi all,

 

Nice thread. I will be visiting G.C., Belize, Cozumel and Costa Maya on the Liberty of the Seas sailing February 21, 2010. I asked about diving on that thread and someone (BarbJ52) told me about this thread.

 

I did my first two SCUBA dives in Grand Cayman as part of the general Scuba Diver certification on a cruise there last February. Water and diving was nice, and saw two sea turtles, but they were training dives, so probably not the best dive locations.

 

Now that I am fully open water certified, I hope to dive G.C. again. I was also planning one other dive day.

 

I was originally considering Belize because I heard great things about it (mostly from the local dive shops that take dedicated trips). But now I am reconsidering (Thanks 2112). I guess most of us forget to think about limited dive site accessibility due to limited cruise ship port time.

 

Sounds like Cozumel might be the new plan. Mayan ruins also sounds nice, but my wife (non-diver, for now) might even want to do the tubing.

[ajgag57]

One of our ports will be Costa Maya. Does anybody know about diving there?