angela12345 Posted November 15, 2017 #1 Share Posted November 15, 2017 I made a list of all the places in the Caribbean that Carnival is cruising through 2019. The lists are in clockwise order through the Caribbean, except western which is listed counter clockwise. I also made a Google MyMaps showing all of the ports on a map . . . https://drive.google.com/open?id=11tyXD9wyldqkSlV11G4IRCyMNxTdo6F1&usp=sharing In your opinion ... which of these places are the best, good, just ok, and which are not good for scuba diving ? (and also I guess which do you not have any knowledge about/never been : ) Feel free to expand beyond a 1 word answer if you want to go into more detail on certain areas, or if you want to share best excursion companies, best reef, best structure, best fish, best shallow, best beginner/advanced etc. If I have left off any locations, please feel free to add them. BAHAMAS Freeport, Bahamas Nassau, Bahamas Half Moon Cay, Bahamas Princess Cays, Bahamas ------------ EASTERN Grand Turk Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic (Amber Cove) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic La Romana, Dominican Republic San Juan, Puerto Rico St Thomas Tortola St Croix St Maarten St Kitts Antigua ------------- SOUTHERN Guadeloupe Dominica Martinique St Lucia Barbados Grenada Aruba Bonaire Curacao ------------- PANAMA Cartagena Panama Limon ------------- WESTERN Key West Havana, Cuba Progreso Yucatan, Mexico Cozumel, Mexico Costa Maya, Mexico Belize Isla Roatan, Honduras (Mahogany Bay) Grand Cayman Montego Bay, Jamaica Ocho Rios, Jamaica ------------- Bermuda (not Caribbean) I may do another thread later with best snorkeling or best walk off the beach snorkeling. You can feel free to include that here as well if you like, but primarily this thread is about scuba diving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coevan Posted November 15, 2017 #2 Share Posted November 15, 2017 great, Cayman Islands, Aruba, Bonaire, Cozumel, Tortola (Wreck of the Rhone), Grenada, and St.Lucia. no so good, Jamaica, there is no coral reef system. We were at Sandals and dove for free. We would not have paid after the first dive. I have been to many of the above islands, but have not dove. The Bahamas has some really good diving. We do not go to the Bahamas in the winter as it can be too cold to dive, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted November 15, 2017 #3 Share Posted November 15, 2017 I am not sure the best but Cozumel is a great port for scuba diving. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cayoooga Posted November 15, 2017 #4 Share Posted November 15, 2017 From my experience of visiting and being in the water of 23 of these locations. Also, taking into account The Belize Barrier Reef that is a 300-kilometer (190 mi) long section of the 900-kilometer (560 mi) Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is continuous from Cancún on the north-eastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula through the Riviera Maya and up to Honduras, making it the second largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. My first and favorite place is Honduras, then Belize, Costa Maya, Cozumel. Bonaire and Grand Cayman are also great. Have had good experiences in St Thomas, St Martin and Barbados, but the best has been Honduras,(Roatan, Cayos Cachinos, Utila. etc) and not from a cruise ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coevan Posted November 15, 2017 #5 Share Posted November 15, 2017 forgot about Belize, also great diving. I kept my sailboat in St.Martin for years. Where did you find good diving? We thought lack of dive sites was one of the only negatives about St.Martin, love the place. We wish them well on their rebuild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela12345 Posted November 15, 2017 Author #6 Share Posted November 15, 2017 From my experience of visiting and being in the water of 23 of these locations. (snip) WOW !! I'm super jealous. We've only been 13 of the locations (and only dove 1), but I'm on a mission to do all of them :cool:. Seems some of our cruises have been duplicating locations, so I'm paying a lot more attention to the ports now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmdiver Posted November 15, 2017 #7 Share Posted November 15, 2017 I like Roatan, Grand Cayman & Cozumel is ok. Hubby dove in Dominican Republic out of La Romana last year & swam with a huge manatee. It stayed with the divers for about 20 minutes. I snorkeled due to ear problems & snorkeling was good - just mad I missed the manatee. Hubby also dove Grand Turk & Aruba, but don't recall any specific comments about those sites. We dove in Nassau area and saw some cool wrecks, but it was raining, so visibility wasn't so great with it being rainy & cloudy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wo5m Posted November 15, 2017 #8 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Belize hands down is the best! I always book directly with Sea Sports Belize when I am down there and I wouldn't dive with anyone else in Belize. The only exception would be a live aboard trip(but that wouldn't involve a cruise so I don't think that counts). This past May I was on the Carnival Ecstasy and in Nassau I booked with Stewart's Cove. I've wanted to dive with them for a while, they are the operator who partners with The Discovery Channel for shark week. In Freeport I booked a Carnival Excursion they partnered with outfit called UNEXSO. Over the two days we saw about 20-30 sharks between the two ports. I highly recommend both. My only compliant was it was storming the day we were in Nassau so the light level was terrible for recording video(as you can see bellow) . Apparently I was the only diver on the Ecstasy for this trip. I've also dove Cozumel and while it was good and a fun after diving Belize the day before was a tough act to follow. Perhaps has we dove it first, I would have a different opinion. Here are two videos from the trip in May - This is the dive at Shark Junction in Freeport - This is the Sea Trader and Ray of Hope at In Nassau I'm going to be on the Carnival Freedom in January and I'm finely going to dive Cayman. This will be my third time on that itinerary, but the first time I've actually dove there. I'm scheduled to dive the USS Kittiwake and I'm really looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tootsiescurly Posted November 15, 2017 #9 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Cozumel and Grand Cayman are awesome places to dive. Western is probably your best bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glock19 Posted November 15, 2017 #10 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Belize and Cozumel. Grand Cayman was a disappointment for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Tillie Posted November 15, 2017 #11 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Of the places I have dove, here's my list from best to not so great. #1 Roatan #2 Grand Turk #3 Bonaire #4 Cozumel #5 St Kitts #6 Dominica #7 Belize I thought Belize was the worse by far. I kept hearing how great Belize diving was, but I was greatly disappointed. Dove twice there, once with Sea Sports and once with a Carnival excursion. I think you have to go further away from the port for better diving than it is possible on a cruise. Roatan was my favorite by a long ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikerjohn1 Posted November 15, 2017 #12 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Here is my 2 cents Great: Cozumel, GC, Turks Caicos, Roatan. Not that great: Key West, Nassau, La Romana, Half Moon Caye, Cancun Although in Cancun, I had 2 giant blank manta rays right above me, blocked out the sun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claymore2 Posted November 16, 2017 #13 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Cozumel, Dominica, Costa Maya, Roatan, Sint Maarten are all good from my experience Cozumel being the best. I was not impressed with Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire. This from a cruise ship which can be a very different experience than a vacation at a given location. Cruise ship dive operators tend not to give you the best diving and dives at a given port. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABQrobin Posted November 16, 2017 #14 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Ditto what others have said....all great diving. Cozumel, Roatan, Grand Cayman, Bonaire still hoping to dive Grand Turk in the near future as we have heard nothing but raves about it. Also heard St Kitts and Maarten are great but not sure about the 2 hurricane's damage to reefs. St Thomas the same. robin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinmike Posted November 16, 2017 #15 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Bonaire & Coz - doesn't get any better. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idlenote Posted November 22, 2017 #16 Share Posted November 22, 2017 If you're going to dive with the ship excursion you will be diving at the level of the poorest diver in the group. Cozumel two weeks ago 35 minutes a dive. Go with the private excursions and you're looking at 60 minutes easily and more chance of getting on the better reefs. Roatan and Bonaire are at the top of my list, with Belize somewhere near the top depending on where you go and who you go with. Cozumel and Grand Cayman are the same. Eastern Caribbean is so dependent on the weather, every time I go to Antigua seems like it's cloudy and cold. Barbados was the same with rough water. Key West isn't even on the list, never again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphy4 Posted November 25, 2017 #17 Share Posted November 25, 2017 This is great info! We are going to ports...Grand Turk, Amber Cove, Bonaire, Aruba & Curacao In feb 2018. So far we have plans to dive in Grand Turk and Bonaire. I don’t do ship excursions so if anyone has recommendations for dive shops i will be following along! I have names for Grand Turk and Bonaire so far! Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie S. Posted November 25, 2017 #18 Share Posted November 25, 2017 My favorites: Roatan, Costa Maya, Belize, Cozumel, Bonaire, St. Lucia, St. Thomas Never diving again: Aruba, St. Maarten Would dive again: Grand Turk, Grand Cayman, Curacao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uhfolks Posted February 8, 2018 #19 Share Posted February 8, 2018 This is great info! We are going to ports...Grand Turk, Amber Cove, Bonaire, Aruba & Curacao In feb 2018. So far we have plans to dive in Grand Turk and Bonaire. I don’t do ship excursions so if anyone has recommendations for dive shops i will be following along! I have names for Grand Turk and Bonaire so far! Sent from my iPhone using Forums Hey, I'd love some names for Grand Turk dive shops if you'd be willing to share :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphy4 Posted February 11, 2018 #20 Share Posted February 11, 2018 Hey, I'd love some names for Grand Turk dive shops if you'd be willing to share :D I found Blue Water Divers in Grand Turk. I can report back once we dive! Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmdiver Posted February 12, 2018 #21 Share Posted February 12, 2018 I think my hubby & his buddy went with Oasis Divers in Grand Turk. They are housed at Jack's Shack. They had booked the trip through the ship, but stayed on the dive boat to be dropped off with us ladies at Jack's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HillmoorPete Posted February 12, 2018 #22 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Ditto what others have said....all great diving.Cozumel, Roatan, Grand Cayman, Bonaire still hoping to dive Grand Turk in the near future as we have heard nothing but raves about it. Also heard St Kitts and Maarten are great but not sure about the 2 hurricane's damage to reefs. St Thomas the same. robin I dove St Kitts in Jan 2018 - there wasn't any damage to the reef there. St Kitts Dive Center was great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRUISENSNOOZE Posted February 14, 2018 #23 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Any dive is better, as long as it's done privately!!!! Never waste our money doing the cruise dives after the first time...shortest dive we have ever had. Divers who lied about their competence were very soon found out when sucking on nothing at 24 minutes!. We dove the Rhone at BVI a couple of years ago and got 85 minutes and air to spare. The DM said that morning they had done a 45 minute dive from the cruise ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphy4 Posted March 9, 2018 #24 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Hey, I'd love some names for Grand Turk dive shops if you'd be willing to share :D Blue Water Divers was wonderful!!!! they were ready for us when we got to the shop. There were 4 divers plus the dive master. we saw a shark, a HUGE green Turtle, a pod of 14 dolphins and whales breeching in the distance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astridwilson Posted August 4, 2018 #25 Share Posted August 4, 2018 The best I was ever on was my very first dive which was inPalm Beach Florida. The Goliath Grouperswere spawning in a small ship wreck and I have never again dove with suchamazing and big fish. Second best dive was Big Island of Hawaii: We dove the Manta Ray night dive. I must do for ALL divers. Next is Cozumel as the water color, clarity and coral are beautiful. Next is Bonaire. Love theability to shore dive on your own. Thisis listed as the number one shore dive destination in the world. Next is Little Cayman. Grouperswill follow you around. Very cool. Next is The Virgin Islands. Dove the Rhone while staying in British Virgin Gorda. The water is a little rougher and deeper bluein the Virgin Islands. Next is Cancun. Has thesame water color as Cozumel. Dove LaRomana in Dominican Republic. Was fun, diving was Good, Location is easy toget to and cheaper than most islands in the Caribbean. Jamaica at a Sandals Resort near Montego Bay. Not very good but it was included with theresort. Still bad diving is better thanNO diving. Next Month we are on a cruise and Plan to Dive, Curacao, Arubaand St Thomas. Next year we plan on St Lucia Diving. Snorkeling is VERY good there so I have toassume Diving will be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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