Diving at Grand Cayman

[Lakefamily]

We are sailing on RC to Grand Cayman in March and am asking for suggestions on diving here. Can you tell me what company, approx prices and i believe RC has Ocean Adventure Camp for kids while docked--is this certain?

 

Thank you for your time with this! This is our second cruise so still a bit inexperienced.

[Capt_BJ]

let me try to be soft here . . .

 

I recognize you are new to the site .. & Cruising

 

but it certainly appears you know how to use the web . . .

 

There are something over 1 million posts on this site. Is it possible someone asked about diving in Cayman?

 

as a newbie may I suggest two things for you to investigate?

 

#1 - READ - even the last two weeks posts in any thread you might be interested in . . . you might find your answer

 

#2 - SEARCH .... there is a VERY ROBUST search function here (when it works but THAT'S another story)

 

But dismounting the soapbox....

 

what kind of diving do you want (or are qualified) to do. Many discussions here are the pro><con of shore diving vs boat.

 

Do you want the wall?

 

The best critters?

 

Least expensive?

 

now we're into diver questions and HEY there is a snorkel and scuba section.....

 

Again, my intention is NOT to slam you .... this is a place where you can get GREAT info but those of us that spend time writing the answers appreciate when an OP LOOKS before they ask.....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1073298

 

NOW THE SHORT ANSWER

 

IF you want to coordinate child care with ur dive I'd stick to the ship's excursions . . . .

[bruce-r]

Also look in the Scuba/Snorkel section -----> http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40

[Lakefamily]

Wow, not expecting this response. You are correct, new to the site and did not realize there was a dive section. Maybe i will stick to search on my own rather than put it out there and ask. I apologize and yes, thank you for your critique.

This will be our second cruise and am inexperienced to cruise critic and the whole cruising in general. At the same time not the most computer savvy person. But i am able to maneuver to read your reply...thanks again. I think i am more discouraged now than when i began.

Many sites i have gone to for Grand Cayman are down so thought i would ask for a referral. Actually more were not working than were working.

I have been diving for severl years but i would not classify myself as a very experienced diver. I just enjoy it when i have the opportunity. Living in AZ not many opportunities in the desert!

[bruce-r]

I think i am more discouraged now than when i began.

Many sites i have gone to for Grand Cayman are down so thought i would ask for a referral.

Here are my 2 choices:

 

First choice would be a boat dive and I'd definitely use http://www.neptunesdivers.com again. Tell Casey that Bruce sent you.

 

Second choice would be a shore dive at http://www.sunsethouse.com It is a short taxi ride from where the ship tenders dock. If you don't have a buddy, you'll need to hire a guide as solo diving isn't encouraged in GCM (Unlike California or the Pacific Northwest where solo diving is fairly common).

[bookbabe]

Personally, if you're not a very experienced diver, and you don't have a dive buddy to go with, I'd just book the ship's dive excursion. It's a little more expensive, but it's completely effortless, since they do all the work of finding a company, finding a good spot to dive and even pairing you up with another passenger so you have someone to dive with.

 

There's no "bad" diving in Cayman, so wherever they take you you're bound to have a good time. And, most of the contracted operators are pretty good, and the difference between them and the privately-booked ones is minimal (at least as far as my DH has been able to tell).

[CaribQween]

We are sailing on RC to Grand Cayman in March and am asking for suggestions on diving here. Can you tell me what company, approx prices and i believe RC has Ocean Adventure Camp for kids while docked--is this certain?

 

Thank you for your time with this! This is our second cruise so still a bit inexperienced.

 

 

 

Lakefamily, first of all, let me apologize for the treatment you got. You shouldn't have to expect that kind of response and for the most part, you won't get that kind of response here. I got the same treatment from him previously when I asked a question that he thought had been answered in a past post. It's just rude and uncalled for. The whole idea of this site is so people with experience can share their knowledge with people looking for info. And part of that is so that people don't have to spend an enormous amount of time researching a subject. The more time you spend on here, the more you'll see that the same questions are asked over and over. And just because the question has been answered, it doesn't mean that it is the only answer or the right answer. In addition, there is only so much time that a person can be expected to spend researching a topic before they're just going to ask their question. And when you're new to the site, it's going to take more time for you to learn how to find certain things. I just don't understand why someone needs to spend so much time being offensive to someone that is simply asking a question just like everyone else. Please, don't let him scare you off. Stay and chat with those of us that would be more than happy to spend time sharing info with you. You're more than welcome to ask me anything you want and I'll try to answer it or at least turn you in the right direction.

 

My husband and I are extremely new to diving (started in September) and our cruise in February will be our second one. Even though we have our Advanced Open Water certification, we have only been diving in quarries here in the midwest up to this point. Before moving to Indianapolis, I lived in Tucson for 17 years, so I understand about you not exactly having a wide variety of diving options where you are. We will be diving 3 out of the 4 ports on our cruise (Grand Cayman, Belize, and Roatan) and we've done a lot of research in this area. The Scuba and Snorkeling board is a really good source of inforomation, also you can go to the Ports of Call boards and go into the Cayman Islands board. There are also boards for each of the cruiselines so possibly the Royal Caribbean board will allow you to get some info on the child care facility on the ship. Of course, you can also go to the Roll Call for your cruise to possibly find other divers should you be in need of a dive buddy for any of your dives.

 

For Grand Cayman, we found there are a lot of different types of diving available. There is shore diving which you can do on your own or you can hire a guide. We checked around on the internet and found shore-diving maps that can be used if you decide to go it alone. They showed different places where there is easy access for shore diving as well as directions from different starting points out to different areas. Eden Rock is a pretty popular area for shore-diving and we found that the Eden Rock Diving Center is one place that offers guides. We emailed them and they provided some info showing that for a one-tank dive it is approximately $45 if you have your own equipment (except tanks and weights) or $65 if you don't. For a two-tank dive, it is approximately $85 if you have your own equipment or $100 if you don't. We don't really have any other info regarding them.

 

Some of the dive site options in Grand Cayman consist of wall dives, barrier reef dives and/or wreck dives. After considering everything, we actually decided to go with boat diving. There is the North Wall which seems to be recommended for more experienced divers (pretty much a 90 degree wall that drops off). The West Wall is supposedly not so advanced because it is more of a gradual drop of 40 degrees or so. We decided that the West Wall was probably more our level, so we started looking for dive ops that would offer a West Wall dive and a reef or wreck dive combo. We found a lot of recommendations for Neptune's Divers in Grand Cayman as Bruce-r recommended to you in an earlier post. You can find their website at www.neptunesdivers.com (make sure you put the s on neptunes or you'll get a different site). If you click on the "About Us" bubble, you'll get a little info on all of their personnel. When I sent an email to Casey, she sent back the following info:

 

"Our 9 AM 2 tank trip consists of a 100ft. max wall dive followed by a 50 ft. max reef or wreck dive on either the West, North or South Side of the island depending on water and weather conditions for that day. “Mother Nature” rules.

We would ask you to meet us at 8:30-8:45 AM at the boat on Public Beach/Sea Grape Beach on 7 Mile Beach which is a short 5- 10 minute cab ride from your cruise ship’s dock. If you get on the first tender to shore you'll have plenty of time to get to us. I would pick you up, but downtown Georgetown is a madhouse and I’d never be able to find you. We pull our boat right up to the beach... you can't miss us and I would be looking for you. There are tons of cabbies waiting at the dock and they all know where Sea Grape/Public Beach is. We would be back in by no later than 12:00 and there are tons of taxis and buses waiting at Public Beach to take you back to your ship.

 

The cost for your dive trip would be $100 US PP. BC/reg rental is $30 US PP. Mask and fins are $10 US for the set. Tanks and weights are included.

You will find all of our info including a secure reservations page on our web site to safely leave your credit card info to reserve your spaces. You will not be charged anything if the ships do not dock because of weather, etc. Your space will not be held unless you fill out this form with the credit card info. We only take out 8 divers max per trip so it is highly recommended that you pre book very soon to save your spaces. I will send back a prompt email confirmation with additional information to print out to take with you so that you have the info handy including our phone number, where to catch the bus, where to meet us and when, etc. Cancellation policy: We have a 24 hour cancellation policy. Of course, this does not pertain if your ship does not dock because of bad weather. If your ship does dock and you do not show, you will be charged. There is email capability and "ship to shore" phone on board your ship if you need to contact me. Or you can call me at a previous port of call."

 

One of the things that attracted me right up front was that they take out a maximum of 8 divers at a time. Also, because I didn't want to let our lack of experience be something that would affect other divers, after booking with them, I sent an email to Casey telling her about our experience (or lack thereof). She sent back an email saying thank you for doing that and there was no need to worry because the divemasters are there to assist the divers as well as to point out things that new divers might miss.

 

Something else to keep in mind is that boat time could be different from shore time of the port. So, if you book an excursion through an independent operator, you need to know what time that is compared to boat time. Some cruiselines always stay on the time of the home port. Then again, some cruiselines change the time of the ship to match the time of each port. So it is important to know what your cruiseline (and ship) does so that you don't run into any problems.

 

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. If you need info on any of the other ports, possibly I'll have some info that could help you out also. Don't be discouraged. Most of us are more than happy to help.

[Friscorays]

CaribQween,

 

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