Scuba Review - Very Long!

[turtlegirl2]

Hi everyone, this is very long, so feel free to skim through it!

 

We took the 4-night Bahama cruise out of Miami on July 25 on Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas. Our ports of call were Nassau, Coco Cay (private island) and Key West.

 

On the Sunday before we left, we drove from Miami to Key Largo and dove with a small outfit there called Pleasure Divers. We had hoped to dive the Spiegel Grove wreck since it had been upended from Hurricane Dennis in early July but there were too many boats and the current was pretty heavy. This was our first dive in several months so we decided on diving a reef instead. We ended up at French Reef for both dives. The water temp was 86F and we wore 3mm shorties. The diving was so-so. The visability (50' or less) was nothing like Cozumel (where we normally dive) and we did not see as much sea life. I did see a golden moray eel out in the open and a cute hawksbill turtle that did not pay us much attention. When we dove the opposite end of the reef for dive two, the turtle was still out there hanging around. We are glad we went but also glad we did not book a week to dive the area. After that, we decided to make the drive to Key West on U.S. 1 since we had a full tank of gas in the rental car. That is a long drive!! We got back to Miami at 2 a.m. Late night!!

 

Next morning, we got up and headed over to the Port of Miami to get on our ship. The cruise itself was great -- I'll try and post some more about it on the RC board and talk about scuba here.

 

Nassau was our first stop and we had pre-booked a shark dive with Stuart Cove. We were picked up outside of the pier terminal and took the half hour ride to the dive shop. I have to say we were very impressed with Stuart Cove's outfit and had no idea how big a business it is. We had about 20 people on our bus and I think we were all doing different types of dives or snorkle trips. We rented full-length suits (required for the shark dive/feed) and got on the boat. There were 20 divers, the boat captain/shark feeder, a photographer and a videographer. One or two more helpers were on board. It was a nice-sized boat with a top deck so we had plenty of space and never felt crowded. We are used to small 6-pack boats so this was a nice change.

 

The Dives: Oh my Gosh!! I cannot tell you how awesome these dives were!! We did our giant stide into the 86F water and everyone met at a sandy area about 50' deep. We began seeing Caribbean Reef sharks just a few minutes into the dive and several joined us on our reef dive. The reef here isn't much to speak of either, but the sea life was much more impressive and included angelfish, giant groupers, barracuda, and, of course, the sharks! This dive lasted about 45 min. and almost everyone came up with plenty of air. It is true you don't get a lot of bottom time on these dives. There was no current and viz was a little better than Key Largo but still nowhere near Cozumel.

 

During our SI, most of us stood at the back of the boat and watched the sharks circling the boat at the surface. Can anyone say JAWS!?! :eek: That was a little unsettling to see! One of the dive staff climbed down the ladder and used the 'ladies room' with all the sharks around (and the divers too - talk about modesty :rolleyes: ) and the sharks did not pay her any attention so we thought maybe we'd survive after all ;)

 

The Feed: We went to the same sandy area at 50' to do the shark feed. We were all overweighted and told to keep our hands to our sides and not to touch the sharks! When we were all situated, the dive master/shark feeder descended with the fish heads and the action began! We had 12-14 sharks minimum all around us going after the food. It was simply amazing. The shark feeder moved around the semi-circle bringing the food and sharks close to everyone in the group so we got a close up view of the feeding. The current created by the sharks swimming around was enough to make you really use your muscles to keep steady (remember no hands!). There were two goliath groupers hanging around like dogs looking for scraps and lots of other tropical fish doing the same. It was by far one of the most exciting dives either of us have been on. It lasted about 40 minutes total; 30-35 for the dive and about 5 looking for shark teeth on the bottom. We did not find any :( .

 

Of course, they offer to sell everyone pictures and the video of the dives. I think everyone on the dive bought the DVD and some photos. For an extra $99 it was worth it to have the memories and share with our friends/family. They did not take Discover, so I paid cash, got a receipt and hoped they would mail everything like they said. We got it about a week after the dive and everything looks and works great.

 

Coco Cay: We decided to do the one-tank shore dive at Coco Cay because we knew it would be our last dive for a while. We had to be up early and took the first tender off the ship. There were about 12 of us on this dive. We geared up and swam out to a wooden platform where lifeguards watch snorkelers. My husband and I decided to conserve our energy and we grabbed onto a sled/strecher type basket hooked behind a waverunner and were 'driven' to the platform area. It was a different experience! From there, we descended to about 30' max and had a nice little swim. Saw a fair amount of juvenile tropicals and I saw my first frogfish! It was just luck that I caught sight of it. I also saw a juvenile golden moray eel that was very cute. There was no current, vis was 50' or so and the water was still 86F. We wore the 3mm shorties again. We did not sign up for this dive until we got on the ship because we did not know if it would be worth it. We are glad we did - it was a relaxing and easy dive, plus they had a great fresh water rinse area where we gave our gear a thorough washing. We left everything there to dry and spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach. What a life!!

 

Other items: We brought all of our own dive gear, except weights and full-length suits. It was a bit of work and our room on the ship was VERY small! We pretty much had to climb over our dive bags most of the week. We debated whether to take our stuff or not. It was worth the extra hassle to have equipment you are comfortable with.

 

Cruise vs. Land-Based Diving: This was our 2nd cruise but 1st time as 'diving' cruisers. We liked the chance to explore new dive sites and meet new dive operators. The food and entertainment were very good on the cruise, too. Everything worked out great on this trip and we have no regrets.

 

Overall, Cozumel is still our preferred dive vacation for the price, convenience and diving options, but we will look for other cruises with good dive options and will also consider a Bahama live-aboard in the future.

 

Thanks for reading. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

P.S. - I'm setting up a Webshots account and will post some pictures. I'll post the link when I'm done.

[bruce-r]

I don't have any questions, but I do want to thank you for taking the time to write about your experience. I'm glad you had a good time. I agree with you about Cozumel, but a cruise is a good compromise when traveling with non-divers.

[CaesarsNcruisin4me]

Thanks for the great review. On my cruise I will be travelling with my kids (12 and 15) who are also certified divers. They want to do alot of other activities at the other ports and we were trying to decide if the dive at Cococay was worth it. Your review has tipped the scale in favor of Cococay giving the kids the chance to do the ziplines, parasailing, turtle cove, and shopping in the other ports.

 

We have done lots of diving in Cozumel and agree with you about the great diving there. When we were there at Christimas we did a couple of night dives and it was great!

 

I look forward to seeing your pics of your dives. Thanks for your great input.

 

Sandie

[Jerry_G]

Your review brings back fond memories of the shark dive and Cozumel. I haven't dove cococay yet but expect to sometime in the future. Good Review