How do I figure this out?

[simonmary]

I am a bit uncertain about this, so please, bear with me.

 

We are going on the Seabourn Pride over Christmas. One of my friends dives, and says that I must go diving (we will be at Grand Turks - and she says that is the best diving). I don't dive. I have snorkled twice in the distant past, but that is the extent of my experience.

 

Friend was talking about taking a "resort dive" where they teach you the basics and get you in the water once. That would probably fit the bill, but does the Pride do this?

 

Thanks!

[bruce-r]

It doesn't matter if the ship offers it as an excursion or not. The true is, most members of CruiseCritic usually avoid the ship's excursions if it is possible. Contact the individual dive shops and see what can be arranged.

 

There are 3 dive operators on Grand Turk:

 

http://www.oasisdivers.com/ is the dive shop that provides the cruise ship excursion dives. They use a large pontoon boat and take 24 divers at a time. They might also offer the Discover Scuba dive (also known as the Resort course).

 

When I was there in December, I went with Blue Water divers There was on 5 divers on our smaller boat. They actually turned away a 6th person who walked up. The diver were good. All the dive sites are quite close to shore, so the boat ride was short. I can't recommend any specific dive sites. Cost of the taxi to the dive shop was $5 each way. You can make online reservations with them and I recommend that you do if you plan on diving with them. They only provide water on the boat, so if you want anything else to drink or something to eat during the surface interval, plan on bringing it yourself.

 

The third dive shop on the island is http://www.seaeyediving.com/, but for some reason, they were not able to take my reservation. They did say they would be able to accommodate walk up customers, but when we arrived at their shop, it was locked up tight. I guess we were just too early. They seem to go out later in the morning. If you do go with them, verify the time you need to be at their shop.

 

In the end, I'd go with Blue Island again unless Sea Eye was able to make a reservation, then I might consider them. I would not go with the ship's more expensive excursion as I have an aversion to large groups of divers on one boat.

[mielyse]

The only recommendation that I can make because there is so much time between now and then is to take the time to get certified. It doesn't take long but you will learn what you really should know and become comfortable with doing it before jumping in the big pond.

 

Beware, if you do get certified, you are setting yourself up for a lifelong addiction. My wife and I cannot seem to plan a vacation that doesn't revolve around diving.

 

Don't say that I didn't warn you ;-)

[wnctarheel]

My wife and I went with http://www.seaeyediving.com/ and we really liked them. The only people on the boat was the dive master and us. The only problem we had with them was that nobody was at the shop when we got there. We walked across the street and the people there said that the lady would be back in about 30 min. . We waited and she did show up but it had us wondering if we had picked the right dive op or not.