Diving in Caymen?
 

Hi, will be on a cruise and must decide between diving on Caymen or Cozumel. Which has better diving?

When faced with the same decision, I chose Cayman... it was beautiful. We dove a wreck in about 25 feet. Stingray City is also popular.

In Cozumel, I went to Xcaret, which I also enjoyed.

Have fun.

I've been to the Caymans several times and Cozumel once and while I would not go back to Cozumel, the reefs are excellent - lots of drift diving but the currents can be quite strong. I would definitely go with the Caymans - walls, swim-throughs and beautiful underwater scenery. Trinity Caverns is awesome! Try and get in a trip to Stingray City also if you have the time. Have a great trip!

My husband is the diver and when asked his thoughts having dived in both locations he said Cayman Islands hands down would get his vote.

I've never dove in Cozumel, but did for years in Cayman. You just can't have a bad dive in Cayman -- the wall, the reefs, stingray city, shore dives, it's got it all. Clarity can be up to 200' on good days. Professional outfitters, and on and on. Go for it!

My husband has gone diving in Cayman for the past 2 years and loves it. The reef is in much better shape in Cayman-Cozumel's reef is damaged from lack of protection.
Also, the reef in Cayman was not badly damaged by the hurricane last September.

Thanks everyone! Now, could you be so kind as to recommend a good dive shop?

I have been diving in both locations - I too prefer the walls in the Cayman islands, but you will spend twice as much to dive in Cayman versus Cozumel if that is any consideration. The Cayman dollar is much stronger than US currency so the conversion rate kills you.

Dive shops in Cayman that work with cruise ships are often Don Foster or Red Sail sports.

Neptunes or Eden Rock have the best service and lowest rates. There is a list of everything open at:

http://www.caymanactivityguide.com/projections.htm

I recommend Ocean Frontiers on the East End. Consistenly receive very high ratings. Also, the diving on the East End (where they are located) is best. My family just did 5 dives with them last week, and the diving was excellent. Their dive shop looked great. The other two on the East End weren't open yet.

There are a lot of professional outfitters who will take you diving from your cruiseship. Stick with the lowest ratio of divemasters:clients even if the price is higher. When it comes to scuba diving safety is 100% your most important consideration. Go with the most professional outfit you can find. I think the best are part of CIWOA (Cayman Islands Watersports operators assoc.) The best ones will all have similar rates. If you stay in GTown and shore dive, go to the dive site Devils Grotto over Eden rock -- cool swim thrus. You have to leave early in the am off the ship to get 2 dives in if you go on a boat. The operators normally will run a wall dive and then a shallow dive, and be back by 2pm. Have fun!

My husband dove with the ship excursion and it was a good he did. There were 7 other cruise ships in that day, and it was terribly slow getting off the ship. People with ship excursions were let off first. I don't know what would have happened had he booked with a operator from GC. So be careful. The problem is the pier access. With that many ships in port it is difficult getting people off of the little boats.