Scuba diving Belize vs. Cayman vs. Cozumel

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SHANNON & CATHY

Guest
Cathy and I are planning on getting our c-cards a few months before our next cruise. We want to do one (maybe two dives) can anyone offer advice on where to do our dives...I've heard good things about each location. This will be among our first dives and I'm not sure about how strong the currents in Cozumel are (I've heard it's mostly drift diving there)...I've also herad Belize has some pristene reefs...and then there's Cayman's reputation for world class diving.....HELP!!!!!!! I can't decide!!!!!!!!

Thanks!
Shannon
 
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BurBunny

Guest
Shannon,

You can't go wrong in any of those three locations. If I were to choose one and only one for new divers, I'd probably select Grand Cayman. While drift diving is actually quite relaxing, if your buoyancy skills are still developing, it can be a bit disconcerting. The dive masters do take care of you, but part of the key to developing skills is to not do more than you're comfortable with too soon. Diving with the ship's operator here while good, isn't the best there is to offer.

Belize is good, but the reason Grand Cayman gets my nod is that the dive operators there are extremely professional, high quality and experienced. I'm sure the Belize operators are as well, but I don't have the first-hand knowledge of them like I do of GC's. You will have two wonderful dives in GC without question. Make sure you let the DMs know you're fairly new divers, and they'll take good care of you.

If you want a recommendation for dive shops in Cozumel who will take care of you as novices, let me know. They'll introduce you to drift diving in a small group and ensure you're comfortable. In Belize, I'd absolutely use the cruise excursion, as the logistics to do otherwise have you spending too much time going back and forth to shore - not fun.

Holler if you have other questions!
 
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mindy

Guest
My husband dove both in Grand Cayman and Cozumel after we had just recieved our c-cards just a few months before. I was unable to dive due to being a month pregnant. He liked both places, but if had to choose he prefered Cozumel. He went through Dive with Martin . They only took out a small group, 5 divers, plus the price was right a 2 tank dive w/ all the equipment for only $60. He said the dive master was great, he felt very relaxed the whole time. We will be there in Oct. and plan to dive again with them. We will also be diving while in Belize w/ Seasports, saving about $40 pp over what Carnival charges. Other people from other message boards have used them and said they were very good and they bring you directly back to the ship when finished.
 
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kkorman

Guest
The dive masters were awesome in GC as was the diving. Had a very bad experience with Cozumel... bad equipment, and they brought me up with less than 100 psi of air. The currents are stong on the walls there. I am thinking of diving Belize in June on my next cruise, so cannot comment on that yet.
 
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