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Diving in Honduras and Cozumel


tdivan

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Taking a cruise on liberty of the seas in July 29 2018 and I was looking at doing a couple of dives. One in Rotan, Honduras with Anthonys Key and the one in Cozumel does not say the provider but its in the Arrecifes de Cozumel National Marine Park. Just wondering if anyone else has done a dive at these locations or with the providers and found it worthwhile? and any tips on what to expect are appreciated as well. 

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7 minutes ago, tdivan said:

Taking a cruise on liberty of the seas in July 29 2018 and I was looking at doing a couple of dives. One in Rotan, Honduras with Anthonys Key and the one in Cozumel does not say the provider but its in the Arrecifes de Cozumel National Marine Park. Just wondering if anyone else has done a dive at these locations or with the providers and found it worthwhile? and any tips on what to expect are appreciated as well. 

Welcome aboard! I dove and snorkeled in Cozumel a few years ago. Great viz and marine life. I pointed out a small lion fish to the dive master and she speared it with her spear gun. As she was clipping off the dorsal spines a very large grouper swam up and snatched the lion fish right off the spear! Happened so fast I couldn't get my camera up and focused in time. As we swam way, the grouper tagged along with the dive master like a small dog waiting for another hand out. Be prepared for some mild/strongcurrents. Be sure to check your gear if one of the dive shop folks sets it up for you. :27_sunglasses:

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Cozumel is often drift diving.  The waters in Cozumel are very clear with awesome visibility.  This was my 1st drift dive and 1 of the 2 dives had swift current to deal with.  It was a lot of work just keeping the group together with the dive master and there are a lot of boats so you need to stick with him/her or you'll end up on the wrong dive boat.  The 2nd dive was not as swift and more enjoyable.  

I think most or all Cozumel diving is within the National Park and there is an entrance fee for each diver.  This was 2015 and I think we had to pay in cash on the dive boat.  Research to see if that is included in the booking when you make it.  Our dive operator was near the pier that RCI normally uses, within the port shopping area.

Cozumel isn't as deep as Roatan was.  Both enjoyable, no regrets about diving at either.

Dive Pics - 4.jpg

Dive Pics - 5.jpg

Dive Pics - 6.jpg

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On 10/25/2017 at 9:31 AM, rjac said:

Welcome aboard! I dove and snorkeled in Cozumel a few years ago. Great viz and marine life. I pointed out a small lion fish to the dive master and she speared it with her spear gun. As she was clipping off the dorsal spines a very large grouper swam up and snatched the lion fish right off the spear! Happened so fast I couldn't get my camera up and focused in time. As we swam way, the grouper tagged along with the dive master like a small dog waiting for another hand out. Be prepared for some mild/strongcurrents. Be sure to check your gear if one of the dive shop folks sets it up for you. :27_sunglasses:

We had a similar experience but with a Green Moray.  Completely wrapped itself around the spear at one point to wrestle the Lion fish off the spear.

Dive Pics - 1 (2).jpg

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55 minutes ago, twangster said:

We had a similar experience but with a Green Moray.  Completely wrapped itself around the spear at one point to wrestle the Lion fish off the spear.

Great photo! Too bad you couldn't get a close up of the divers face, bet it shocked the hell out of him!:27_sunglasses:

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1 hour ago, tdivan said:

I was worried about doing a dive off a cruise but I think I don't have to worry.

Royal does have an age limitation on their dive excursions. 65 and over cannot book dive excursions. I ran into this earlier this year and just went with a local dive dive shop in Bonaire. Much better than the dive excursion. There were a lot of novices in the group of 20 divers and the dive operator required everyone to do a bouyancy check before the dive boat left the dock. Was suppose to be a two tank dive and it ended up only being a one tank because of the time spent with the bouyancy checks, getting to the dive site with some sea sick divers and the novices going through their air in like twenty minutes. I have made many dives with RC excursions and this was the first time I heard about such a cluster .....

Hope you don't run into this mess!:27_sunglasses:

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3 hours ago, tdivan said:

Wow those pictures are fantastic. Are those all go pro? 

Thanks to everyone that replied. I was worried about doing a dive off a cruise but I think I don't have to worry. Looks like everything will be fantastic.

GoPro underwater, iPhone above water for these shots.

Diving and cruising are a great fit, especially with Royal Caribbean.  When you dive you have to pay attention to no fly times around your dives.  On a cruise you can dive on many different islands one day to the next without ever stepping on a plane so the no fly rules don't apply moving from island to island.  Often times there is a sea day on the way back, or at least its pretty easy to book flights and respect the no fly times after diving because you have at least 1 night on the ship before disembarking.  

I have dives booked on a December B2B cruise.  Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean's private island offers a shore dive for $60 with equipment.  Some times when they run excursion sales dive excursions are 10% off (some but not all dive excursions).  The Coco Cay dive I got on sale for $54.   The St Maarten dive excursion was 10% off recently.

Royal Caribbean offers a five star PADI dive shop on some ships.  On these ships they offer the full OWD certification or refresher courses if you haven't taken a dive in the past 12 months.  It's a regular 5 star PADI dive center which is great if you forgot something or something breaks.

Of all cruise lines, Royal Caribbean is the most diver friendly of them all.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/scuba

Here is the dive shop on board Oasis of the Seas:

Dive Pics - 1 (3).jpg

 

And some guests doing their pool dives as part of their Open Water Diver certification on Allure of the Seas.

Dive Pics - 1 (4).jpg

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14 hours ago, bobroo said:

I spend more time ( literally many hours more) selecting what shops I am going to dive with for a given upcoming cruise compared to the time I spent researching any given cruise before we put a deposit down.

Am I the only one???

I just book it through Royal.  Easy peasy.  Since they have 5 star PADI certified instructors on over a third of the fleet they know what to look for in local dive operators and which to avoid.

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1 hour ago, twangster said:

I just book it through Royal.  Easy peasy.  Since they have 5 star PADI certified instructors on over a third of the fleet they know what to look for in local dive operators and which to avoid.

I agree. But, I always bring my own regulators, dive computer and mask.....you know the stuff that's essential for living underwater. :27_sunglasses:

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