Cozumel vs. Cayman vs. Ocho Rios, Best dive Site?

[tbevins]

Hello all,

I will be going on the West Caribbean cruise with Royal May 16th, and have ports of call in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios. I am probably only going to be able to dive on one of the stops, and was wondering if anyone has any info and or recommendations for me. Thank you in advance.

[CompuDude]

Grand Caymen by far, based on what I've read.

Jamaica is not known for it's diving. There is some decent diving there, but for the most part it's been way overfished and hit hard by hurricanes. This I can speak to personally.

Cozumel I can't speak to, but I've read some reports that were glowing, and some by people who have been going for a long time who spoke of how has still not recovered to pre-hurricane Wilma levels.

GC gets pretty great reviews.

Seems pretty clear to me.

[Defman]

Cayman or Cozumel, can't miss with either one.

[Diver Kat]

I prefer Cozumel to GC, but like both. Haven't done Jamaica. When cruising to GC, we've done a number of shore dives by grabbing a bus (way cheaper than a cab) up to Dive Tech, and shore diving their house reef. The one time we booked a boat dive, we weren't that impressed for the extra cost.

In Cozumel, we book with Scuba with Alison, grab a cab to the marina and hop on the boat. Several trips we actually worked out a 3 tank trip - when the cruise ship wasn't leaving too early.

In terms of cost, booking in Cozumel is cheaper than GC.

[Skred]

Rule out Ocho Rios immediately. As far as Coz vs. Cayman, can't go wrong with either but the destinations themselves (above water) are different experiences so you need to consider not only the diving but what there is to do if you don't dive. For my money, Coz is the better non-diving tourist experience so if I were on that cruise, I'd likely dive in Cayman and do the tourist thing in Coz.

Enjoy!

[gee]

I've been to all three but not as a cruiser. I Agree with others to skip diving Ocho Rios and give GC a slight edge depending on dive site selection. Are you planning on booking through the cruise ship or will you book the dive op on your own & have input to site selection?

Originally Posted by tbevins

Hello all,

I will be going on the West Caribbean cruise with Royal May 16th, and have ports of call in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios. I am probably only going to be able to dive on one of the stops, and was wondering if anyone has any info and or recommendations for me. Thank you in advance.

[rustyshakelford]

ochos rios is a dump. if your looking for things to do, I recommend the dunn river falls. Its pretty neat and im amazed every time i go thru it and somehow nobody breaks an ankle. the guides are also world class pervs.

i would do a booze cruise with their rum punch and check out margarettaville in montego bay.

brett

like the others said, dive in the caymens or coz

[CompuDude]

Originally Posted by rustyshakelford

ochos rios is a dump. if your looking for things to do, I recommend the dunn river falls. Its pretty neat and im amazed every time i go thru it and somehow nobody breaks an ankle. the guides are also world class pervs.

i would do a booze cruise with their rum punch and check out margarettaville in montego bay.

brett

like the others said, dive in the caymens or coz

Lots of great stuff to do topside in Jamaica (YS river, Appleton's rum tour, etc.) Dive if you're there anyway and looking for other things to do, but if you have the options of real dive locations like Coz or GC, that's definitely the way to go. I think it's a stretch to say Ocho Rios is a dump, though. (Not the resorts, at least... most of the island is clearly third world, however, looking at the natively-inhabited areas)

[Travelnsj]

Originally Posted by tbevins

Hello all,

I will be going on the West Caribbean cruise with Royal May 16th, and have ports of call in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios. I am probably only going to be able to dive on one of the stops, and was wondering if anyone has any info and or recommendations for me. Thank you in advance.

Cozumel....I've done Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios....Cozumel by far exceeds the others....now if you were going to Little Cayman...it would be a toss up.

[dannybot]

I liked the drift diving and the vis was much better in Cozumel, but in Grand Cayman, there are lots of coral fingers to swin through and little current, but the viz is was not a good. Also I didn't see much topside in GC worth doing. So why not dive both?