booking ahead for diving when cruise ships come in

My hubby and I are coming to the Caymans for the very first time and I thought it would be the best place to learn how to dive (or at least try it, not sure how hubby is going to react to being underwater), and from looking at the cruise ship schedule, it appears that there are going to be quite a few cruisers stopping by while we are there. We are wondering if we should phone ahead to book even a single day try-out lesson. Does anyone know if the cruisers take priority for bookings? I know that they can pre-book excursions, so have we waited too long?

Any thoughts and advice is appreciated!!

Cheers!

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:55 am Post subject:

Hi BelandBob,

The Activity Guide recommends these dive ops:

Eden Rock Diving Center:

Located in Georgetown, they offer: all levels of training and specialty courses, from first time beginner to divemaster; referral dives for all agencies including PADI, NAUI and SSI; wonderful shore diving just a matter of feet from their dive shop to a large comfortable ladder for easy entry/exit; and boat dives to west and south walls. They operate two well appointed Pro 52s and average 10-15 divers per trip. Their average cost for a two tank dive is US$80, less any current Activity Guide discounts.
www.edenrockdive.com

Neptune's

Based primarily on Seven Mile Beach, they offer highly personalized diving with no more than 8 divers per trip. The have a 32ft comfortable boat, which services north, west and south walls and surrounding reefs. They are extremely service oriented and customize each charter to the specific interests and abilities of their guests. Their average cost for a two tank dive is US90, less any Activity Guide discounts. www.neptunesdivers.com

Off the Wall

Based on Seven Mile Beach, they offer highly personalized diving with no more than 10 passengers per trip. The have two 30-36? comfortable boat, which service the north, west and south walls and surrounding reefs. They are extremely service oriented and customize each charter to the specific interests and abilities of their guests. Their average cost for a two tank dive is US90, less any Activity Guide discounts.
www.grandcaymandive.com

...any of them would be happy to get you set up for your first time dives. You may want to do a resort course dive on your visit and then expand from there if you get hooked! The cruise ship crowds should give you no problems but you should contact the dive op and make reservations just in case. Also, think about booking your dive early in your vacation in case the weather decides to play games ... that way you will have additional days available to swim with the fishes!

Have Fun!

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