Scuba Diving in Cozumel from the Carnival Paradise

The first thing to note is that since there are over 150 dive
shops in Cozumel, and the dozen-or-two of the most popular ones
are all within a short walking distance from the Cruiseship pier
located at Punta Langosta (where Carlos 'n Charlie's water hole
is on shore), there's NO NEED to pre-book any dive if you're
alone or with a small group (as long as you have half a day there.
(Why? The cruiseship may not arrive on time; and you may not
know before hand WHICH of the several piers the ship will be
docked; and the ship may even be moored/anchored off shore on
those days when 10 cruiseships may be in Cozumel at the same time!)

If you've been diving in Cozumel, of course you know where all
those shops are; but you're not quite familiar, then do a
groups.google.com or AltaVista.com search and you'll find all
sorts of articles and maps about various dive shops.

Since I dive regularly with the Caballito del Caribe shop:

http://www.seahorsecozumel.com/

I booked a dive from the webpage, telling them only I'll do a
two-tank afternoon dive, not knowing the exact time of arrival
or the location of the pier (as it turned out our Carnival was
docked at the Punta Langosta pier; while another Carnival ship
was docked at the International Pier near the La Ceiba hotel).


As it turned out, I didn't get a reply from them for several
days (their e-mail answerer is apparently swamped with mail
and replying in Mexican time) that by the time they sent the
reply (I learned later), I had already been cruising several
days (with no access to my emailer).

So, I ended up doing what I WOULD have done -- just get off
the boat and book a dive (I did that in several islands in
Tahiti weeks earlier, not knowing ANY of the dive shops there).

The Carnival Paradise had its own scuba dive arrangement with
Scuba Safaris which I am SURE costs more and have much less
quality dives than any shop I book myself.


As it turned out, I phoned the Caballito shop shortly after
noon, and I was one of TWO divers on the boat, diving on the
El Devino Maestro boat, with Captain Giovanni and DM Adrian,
both of whom know me well. As a result, I had my dive-as-
you-please license, and Adrian gave his usual briefing to the
other diver(s), "don't follow him".

We did the Santa Rosa Wall for the first dive (I usually make
a quite trip to 199 fsw since my computer goes out-of-range
at 200 fsw). The water was crystal clear and I could see the
other diver and Adrian a hundred feet below them. The high
lights included a HUGE turtle at the Santa Rosa Wall, and
on the second dive looking for seahorses saw a large free-
swimming green moral eel.

The Punta Langosta pier has several sets of steps for boats
to drop off passengers if traffic is light. Since I was the
only diver left on the boat when we got back to town, the
Captain was able to bribe the guard with a couple cans of
soft drinks, and let me off at a point closer to the cruiseship
boarding gate than the ocean front street.

BTW, I was able to dive with EAN36 (Nitrox) on the 2nd dive
where some other shops may not be able to make such a quick
arrangement the last minute.

All in all, it was an excellent two-tank dive, off the ship.

-- Bob.

Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) wrote in message news:<8fb7380b.0307080805.d77e9be@posting.google.c om>...
> The first thing to note is that since there are over 150 dive
> shops in Cozumel, and the dozen-or-two of the most popular ones
> are all within a short walking distance from the Cruiseship pier
> located at Punta Langosta (where Carlos 'n Charlie's water hole
> is on shore), there's NO NEED to pre-book any dive if you're
> alone or with a small group (as long as you have half a day there.
> (Why? The cruiseship may not arrive on time; and you may not
> know before hand WHICH of the several piers the ship will be
> docked; and the ship may even be moored/anchored off shore on
> those days when 10 cruiseships may be in Cozumel at the same time!)

Good advice Bob. While we don't cruise often, that very thing
happened to us last year when we tried to pre-book dives off the
cruise ship for a stop in Coz. We ended up having to make walk-up
arrangements with the shop next door to the one we had planned on
using (who couldn't wait around for our late arrival.) Where did you
go on your 2nd dive to see sea horses in Cozumel? We saw some at Los
Palmas in May.

Enjoyed your report on Belize. Ever tried Xcalak and/or Chinchorro
Banks in Mexico just north of Ambergee's Cay? See
http://www.mxtravel.com/xcalak.html It's interesting...kind of a get
away from the real world type place.

What did you end up doing in Grand Cayman?

Coincidentally, we'll be on a family-get-together on the Paradise the
week of Thanksgiving this year but we will be on the eastern Caribbean
tour rather than the Western...Not my choice. Will be trying to work
out a dive day in St. John's. Any advice regarding the ship?

Joel

mediakzar wrote:
[....]


> Where did you
> go on your 2nd dive to see sea horses in Cozumel? We saw some at Los
> Palmas in May.


They were still there last week. :)



--
jer email reply - I am not a 'ten' ICQ = 35253273
"All that we do is touched with ocean, yet we remain on the shore of
what we know." -- Richard Wilbur

mediakzar@aol.com (mediakzar) wrote in message news:<fdb74115.0307150921.35b9f1c3@posting.google. com>...

> Where did you go on your 2nd dive to see sea horses in Cozumel?
> We saw some at Los Palmas in May.

Las Palmas is always a good bet. The other sites we've seen seahorses
(the grandes kind -- 4-5 inches of various colors) are: Punta Tunich,
but the current is such that it's usually very hard to stop and photo
them; La Francesa and Dalila en route to Paso del Cedral; and the
Cedral Wall. On this particular day, we went toward the Cedral Wall,
but didn't find any, although Adrian looked hard -- he seldom missed,
but this was one time he did.


> Enjoyed your report on Belize. Ever tried Xcalak and/or Chinchorro
> Banks in Mexico just north of Ambergee's Cay? See
> http://www.mxtravel.com/xcalak.html It's interesting...kind of a get
> away from the real world type place.

Havn't made it there yet. There used to be a liveaboard from Cozumel
to the Chinchorro Banks, but it didn't make sense to me to go all the
way to Coz and then shell out another $1000+ to go to Chinchorro.

>
> What did you end up doing in Grand Cayman?

Nothing. Didn't even go to Hell. Was there in May. Those who
purchased tours on board get to go on shore first. It was almost
two hours before the do-it-yourselfers get on shore. It would have
been rushed to do any dives.

The ship was moored near the Georgetown Pier, and the tenders took
passengers there, to spend their $$$ in Kirk's Rolex shop and other
jewelry shops in that area. Since I take the Cayman Aggressor
from that pier every year, the surrounding areas get old. So, I
just went ashore and walked a few minutes through the junk-souvenir
shops and went back on board.

Had I known the location, I could have dived with Parrot's Landing,
which is only a 5 minute walk from the Georgetown Pier. I did two
dives with them back in 1991, the day before boarding the Aggressor.
Sue and I were the only 2 divers, and the DM said he would take
us to any site on the SW side, so we did the Big Tunnel and a new
site (then), the Rapsody Reef. Would rate it an excellent operation
then. Don't have any idea how they are now, except for the good
location for the Carnival Paradise.


> Coincidentally, we'll be on a family-get-together on the Paradise the
> week of Thanksgiving this year but we will be on the eastern Caribbean
> tour rather than the Western...Not my choice. Will be trying to work
> out a dive day in St. John's.

I did a few low-key dives with the Low Key Watersports, including
the Carvel Rock, Congo Cay, and others. The shop was find, but the
diving in St. John was only so so.


> Any advice regarding the ship?

Study the deck plan carefully the first day. The hallway of our
deck was at least 250 yards from one end to the other, with
elevators to the fore, middle, and aft of the ship. It's easy to
go to the wrong end, and you you would have gotten a 500-yard
walking exercise (perhaps a good thing <G>). Can't think of
any other "advice" other than be careful no to overeat which is
very easy to do, even though the food is mediocre in quality,
but GRANDE in quantity and frequency of meals.

We'll be cruising Alaska in August -- no diving. In October,
the 10-day Marquesas itinerary in Tahiti, a different direction
from the Samoa/Tahiti route we took last month. Expect to
dive in at least a couple of islands we've not dived before.

Bon Voyage!

-- Bob.

"Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8fb7380b.0307152200.2e925167@posting.google.c om...

> The ship was moored near the Georgetown Pier, and the tenders took
> passengers there, to spend their $$$ in Kirk's Rolex shop and other
> jewelry shops in that area. Since I take the Cayman Aggressor
> from that pier every year, the surrounding areas get old. So, I
> just went ashore and walked a few minutes through the junk-souvenir
> shops and went back on board.

Did you get a new fake to replace the one stolen from you in Honolulu?

"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> wrote in message news:<vhbhem9en1g6f0@corp.supernews.com>...
> "Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:8fb7380b.0307152200.2e925167@posting.google.c om...
>
> > The ship was moored near the Georgetown Pier, and the tenders took
> > passengers there, to spend their $$$ in Kirk's Rolex shop and other
> > jewelry shops in that area. Since I take the Cayman Aggressor
> > from that pier every year, the surrounding areas get old. So, I
> > just went ashore and walked a few minutes through the junk-souvenir
> > shops and went back on board.
>
> Did you get a new fake to replace the one stolen from you in Honolulu?

Greg, you're such an unimaginative TROLL! This one and the one about
me having to eat cat food because I am so poor had already run its
short course since those days when you were such a newbie here and
thought readers didn't know me.

I've been in these newsgroups when you were still undergoing your
severe toilet training which led to your charming personality.

But for those who can afford an 18K Rolex Submariner, I can tell them
that it was priced at about $17.5K USD (which was based on a 10%
Caribbean discount on prices in the USA), on that particular day,
because I asked -- always on the lookout to buy a backup when the
price is REALLY good.

In May, it was $14.5K USD, the lowest it was priced for quite a
while. Last year, it was about $16.5K USD, and the year before,
$19.5K USD, ..., and $9999 USD in 1991 (the all time low since I
bought mine), ALL priced at this same Kirk's Rolex shop.

Any other questinos for trollng purposes, Greg?

-- Bob.

"Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8fb7380b.0307162106.191ac4c2@posting.google.c om...

> > Did you get a new fake to replace the one stolen from you in Honolulu?
>
> Greg, you're such an unimaginative TROLL! This one and the one about
> me having to eat cat food because I am so poor had already run its
> short course since those days when you were such a newbie here and
> thought readers didn't know me.

> In May, it was $14.5K USD, the lowest it was priced for quite a
> while. Last year, it was about $16.5K USD, and the year before,
> $19.5K USD, ..., and $9999 USD in 1991 (the all time low since I
> bought mine), ALL priced at this same Kirk's Rolex shop.
>
> Any other questinos for trollng purposes, Greg?

Yeah. Didya see the price on Fancy Feast at Albertsons this week? Only 33
cents a can.

"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> wrote in message news:<vhccunog45br5a@corp.supernews.com>...
> "Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:8fb7380b.0307162106.191ac4c2@posting.google.c om...
>
> > > Did you get a new fake to replace the one stolen from you in Honolulu?
> >
> > Greg, you're such an unimaginative TROLL! This one and the one about
> > me having to eat cat food because I am so poor had already run its
> > short course since those days when you were such a newbie here and
> > thought readers didn't know me.
>
> > In May, it was $14.5K USD, the lowest it was priced for quite a
> > while. Last year, it was about $16.5K USD, and the year before,
> > $19.5K USD, ..., and $9999 USD in 1991 (the all time low since I
> > bought mine), ALL priced at this same Kirk's Rolex shop.
> >
> > Any other questinos for trollng purposes, Greg?
>
> Yeah. Didya see the price on Fancy Feast at Albertsons this week? Only 33
> cents a can.


Sorry, Greg. Don't know anything about that product.

Is that your diet food to try to lose a couple hundred pounds of
your excess weight? Did it work?

-- Bob.

"Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8fb7380b.0307170457.73d84ea6@posting.google.c om...

> Sorry, Greg. Don't know anything about that product.
>
> Is that your diet food to try to lose a couple hundred pounds of
> your excess weight? Did it work?

Are you calling me fat? That's not nice.