Thanks for the info., looks like diving at the Turks is the way to go, want to dive where the visability is the best, and diving deep is not a big deal, for shallow equals seeing more.  Know that the dive there will be rushed due to lack of time, but just hope to see lots of cool things.  Do have own gear, but will prob. not take the BC, just my mask, fins, snorkel and suit.  I like to be able to carry on most of my luggage, not sure how this trip will go with just carry ons.  Can anyone say, overpack, LOL.  Yet after the Hawaii cruise with Olivia, I learned my lesson on overpacking, getting better every trip.

Maui for 13 days, sounds great!  I did not do any diving there, but have a buddy that lives in Honolulu and will ask her about spots to go to if ya want me too.  I did the zipline there, it was fun, but the zipline on Kauai is the one to do.  I did dive in Kauai, was ok, but still not at all like diving in Cozumel.  Yet, when in Kauai, we where diving in sunami conditions, that was cool to feel the surges and it did make the water visability a bit murky, but did see some turtles and eels.  New one for my record book.

Looking forward to the trip, know that am looking forward to warm weather and great beach time.

Thanks for all your help Lisa!

Inde

At turks there is a small area with shopping a bar with pool and you can lay out on the beach.  We dove Turks, we had just enough time to get to where we needed to get on boat for dive then we had to get bck on ship.  It was very quick.  They took us to dive shop in between dives.  We baught T-shirts and hung out then we did the next dive.  They had seperate boats for us, if you had your own equipment you were with smaller group those without went on seperate boat with alot of people.

St. Thomas we did a wreck dive that was pretty interesting we swam throught different rooms I enjoyed that.

St. Martin was sold out and we booked off boat excursion scuba diving when we boarded ship they had tickets for us but we had already booked shore excursion off ship.  It was a good thing I was dispointed at first until the women on the ship we had been diving with complained how terrible it was.  We enjoyed ours Seen a couple 5-6 feet reef sharks black tip sharks.  The gay mens boat was doing Royal Carribean and they were using same company so they took bigger boat just four of us dove nice small group the company was gay friendly.

Turks visiblity was the best of all three.

We went down a cople days early and drove down to key Largo.  The diving was nice there very colorful 35-40 ft not real deep.

We are going To Hawaii to stay on Maui for 13 days on March 1st, then back to Cozumel next January we had a great time then will do another Olivia cruise.  We have went the last two years on Olivia that is how we got into scuba diving our first cruise we snorkeld then were looking at buying our own snorkel gear and ended up getting certified.  I would post scuba diving pictures from these islands not sure how to do it.  It took me all day during a blizzard to get dive master pictures from cozumel trip. 

What ever island you dive it is a great trip and will have fun, Olivia cruises are a good time!

This is a great time to get away if you are experienceing the cold.

Have a great tiem!

Lisa

Ok, thanks for the input.  Even though we only have 6 hrs in the Turks, there is a two tank dive offered, so may do that one and snorkel at the other islands or check out other activities. If not to dive there, they also have a catamaran sail to Cotton Cay Beach to do some snorkeling.

 St. Thomas has Coral World Marine Park and Underwater Observatory, that sounds like it would be a good thing to ck out, an there is a beach there to do some snorkeling.  There is also a catamaran sail to Ship Wreck Cove at Buck Island to snorkel around the reefs. 

I love to dive, but when was in Puerto Vallarta, spent a lot of time diving there and was not impressed, saw more snorkeling an that was free, LOL.  I know that diving in the Caribbean will be WAY different, clear water and warmer too.  Would like to dive at all the stops, but want to see some stuff topside, for our stops are short except when we get to St. Thomas/St. John.  Wish we stayed longer in the Turks/Caicos Islands. 

So your input has been helpful, if more input, bring it on, for prob. will only dive at one of the stops, and so far Diva Diver, thanks, has said the Turks are the best.

Ok, gotta get ready to watch some football, Hawks and Packers coming up soon, gotta head out to the party.

Catch ya later,

Inde

Oh, what a lucky gal you are.  Thanks, know that you are going on a Bean trip, so will await the news!

Does anyone else have any helpful hints on diving or snorkel in the Bean? 

Hope all of you deva divers are doing great and making it thru this crazy winter.

Later,

Inde

Happy New Year to all!

Glad to see people posting here, good to hear about dive spots.

I will be going on the 35th Birthday Bash Caribbean cruise and have been looking into what island would be the best to dive at, any thoughts? 

Will use the ship/Olivia excursions, they have Grand Turks/ Caicos and we are there for only 6 hours, then to St. Thomas/St.John, there for 12 hours, and St. Maarten for 9 hours, these are the ports listed for certified dives.  Most of the dives listed run for about 4.5 hours.  So am thinking to snorkel at the Turks, scuba at St. Thomas and snorkel at St. Maarten. 

 Any thoughts on snorkel beaches and dive spots would be great.

Thanks,

Inde

Hello Everyone,

 I would have to say one our favorite dive spots was Turks and Caicos.  The visibility was incredible and reefs were in excellent shape as they are protected.

We saw plenty of eagle rays, sting rays, barracuda, sharks and turtles.

Another very close favorite is San Salvador (columbus isle)
again the visibilty was great and we got to see a couple of very large Hammerhead sharks and plenty of turtles.  The water is a bit cooler 70's than typical carribean diving.
But well worth it to see the great hammerheads.

Anyone out there dive Southern California (Catalina)?
We are always looking for groups to dive with.

Looking forward to our return to the Turks in October.

Heidi

Hi Kim, Hi to Robin,

I couldn't decide.  I'm doing both. I love the Rhone and by the time we get there it may be twilight. I had planned to visit Grand Turk with a friend the end of Feb and dive in the morning and see whales in the afternoon, but decided on this cruise instead.  I'm wondering...none of the HAL brochures mentioned whale watching. Maybe google whales and Grand Turk and maybe call and talk to someone there? If I remember it was maybe (Oasis? divers) who do dives in am and whales pm.

Oasis,

We're going on the Caribbean Dreams cruise. In order to fully enjoy everything, we are limiting ourselves to only one dive excursion. I'm torn between diving the Wreck of the Rhone in Torotla and diving Turks with the possibility of seeing the whales with their migration from Dec to April. Any thoughts?

Kim

Good to hear you had fun, I've never dived in the Vallarta area, but I guess the western Pacific is the western Pacific unless you have one of those OMGosh days or trips. 'Course a person from up north might be a little spoilt, even if you have to wear so much under your drysuit that you feel like a sausage!  Did you say caves?!!   I like caves!!  My next trip is coming up in 28 days to beautiful (?) north-central Florida to dive their springs for a week or so. I'm not excited or anything.....  yeah, right.
                                   Let's see, favorite dive spots....hmm, southern side of Roatan's good when the seas are coming from the north, Fiji's nice, used to love Cozumel but now I just like it, I REALLY liked Sipadan Island - the turtles are incredible there. Philippines are good, and cheap, but all said and done, on a good day California diving's about the best I've done.  (Haven't made it up to the Puget Sound yet!)

I was happy to hear that the diving on Grand Turk wasn't a cattle boat. I hope it will still be like that when I get there the end of Jan. on the Caribbean Dreams cruise! Am I the only one from this group going on that trip? 

BTW That Flower Gardens trip looked really nice, whose photos?
 

Just got back from Nuevo and Puerto Vallarta, had a blast!  The diving was not that great due to winter run offs, visability was 15 to 20 feet.  Did see several cool fish, caves, shells, but the water was cool and cloudy.  When I go back someday, prob. will snorkel and if it is in there summer season, may try a dive.

Either way, PVR is a great place to go and so much to do, went thru Vallarta Adventures for all of my excursions.  Top notch company!  Very pleased.  Did scuba diving, outdoor adventure, canopy zipline, swim with the Sea Lions an Dolphins an  Rhythms of the Night, a dinner an show.  Then did a beach take off and landing para sailing in front of the resort, Vallarta Palace and sailed a 60' sail boat when the sun was setting. 

What a wonderful time, so much to do in Puerto Vallarta, loved the place, will return to do other things than just dive.  May try the snorkeling up North in the bay.

Later,

Inde