Lynch Western Caribbean Cruise

June 24 - July 03, 2006

The Lynch family summer vacation consisted of a seven-day cruise to the western Caribbean. Although slated as a family quality time activity, I was able to sneak in a day of diving and two snorkeling trips. Cruising may not be a bad way to scout out potential dive trip locations (albeit an expensive way). We did all the requisite cruise activities including eating and drinking freely (gaining 6-10lbs) and being attended by people from parts of the world where the diving is better than in the Caribbean. We sailed on the MS Valor, Carnival Cruise Line's largest ship (110,239 tons, 952 feet long, 236 feet keel to mast). After reading books about the wrecks of the Andrea Doria and the Empress of Ireland early in the trip, I have to admit that I fantasized about diving the Valor's wreck. I also came across some interesting wreck trivia during the trip. Carnival's first ship, the MS Mardi Gras (which ran aground on her maiden voyage) was formally known as the Empress of Great Britain -- The Empress of Ireland's Sister ship. I'm sure Carnival kept that one quiet in the early days....

Here was our itinerary:
6/24: Travel to Miami from BWI (also Kathy's 9th birthday -- she complained bitterly)
6/25: Set sail from Miami
6/26: Day at sea
6/27: Grand Cayman
6/28: Isle Roatan
6/29: Belize
6/30: Costa Maya
7/01: Day at Sea
7/02: Dock in Miami
7/03: Travel back to BWI

June 27, 2006: Grand Cayman.
Grand Cayman is a tender port. We booked a family excursion consisting of a trip to Hell, a visit to the turtle farm, and a trip out to Stingray City. All were fun stops. Stingray City was as advertised -- lots of friendly rays begging for food like puppy dogs. No moray eels were seen (see recent Alert Diver report).
Max Depth: 3-4 feet to the sand
Minimum Temperature: Warm Bath
Dive Time: 45 minutes

June 28, 2006: Isle Roatan:
We docked at 11am, much later than the usual 7am at most other ports. I booked a two tank dive for this day while Cindy and the girls toured the island. The pier appeared brand new and large enough to accommodate several ships. However, the town around the port was only slightly more developed than a shanty town. I took a 20 minute school bus ride to the dive operator, which much to my delight and surprise was Anthony's Key Dive Resort. The dive boats were spacious and modern, the rental equipment appeared to be right out of the box, and the staff was helpful and entertaining. They came right out and admitted that their goal was to show us a good time so that we came back and spent a full week at the resort. Unfortunately, the dive plans called for a return to the resort during the surface interval to exchange tanks (? not enough tanks at the resort to spare two for each diver on board). As a result, both dive sites were less than a 15 minute boat ride from the resort, and both seemed a little worse for wear. As we returned to the resort for the second time, we experienced an authentic rain forest downpour (the only rain that we encountered on the trip). I dove with a guy named Tom, who was finishing up a 25 year run in the Air Force, currently stationed at Key West. He was a F16 and A10 pilot who was now piloting a desk coordinating Air Force resources to assist with drug enforcement. Why a guy stationed in Key West needed to go on a cruise was beyond me. He hadn't been diving in several years, but after he shook the rust off, he was clearly one of the better divers in the group.

Dive 1: Wayne's Place (this Wayne guy seems to get around)
Nice swim through (with a resident green moray eel) that exited at a wall at 80 feet. Several large grouper patrolled the mooring site. Very few smaller fish and few soft corals seen.

Max Depth: 80 feet
Minimum Temperature: Warm Bath (T-shirt and swim trunks = no chill after 50 minutes)
Visibility: 60 feet (poor visibility probably due to recent rainfall)
Dive Time: 50 minutes

Dive 2: Gibson's Bight
Drift dive in only modest current. Lots of hard corals reminiscent of Carpata in Bonaire.

Max Depth: 60 feet
Minimum Temperature: Warm Bath
Visibility: 50-60 feet
Dive Time: 40 minutes

June 29, 2006: Belize
Belize was a tender port. Surprisingly, those who booked dive excursions were picked up directly from the Cruise Ship by their dive boats. This was a non diving day for me, but since this is a notable diving destination, I feel obliged to comment. Those people who booked water oriented excursions complained that the water was not clear. Belize city sits on the estuary of the Belize river and since heavy rainfalls preceded us, this didn't surprise me. In fact, they had so much rain that many of the land excursions were canceled, namely those involving horseback riding, ATV's, etc. I didn't speak to anyone that dove that day, but on my Roatan dive trip several people stated that they had been diving in Belize and preferred Roatan. We booked a trip to see and feed some resident Howler Monkeys, and got a nice nature tour as well (except for the mosquito bites).

June 30, 2006: Costa Maya
Carnival came right out and told us that we were stopping in Costa Maya only because of the hurricane damage suffered by Cozumel to the north. Again, this was not a diving day for me, but Costa Maya is being touted as THE up and coming dive destination in the Caribbean. I booked a snorkeling destination with my oldest, Samantha (who at 12 is chomping at the bit to get certified this summer). We took a catamaran sail 45 minutes south of the dock to a rather beat up piece of reef. Our dive plan included spotting the various species of angel fish as well as my favorite, the Yellow Tail Damsel Fish. We paddled around for a good hour and practiced a few free dives. We found French and Grey Angels and several adult and one very cute juvenile Damsel. The best part of the dive was listening to Sam ooh, ah, and coo at the fish that she saw. Boy is she going to love diving on a healthy reef.

Well, that's about it. I hope that this information was helpful to those planning future cruises or dive trips to the western Caribbean.

Frank

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