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SCUBA DIVING

 

 

We have been trying to scuba dive at least one port per cruise since Sakari took an interest to this several years ago. 

 

 

The last time we were here we went scuba diving. However, the weather did not cooperate with us and we were unable to dive at West Bay like we had hoped. I had really wanted to go out to Mandy's Eel Garden, but with the weather, we had to go over to the other side, where it was calm, and dive at Flowers Bay (which was fabulous!).

 

Once again, I contacted the dive company in hopes that we would finally get to dive West Bay and Mandy's Eel Garden. I knew out of all the ports we would be going to, Roatan was the place to dive. Then I got bad news...the dive shop we used last time was booked with a bunch of people that were staying at a hotel on the island that day. I started searching for someone else and although the dive company I decided to go with was more expensive (both for the dive and the transportation), their communication and all the time they took to answer my hundreds to questions was just great customer service and I felt so comfortable with them. They did say they don't normally cater to cruise ship people, but obviously was not going to turn anyone down either. They normally didn't include any transportation to and from the ships, but would arrange it for me because that was just something that was very important to me to have included. They ended up charging us $25 pp for round trip (which was more than any other place quoted us) but I guess it was worth it to know that we had someone waiting for us. The cost of the dive was $125 pp PLUS tax, which I didn't realize until after the dive. Some of the other companies quoted a price and said that it included taxes. So, I was caught off guard when we went to pay for the dive and it was more than what I had brought.

Our driver met us right outside the port and we walked a bit to get to his van and then we were off to West Bay. It's about a 20 minute drive there. We passed Flowers Bay, where we dove last time because of the bad weather.

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We arrived at the dive station and checked in with our instructor. The thing I like about NCL is that their dock (Coxenhole) is closer to West Bay than Carnival's Mahogany Bay and therefore, you get there quicker.

She knew our history of diving and said she would make it a "quick" class. She legally had to go over everything of course, but she did it quickly as a review and we took our test. I was getting a good vibe from her, which I feel is important when diving and feeling confident.

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We geared up with our equipment and was ready to roll....or dive...or sink....or something entertaining.

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Ok, I gave in...sticking out the tongue is the "in" thing to do I guess. I wasn't fighting her anymore about it so I joined in.