Just got back from a cruise!

    Sat sept 11th my g/f and I, along with one of my good friends and his g/f set sail with Royal Caribbean towards Key West, Cozumel, and Cococay. the cruise was typical, drinking, partying etc. But the part I mostly wanted to share was about the diving in both Cozumel and Cococay. Being that my g/f is fairly new to snorkeling/diving and my friends g/f was a first-timer, we just went easy and went out with tour group snorkel trips that stayed inside 30'. First off water clarity in both places was phenomenal, although I was surprised how cold the water in Cozumel was (I was cold in 30' with a rashguard on). Cozumel had a lot of reef structure even in shallow water, I think I went through 4 or 5 different caves in the 3 hour trip. In Cococay we never ventured deeper than 10' (stupid rules for beach diving and really there was no need). Overall a great cruise with some outstanding snorkeling.


    Fish highlights were: an ~80lb grouper in 20' of water as soon as I got off the dive boat in Cozumel, really got my blood flowing and got me excited. saw another large grouper of about 20lbs as I swam through a cave, and saw a white snapper (thats what the tour guide told me it was) that was around 24". Cococay had literally dozens of 16+" mutton snapper everywhere!! the first one I found (in 5' of water) was probably 26" and I followed it to a deeper area (maybe 10') and found a school of 14-18" muttons hanging out around a sunken beach chair - also found a lobster under the beach chair. then later we say mutton that was probably pushing 30"!!!!!! Biggest one I've ever seen and none of them were skittish at all - clearly nobody spearfishes over there. I just couldn't believe that such large fish were in such shallow water and had absolutely no fear of people!

    Fish lowlights: We saw a lot of lionfish in both Cozumel and Cococay, I am happy to report that any lionfish we found on the dive trip in Cozumel was killed. The tour guides there bring small kabob skewers with rubber bands to spear the lionfish and placed them in a 5 gallon bucket. In Cococay I didn't see as many but also had no way to kill the ones that we found. Lots of jellyfish in all dive locations, found out the hard way my g/f is allergic to jellyfish stings which kept her out of the water in Cococay.

    mrmike--sounds like you had a good time:thumbsup2:
    Please to post any pic of your cruise that you want to share. :)
    I loved Cozumel. Back in the 70's and 80's I used to take my PADI students down there for OW classes. I was a 25-35 yrs old scuba instructor that was HAPPY to adjust any and all equipment on my bikini clad students. Some even got "discounts". :thumbsup2:

    hahaha, that is awesome hau....nice


    sounds like a great trip mike, thank for sharing the story, I would have tried to bring a collapsable spear...did you research to see if it was allowed?

    i like to spear fish

    Quote from LunkerBuster

    hahaha, that is awesome hau....nice


    sounds like a great trip mike, thank for sharing the story, I would have tried to bring a collapsable spear...did you research to see if it was allowed?


    NO I didn't look into it and I haven't had a chance to make a collapsible spear as I haven't perfected a one piece yet. In addition, I wasn't sure what I would do with any speared fish because we weren't in either location for more than a couple of hours and would need to arrange cleaning and preparing fish. I doubt they allow you to bring raw fish on a cruise ship and I didn't have the foresight to look up local restaurants to try to find one that might be willing to cook/clean any catch. I guess maybe next time I could look into doing some spearing and at worst just give it to the crew of the tour boat.

    When we cruised last year...I called the line to ask if "fishing gear" (knew better than to even ask if anything with 'gun' in the name was allowed) was permitted .....no go . So we just dove with the sting rays off the Grand Caymans, searched under the waves with Mayan ruins for the back drop...and learned that Jamaica is one giant ghetto.


    Got some great pics,though.

    Quote from mrmike

    In Cococay we never ventured deeper than 10' (stupid rules for beach diving and really there was no need). Overall a great cruise with some outstanding snorkeling.


    Cococay had literally dozens of 16+" mutton snapper everywhere!! the first one I found (in 5' of water) was probably 26" and I followed it to a deeper area (maybe 10') and found a school of 14-18" muttons hanging out around a sunken beach chair - also found a lobster under the beach chair. then later we say mutton that was probably pushing 30"!!!!!! Biggest one I've ever seen and none of them were skittish at all - clearly nobody spearfishes over there. I just couldn't believe that such large fish were in such shallow water and had absolutely no fear of people!

    Fish lowlights: We saw a lot of lionfish in both Cozumel and Cococay, I am happy to report that any lionfish we found on the dive trip in Cozumel was killed. The tour guides there bring small kabob skewers with rubber bands to spear the lionfish and placed them in a 5 gallon bucket. In Cococay I didn't see as many but also had no way to kill the ones that we found. Lots of jellyfish in all dive locations, found out the hard way my g/f is allergic to jellyfish stings which kept her out of the water in Cococay.


    Coco Cay, previously Little Stirrup Cay, is owned by RCCL. I've stayed on Great Harbour Cay just to the SE many times. I'm not really surprised that you saw those nice muttons there as most people don't go over there to spear or fish near that island due to it being private and the cruise people don't like it when you get close. I'm curious if where you saw the fish was inside that little bay on the north side of the island or if it was more towards the western tip.


    Anyways once you get away from that island and put a spear in your hand, I can assure you the muttons aren't that dumb. I believe the best one I got from that area was about 11lbs and it took 4-5 dives before he let me get close enough for a solid shot.


    Also the lionfish over there on the reef are out of control. Diving the reef to the SW of Coco Cay we saw 5+ lionfish on every coral head. Killed plenty of them, but its pretty discouraging to see such quantities everywhere.



    Sounds like a good trip even though you didn't get to kill anything.


    We were on the south side of the island in the sand/grass

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member to leave a comment.

Register a new account
Sign in now