Grand Cayman Dive Shop Recommendation?

[Alexandra1]

Hey Everyone,

My husband and I are diving w/friends using DiveTech 8/9-8/16. Someone told me that the gear DiveTech rents is "crap" and that I should look elsewhere to rent gear. It was suggested we try a dive shop a little north of the Marriott that is located in a strip mall, but they couldn't remember the name of the dive shop. Anyone out there familiar w/Grand Cayman & this (or another) dive shop that rents affordable quailty gear?

Muchas gracias!

 

[LavaSurfer]

Always liked Divers Down

 

[Twistedarts]

Quality rental gear? never knew that existed. We just got back from GC 2 days ago and the rental gear is pretty low grade no matter where you go. Invest in your own regs, I'm glad I did. The rental sherwoods and such can't compare to your own gear.

Resort sports - crap gear - nice people
Red Sail - little better than, at least current but low end. - nice people
Dive tech - you already know. - nice people

hope this helps

 

[BlueFrog]

I've been diving Grand Cayman for years, used lots of different shops and I can say that none of them have great rental gear. My advice is if you have to rent gear, rent from a LDS that you know locally and take it with you down there.

I agree with the other posts. Rental gear will be "crap" compared to what most people are expecting. This is the single biggest reason I have bought my own gear over the years. I didn't do it all at once in the begining but now I never worry about rental.

If you think Grand Cayman is bad, you should see rental equipment I've seen in Bonaire and Mexico.

 

[Alexandra1]

Thank you Lavasurfer, Twistedarts and Bluefrog! You all are very cool to help us. We will scope out our LDS and see. We're flying American so the bag regulations both in number & weight will probably mean that we will have to put up with the crap gear

 

[Damselfish]

Lots of people fly American and pack their own gear, don't let that stop you. Note that the whole thing about charging for checked bags, as annoying as it is, is only for domestic itineraries, not international. (USVI, Puerto Rico & Canada count as domestic, not GC.) That important detail seems to be missing from many articles and discussions about this.

 

[Alex777]

I agree: all rental gear on Grand Cayman (& elsewhere) is crap. Buy your own if you can. If you can afford to come here for a week, you probably can.

 

[diveborg]

I agree: all rental gear on Grand Cayman (& elsewhere) is crap. Buy your own if you can. If you can afford to come here for a week, you probably can.

How can anyone possibly make such a broad, generalize statement with any hope of accuracy?

 

[Alex777]

Well, I have seen pretty much every dive op's rental gear on Grand Cayman, so I can say it's all crap. The "elsewhere" part really just refers to other countries around the Caribbean I have dived in, all of which had rental gear which was, you guessed it, crap. But, you're right - I have no personal knowledge of the quality of rental gear in places like Australia & S. Africa so it might be a bit overstated.

Where do they have high quality rental gear?

 

[CJ's]

Alex,
Please don't generalise about rental gear. Personally I am very proud of the quality, cleanliness and upkeep of our rental gear. If you have never dived with me you wouldn't have used/seen it and therefore comments such as "all rental gear on Grand Cayman is crap" are factually incorrect and don't do anybody any favours.
The advice to buy your own is sound although with recently introduced airline baggage restrictions, economics and the fact that some unfortunate people only get to dive once a year it is not always practical or affordable to own your own gear.
My advice to those renting equipment is to ask your dive shop how often they replace and service their equipment. Avoidance of this question would often indicate low quality or uncared for equipment. Be careful of renting equipment from home and bringing it down. If it is faulty or goes wrong you are left with having to rent twice or have it fixed locally with the extra expense that that incurs. I have seen this happen too often.
CJ