East End Grand Cayman Dive Op

[cdemith]

I have a trip to East End in Grand Cayman scheduled for mid March. Based on all of the recommendations, I had hoped to go with Ocean Frontiers. Unfortunately, they have now space left for AM trips. Does anyone have any recommendations for an East End dive op? I am staying at the Reef Lodge, who uses Red Sail, but not totally sure about that.

I have googled my eyes out, and found nothing.

Is AM much better than PM? Is it worth going PM to stich with OF?

Help?

 

[Alex777]

I have a trip to East End in Grand Cayman scheduled for mid March. Based on all of the recommendations, I had hoped to go with Ocean Frontiers. Unfortunately, they have now space left for AM trips. Does anyone have any recommendations for an East End dive op? I am staying at the Reef Lodge, who uses Red Sail, but not totally sure about that.

I have googled my eyes out, and found nothing.

Is AM much better than PM? Is it worth going PM to stich with OF?

Help?

Red Sail is your only other choice. Personally, I would opt for afternoon diving with Ocean Frontiers. There is nothing about the morning which makes it "better" than afternoon diving.

 

[Testudo]

Tortuga/RedSail's website: Home | Tortuga Divers | Cayman Islands | Red Sail Sports

 

[Ka3mgh]

My wife and I dove with both Red Sail and Ocean Frontiers in October. We dove more times with Red Sail and thought both were similar in the diving experience. I thought Ocean Frontiers felt just a bit more rushed than Red Sail but not on any way that made the diving any less enjoyable. My wife didn't get the same feeling so maybe that was just me.

We were on the island when hurricane Sandy was going over the Bahamas and the location of the Red Sail dock is more prone to big waves and they can have trouble getting the boat to the dock with a more direct east wind and wave pattern. That is how we ended up with Ocean Frontiers, Red Sail couldn't get the boat into the dock for 2 or 3 days and had to find other arrangements. Ocean frontiers is very protected so they can get docked and loaded in just about anything bit a hurricane.

I wouldn't be worried about using either op, I believe both will treat you right.

Another thing to consider if you cant get with anyone for a day is to drive down to Sunset house and shore dive. I think Eden Rock also has some shore diving but can't personally confirm as we didn't have to do that. Tanks were $10 a piece and weights were like $5, it also made for a couple of fairly cheap dives and the food is good for after diving. If I knew now what I didn't know then we would have left the airport and shore dived with Sunset house the day we arrived as some get comfortable dives. Jumping off the boat and heading for 100 feet at Jack McKennys canon on the first day when we hadn't dove in several months wasn't entirely comfortable at the time.

We really enjoyed the 2 tanks we did at Sunset house as it was different from the wall boat diving so it made a nice break mid week when we couldn't get out on the east end.

Hope you find something that works for you.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

A couple of changes at Tortuga Divers over the last few months have balanced out some of the differences between them and Ocean Frontiers. TD has new tanks and this time they are 80s instead of their older smaller 72s. And there has been a management change at that location that I have heard good feedback about.

There are only the two dive operators in East End. Both dive the same sites. Neither is particularly more protected in general but one could be more sheltered from the wind than the other on any given day, Tortuga has the option to rebook divers with Red Sail on the west side in the extremely rare instances that the weather really becomes uncooperative. Ocean Frontiers does not have a west side operation.

 

[Pinkyfoool]

When we were in GC Oct 2012, we used Ocean Frontiers, and they were awesome. A excellent crew, nice boats, more personalized attention (we never had more than 8 divers on any of the boats) etc. If you decide to use them, you won't be disappointed. They picked us up everyday from the reef resort. (Btw some of the staff from OF you will see at the reef resort bar nightly). We did morning and afternoon dives, and either way it was a great time! I would not hesitate to dive with them again.

 

[Doctorfish]

If OF is fully booked then RS is the only logical alternative. The boats might be a bit more crowded ( or not is OF is so full that they can't take you ), but at the end of the day, they dive the same sites with pretty much the same profiles. I've had both good and bad days with both operators. I would much rather dive with RS in the mornings then drag my self and gear into Georgetown to shore dive or boat dive on the west side +/- dive with OF in the afternoons. The shore diving at Sunset is so so, and even less life at Eden Rock, so if you do end up going west to shore dive, drive a bit further up to Turtle Reef; much better dive.

 

[Damselfish]

Normally I would say unless you are a beginner, stick with OF given Red Sail's rep. But if they have really changed for the better and I was staying at the Reef or Morritts, maybe I'd check them out. (I was at Morritt's last summer and dove with OF, as I had not heard anything different about RS at the point we booked.)

From the Reef you have to wander over to Morritt's next door, and even though I was staying there I'm still not sure what/where their current gear storage or handling situation is - I'd love if someone could describe? So it may or may not actually be any more convenient than driving a few minutes to Compass Point where they will clean/store your gear and have it waiting on the boat for you.)

IIRC OF used to do one tank trips in the afternoon but they changed to 2 tanks 1-2 years ago, and I'm pretty sure we did deep/shallow in the afternoon similar to the morning trips. (I'm just speculating but I'd guess they did this to increase capacity.) So while morning is still more popular, I think that's more a matter of freeing up the afternoons to do other things for some folks. Or maybe habit. But nothing wrong with sleeping in and doing the afternoon boats. Doing both am and pm boats there can be tight, so running back to your room between may not be on option if staying elsewhere. Not that you have that problem this time.

We were there when hurricane Ernesto went by and OF couldn't use their dock for a couple days. Think pretty much everyone lost at least a couple days of diving. As far as one being more sheltered than the other not really, just the luck of the draw.

 

[Scubanoobi]

I'm headed there next week (staying at the Reef and diving RS). I can let you know what my experiences are. They told me they had gear lockers there but I'm just going to store them in my room/balcony.

I only picked them because they were so close, I have a non-diving wife and 3 year old so I can't drive all over the island.

 

[billinwilliamston]

My $.02 worth.

How crowded the boats are (especially on the East End) is more dependent on the time of year and day of week than on the op itself. Late fall (late Sep - early Dec) is usually quiet, Winter, not so much. Traditionally, the dive schedule was one deep, one shallow in the morning and one shallow in the afternoon. I was told that it was scheduled like that so the folks working the boats wouldn't blow their table limits. Now with two tank afternoons becoming more the norm, I see no compelling reason to do morning over afternoon dives. I know that the use of 72's by Red Sail (and by extension Sunset House and Tortuga Divers) was a big deal to some, but I can't remember the last time that having 10% more air would have made one second difference in how long I stayed down.