Dive boat accident involving Dive tech and Cathy Church boat

[Cert1967]

The previous post is exactly why folks should not get their info from the press. We have a Newton and could not be insured as a dive Op and a member of CITA unless we had a trained captain to operate the boat. You might find a fly by night but not an accredited op. Not rocket science.

Hello @caydiver

Are you associated with CITA or a dive op / resort located on the Cayman Islands?

 

[EastEndDiver]

I have never been on a dive op's boat that was not part of CITA and I have never heard or saw anyone "teaching" or guiding a dive from one of those boats who was not at least at Divemaster level.

Caydiver am I right in assuming that in order for a dive Op to do the Kittiwake they need to be members of CITA ?

For those that paint Cayman boats with a broad stroke here is the website from Port Authority go to page 24 and page 38 for more pertinent info on dive/for hire boat regulations.

file:///C:/Users/John/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/SZDDWCC8/12330341.pdf

 

[Doctorfish]

Some of the previous comments are entirely inappropriate. This event was a very unusual rare aberration. I have no affiliation with any operation or CITA, and have been boat diving GC for many years with many different dive ops. In my experience, all the DMs and Captains have been very well trained, disciplined and highly professional. The boats have invariably been in very good condition as well. This is in counter distinction to some other places I have dived.

Cayman is about the safest, best regulated place I have ever dived.

 

[tkaelin]

Agreed. So lets wait and review a report of what actually was found to be the cause because right now everyone is just spinning their wheels about an accident that we really don't know the cause.

 

[Wookie]

Agreed. So lets wait and review a report of what actually was found to be the cause because right now everyone is just spinning their wheels about an accident that we really don't know the cause.

Oh, welcome to ScubaBoard. I see you are new here.

 

[Wookie]

Some of the previous comments are entirely inappropriate. This event was a very unusual rare aberration. I have no affiliation with any operation or CITA, and have been boat diving GC for many years with many different dive ops. In my experience, all the DMs and Captains have been very well trained, disciplined and highly professional. The boats have invariably been in very good condition as well. This is in counter distinction to some other places I have dived.

Cayman is about the safest, best regulated place I have ever dived.

I personally know more than one GCI dive boat captain who is not licensed in any country as a captain of any tonnage of a passenger carrying vessel. One is highly professional, you'd never know. The other is no longer there.

 

[JohnnyC]

I have never been on a dive op's boat that was not part of CITA and I have never heard or saw anyone "teaching" or guiding a dive from one of those boats who was not at least at Divemaster level.

Caydiver am I right in assuming that in order for a dive Op to do the Kittiwake they need to be members of CITA ?

For those that paint Cayman boats with a broad stroke here is the website from Port Authority go to page 24 and page 38 for more pertinent info on dive/for hire boat regulations.

file:///C:/Users/John/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/SZDDWCC8/12330341.pdf

John, you need to upload this file as an attachment. You can't just point it to a file saved on you, in this case, C: drive.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Johnnyc I just googled "Port authority regulations Grand Cayman" and that's what came up as a PDF file maybe what I posted will not come up because it was from the PDF page.

 

[caydiver]

Yes I am part of CITA. Yes I am affiliated with a dive op and I do not know of any dive op who had an unqualified boat captain. Whether they are licensed is irrelevant. I was licensed to operate a boat in New York and would have no business operating a boat here without proper training local training. I have been diving here for three decades as a visitor and know many local captains that may not be licensed but are fully trained. Playing with semantics in a foreign country just doesn’t cut it. If we or most of our colleagues were looking for a captain they would be trained on the boat by qualified people until they were up to snuff Does anyone really think it makes sense for ops to put the very thing that is necessary to run their business at risk in the hands of someone who is incapable. The costs for replacing props and even minor parts is huge and we lose business waiting for parts to get on island. Some of the comments border on just plain silly. The dive ops are a major force working to tighten regulations for all marine vessels both personal and commercial. We have the most to lose from a commercial standpoint.

 

[Alucard]

I have done a lot of my diving on Grand Cayman and have found that all boat captains and crew were very professional and highly safety-oriented.

I wish I could say the same for some other dive locations I have been to, but I won't name names....