Covid-19 and Cayman travel...

[scubadada]

This seems like a viable option. I have been to all three Clearly Cayman resorts. I would be glad to spend a dive trip at any one of them. Negative on the way in, quarantined at the resort, return home. Seems like this could work for the Cayman Aggressor also.

 

[Tienuts]

As to dive shops, the only one that I am aware of that has been going out regularly twice a week is Red Sail. Up until about three weeks ago, we had only 2-4 people per trip (also same with another operator that was going 1/week but has not gone out for the last couple of weeks). But now we are getting about 10-12 per trip. Red Sail (along with their partner Tortuga Divers on the East side) seems to be the only outfit that is advertising. Some of the residents I dove with on Red Sail were surprised to hear that there were other operators going out. If you look at any of the dive op web sites except Red Sail, none have added any info about their current status. A few of us are on the call list for a couple of dive ops, and we have all agreed to let each other know if one of the ops is going out.

I know a number of people who work for Red Sail. They and Sunset House let all of their staff go, except for a few managers. Clive (their GM) is driving their boats now with some of his assistant managers as dive guides. Clearly Cayman have put all of their staff up for free room (and 2 meals daily) in their resorts, however on the sister islands, the staff are being asked to work for free in return for the meager resident business they get.

The really ****** thing is several dive operators were discovered not to be depositing their employee pension contributions as they should. I won't name names, but several of my friends from other companies went to withdrawal pension, only to find out their accounts had zero balance after years of having money taken from their checks - essentially stealing from the employee. This has not been limited to diving, and has occurred with many other companies as well, including Margaritaville.

Full disclosure I work for Divetech, and I'm admittedly biased - The DT owner has kept us on full wages the entire time, and we all thank her for that. I think Divetech are doing the most business on the island right now, aside from Ocean Frontiers - we've been open 7 days a week, and have been teaching classes and hosting shore divers pretty regularly. Weekends at Lighthouse Point are pretty packed with resident shore divers. Our boats generally run 3 days per week - usually the weekends and one mid-week day.

 

[Tienuts]

This seems like a viable option. I have been to all three Clearly Cayman resorts. I would be glad to spend a dive trip at any one of them. Negative on the way in, quarantined at the resort, return home. Seems like this could work for the Cayman Aggressor also.

Divetech has 4 resident trips booked with the Cayman Aggressor. We just finished one of them last week, and 3 more coming. We didn't promote it outside of the islands for obvious reasons, but it was a screaming deal. The boat is filled to half capacity, and cost is $1,500 per person for everything. Despite the storm chaos in the Atlantic right now, weather was flat calm the past week, and looks good for our next trip next week. Some amazing photos from that trip: Divetech. I cannot say enough good things about the Aggressor V, or it's entire staff.

For some reason though, the Aggressor staff told us Government denied them the ability to be a self-contained facility, which IMO is absurd.

 

[staggsSevin]

Divetech has 4 resident trips booked with the Cayman Aggressor. We just finished one of them last week, and 3 more coming. We didn't promote it outside of the islands for obvious reasons, but it was a screaming deal. The boat is filled to half capacity, and cost is $1,500 per person for everything. Despite the storm chaos in the Atlantic right now, weather was flat calm the past week, and looks good for our next trip next week. Some amazing photos from that trip: Divetech. I cannot say enough good things about the Aggressor V, or it's entire staff.

For some reason though, the Aggressor staff told us Government denied them the ability to be a self-contained facility, which IMO is absurd.

That would explain why I saw the aggressor on some Ocean Frontier pictures when they went to little cayman recently.....I had wondered why the boat was out there

 

[Divetech Cayman]

That would explain why I saw the aggressor on some Ocean Frontier pictures when they went to little cayman recently.....I had wondered why the boat was out there

Yes we have booked 4 resident trips with them. We didn't want to rub it in anyone's faces, so we didn't promote it too much outside of Cayman resident circles.

Tony

 

[Divetech Cayman]

this paints more of a grim picture than I was hoping. I follow Red Sail and a few places on FB and they are keeping up a good outward presence but your description sounds pretty dire. I agree, they went all in on no infections and were successful. But if they ever open up again to travel, it will be a risk of getting it on the island. If that risk is unacceptable they may never get back to the popular dive destination they have been for decades.

I am hoping a vaccine is developed by this November ( Trumps claims it will be ) and tourism kicks back in for everyone. I may hold off on booking my trip for next summer. The idea of rapid testing makes the most sense. Take a test at the airport when you land, you are done and enjoy your vacation. Hope that works out.

Hopefully you follow us as well! We have some great images taken by our photo pro's on a daily basis posted. None of these are stock images, they are all our own shots taken recently. The exception was during our 90 day lockdown, we had to re-use a few shots and ran out, but we are back in full swing. Divetech

This past year has obviously been tough, and the coming year more so. I feel most dive operators will survive this. Divetech is fortunate, while we've had many staff move off the island, we still retain a good core group of people, and they have been doing an excellent job of seeking out locals for training of all levels. We are doing lots of tech and rebreather training, and lots of divemaster programs. One of our DM candidates works for a large corporation and has recruited us about 50 DSD's, and some of these have turned into open-water classes.

We are also fortunate that we have no debit. We outright own our shop, boats and vehicles. Other shops who are heavily debt-laden won't be so lucky, but I feel the core companies all of you know and operate with will survive this.

What you will likely find is in 2021, the remaining shops operating at reduced capacity due to lack of staff. Some of your known and loved dive staff will not be here and that will be sad, but there will be new faces to come in that you will love just as much.

Tony

 

[tkaelin]

Caymans now closed through at least mid Jan.

 

[scubadada]

Caymans now closed through at least mid Jan.

I also just received the email from Clearly Cayman. Seemed that their idea for their 3 resorts to be visitation bubbles was a potentially viable one. Too bad.

Dear Valued Guest,

We have been informed by the Cayman Islands Government that the previously announced phased reopening will not include international stayover visitors until at least mid-January 2020. No specific date for reopening the borders to visitors has been communicated.

Since July, we have been working collaboratively with the Cayman Islands Government, the other major hotel brands, healthcare providers and technology companies to develop the entry, testing, and sanitation & safety protocols required for reopening. We achieved consensus among all of the participants, including the Cayman government agency responsible for reopening, that the protocols represent best-practices to protect travelers, staff and the residents of the Cayman Islands.

In spite of the progress made on the reopening plan, the Cayman government leaders have declined the proposal. We are incredibly disappointed with the Government’s decision but continue our work with the Government to deliver a specific reopening date for the return of international tourism to the Cayman Islands.