Advice: dive op. in Grand Cayman?

[Scuba65]

I personally like Sunset House Divers. they are a good operator and no cattle boats.

 

[Yazmeen]

Another vote for Sunset House: Great atmosphere, wonderful staff, no cattle boats, and the shore diving/snorkeling is terrific.

 

[diversteve]

The main purpose of the dives is photography

Might also want to seriously consider Fisheye Photo/Diving. www.fisheye.com. Also a must stop is the Cathy Church photo center. http://www.cathychurch.com/ It's in the basement of the main building at Sunset House. She has some outstanding prints for view/sale there. Also photos with the Mermaid - http://www.sunsethouse.com/shore_diving.php - while you're there, it's a very photogenic spot.

 

[TruckDiver]

All of these are solid questions! This is why this forum is such a great way to get info.

We will be diving morning dives only; two AM dives as early as possible. We will probably arrange two night dives during the week. Location of the dive facility isn't critical, yes I'd like it to be close; but who really cares?? The main purpose of the dives is photography. Divers are experienced, with the lowest cert level a master diver. (All else are instructor or DM's).

Like everyone, who doesn't like to be without the crowd???

Thanks for everyone's help.

If your main purpose is photography, I'd have to also suggest Sunset. Fairly close to SMB (just south of Georgetown), nice boats and Cathy Church is on site. Getting there could be a hassle, traffic coming south in the morning can be a mess. But, if you got there early, you could always have breakfast at the restaurant. They also will rent you dive lockers, so you could store your gear there if you'd like.

My second suggestion would be Treasure Island. They're located right on SMB, just a little south of Treasure Island Resort.
Some folks on the board don't like them, but I dove with them and enjoyed it. Nice large boats and camera only rinse tanks were big pluses for me. Morning dives were uncrowded, and they let us dive like we wanted to.
Check out this website www.gotocayman.com , there are listings for all the dive ops on the island.

 

[diversteve]

My second suggestion would be Treasure Island. They're located right on SMB, just a little south of Treasure Island Resort.

TIDivers hasn't reopened since Ivan. The latest word on their website is sometime in March. It probably has something to do with a picture I saw post-Ivan, it was one of their boats(Milsap?) sitting on a road pretty far inland. Also I think they had bought/were involved with the Seaview last year, it was pretty well decimated. Latest update on Seaview is that it's been sold and is being rebuilt as condos.

Hopefully they're back in business soon.

 

[CJ's]

As far as I know and have heard TI Divers will not be re-opening. Apparantly they have sold their boats and the land they operated from.

No news yet on Seaview. The condo deal has fallen through so the owner is still looking for someone with a few million to burn who can rebuild or start over again. Either way, Seaview as we knew it will not be happening!

Tearfully, CJ.

 

[TruckDiver]

As far as I know and have heard TI Divers will not be re-opening. Apparantly they have sold their boats and the land they operated from.

Dang, I hate to hear that! I've dove with T.I. twice for a week at a time. Nice location, very easy to get to. Any idea who's going to take over their spot? It's too prime a location to go unused for long!

 

[realityIII]

Places like Sunset house and Dive tech at Cobolt you end up paying more and don\'t go to the best places. Always book your hotel and dives separately in the Caymnas. You can get rooms cheap at Courtyard Marriott or Comfort Suites and then book with Neptunes or someone that doesn\'t take more than 8 and will take you to the good spots. We\'ve been diving with Neptunes for 10 years and never went to the same site twice (except when we requested it).

 

[diveIIcaribbean]

I totally agree. Unless you are going to Little Cayman, all-inclusives generally charge more and give less. independants like Neptunes and Absolute will take you to way better sites and give you considerably more freedom and/or attention, whichever you prefer.

Some of the best rates for hotels are Courtyard Marriott, Sunshine Suites, Comfort Suites and Turtle Nest Inn.

 

[Turtle Gal]

Places like Sunset house and Dive tech at Cobolt you end up paying more and don\'t go to the best places. Always book your hotel and dives separately in the Caymnas. You can get rooms cheap at Courtyard Marriott or Comfort Suites and then book with Neptunes or someone that doesn\'t take more than 8 and will take you to the good spots. We\'ve been diving with Neptunes for 10 years and never went to the same site twice (except when we requested it).

Please don't take this wrong,BUT, How many times have you dove with Divetech? I don't want to get anyone heated up about this.Im just asking a simple question. What spot do you think was good that you didn't get to go to? Did you ask if they dive at Your Spot or are they planning to ? If they didn't have it planned, someone can always mention it. The staff is great at accommodating the divers. At least they ALWAYS have when Ive been there. Ive heard other divers ask about a certain dive location and the diver gets to the spot. All a person has to do is ask. Happy diving, Turtle gal