Advice: dive op. in Grand Cayman?

[sdwho]

I'll second Turtle Gal's comments. The folks at Divetech have always been very accomodating about taking us where we want...ensuring that folks don't end up diving the same spots (unless they want to...). My sense is that the DM's at Divetech enjoy diving very much and aren't about to spend their time diving poor locations. Not meant as a criticism of any other outfit, and it may well be that you can put together a cheaper trip with other hotels/dive outfits. But I've always felt that I've gotten great deals from Cobalt Coast and DT -- plus, I like being away from 7 Mile Beach and I like having the opportunity to dive the North Wall and to shore dive at CC and Turtle Reef.

sdwho

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

 

[realityIII]

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

Of course I dove with them, how else would I know? They took us to a west side wall dive because they said the north side was too rough. The dive was OK, but nothing spectacular. Then on the second dive they were teaching a class so they took us to some boring sandy bottom shallow site and told us to go off on our own. I think I saw about 10 fish and some broken coral. We canceled the next trip with them and went the next day with Neptunes. They took us to the north wall and told us it was FINE and CALM there the day before. That was the day Divetech told us it was too rough. The reason was that they wanted to save gas and time and have a shallow place to do their teaching. They were NOT looking out for the best interestes of the experienced divers. Neptunes and many other small-group operators are much better. I am not saying divetech is bad, just that there are many better places if you are a certified diver looking to dive the best sites.

 

[Turtle Gal]

Reality III, I asked ,How many times did you dive with them? I wasn't implying anything else. And Im sorry you didn't have a good time with them. Divetech has many places to dive that are very beautiful, Maybe you should have hung around to check it out for yourself. Maybe you should have talked to Nancy. The one thing I know for sure, Grand Cayman is a great place to dive, Happy diving all, Turtle gal

 

[realityIII]

Reality III, I asked ,How many times did you dive with them? I wasn\'t implying anything else. And Im sorry you didn\'t have a good time with them. Divetech has many places to dive that are very beautiful, Maybe you should have hung around to check it out for yourself. Maybe you should have talked to Nancy. The one thing I know for sure, Grand Cayman is a great place to dive, Happy diving all, Turtle gal

Turtle Gal, why should I give them a \"second chance\"?? If I eat at a restaurant and get sick afterwards, I don\'t go back again and hope it will be better. They had a chance, and they blew it. Taking us to lousy sites so they could do their teaching was bad, not telling us and LYING about the conditions on the north wall was INEXCUSABLE. They did do us a favor by us canceling and finding Neptunes who is so much better. There are so many good dive operators there that there is absolutely no reason to put up with that. They get one chance to do their job or I go elsewhere. End of story.

On a positive note, when we were there we found a new restaurant called Calypso Chicken. It is a very healthy and more cost effective alternative to Chicken Chicken. Give them a try next time you go. We absolutely loved it!

 

[Turtle Gal]

GETTING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL POST!!! There are many dive ops on the Island!Whoever you choose. The water is warm,and clear. Grand Cayman is my favorite Vacation spot. And I love diving and snorkling there. Hope you have a wonderful time. Turtle gal

 

[a.powell]

We own a timeshare in the Caymans and have been diving there for about 10 years. The visibility and sealife are second to none. The spectacular diving is mostly why we got the timeshare.

We had a similar experience at Divetech where they were teaching a class and took us to beginner sites, even though we requested more advanced sites. I think they are good if you are training, but for certified or advanced divers wanting to see the best sites, there are many other operators better suited for that. We use two. Absolute Divers, if we have friends there because with a group of 4 or more, you can get the whole boat to yourselves and they take you to the really spectacular sites that hardly anyone else goes to. They will do the regular stops if you request them, but I recommend leaving it up to them. They have amazed us every time. Our other choice is Eden Rock. We use them if it is just the two of us to save money. They are very good about keeping the advanced divers happy and will not allow teaching to get in the way of taking the more experienced divers to the best sites.

There are a couple of really terrific sites to help you with updated information since the storm.

One is www.CruiseCritic.com They cater mostly to cruise ship passengers, but there are links to many good sources of information.

The other is www.caymanactivityguide.com/forums They have a really wonderful group of people there that have been going to the Caymans, all three islands, for a long time, so it is a great source of recommendations from experienced visitors. Some of the locals even participate and it is a really fun forum.

I hope this helps, Happy Diving everyone!

 

[realityIII]

We own a timeshare in the Caymans and have been diving there for about 10 years. The visibility and sealife are second to none. The spectacular diving is mostly why we got the timeshare.

We had a similar experience at Divetech where they were teaching a class and took us to beginner sites, even though we requested more advanced sites. I think they are good if you are training, but for certified or advanced divers wanting to see the best sites, there are many other operators better suited for that. We use two. Absolute Divers, if we have friends there because with a group of 4 or more, you can get the whole boat to yourselves and they take you to the really spectacular sites that hardly anyone else goes to. They will do the regular stops if you request them, but I recommend leaving it up to them. They have amazed us every time. Our other choice is Eden Rock. We use them if it is just the two of us to save money. They are very good about keeping the advanced divers happy and will not allow teaching to get in the way of taking the more experienced divers to the best sites.

There are a couple of really terrific sites to help you with updated information since the storm.

One is www.CruiseCritic.com They cater mostly to cruise ship passengers, but there are links to many good sources of information.

The other is www.caymanactivityguide.com/forums They have a really wonderful group of people there that have been going to the Caymans, all three islands, for a long time, so it is a great source of recommendations from experienced visitors. Some of the locals even participate and it is a really fun forum.

I hope this helps, Happy Diving everyone!

Excellent post anne, thanks for sharing. Those are both excellent links.

 

[AllanHarr]

Thanks to all for some great information. I'll start booking dive operator arrangements. Can't tell you how I appreciate the info, links, and general good wishes. A