Trip Report CAYMAN BRAC BEACH RESORT/REEF DIVERS

[AggieDiver]

Ignore him - in my experience here, that poster is often a sanctimonious blowhard.

By any reasonable measure, prohibiting the next day’s dives was completely unreasonable given the profiles that are dived there. Arguing otherwise is just ridiculous, in my opinion.

I will "argue otherwise" in a way that should make you reconsider that position. Reef Divers makes a big deal about a few rules. 1. Everybody dives with a computer. 2. If you lock out your computer by doing something like skipping a deco obligation, high speed ascents, etc., then you will be held out of the water for 24-48 hours until the computer clears. Without a computer with them, the DM has no idea what their 2nd dive profile was and no idea what their nitrogen load is at that time.

The diver forgetting their computer for the 2nd dive is one possible explanation the DM could accept. But if a diver locked out their computer and "forgot" to take it on the 2nd dive instead of admitting to locking it out, and then doesn't tell the dive master prior to breaking the rule and diving without a computer, that is a serious situation that puts the diver and the operation at risk on an island with minimal medical capability and no hyperbaric chamber.

Holding them out from the afternoon dive is a no brainer in that situation, because with no computer on the 2nd dive, the DM has no record of how conservative the diver's profile was or wasn't. In my mind, the DM could have looked at the computer to make sure it was not locked out the next morning and allowed them to dive after confirming it. But I am sure the DMs are suspicious any time a diver does something like that without talking to them about it. Given that it was the last day of diving before flying out 18-20 hours later, and not knowing what they did or didn't do the day before, there is at least a plausible, if probably excessively cautious, reason to believe the diver should consider not diving.

I am sure in the eyes of the DM, getting in the water and not noticing you forgot your computer suggests a diver who either didn't do their basic buddy and gear checks that should be a part of every dive even for experienced divers, or a diver who didn't wear the computer for the 2nd dive for a reason.

Regarding the vaping diver, I have been diving with RD at CB and LC for over 25 years and this is honestly the first time I have ever heard or seen of them being accused of doing something unsafe.

 

[AggieDiver]

It's interesting that the Little Cayman Beach Resort website says their waivers are digital and will be emailed to the guests prior to arrival. But the Cayman Brac Resort website omits this information. Both websites refer their rental gear charges to this PDF.

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I can't tell if the OP left the computer on the boat, or forgot to bring it on the boat. If it's the latter, then I would expect the boat to have a spare computer or two if there is a malfunction with the diver's own gear.

If it was the 2nd dive of the day, they typically do not go back to the dock between dives 1 and 2, so presumably if he had it on dive 1, it was just left on the boat for dive 2. In either case, the crew has extra computers on the boat and will let you use them if yours fails or you forgot it. I have been in that situation and was able to borrow a computer on the boat free of charge.

 

[AggieDiver]

Wow, no bueno. I don't think I've ever been there with more than 10, maybe 12 divers on a boat and even then there was still a pretty good amount of freedom to do your own thing. Again, I wonder whether they had an incidents/accident in the last few years.

I can't speak to John's experience with LCBR, but I have been never experienced a situation where the DM has required anybody to follow them in over 25 years of diving there. Quite the contrary, they have always emphasized that you are free to do your own dive at your own pace as long as you are back on the boat within the limits they set for the dive.

And the time it takes to enter the water is a non-problem when you are doing moored dives at a set location and can come up whenever you are ready/out of air/at the end of the allowed dive profile time. The people I see complain about that are usually people used to doing drift dives in places like Coz where everybody goes over the side together and they are all required to surface at the same time. In that situation, 7 minutes lost getting in the water is 7 minutes less you get to dive. For a dive at a moored location, it means nothing. You get in the water when you get in the water, and you do your own dive. If you don't want to follow the DM, get in the water early and go do your thing. If you want to follow the DM, wait until near the end of the line so you don't have to wait for them on the bottom.

 

[AggieDiver]

It's interesting how things change. I have been to LCBR twice, once in 2010 with my son and once in 2014 with my wife. My son and I largely dived independently and reboarded the boat at around an hour. My wife and I generally dived with the guide for the 45 or so minutes before returning to the boat. My wife was low on gas before me. I was allowed to swim around by myself until I had expended the hour or so.

I have only dived in Cayman Brac once in 2017. I did the trip by myself. I never had a buddy. I stayed within reasonable sight of the group through the first 45 min and then dived by myself to the limit around an hour. It was all very relaxed and good diving.

My wife and I are considering returning to Little Cayman this fall.

I was in LCBR last August and nothing was changed at that point. The DMs let everybody dive their own dive and there was no requirement to follow the DM. As long as you didn't violate their depth limits and came back with plenty of air, they didn't say anything about dives longer than the profile as long as you were not holding up the rest of the boat's schedule by coming up 5-10 minutes after everybody. If you are ready to get in the water when they finish the briefing, you can be among the first in the water, and as long as you come up around the same time as the last of the divers in the group and have plenty of air in your tanks, they never checked my computer or said a word about dive times.

 

[AggieDiver]

He had it on the first dive, removed it during surface interval when he took his wetsuit top off, forgot to put it on the 2nd dive which was 60 foot. This was on day 5 of 6 days of diving, we dove nitrox 32 the whole week. We both dive conservatively and don't push limits. They made him sit out dive #3 of the day. We didn't argue or make an issue.

The next day was when the crap hit the fan because they wanted to ban him from the final day of diving - he had been out of the water for 20 hours at this point and we were not facing a deco lock out situation.

I posted this here on ScubaBoard not to bash the dive operation, but if I was travelling to the Brac and diving with this operation, I would want to know how strict they are with regards to the rules.

I agree with you that the ban for the next day was not reasonable at least without inspecting his computer first to see that it was clear. I posted a scenario above of why the DM could be reluctant, but wanted to be clear that I wasn't accusing you or your husband of doing that...just that the DM has no way of knowing that you weren't. They are known for being very strict about safety, but I have not seen or experienced them being unreasonable about it. That is why the vaping diver scenario is surprising to me.

 

[ReadyDiverOne]

I agree with you that the ban for the next day was not reasonable at least without inspecting his computer first to see that it was clear. I posted a scenario above of why the DM could be reluctant, but wanted to be clear that I wasn't accusing you or your husband of doing that...just that the DM has no way of knowing that you weren't. They are known for being very strict about safety, but I have not seen or experienced them being unreasonable about it. That is why the vaping diver scenario is surprising to me.

Exactly (although per the facts as posted by the OP this was well into the dive trip so presumably the DMs had had plenty of opportunity to size the diver up both above and below water and thus make an informed decision).

Re the vaping, yeah man, crazy. No idea what was going on there.

 

[AggieDiver]

Exactly (although per the facts as posted by the OP this was well into the dive trip so presumably the DMs had had plenty of opportunity to size the diver up both above and below water and thus make an informed decision).

Re the vaping, yeah man, crazy. No idea what was going on there.

I have thoughts based on what I have seen before, but the description didn't sound similar to me. I have seen times on LC when the boat is not very crowded where they will let a local tag along on the boat. The guy I am thinking of in particular helped the crew with BCs for paying divers, then jumped in the water diving solo and did his own thing doing macro photography. The impression I got was that maybe he wasn't really paying them for diving and subject to their rules, but instead just hitching a ride on the boat and helping out to pay his way. I do think they have some arrangements like that with locals at times, but I would be surprised to hear they were allowing them to vape on the boat or otherwise flout safety rules.

 

[mbs]

Mike, we had a diver forget his computer at LCBR once. He left it on the camera table. Captain spotted it and banned him from 2nd dive.

We dive without a DM. Do our own thing. Never been a prob at LCBR. Never been to CB.

Interesting Cliff. Eagle eyed captain! Definitely did our own thing at CBBR as well. If they are backing away from that it would be very bad. But I can't see them doing that, can you?

 

[Budgirl]

I agree with you that the ban for the next day was not reasonable at least without inspecting his computer first to see that it was clear. I posted a scenario above of why the DM could be reluctant, but wanted to be clear that I wasn't accusing you or your husband of doing that...just that the DM has no way of knowing that you weren't. They are known for being very strict about safety, but I have not seen or experienced them being unreasonable about it. That is why the vaping diver scenario is surprising to me.

All good points, my husband has over 1,000 dives and is not a careless diver. Honest mistake and one we did not fight when they barred him from the 3rd dive of the day. In the end, they let him dive the final day but it took a major discussion to get them to that decision.

The vaping - no idea but to me as a first timer with this resort dive op - it was a discouraging.

I hope this was a one-off and not representative of there normal business practices.

 

[tridacna]

Interesting Cliff. Eagle eyed captain! Definitely did our own thing at CBBR as well. If they are backing away from that it would be very bad. But I can't see them doing that, can you?

Personally I’m all for safety first. I bring large groups and I appreciate the way that they do watch out for potential problems. I’ll be going back for trip number six next year and no qualms about any of their procedures.

My divers have always had a great time and I’ve always had the same number of divers on the departing flights that arrived a week earlier.

Sad that Tonya has retired. She was a great resource.