Cayman Brac

[caymaniac]

I personally would choose the Divi. I have been at the Brac Reef when the boats at the Brac reef broke down and I have been at the Divi when the boats at the Brac reef broke down. Also I have been on several trips when Brac reef wouldn't go to Little Cayman and the Divi would go.
Rumor also has it that the Brac reefs boats were on Grand Cayman when the hurricane hit and are not yet ready to dive with yet, while the Divi is a go.

 

[DougY]

Hi,
I went to Divi in feb 2003. The hotel was OK, it looked like it had seen better days. The food was good and the evenings in the bar good fun. The dive operation was superb boats, kit and staff were all top quality. I would go back there.

Hope this helps

Doug

 

[Hoppy]

Have dived with Reef Divers twice and found them to be a fabulous outfit.

If you go with them pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez get Craig to email me or PM via here ? I've lost his darned email address.

 

[dive4funOften]

Actually the Divi has lost it's doc. Since the fill station was on the doc so I doubt they are even running trips yet. The Divi also let go all of there DM's.

The Brac Reef is owned by a company out of Tampa and is a class operation. They kept all the employees.

The Divi was pretty run down when I was there. The food was good. The rooms were clean. There is no air conditioning in the bathroom. There were a few maintenence issues that they tried to fix. They treated us absolutely like royalty. I loved it. The diving was wonderful. They seemed to be putting a little money into the place. The people that were there when we were there were loyal Divi-ites.

I am leaving on Friday and will post about the Brac Reef club next week.

 

[-hh]

Actually the Divi has lost it's doc.

Actually, everyone on the Brac lost their docks.

But Divi has shared photo's of their dock reconstruction. This one's from around 10 days ago:

Since the fill station was on the doc...

Filling whips, but not the compressor shed. The compressors and bank was undamaged, and is filling tanks (just not as conveniently).

... so I doubt they are even running trips yet.

Divi had three of their diveboats back in service by Sept 20th. They did have one diveboat out of service (Island Fever II) from Ivan. It was refloated on 10/20/04.

They've been back in business with guests for almost a month now: their first returning guests were Ken & Linda Jordan from Michigan (who flew in on their own airplane).
See: this CNN article which details their Oct 8th visit.

The Divi also let go all of there DM's.

"All"? True, Richard Griggs did leave. The only other staffmember who has left that I'm aware of is Gwenda, and she's now working over at Faith Hospital (a "Government Job"). This doesn't inlude the very temporary disruption back in September when ~500 Grand Cayman evacuee's were living in hotel rooms on the Brac.

The Brac Reef is owned by a company out of Tampa and is a class operation. They kept all the employees.

The Brac Reef has been collectively owned by Linton Tibbets' children: did this change, or are you thinking of Danny Tibbets who happened to have been born in Tampa and has a dual US/Caymanian citizenship?

The Divi was pretty run down when I was there. The food was good. The rooms were clean. There is no air conditioning in the bathroom. There were a few maintenence issues that they tried to fix. They treated us absolutely like royalty. I loved it. The diving was wonderful. They seemed to be putting a little money into the place. The people that were there when we were there were loyal Divi-ites.

Resort condition is a pendulum...for both properties. Even though I'm a TS owner at Divi, I suggest to people to find out which one has been more recently rennovated (if they care about rooms, etc) or to flip a coin. Also par for the course is that whichever Brac hotel you try first tends to be the one that you stick with for your future visits...and it does seem that there are always future visits.

I am leaving on Friday and will post about the Brac Reef club next week.

We'll be watching for it. My next visit is coming up soon, but not quite that soon.


-hh

 

[Kay]

Well, it sounds like I pretty much can't lose either way. Have a wonderful trip next week, and let me know how it is at this time. Hopefully, everyone will be fully operational by the end of February. I'll have to start counting the days soon, won't I? Thanks for all the feedback. I appreciate it.

 

[dive4funOften]

Actually, everyone on the Brac lost their docks.

But Divi has shared photo's of their dock reconstruction. This one's from around 10 days ago:

Filling whips, but not the compressor shed. The compressors and bank was undamaged, and is filling tanks (just not as conveniently).



Divi had three of their diveboats back in service by Sept 20th. They did have one diveboat out of service (Island Fever II) from Ivan. It was refloated on 10/20/04.

They've been back in business with guests for almost a month now: their first returning guests were Ken & Linda Jordan from Michigan (who flew in on their own airplane).
See: this CNN article which details their Oct 8th visit.


"All"? True, Richard Griggs did leave. The only other staffmember who has left that I'm aware of is Gwenda, and she's now working over at Faith Hospital (a "Government Job"). This doesn't inlude the very temporary disruption back in September when ~500 Grand Cayman evacuee's were living in hotel rooms on the Brac.



The Brac Reef has been collectively owned by Linton Tibbets' children: did this change, or are you thinking of Danny Tibbets who happened to have been born in Tampa and has a dual US/Caymanian citizenship?



Resort condition is a pendulum...for both properties. Even though I'm a TS owner at Divi, I suggest to people to find out which one has been more recently rennovated (if they care about rooms, etc) or to flip a coin. Also par for the course is that whichever Brac hotel you try first tends to be the one that you stick with for your future visits...and it does seem that there are always future visits.



We'll be watching for it. My next visit is coming up soon, but not quite that soon.


-hh

FYI - Linton owns Cox Lumber.

 

[-hh]

FYI - Linton owns Cox Lumber.

FYI - He also owned a bank in Atlanta. And a couple of concrete ships. He was in the Merchant Marines in WW-II and as a child, survived the '32 Storm on the Brac.

I also understand that he's who we have to thank for saving Little Cayman from being completely terraformed by Hilton, although I suspect that there was prodding from his lovely wife...afterall, Linton personally told me that the LCBR was built because she told him that she didn't want to have to cook dinner every night anymore <grin>.

Enjoy your trip to the Brac.

-hh

 

[scubajoe]

Reef Divers will pick up up at Caribe sands. They run a great operation. I know nothing about Dive Tiara.

Joe

 

[DocVikingo]

Actually, everyone on the Brac lost their docks.

But Divi has shared photo's of their dock reconstruction. This one's from around 10 days ago:

Filling whips, but not the compressor shed. The compressors and bank was undamaged, and is filling tanks (just not as conveniently).



Divi had three of their diveboats back in service by Sept 20th. They did have one diveboat out of service (Island Fever II) from Ivan. It was refloated on 10/20/04.

They've been back in business with guests for almost a month now: their first returning guests were Ken & Linda Jordan from Michigan (who flew in on their own airplane).
See: this CNN article which details their Oct 8th visit.


"All"? True, Richard Griggs did leave. The only other staffmember who has left that I'm aware of is Gwenda, and she's now working over at Faith Hospital (a "Government Job"). This doesn't inlude the very temporary disruption back in September when ~500 Grand Cayman evacuee's were living in hotel rooms on the Brac.



The Brac Reef has been collectively owned by Linton Tibbets' children: did this change, or are you thinking of Danny Tibbets who happened to have been born in Tampa and has a dual US/Caymanian citizenship?



Resort condition is a pendulum...for both properties. Even though I'm a TS owner at Divi, I suggest to people to find out which one has been more recently rennovated (if they care about rooms, etc) or to flip a coin. Also par for the course is that whichever Brac hotel you try first tends to be the one that you stick with for your future visits...and it does seem that there are always future visits.



We'll be watching for it. My next visit is coming up soon, but not quite that soon.


-hh

Any chance we can get a working link for Divi's dock reconstruction photos?

Thanks,

DocVikingo