Grand Cayman: DiveTech Opinions

[IanH]

Well, I can tell you there are plenty of places that charge over the .80 that you are stating. I could show you the reciepts. Anyway, didn't mean to hijack this thread.

I know its a bit OT but you got me thinking, as I've just come back from GC. So I checked all my receipts (we ate out every night), not one of them "cheated" on the exchange rate (incl DiveTech).

 

[jjoeldm]

You can't do better on GCM than DiveTech and Ocean Frontiers. Two good outfits. Be sure to dive Babylon on the North Wall.

JoeL

 

[Northeastwrecks]

I've used DiveTech every year for the past 3 or 4 years. I've been very happy with them. They let us do what we want. They provide help without being pushy and are very good about trying to grab the sites we prefer. They provide good nitrox fills. One of their DM's took me on a personal tour of some less dived sites that was the best diving I've ever done on the island.

I wouldn't take Rodales too seriously. A bad review from them probably means that someone else paid more for an ad.

I've also heard very good things about Ocean Frontiers; however, I haven't been out with them.

As for the prices on GC, I don't object. I've never felt that I didn't get my monies worth. In addition, from what I've seen, it keeps the island a bit less crowded than some of the less expensive places. I'm willing to pay more to stay away from the drunken hordes that I've seen on other islands.

 

[scubadvr]

I have been diving with Divetech for over six years. Did my Trimix instruction there and have had wonderful experiences with them. It is true that they do not set up gear for you, but I never wanted anyone to set up my gear. Cobalt Coast is a sensational resort and the restaurant with chef Hans is awesome.

I read the negative opinions about Divetech and was absolutely blow away by the comments. The DM's complained about only lasted at Divetech 40 days. Really would suggest a retry there, expecially since Cayman Diving Lodge will not reopen after Hurricane Ivan for over a year probably January 06, Right now Divetech is filling tanks for Ocean Frontiers.

 

[scubadvr]

Have booked with DiveTech for 4 days in September (am staying at Cobalt Coast) and have read a lot of mixed reviews on the boards here and on Rodale's, with a very negative report recently posted on Rodale's. Not sure whether I should put all of my eggs in one basket and dive with them all four days now. Am thinking abt splitting my days with them and another dive op like Red Baron, Off the Wall, etc. But, would prefer to dive with one op.

Anyone dive with them recently and have any opinions to share?

Thx.

Have been diving with them for years and I think they are awesome. PS Cayman Divilng Lodge was destroyed in Hurricane Ivan, and Ocean Frontiers is having Divetech fill there tanks. East End of the Island not in great shape now. North side and West side where Divetech dives is in great shape. Can not say a bad word about them. They do not put your gear together tho.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

I've heard that they are kind of pushy when it comes to their technical trips. Any one have any experience with them in that regard?

Mike, my experience with this is they don't want to have folks trying to do tech stuff diving from the same boat or trip as folks doing rec stuff. we did our tech checkout dives in Nov. 2003 (our US instructor joined us on GC for part of our combined Little cayman / Grand Cayman 2 week sanity break from our jobs to do this). They were generally very accomodating - we did the tech checkout dives at turtle Reef as the wave action at Cobalt Coast could have had them billed as a 'surf resort' that trip - a very late season tropical storm had developed during this trip in addition to usual Nov. GC weather, and there were days even Turtle Reef wasn't accessible (first named storm in the Caribbean in December in recorded history).

So, there were some missed / garbled communications , some within the CC shop on our arrangements, and some between the CC shop and Turtle reef shop on our gas fills etc. but we were able to take care of this through chatting with the staff directly as needed. And, they gave us some exchange value for the dives as we did not do as rec boat diving those days (had communicated with Nancy up front what we wanted to do, they gave us the package dive/accomodations price, and credit back for rec dive costs on the days we did tech shore diving with our instructor). Overall, the biggest thing missed was proper accounting of costs for tech gas fills between the TR shop and CC shop - with all the errors in our favor (underbilling us, not overbilling us)! I straightened all that out before we departed the last morning before checkout and flight home, making sure we were billed properly. My recommendation is to keep your own itemized lists of activities engaged in, gas mixes used, etc. and take with you when settling up on the last day. It took until after we departed to get everything really sorted out properly including credits from non-boat rec dive days, and we were given a refund on our credit card after arriving back at home and a few e-mails back and forth sorting everything out with Nancy and Dora.

They are about like a doctors' office though on cancellation of dives with < 12 or 24 hours notice (can't remeber the exact time frame now, and I don't remember seeing this on their web site), and this was something that really got garbled between shop folks too. The shop folks didn't always write down what we told them for anyone else in the shop to see (not just gas fills planned). This is the only thing remotely 'pushy' we've experienced from them - so keep your own reservation 'log' with who you takled to, when (date/time), and what the result of the conversation was. Just like taking printed copies of correspondence (email etc.) about your arrangements before you leave to show to folks when you arrive (and sometimes other shop folks the next day, later that week, etc.). Divetech is far from the first or only operation we've experienced this at (Protech Belize also comes to mind) so don't think I'm singling them out on this.

We used Divetech twice, once staying at The Breadfruit House (now only available for long term rentals 30 days or more or some such as I understand) and once at Cobalt Coast. The accomodations side was always handled flawlessly. The suite we had at the Breadfruit House was great in it had a small washer / dryer combo in the closet by the water heater - great for part of a 2 week dive trip stay! But, the neighbor's rooster 'chicken clock' was not something I appreciated on our days of afternoon diving only, wanting to sleep in SOME days on vacation! No issues with days wanting to sleep in at CC - just tell Ari or Dora or their staff ahead of time, and no 'housekeepingus interruptus' occurs.

If you're looking for someone to set up your equipment for you like at LCBR or similar, Divetech isn't the shop to choose as that's not their program.

 

[carlislere]

I have dove with DiveTech on our Grand Cayman trips for 7 years. Very professional and easy going. I haven't had a problem with them.

 

[tvictory]

I just returned from 2 weeks with Dive Tech/Cobalt Coast. We arrived on November 20th, the first day overnight visitors were permitted back on the island. I will post a more detailed trip report when time permits, but I can truly say that everthing regarding the dive op and the resort were truly first class.

 

[mbiggs]

Hello all,
We're sitting at an outdoor table at CC this very minute having breakfast and watching the waves. Our last day (sigh). Their outdoor wireless internet is nice. One significant factor in our choice was our preference for numerous shore dives. Both Turtle Reef and the house reef are excellent dives with easy access. We can almost always find an octpus on night dives a TR, great for photo and video. Scooter dives to the wall are a blast.

Our experiences with OF have always been first rate also. Both are top notch.