Grand Cayman - diving with our 13 yr. old - which dive shop?

[SCUBA Fletch]

We're headed to Grand Cayman next week... I have a few questions about who to dive with / where, etc.

• We have been 4 or 5 times and have always dove with Ocean Frontiers.
• We're staying on the East End @ the Morritt's Grand.
• My husband and I are both Master Scuba Divers (just above Rescue - on the recreational side, not Divemasters on the pro side).
• We will have our 13-yr. old son with us who was certified just over a year ago - JOW.
• He has only been in blue water on our trip last Thanksgiving to Cabo San Lucas, so he's still very inexperienced.

We're trying to decide what is best for us. My son won't dive as much as we do - but we want him to do the Stingray City dive and maybe a 2-tank day and 1-tank night dive. I've read great stuff about Dive Tech - but they are SO far away from where we're staying - is it worth it? I read something about black light night dives and that sounded intriguing... maybe it's worth a trip just for that...

Like I said, we've always been with OF - and they are a great company. I just want to make sure that our son is not rushed and that we don't hold up a group when he's with us.

We'd also like to do some shore diving if possible - but not sure it's worth the effort or if we should just stick with boat diving this time. We've never done shore diving in Cayman - only on the Big Island of Hawaii... so we're limited in our understanding of the big picture there.

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

 

[apertyx]

That's the downfall to staying on the East End - so far from everything else, but that's also it's draw!!! Red Sail Sports is at Morritt's, and they do a great job in my opinion (no, I don't work there ... anymore!), but as you know, the diving on the east side can be tad more challenging some days, especially for a new, young diver. If you don't mind the trip around the island, I might suggest Don Foster's Dive Cayman - just before you get into George Town, they have great boat dives, AND their own house reef. The shore dive is great - day or night - and you can scoot over to Devil's Grotto and a couple other sites within that shore dive as well, done right off the back of the shop. Dive tech is great too, but another good 1/2 hour down the road, and who wants to spend half your vacation in traffic? Don Foster's also does Stingray City a couple days a week, and are incredibly accommodating to young and new divers. I CAN say that - I DO work there (off island right now for cancer treatments, but I know how I take care of my clients!). Best I can say is give them a call if you're interested, tell em Stevie in Canada told you to, and see what they can offer you! Any way you go, you'll have a great time, I know that!! Enjoy Cayman! Can't wait to get back there myself and get teaching and shooting photos again!!!

 

[SCUBA Fletch]

Thanks.

First of all - I wish you all the best with the cancer treatments...

I will see what else we come up with - and will consider your idea. I agree - it's a LONG drive through traffic to get to the other side of 7-mile, so we will likely only go that far one day during the week.

Thanks again!
Susan

 

[Alex777]

There is no reason I can see to not return to OF. Your son can do the shallow dives as they rarely exceed 60' in depth. For shore diving, you can drive up to Sunset House or Eden Rock. Neither site will take you below 60' so your son should enjoy these.

 

[Tide19]

I agree with Alex on this, you may be able to stick with OF. You've dove with them before so you know that their two tank dives are usually a wall followed by a shallow reef dive. A good chunk of the wall dives have some decent reefs at the top of the wall, right around 50' or 60'. They usually send out 4 divers with a master, so they may be willing to accomodate you, your wife, and your son for one dive, sending your group shallow to the top of the wall. If they take you somewhere like The Maze you've got a decent chance at seeing some Macro life up their at 50' or 60'.

I just dove with them two weeks ago, and they're sending their night dives to a sight just outside of the reef channel, very shallow. Can't remember if they're still running a Stingray trip as part of their 3 tank safari, though.

It'd be worth sending them an e-mail, anyway.

 

[Alex777]

They usually send out 4 divers with a master, so they may be willing to accomodate you, your wife, and your son for one dive, sending your group shallow to the top of the wall. If they take you somewhere like The Maze you've got a decent chance at seeing some Macro life up their at 50' or 60'.

I just dove with them two weeks ago, and they're sending their night dives to a sight just outside of the reef channel, very shallow. Can't remember if they're still running a Stingray trip as part of their 3 tank safari, though.

It'd be worth sending them an e-mail, anyway.

They still do the 3-tank safari, including StingRay City.

Ask them if a DM can dive shallow with your son while you do the deep dive, if you are comfortable with that. The top of the wall on a deep dive is usually 60 feet or less.

 

[War Eagle Diver]

I have to say stick with OF as well. They're who we use when down there and they have been great everytime. Also, they have the blacklight night glow dive as well. We actually dove their second time ever doing it and it was great. Warm chocolate chip muffins and hot chocolate when you come back up to the boat! Your son would probably really like that dive and it is only in 20 feet of water. All in all, we love diving with OF.

 

[SCUBA Fletch]

We've always enjoyed diving with OF - and we chose to stay with them for this trip. It was perfect - we just hired a private guide to go with our 13 yr. old on the deeper dives and then we caught up to them toward the end of the dives. OF was as good as they always are - and we were so glad that we didn't have to drive a long way to dive.

We snorkeled at Smith's Cove on Thanksgiving day - great place to hang out and snorkel... lots to see, but the surge can be strong at times. We also snorkeled over by Sunset Divers but we weren't nearly as impressed. Apparently there's some shore diving near Cathy Church's shop, but we just visited the camera shop there - didn't get in the water.

Thanks to all that posted - we had a great trip!