Have SB divers lost interest in GC?

[TNEngineer]

I have now completed two days of diving on Little Cayman, and the difference is enormous. Today's dive was on what may be the healthiest reef I have seen in years.

I'm passing this on to my wife as evidence that we need to get to LC as soon as possible! Thank you for this supportive comment!

 

[Joneill]

Just a quick follow-up to my earlier post about my disappointment with Grand Cayman. I have now completed two days of diving on Little Cayman, and the difference is enormous. Today's dive was on what may be the healthiest reef I have seen in years. If the DM had not gotten lost, it would have been a fabulous dive.

What site was this?

 

[boulderjohn]

What site was this?

They called it Rob's Rock. I don't think it is a popular site. It was an afternoon dive on the west end. We dived there because there had been a supposed sighting of a whale shark in the area.

 

[tridacna]

They called it Rob's Rock. I don't think it is a popular site. It was an afternoon dive on the west end. We dived there because there had been a supposed sighting of a whale shark in the area.

Tell us more about the lost DM. Did he/she have to do a periscopic surface sighting?

 

[O-ring]

That was my experience last year on Aggressor as well.. we did a couple days diving around GC and once we made the crossing it was like someone flipped a switch.

 

[boulderjohn]

Were you lost too? Most of the dives off Little Cayman are pretty easy. We usually go by ourselves.

My wife is snorkeling above me during these dives. I am with friends. We don't like the way the dives are run. They usually have a DM in the front and a DM in the back. The 18 divers on the boat are in between. Once in the water, my friends and I hang back as much as possible, trying to stay far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife so we can keep the noiseless tenor of our ways. This means we miss the things the dive leader spots, but that's OK.

What's worse is their procedures for getting off the boat to start the dive. Getting 18 divers into the water the way they do it takes about 7-8 minutes. I timed this by getting in before the process actually begins and diving below the boat before the rest are in. We are at minute 7-8 before the dive leader splashes and the dive begins.

The problem with striking out on our own is that the dive briefing includes really nice swim throughs, which we like.

Tell us more about the lost DM. Did he/she have to do a periscopic surface sighting?

ON this dive there was no second DM, just the leader. We later learned that the leader had not been a DM (her actual certification level) for a year and has only worked on LC for four months. The dive plan was a triangle, heading straight out from the stern to the edge of a wall for about 80 yards or so, following the wall until the turn point, and then taking the hypotenuse back to the boat. She miscalculated that angle.

As for me, my friends and I were exploring the truly beautiful reef, keeping an eye on the madding crowd in the distance. I will give her some credit for her decision on the direction we took at the wall because I did not notice any current at the start either, but as we were going back, we were very much into the current, and it seemed to get stronger as we went. It became a lot of work. After a while, I was thinking we should have been back at the boat by now. Some of the people were obviously getting low on gas, because they were swimming near the surface. Finally, one of them went to the surface and then dropped back down, showing the way to the boat. The DM did the same, and we headed toward it. Most of the group was well past it.

My friends and I are all in our mid-70s, and although we do pretty well for people in our mid-70s, we are indeed in our mid 70s, and this was our third dive of the day. When one of my friends climbed the ladder ahead of me, he had to sit and pause to rest while one of the crew took his BP/W off. I waited on the ladder for that. After the group got back on board, we saw two people a ways off. One of them was too exhausted to get to the boat, and the other was helping her. We had to go and pick them up.

I don't mind saying I was beat. We went to bed early. We elected not to do the third dive today.

 

[TNEngineer]

Yeowch, that's a rough trip report. I don't mind newbie DM's but usually they have 1) an experienced DM along, 2) fewer divers, and/or 3) intimate familiarity with the dive spot(s). Sounds like you had none of the above.

It would be nice to have a polite way to "assess the DM" in such situations ahead of time. Visitors (read: non-locals) have no point of reference to know who/what they're getting.

 

[scubadada]

My wife is snorkeling above me during these dives. I am with friends. We don't like the way the dives are run. They usually have a DM in the front and a DM in the back. The 18 divers on the boat are in between. Once in the water, my friends and I hang back as much as possible, trying to stay far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife so we can keep the noiseless tenor of our ways. This means we miss the things the dive leader spots, but that's OK.

What's worse is their procedures for getting off the boat to start the dive. Getting 18 divers into the water the way they do it takes about 7-8 minutes. I timed this by getting in before the process actually begins and diving below the boat before the rest are in. We are at minute 7-8 before the dive leader splashes and the dive begins.

The problem with striking out on our own is that the dive briefing includes really nice swim throughs, which we like.

ON this dive there was no second DM, just the leader. We later learned that the leader had not been a DM (her actual certification level) for a year and has only worked on LC for four months. The dive plan was a triangle, heading straight out from the stern to the edge of a wall for about 80 yards or so, following the wall until the turn point, and then taking the hypotenuse back to the boat. She miscalculated that angle.

As for me, my friends and I were exploring the truly beautiful reef, keeping an eye on the madding crowd in the distance. I will give her some credit for her decision on the direction we took at the wall because I did not notice any current at the start either, but as we were going back, we were very much into the current, and it seemed to get stronger as we went. It became a lot of work. After a while, I was thinking we should have been back at the boat by now. Some of the people were obviously getting low on gas, because they were swimming near the surface. Finally, one of them went to the surface and then dropped back down, showing the way to the boat. The DM did the same, and we headed toward it. Most of the group was well past it.

My friends and I are all in our mid-70s, and although we do pretty well for people in our mid-70s, we are indeed in our mid 70s, and this was our third dive of the day. When one of my friends climbed the ladder ahead of me, he had to sit and pause to rest while one of the crew took his BP/W off. I waited on the ladder for that. After the group got back on board, we saw two people a ways off. One of them was too exhausted to get to the boat, and the other was helping her. We had to go and pick them up.

I don't mind saying I was beat. We went to bed early. We elected not to do the third dive today.

Hi @boulderjohn

Thanks for the follow up. I have been to Little Cayman twice, 2010 and 2014. Perhaps my memory is faulty, but I do not remember dive groups of 18, maybe two groups. Regardless, we usually went our own way. The route was similar, out on the wall, back on top of the wall and shallower. Seems like the key to finding the boat is to end up at the correct depth at the end of the dive. Perhaps that is what was missed on your dive.

I'm 70 myself, diving has not gotten easier. Sometimes currents don't cooperate, even switch direction. This is probably one of the reasons I love my drift diving in SE Florida. no diving against the current.

 

[TNEngineer]

@boulderjohn, I scanned back and can't figure out if you're at SCC or LCBR...?

 

[tridacna]

Thanks for the report. Sounds like that was a shıtty dive plan. I’ll be there in two weeks for my fourth trip. Is that site worth a request? Albeit with a DM who has some familiarity!