Just back - not the best impression - this one is a definite skip it

[redacted]

What it does have is $500-600 2-3 hr non-stop flights from the US to your destination …

Not in this case. The trip down took 6+ hours take off at Newark, NJ to landing on GC. Coming back it was 8+ hours.

You didn't even intend to go back to areas you know are apt to be much better, with the option to dive with a different group, and speak of restrictions in such a way that I don't get the idea what's bothering you is solely an issue with the group you were with.

Not solely, perhaps but that’s a great part of it. Also, the Cayman solo restriction is BS with no way around it. Also, the expense on Cayman isn’t something I see as worth it. $20-$25 for a shore dive isn’t something I see as good value. Paying for weights, paying a daily fee for a driving permit, and being forced to boat dive to get any dive freedom is seriously off-putting. I see nothing about Cayman that would draw me back. I’d far rather spend 2 weeks in Dominica or Bonaire for the same or a bit less money. There are I’m sure much better sites than the ones I saw. Enough better to get me back – not so much.

Maybe you should voice a strong complaint to the Dive shop where this trip originated

There is either more to the story or the OP doesn't realize you can go to the Caymans without doing it with a local dive shop.

Maybe you missed (didn’t read) the part of my second post where I said the trip was a local club trip, planned by the club president, led buy club members. It had no connection to any dive shop.

I am not sure what restrictions you are talking about every dive op I have dove with has always let me and my buddy …

Didn’t have a buddy and the absolute no-solo restriction pinned me to the group. Also, I was captive to group transportation. The expense of renting my own car and paying more than $20 a day additional for a “drivers permit” seems both onerous and expensive even if I could solo dive.

I could understand maybe writing off Grand Cayman, but to write off Brac and Little Cayman?

Can you shore dive solo at either place? Can you get an unlimited air package for shore diving? Do they stick you with daily driving permit fees? Are there any non-exhorbitant accomodations available? If not, there are a lot of places that I can find equal or better diving. Also, my understanding is that it's a lot more expensive, transportation wise, to get to either place and it takes quite a bit longer.

It sounds like your main beef should be with the club and its members who ran this trip. Then you should be pissed at yourself for the the apparently poor research you did on Cayman diving. And, you are probably right - Cayman diving is probably not for you.

 

[fire_diver]

I loved GC as a dive destination, even without a dive buddy with me. We booked our own hotel and reserved a rental car. Had zero problems driving up to a dive shop and saying "I want to go diving with you, when does your next boat leave". We went to the grocery store and bought our own breakfast and lunch foods. Lots of cheap local dining if you do a little research. The tourist places are expensive as hell, so don't go there. We didn't have to pay $20 a day just to drive either. So either rules have changed or you misunderstood someone.

Yeah, I would have liked to rent a tank and do my own solo diving but it's certainly not a deal killer.

Rule number 1 when traveling is to relax. That means roll with the punches and don't get upset when plans change. My family travel is always an adventure; unexpected weather delays (which are darn near to always be expected!), closures, detours, re-routes. If you can't be happy deviating from a set plan, no travel will ever be fun.

 

[shrop3483]

Thanks to Shasta Man for his comment. We are happy to be part of this island (since the early '60s), and living here is nice. The ocean is at our front door.
When you come expecting something, and you go away without it, the attitude is bad. Cayman is "Caribbean diving". We love it. We love the diving. We love this little island paradise.
Fortunately, I was able to travel to Yap, Palau and Truk in JAN and too, loved it. Completely different diving. It is better, yes! In many, many ways.
However, Cayman (all the islands) are great for learning, training, and introducing new divers (and many who have been coming for years) to our "office".
Sorry you had a bad time. Do you wish to say more about your dive op of choice?
Safe diving-
Thomas ( Tom) K. Shropshire
Off The Wall Divers

 

[fire_diver]

Tom, I have a Q for you. The OP has repeatedly mentioned being charged for using the dive ops weights on a dive. I have never been charged for this from any op. Do you charge your customers for this rental and have you heard of any other Cayman op doing this?

 

[tkaelin]

Eden Rock charged us for weights and belts. No big deal but they did. That is the only place where we found this.

 

[fire_diver]

Eden Rock charged us for weights and belts. No big deal but they did. That is the only place where we found this.

Sounds like I will never step foot in some of the dive shops there. But at least I have a new question to ask when searching for my next GC dive op!

 

[Kharon]

I think I can see why this left such a bad taste in your mouth. I'd formulate it this way:

1.) The Caymans have a great reputation for diving, and even Grand Cayman is on the short list for good places to dive in the Caribbean.

2.) You were traveling with a club, with an allegedly locally seasoned leader, and had a realistic expectation of some really good diving.

3.) You paid in advance, so your budget for housing, all your diving, and maybe even food, were blown in advance by giving it to this club. And you had no independent transportation.You couldn't get that money back, and if you're like a lot of divers, your bank account had already taken the hit for this trip.

4.) The club's emphasis on socializing and choice of poor diving sites was a let down.

5.) You probably knew G.C. was expensive, but it turned out worse than you expected.

6.) You options were suck it up and tough it out (which you did), or blow the money for a rental vehicle, $20/day (at least you thought) driving permit, daily 2-tank boat dives, and chancing your luck on boats where you'd likely to stuck with an insta-buddy. All adding up to several hundred dollars, maybe over a grand, and that on top of all the non-recoverable money you'd already spent on this trip, paid to the club. Incidentally, leaving the group would probably also amount to flipping the group off, and presumably this is a group local to you that you might prefer to maintain a civil relationship with.

7.) You're a solo diver & an adult, and the solo prohibiting 'nanny state' position of Grand Cayman ticked you off.

8.) So a trip you'd invested hopes, dreams and money into became a large disappointment.

9.) You came to Scuba Board to vent and warn others.

10.) Of course, in doing so, you sort of whizzed on a destination many people like, triggering a predictable backlash.

Your trip report is useful. I knew some parts of Grand Cayman were better than others, but people laid it out in this thread! So maybe anybody planning a trip there who reads this knows to ask in advance what sites will be hit, and will have an idea what to do, and what it will cost, to abort the group and strike out on your own.

I'd like to know more about why the group was handled the way it was. I suspect convenience and cost containment might have been factors?

Richard.

Spot on & very thoughtful. Sorry I whizzed. There were some things I thought someone considering GC should know: paying for weights for example and the touted west side diving that has exceptionally poor coral and fish life (Eden Rock, Devils Grotto, etc.).

As far as convienence and cost containment - not so much. Once we got there cost wasn't considered. It was spend, spend, spend. Some of the group are probably in the 1% - the leaders and those that you never see at meetings or group events. On the last night they all went to the most expensive resturant on the island and spent something like $200/person for trendy, frenchie, tiny portions and came home hungry. Of course I declined to go. Not sure about the how or why, but it doesn't matter. I learned my lesson well. Never again will I put myself in a position where someone else diticates how, when and where I dive.

You are right about wanting to remain civil with the club. I will simply participate in the local events and do dive trips on my own as I have in the past. This is the first (and last) trip I did with the club.

---------- Post added September 21st, 2014 at 10:33 AM ----------

If you can't be happy deviating from a set plan, no travel will ever be fun.

I've had tons of fun traveling with family and by myself. I have no problem deviating from a plan. Mostly I tend to explore and dub around rather than having a set plan. Maybe that's why the strict "follow the leader" style rubbed me raw.

 

[yardpro]

the dive shops here also charge for weights

anything of theirs you use is charged for.... why would weights be different?

some build it into the renal pricing of the bc, etc, Weights are expensive. they will have a few thousand dollars in weights to cover all the divers they may have out at once... why should they not recoup that investment.

If you already have the rest of your gear, i cannot understand why you would expect them too "loan" you weights?

if you are renting a package, then i think they should include them as they should be built into the price of the rest of the gear rental.

 

[redacted]

the dive shops here also charge for weights

anything of theirs you use is charged for.... why would weights be different?

some build it into the renal pricing of the bc, etc, Weights are expensive. they will have a few thousand dollars in weights to cover all the divers they may have out at once... why should they not recoup that investment.

If you already have the rest of your gear, i cannot understand why you would expect them too "loan" you weights?

if you are renting a package, then i think they should include them as they should be built into the price of the rest of the gear rental.

Because, when traveling to air-travel destinations, the norm is that weights (and belt) and tanks are included in the price of diving. Have you ever had to pay to use weights at any air-travel dive destinations you have visited? I have not.

 

[dmoore19]

Has anybody seen what the charge for renting lead is?

Maybe it is part of their pricing for locals who just want tanks and own their own weights. Would you complain if you lived on the island and were charged the same as the tourist divers if you didn't need to rent weights?

All in all it seems trivial to me.