Looking for dive op recommendations

[Doctorfish]

DNS and Wall to Wall are both excellent. There are others as well, and everyone seems to have their favorites. As an earlier poster pointed out, diving on GC is very competitive and any operation not providing excellent service would not survive very long.

They will all pick up and drop off on 7MB corridor.

 

[diversteve]

I forgot Wall to Wall keeps a boat at the Yacht Club also so add them to my suggested list.

 

[gryffin]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I thought I might add a few comments on what specifically I feel I am trying to find and why.

I feel like there are some gaps in my skills- like we rushed our training. I'm hoping to find a shop that can spend some time helping us get to the point where we can dive safely as a buddy team. Right now, I don't feel confident that we should dive without a private guide. I'm happy to pay for more instruction if that is what is needed. Within the PADI system, I'm not sure exactly how to do that. I was hoping to get that out of our Advanced course, but the experience seemed more about getting in the water and having fun than actually learning any skills. I get that when people go diving on vacation, they want to focus on the fun and just get on with the diving and a lot of shops do this pretty well, especially where the market is as competitive as Grand Cayman. I guess I just want a bit more guidance than the average person and am looking for a shop that would be willing to provide that kind of service. My husband on the other hand, is happy to just get on with the diving!

Ideally, I could get the instruction I need/want from a local dive shop at home, but I've been struggling to find a dive shop we can work with. We made the mistake of doing our coursework online, our pool work over the weekend with one shop, and then our certification dives in the Caribbean with a different shop. We bought our equipment from yet another shop because the staff in the shop where we did our pool work didn't really seem to know much about the equipment they sold. As a result, we never really developed any kind of relationship with a local dive shop or instructor. In addition, it is hard to work on diving skills in New England in the winter, so there isn't much I can do locally to build my confidence before we go to the Caribbean in March.

 

[scubadada]

Hi gryffin,

There are many excellent operators on Grand Cayman, those that have already been mentioned in this thread are among them. I have personal experience with Wall to Wall and give them my highest recommendation. My wife and daughter did their OW training with W to W. They have 2 beautiful boats and a larger staff, perhaps giving them the flexibility to address your special needs, including personal attention.

Regardless of the operator you choose, I would suggest deciding on your needs and arranging for them in advance. It is not clear to me whether you would benefit from additional, personal instruction yourself, or, whether you and your husband simply need or want a personal guide for you dives. The former seems to be the case from what I gather. Your previously described equalization, weighting, and mask leaking problems may be best addressed one on one. Though it may seem obvious, maybe your mask does not fit well. My wife had some initial issues/fears when she was first certified, Wall to Wall helped measurably in dealing with them. My wife became a confident, skilled diver and we enjoy diving together whenever possible.

Best of luck, Cayman is a great place for less experienced divers, with such forgiving conditions.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

, it is hard to work on diving skills in New England in the winter, so there isn't much I can do locally to build my confidence before we go to the Caribbean in March.

Hello gryffin,
You will be surprised at how helpful it is to practice in swimming pool. Just gearing up on a routine basis helps me feel more confident as I don't' worry anymore that I'm setting up wrong, and I can get into my gear quicker without having to think about every step. I've been known to do that in my living room while explaining to my hubby that I want to be able to find equipment easily, and remove it/open it. I'm lucky I have a family member that has a pool that lets me play in it whenever I want. Of course it's icy cold but in 7ml it's fine. Another thing I have done is found a dive shop that had access to a pool and took a "class" there. We had just purchased equipment at another dive shop that did not have a available pool, and I wanted to try it prior to going out on a boat. So they charged me a moderate fee, and we worked on skills, fining, surface swimming "because you never know".

I have a relationship with 3 different shops, each has its advantage.
I'm going to Caymen Brac in 9 days (but who's counting) It will be my first dive vacation

 

[gryffin]

I really did think that I had made it clear what we wanted/needed when we booked our trip in November, but the experience fell short of what I expected. The dive shop we used has an excellent reputation, so it may just be that my expectations are unrealistic.

I do think that by the last dive (literally on that dive) of our last trip to Grand Cayman, I had finally worked through the equalization, mask fit and weighting problems. The trouble is that I haven't had an opportunity to dive since and so don't feel confident about it yet.

I think that ideally, we start off with a day of diving with some personalized instruction, then we do a few days more diving with a private guide, working toward becoming more comfortable diving as a buddy pair so that we wean ourselves from needing the private guide as we gain experience.

I did end up having to replace my mask. It was a bit of an ordeal. I've had trouble with my mask since the first time I tried diving with it- I had to borrow a mask on our trip last March when I did my OW, but when we returned home, the local dive shop I bought it from insisted that it fit properly and seemed to be more intent on being right than helping me select a different mask. We tried diving with them once locally and despite the problems I continued to have with my mask, they still insisted it fit properly. When I continued to have problems on our November trip, I spent a significant amount of time working with a salesperson at Divers Supply in Grand Cayman- we switched my mouthpiece to a smaller size and selected a different mask. These two changes made a huge difference.

I would love to find a good local dive shop with access to a pool before I go on this trip. I'd be happy to do a refresher in the pool before we go.

 

[scubadada]

After my wife was certified, her diving skills were actually pretty good and she was a sound diver. What she lacked was confidence, and she suffered from some inordinate fears (having her mask knocked off, for instance). Being aware that her fears were generally unfounded, on an intellectual level, did not particularly help her on an emotional level. I dived with her as her buddy and, gradually, she gained confidence and greater skill. Today, she has in excess of 160 dives and has gained considerable confidence in her diving ability.

 

[Alucard]

I understand the whole getting a level of comfort thing. Most dive shops will allow for some time with an instructor as a "refresher" - they can go through the skills either in the pool or in a shallow water shore dive. Then, you could go to either West Bay or down into George Town and do a shore dive with your buddy. Tanks cost around $12, so it's a lot cheaper than a boat dive. You can stay in shallow water, and stay close to shore and just practice, get comfortable, take your time. If you feel comfortable you can go a little deeper. You won't get the feeling of holding anybody else back and can just stop whenever you want - the shore is close-by. You can play around with your buoyancy, if your weights are wrong you can go back and get more.

In West Bay you can go to Macabuca - Turtle Reef there offers a very shallow entry and you can swim out a little way and drop down. Plenty of underwater markers so you can't go off in the wrong direction. In George Town go to Eden Rock or Sunset House - again, they start shallow and there's stuff to see without going deep. It's really difficult to get lost in either place.

I wasn't comfortable for my first 20 or so dives. Now I am over 100 and a lot more relaxed. I wish that I had done more shore diving at the start - with the boat dives it tended to feel rushed because we had to get everyone in the boat quickly into the water to dive as a group - it felt a little pressured.

The trick is - you have been Open Water Certified - you know the safety protocols, you know about not ascending too quickly, you know about monitoring your air (and your buddy's air) - those are all the things that will keep you safe. Now you just need to get yourself into a low pressure environment (see what I did there?) to practice and keep learning. Then, when you get comfortable, go out on the boat dives and ask the dive master before the dive if they wouldn't mind watching you a little and giving you some feedback on how you can improve. Most are more than willing to do that.

In terms of Ops - I have been out with Divetech, Cayman University Divers and InDepth Watersports and can recommend all of them. The latter have much smaller boats and so can offer a more personalised service.