Salt Cay and Provo diving trip

[mikeycanuk]

He's 11.


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[Alex777]

He's 11.

Hmmmm. I was just about to arrange a diving holiday over there for myself and my 10-year-old. Thanks for the heads up.

I find that generally in the Cayman Is. some dive ops welcome junior divers properly (63 cf tanks, etc.), some say they welcome them but don't, and some don't want them on the boat. This is one time where you need to shop around.

 

[mikeycanuk]

It's all about the jr. depth restriction. The Brac and LC's walls could be an issue. We did go deeper as our DM took us to shallower dives first and saw our son was an excellent diver. We just went with Brac Reef Divers as there wasn't any other op on island at the time. My wife had found a house first on VRBO, Cayman Brac, where's that? lol Thankfully Martin (who ran Reef divers for years) was just in the process of setting up his shop and wasn't even technically open (permits were in the works). So had to use a smaller boat but it was just the 3 of us! However the weather wasn't great so we didn't get to dive as much as if we had a proper dive boat-he's got one now.

The 63's are helpful but we've always ended up strapping him with the 80's. He uses as much air as I do, he stays close but never stops darting around!

In Salt Cay there was never an issue from the start but in Provo I had to make 4 calls before we found someone we could dive with. Our top choice was "full", 2nd wanted us to hire a guide for him, 3rd gave me the 3rd degree about his deeper dives in the Brac (get this-they had a TA review about a jr diver running out of air!), 4th was charter only (newyrs week-$1600/day!!!) and FINALLY Dive Provo was cool.

 

[Alex777]

On Grand Cayman, I find DNS, Wall to Wall and Epic Divers all welcome our 10-year-old without any difficulty. Some others would also, but there are some that really don't want junior divers on board.

 

[CanadianTravelAgent]

In Salt Cay we stayed at Castaway - it's the only accomodations on the awesome North Beach. We also fell in love with the quaint island that time forgot. We made all of our arrangements via Heidi at Porters. If we went again, we would do the diving via SC Divers. We did all of our diving, whalewatching, excursions with Crystal Seas Adventures. Tim was awesome, but we had the feeling that he was more interested in doing the whalewatching and excursions than the diving. Only did a couple of dives as I got sick, but the dives we did do were not the best of Turks and Caicos. There was a small patch of reef closer to the south end of the island that had really healthy coral - some of the most beautiful in the islands. We did a night dive there too. One of the best night dives we've done. Saw a little bit of everything! The whales are the huge attraction in Salt Cay - go mid-Feb - mid-March for the best opportunities!

 

[tkaelin]

Thanks for the replies. Hi Alex777, I recall that you were very helpful when I was looking for some info on returning to GC. We also might have taken part in the discussion about age and depth issues on a jr. cert. I was so happy once my son turned 15 and exchanged his jr. cert card for a regular cert card as we seemed to run into a number of ops in a number of places where they didn't understand the age/limit restrictions even when clearly stated on the card. Its the 10-11 age, if I recall correctly that had the depth limit. Never was an issue in Bonaire. Once 12 and above no depth restriction but we had issues anyway with some ops, even after showing them the card.

Candaniantravelagent. I was looking for a place on the North Beach and did see Castaways. Thanks for the info. How far is Castaways from the restaurants and SC Divers? Did you rent a golf cart to get around? I have seen maps but do not have a good sense where everything is and how far apart things may be.

 

[CanadianTravelAgent]

tkaelin - we actually just rented bicycles for the week. It was really fun for us - we don't normally do that sort of thing. It took about 10 minutes to ride to and from the restaurants (a little longer on the way back to Castaway as we were full from meal and drink and part of the ride is uphill). On the golf cart it takes about 5 minutes. Depends what you like. But, the place was really nice. There is no AC, but you don't need it in the winter. We ended up with our doors wide open each night, enjoying the ocean breezes. The screens weren't really closing properly, but it wasn't a problem. There were no bugs of any kind to worry about. Probably the best combination of nice accommodation and price you will find on that island. Full kitchen facilities were great. We brought some food with us and then gave a shopping list to Heidi. She will let you know if any of the items you request are not available. They take the ferry to Grand Turk once a week to get the groceries. We ate meals at both restaurants and liked them both.
The marina is right there beside the restaurant. Everything is really close. We rode our bikes all the way from the north side to the south side in under half an hour. Some of the ride is a bit bumpy and there are donkeys and goats roaming, but we felt safe at all times. Just a little dark sometimes. We had our own flashlights and fastened them to the bikes for night riding!

 

[mikeycanuk]

We used a golf cart and it was fun, but at $75/day are more expensive than cars on Provo! Next time will stay a little closer to the harbour.
Where did Crystal Seas take you after you were done diving? Nice to simply walk up from the beach, change and walk over for lunch already waiting. Walking like 30' from the beach and 10' to the restaurant! Really missed this on Provo.


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[Tim Ingersoll]

I was in Salt Cay January 4, 2013 - January 11, 2013. The population was quoted at 32. It had an amazing sort of Caribbean ghost town feeling.

 

[CanadianTravelAgent]

mikeycanuk - that was the one potential downfall about where we stayed. Tim docks at the marina - doesn't provide transportation. We just put some clothes on over our wet bathing suits and had lunch before heading back to our place (or went back to our place and had lunch there). But, we loved the location on the beach. We would pick that over convenience, although I know it would not be for everyone! The cost of the golf carts is why we decided to go with the bikes! Heidi from Porters came up with the golf cart to transport our diving gear down to the restaurant until we were able to dive and then back again after our last dive day.

---------- Post added February 5th, 2013 at 08:44 AM ----------

Tim - population quoted at 32?! A year ago it was quoted as more like 80. Maybe that includes the seasonal foreign home owners!