Had to do a business trip to Cayman, and had heard the diving there was supposed to be passable, so I went a couple of days early and did a total of eight dives (after seeking the sage counsel of the SB community here). Overall by Caribbean standards I thought the diving I saw was "pretty good". I am reliably assured that the area I was in (Seven Mile Beach) is not the premier part of Cayman's diving, which suggests the rest of it (North Side, East End, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac should presumably be very good indeed).
I stayed at Comfort Suites in the Seven Mile Beach area, which is good if you are on a budget but don't want to rent a condo. Clean, comfortable and quiet. On the other hand, if you have problem with styrofoam plates and plastic cutlery, look for somewhere.
Dived with Ambassador Divers. Very friendly, very efficient, but definitely aiming for less-experienced diver end of the market which I found frustrating. Run by an amiable southerner named Chip who inexplicably escaped from the 60s and isn't going back. Six of my eight dives were capped at 60 feet due to kids/new divers being onboard. They were also unable to rustle up nitrox despite promising to do so (curious side note: they indicated nitrox has very much fallen out of favour in Cayman, and only a few operators offer it directly - everyone else outsources. Who'd have thunk it?). Eight dives in two days on air is tiring. Last extremely important point to note about Ambassador Divers: I am pretty sure they have a policy of recruiting smokin' hot college co-eds to be their DM trainees. At first I just thought I was lucky on the boat, but after a while I realised this was not a coincidence. Sheer genius! Hopefully this will catch on (being a lawyer, I decided to check if that was legal, and apparently it is).
Cayman itself was fantastic. I will most certainly go back at a future point for a real holiday and take family. Nothing against Ambassador, who were faultless, but I will probably book with someone who caters toward more advanced divers. I will probably also try to make it over to Little Cayman / Cayman Brac.
---------- Post Merged at 08:14 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:12 PM ----------
Some of my photos (I make no claim to photographic expertise).
I stayed at Comfort Suites in the Seven Mile Beach area, which is good if you are on a budget but don't want to rent a condo. Clean, comfortable and quiet. On the other hand, if you have problem with styrofoam plates and plastic cutlery, look for somewhere.
Dived with Ambassador Divers. Very friendly, very efficient, but definitely aiming for less-experienced diver end of the market which I found frustrating. Run by an amiable southerner named Chip who inexplicably escaped from the 60s and isn't going back. Six of my eight dives were capped at 60 feet due to kids/new divers being onboard. They were also unable to rustle up nitrox despite promising to do so (curious side note: they indicated nitrox has very much fallen out of favour in Cayman, and only a few operators offer it directly - everyone else outsources. Who'd have thunk it?). Eight dives in two days on air is tiring. Last extremely important point to note about Ambassador Divers: I am pretty sure they have a policy of recruiting smokin' hot college co-eds to be their DM trainees. At first I just thought I was lucky on the boat, but after a while I realised this was not a coincidence. Sheer genius! Hopefully this will catch on (being a lawyer, I decided to check if that was legal, and apparently it is).
Cayman itself was fantastic. I will most certainly go back at a future point for a real holiday and take family. Nothing against Ambassador, who were faultless, but I will probably book with someone who caters toward more advanced divers. I will probably also try to make it over to Little Cayman / Cayman Brac.
---------- Post Merged at 08:14 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:12 PM ----------
Some of my photos (I make no claim to photographic expertise).
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