WGregVet
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I hope late is better than never :10: I had hoped to get this trip report done sooner but it was payback time at work (its heck when when you take time off). First off though I would like to thank those who have posted trip reports and replies in the past. Your work was appreciated and researched. Now it is my turn to repay the favor.
Cayman Brac Trip Report
Resort: Divi Tiara
Dates: 07/31/04 08/07/04
Goal of the trip: A week of relaxation away from work, scuba diving and trying out recently acquired photographic equipment.
The report: After researching potential resorts in the Caribbean we decided to try the Divi Tiara based on a friend's suggestion and online searches. Extensive searches of the ScubaBoard's archives was a great resource. I read through DiverLori's report from last year with great interest. Her complaints were justifiable and adequately stated in my opinion. One of the deciding factors on choosing this resort was Max's (the resort's manager) reply to her thread where he basically admitted they had screwed up during her stay due to being overwhelmed at the time. Max offered to do what he could to make up for the bad experience. I admire someone who owns up to a problem and offers to make amends.
We flew from Houston, TX to Grand Cayman, then on to Cayman Brac. Our luggage didn't make the connection from Grand Cayman to Cayman Brac on our flight, but did come in later that night. The driver that picked us up at the Cayman Brac airport delivered our luggage to our room at 9:00PM that evening. One word of warning, Cayman Airways does not allow much in the way of carry on luggage on the turboprops that transit between Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac/Little Cayman. Most of the travelers who were making that connection had to check their carry on bags (my camera bag was small enough to sneak through). One elderly lady in front of us going to Little Cayman stated her medications were in her carry on bag and asked for assurances it would make it to her destination. The agent at the gate assured her it would but as I stated above the baggage did not make the flight. For those making the flight on the 737's that shouldn't be a problem but it doesn't stop in Little Cayman.
The Divi Tiara was a nice resort, not 5 star but quite adequate for our needs. Our room was beach front and ground level. We had a nice view from the room and spent a fair amount of time just sitting on the porch to satisfy the relaxation requirement. The rooms were in good condition, the paint was fairly fresh, the furnishings in good condition. It would have been nice to have a refrigerator in the room and a bathtub (we had a large shower stall instead). Ice buckets were used to keep the drinks cool and we picked up some garbage bags to soak the camera equipment in overnight. The commode tank had a habit of overfilling at times resulting in a spill but on the tile flooring it didn't do any damage. The television picked up about 12 satellite channels. The lock on the glass sliding door did not work and one had to use a steel pin in the door frame to lock it. The maid service was good, they usually came in during the morning dives and were never seen. The resort staff was overall quite nice and helpful. One point worth mentioning was since we were new to the resort some instruction and insight on how the dining plan worked and how to check into the dive shop should have been provided when we checked in. We had to go back to the front desk later and ask these questions. The dining staff were quite friendly and the food good, I managed to gain a couple of pounds during our stay. Although warned about mosquitoes and other insect nuisances we only had minor problems with those a couple of evenings. The beach front bar was a nice place to meet new found friends and spend the evening.
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/26270Divi_Tiara_beach_hammock-med.jpg
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/26270Sunrise_at_Divi_Tiara_2-med.jpg
Photo Tiara: Barbie did a great job running the photo shop. She accompanied the dive boat to Little Cayman twice during the week. One trip she was shooting video, the other trip she shot still photos of the dive. She put together a nice film of the dive and sold it on VHS or DVD. The DVD was $60.00US unless 6 or more people bought one, then it was $5.00 less. Barbie also did on site slide developing, same day, reasonable price. A highlight of the week was to win the weekly photo contest. The reality was I think only my dive buddy and I entered for the week;-)
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/26270cannons_low_resolution.JPG
Dive Tiara: The dive staff was quite friendly and helpful. As has been described by others the staff sets up your equipment before each trip then removes, rinses and store the equipment after the boat trip. You are responsible for handling your weight belt and wetsuit (and of course cameras). Do be sure to check your equipment and tank pressure before each dive, we did run across the occasional short tank. On our first dive my dive buddy's older air integrated dive computer flooded. The staff was great at getting him set up with alternative equipment to dive the rest of the week. We did 2 shore dives during the week. We told the dive staff we were going to do a shore dive, they set us up with tanks, a dive flag and loaded our equipment on a dolly and moved it to where it was easy to load into the car.
Most of the days we were there they only had one boat going out, their newer larger boat. The boat was not over crowded, has a fresh water shower, a dedicated camera rinse tank and adequate storage for gear. The entries and exits were easy from the stern dive platform. When the boat arrived on a dive site the staff would have a briefing of the site, draw out on an erasable board the topography of the sight and give hints on what sea life was in the area. The experienced divers were then given the option dive the site on their own (with buddy of course) or to follow along with a DM. The DM asked that you stay within your computer's non decompression dive, don't go below 110ft, do a safety stop at 15 feet and board the boat with 500 PSI in your tank. I never saw them heavily policing the rules by checking computers, I suppose they can get a pretty quick idea of those who regularly violate the rules and monitor them more closely.
The dives: Visibility varied amongst the dive sites, Little Cayman sites typically had the clearest water. The water temperature on my computer showed 85F at just about every site.
Aug. 1: CB (Cayman Brac) East Wall. Max. depth 84ft, time 28 minutes. Aborted dive when buddy's computer flooded. Didn't do the second morning dive for the same reason (even though DM offered his rig).
Aug. 2: CB Airport Wall, Max depth 88 ft, time 48 minutes.
CB Buccaneer reef. Max depth 50 ft, time 64 minutes.
Aug. 3: LC (Little Cayman) Joy's Joy. Max depth 88 ft, time 45 minutes.
LC Jackson's reef and wall. Max depth 57ft, time 62 minutes.
Aug. 4: CB M/V Keith Tibbetts. Max depth 84 ft, time 45 minutes.
(Another dive boat was at the site at the same time. That made it a bit crowded for photography).
CB Plymouth Reef. Max depth 41ft, time 62 minutes.
CB Radar Reef. Max depth 69ft, time 49 minutes. This was a shore dive.
Aug 5: LC Mixing Bowl (Three fathom wall). Max depth. 74 ft, time 54 minutes.
LC Cumber's Caves. Max depth. 54 ft, time 57 minutes.
CB Radar Reef. Max depth 82ft, time 62 minutes. A shore night dive.
Aug 6: CB Rockmonster Chimney. Max depth 98ft, time 54 minutes. Water was very silty on this dive.
CB Bert Brother's Boulders. Max depth 46 ft, time 72 minutes.
After this dive rather that return to Divi by the same route we returned by circling the island. A nice boat tour.
Other activities: We rented a car for a few of the days we were there. We used it to tour the island, pick up drinks from the store, do some gift shopping, to go to the shore dives and driving to the lighthouse to walk along the Lighthouse footpath.
I had hoped to post thumbnail images to add illustration to this post but I see this board does not allow that. So the links are the best I could do
Greg
Cayman Brac Trip Report
Resort: Divi Tiara
Dates: 07/31/04 08/07/04
Goal of the trip: A week of relaxation away from work, scuba diving and trying out recently acquired photographic equipment.
The report: After researching potential resorts in the Caribbean we decided to try the Divi Tiara based on a friend's suggestion and online searches. Extensive searches of the ScubaBoard's archives was a great resource. I read through DiverLori's report from last year with great interest. Her complaints were justifiable and adequately stated in my opinion. One of the deciding factors on choosing this resort was Max's (the resort's manager) reply to her thread where he basically admitted they had screwed up during her stay due to being overwhelmed at the time. Max offered to do what he could to make up for the bad experience. I admire someone who owns up to a problem and offers to make amends.
We flew from Houston, TX to Grand Cayman, then on to Cayman Brac. Our luggage didn't make the connection from Grand Cayman to Cayman Brac on our flight, but did come in later that night. The driver that picked us up at the Cayman Brac airport delivered our luggage to our room at 9:00PM that evening. One word of warning, Cayman Airways does not allow much in the way of carry on luggage on the turboprops that transit between Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac/Little Cayman. Most of the travelers who were making that connection had to check their carry on bags (my camera bag was small enough to sneak through). One elderly lady in front of us going to Little Cayman stated her medications were in her carry on bag and asked for assurances it would make it to her destination. The agent at the gate assured her it would but as I stated above the baggage did not make the flight. For those making the flight on the 737's that shouldn't be a problem but it doesn't stop in Little Cayman.
The Divi Tiara was a nice resort, not 5 star but quite adequate for our needs. Our room was beach front and ground level. We had a nice view from the room and spent a fair amount of time just sitting on the porch to satisfy the relaxation requirement. The rooms were in good condition, the paint was fairly fresh, the furnishings in good condition. It would have been nice to have a refrigerator in the room and a bathtub (we had a large shower stall instead). Ice buckets were used to keep the drinks cool and we picked up some garbage bags to soak the camera equipment in overnight. The commode tank had a habit of overfilling at times resulting in a spill but on the tile flooring it didn't do any damage. The television picked up about 12 satellite channels. The lock on the glass sliding door did not work and one had to use a steel pin in the door frame to lock it. The maid service was good, they usually came in during the morning dives and were never seen. The resort staff was overall quite nice and helpful. One point worth mentioning was since we were new to the resort some instruction and insight on how the dining plan worked and how to check into the dive shop should have been provided when we checked in. We had to go back to the front desk later and ask these questions. The dining staff were quite friendly and the food good, I managed to gain a couple of pounds during our stay. Although warned about mosquitoes and other insect nuisances we only had minor problems with those a couple of evenings. The beach front bar was a nice place to meet new found friends and spend the evening.
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/26270Divi_Tiara_beach_hammock-med.jpg
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/26270Sunrise_at_Divi_Tiara_2-med.jpg
Photo Tiara: Barbie did a great job running the photo shop. She accompanied the dive boat to Little Cayman twice during the week. One trip she was shooting video, the other trip she shot still photos of the dive. She put together a nice film of the dive and sold it on VHS or DVD. The DVD was $60.00US unless 6 or more people bought one, then it was $5.00 less. Barbie also did on site slide developing, same day, reasonable price. A highlight of the week was to win the weekly photo contest. The reality was I think only my dive buddy and I entered for the week;-)
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/500/26270cannons_low_resolution.JPG
Dive Tiara: The dive staff was quite friendly and helpful. As has been described by others the staff sets up your equipment before each trip then removes, rinses and store the equipment after the boat trip. You are responsible for handling your weight belt and wetsuit (and of course cameras). Do be sure to check your equipment and tank pressure before each dive, we did run across the occasional short tank. On our first dive my dive buddy's older air integrated dive computer flooded. The staff was great at getting him set up with alternative equipment to dive the rest of the week. We did 2 shore dives during the week. We told the dive staff we were going to do a shore dive, they set us up with tanks, a dive flag and loaded our equipment on a dolly and moved it to where it was easy to load into the car.
Most of the days we were there they only had one boat going out, their newer larger boat. The boat was not over crowded, has a fresh water shower, a dedicated camera rinse tank and adequate storage for gear. The entries and exits were easy from the stern dive platform. When the boat arrived on a dive site the staff would have a briefing of the site, draw out on an erasable board the topography of the sight and give hints on what sea life was in the area. The experienced divers were then given the option dive the site on their own (with buddy of course) or to follow along with a DM. The DM asked that you stay within your computer's non decompression dive, don't go below 110ft, do a safety stop at 15 feet and board the boat with 500 PSI in your tank. I never saw them heavily policing the rules by checking computers, I suppose they can get a pretty quick idea of those who regularly violate the rules and monitor them more closely.
The dives: Visibility varied amongst the dive sites, Little Cayman sites typically had the clearest water. The water temperature on my computer showed 85F at just about every site.
Aug. 1: CB (Cayman Brac) East Wall. Max. depth 84ft, time 28 minutes. Aborted dive when buddy's computer flooded. Didn't do the second morning dive for the same reason (even though DM offered his rig).
Aug. 2: CB Airport Wall, Max depth 88 ft, time 48 minutes.
CB Buccaneer reef. Max depth 50 ft, time 64 minutes.
Aug. 3: LC (Little Cayman) Joy's Joy. Max depth 88 ft, time 45 minutes.
LC Jackson's reef and wall. Max depth 57ft, time 62 minutes.
Aug. 4: CB M/V Keith Tibbetts. Max depth 84 ft, time 45 minutes.
(Another dive boat was at the site at the same time. That made it a bit crowded for photography).
CB Plymouth Reef. Max depth 41ft, time 62 minutes.
CB Radar Reef. Max depth 69ft, time 49 minutes. This was a shore dive.
Aug 5: LC Mixing Bowl (Three fathom wall). Max depth. 74 ft, time 54 minutes.
LC Cumber's Caves. Max depth. 54 ft, time 57 minutes.
CB Radar Reef. Max depth 82ft, time 62 minutes. A shore night dive.
Aug 6: CB Rockmonster Chimney. Max depth 98ft, time 54 minutes. Water was very silty on this dive.
CB Bert Brother's Boulders. Max depth 46 ft, time 72 minutes.
After this dive rather that return to Divi by the same route we returned by circling the island. A nice boat tour.
Other activities: We rented a car for a few of the days we were there. We used it to tour the island, pick up drinks from the store, do some gift shopping, to go to the shore dives and driving to the lighthouse to walk along the Lighthouse footpath.
I had hoped to post thumbnail images to add illustration to this post but I see this board does not allow that. So the links are the best I could do
Greg
