leadweight
Contributor
My favorite dive buddy, the Mermaid, and I just returned from a week on Grand Cayman. We did a not very creative trip. Big hotel on Seven Mile Beach and a dive package with Bob Soto's.
The reason we used Soto's was that the Mermaid won a 6 day 2 tank per day dive package (with one extra dive for a total of 13) in a drawing for Seaspace volunteers. The list price of that package is about $440. Normally I have the sense to look for smaller dive operators.
The problem with Soto's is they are geared to cruise passengers, beginning and occasional divers. The routine is a first dive of 30 minutes plus a safety stop, a 40 minute surface interval followed by a second dive of 40 minutes plus a safety stop. The first dive will be to 100' the second in the 50'-60' range.
By being first into the water and last out you can streatch these times somewhat. Because the week after thanksgiving is usually slow the boats were not crowded. That actually made for shorter bottom times as the delay of getting a lot of people in the water would have worked to my advantage.
The divemasters (most are instructors) are US, Canadian and European. Some were real friendly and others cocky to the point of being obnoxious. There may be a cultural problem in the Cayman islands. An employee of another dive shop, dive down, exploded when I asked her if all the dive operators had short bottom times like Soto's. A bartender cut me off in mid sentence and two minutes later was rude to another customer.
To be continued....
The reason we used Soto's was that the Mermaid won a 6 day 2 tank per day dive package (with one extra dive for a total of 13) in a drawing for Seaspace volunteers. The list price of that package is about $440. Normally I have the sense to look for smaller dive operators.
The problem with Soto's is they are geared to cruise passengers, beginning and occasional divers. The routine is a first dive of 30 minutes plus a safety stop, a 40 minute surface interval followed by a second dive of 40 minutes plus a safety stop. The first dive will be to 100' the second in the 50'-60' range.
By being first into the water and last out you can streatch these times somewhat. Because the week after thanksgiving is usually slow the boats were not crowded. That actually made for shorter bottom times as the delay of getting a lot of people in the water would have worked to my advantage.
The divemasters (most are instructors) are US, Canadian and European. Some were real friendly and others cocky to the point of being obnoxious. There may be a cultural problem in the Cayman islands. An employee of another dive shop, dive down, exploded when I asked her if all the dive operators had short bottom times like Soto's. A bartender cut me off in mid sentence and two minutes later was rude to another customer.
To be continued....