when to go and where to stay?

[Drew Sailbum]

ifthey tell you that you can't use gloves - tell them you want your money back and that will make them change their minds)....

Uh... not exactly. "No gloves" is not a company policy, it is written into the Cayman Marine Law. "Wearing gloves while diving or snorkeling in Cayman waters is prohibited. Period

 

[dl348]

I would also recommend Sunset House, their Dive Package prices are reasonable, and it's really nice to have the dive op on site. If you want to stay closer to seven mile beach, then I would suggest Comfort Suites. You can dive with Neptunes Divers, they offer complimentary pick up/drop off from any hotel along seven mile beach and they limit their boats to 6 people max. Good Luck with your decision.

 

[aiki]

I have been with the family (including 2 diving kids) 3 times at Cobalt Coast resort and will return again. Arie as well as Dora are very nice, in charge of accomodation. Can get food on site or rent a car and drive to town.

Agree with the above re Divetech. If you pay for a boat dive you have unlimited shore diving from 2 locations (at least used to), both Cobalt Coast and turtle farm, nice mini wall, or you can swim to a big wall, but is is kind of a stretch. I would check the website for packages and potential specials.

 

[gratefuljames]

Uh... not exactly. "No gloves" is not a company policy, it is written into the Cayman Marine Law. "Wearing gloves while diving or snorkeling in Cayman waters is prohibited. Period

That "Uh" thing makes you sound like "Charly" in Flowers for Algernon...Anyway, gloves are a safety item, and therefore, cannot be "prohibited, period." I dive with gloves everywhere I go, including Cayman and Cozumel; You just have to be a combination of creative and adamant, and not willing to take "no" for an answer. Sometimes you get a completely pig-headed DM or boat captain, so leave them in your pocket, and put them on during your descent and take them off during your safety stop.

You know, this may be a good subject for a petition drive - change the marine park laws in your jurisdiction about gloves, or the undersigned group of divers will not come with our American bucks, and encourage all our diving friends to go somewhere else as well...

 

[Drew Sailbum]

 

[nipi]

That "Uh" thing makes you sound like "Charly" in Flowers for Algernon...Anyway, gloves are a safety item, and therefore, cannot be "prohibited, period." I dive with gloves everywhere I go, including Cayman and Cozumel; You just have to be a combination of creative and adamant, and not willing to take "no" for an answer. Sometimes you get a completely pig-headed DM or boat captain, so leave them in your pocket, and put them on during your descent and take them off during your safety stop.

You know, this may be a good subject for a petition drive - change the marine park laws in your jurisdiction about gloves, or the undersigned group of divers will not come with our American bucks, and encourage all our diving friends to go somewhere else as well...

How can you be so rude and arogant? The Law is intended to protect our reefs which I would have thought would be obvious to you as I see that you claim to be an instructor. In Cayman we respect the law whether we agree with it or not. We also welcome tourists who both respect our laws and our reefs - if you cannot, then don't come. Our reefs are more important than your American bucks and your arrogance.

 

[gratefuljames]

Rude and arrogant? About what young child? To respect the law, you have to understand the "law" (which was a diving rule long before you "juniors" ever got involved with diving) and that basically is "take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but bubbles." I love you "diving professionals" that are going to "protect a reef" by making a big deal out of a dive instructor with 25 years diving experience wearing gloves. You can bang your head against the wall all you like, but I'm still going to wear gloves everywhere and anywhere I like, and actually there's nothing you can do to stop me! Also, I see so many dive masters touching and grabbing and molesting marine life, and grabbing onto corals and pointing things out to newbie divers who then proceed to trash a reef with their hands, hanging hoses (which, by the way, the dive ops won't invest in a $1.00 clip to clip on gauges - cuts into the profit margin I guess) and fins trying to get a look at what the DM is grabbing or molesting. If it wasn't for our "American Bucks" you'd be living in a refrigerator box on the beach. Finally, the reefs are "not yours" but decidedly "everyone's," so, let's try to live in an all-inclusive world rather than your own little universe in which you allow people to exist every once in awhile. Finally, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no one is more rude and arrogant that a Brit trying to be funny, which I don't understand that at all (especially with respect to the poor ones).

So, when you are all perfect (which will be never), I'll stop wearing my dive gloves (which will be never). Peace!

James

 

[gratefuljames]

...PS...se my quote below...good old TJ should have been a glove-using diver...lol...

 

[nipi]

Drew - d'you fancy having another try?

 

[gratefuljames]

Dive gloves don't cause reef damage, bad divers and divers that don't follow the rules do. To say you need to protect reefs by disallowing gloves is tantamount to saying, "hey, I am a really crappy dive instructor or divemaster, and won't teach my students buoyancy skills or how to respect the marine environment, so I'll just take away their exposure protection and hope that results in them not touching anything."

There was a time when divers basically made their own rules (and no one would have given 2 rat azzes about what the "Marine Park" said), and we all followed the rules, gloves and no gloves, and the reefs were, and everyone else was, happy. Now, a few losers think it's ok to tell everyone what to do and how to do it because they thought it up a couple minutes ago...unbelieveable...