Grand Cayman

[grouda]

Has anyone stayed at Ocean Frontiers Diving Adventures at Compass Point? Any info or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tkaelin]

I have stayed there three times. Anything specific you want to know? On my three stays they were all short trips, 3-4 nights staying in a 1 bedroom waterfront. The units are nice and well equipped with a kitchen, washer/dryer and living room. The diving and dive op is first class. The diving is some of the best on GC. I like the East End. Less developed. There are some good dining options: onsite and nearby.

 

[howswedeofme]

I haven't stayed there but we did dive with them and I would dive with them again. I was a little disappointed with the depth profiles/surface intervals for our three-tank because the first (deepest) dive was quite boring and for the last dive we only had 20 minutes of bottom time so it felt like a bit of a waste, but my favorite dive site to date is Ironshore Gardens out on the East End (loads of awesome swim-throughs). Very nice boats, very knowledgeable staff. The property itself looked well-maintained and had a relaxed atmosphere.

 

[tkaelin]

for the last dive we only had 20 minutes of bottom time so it felt like a bit of a waste

There must be more to the story as to why you had only 20 minutes bottom time on the third dive. Did the DM limit you to 20 minutes and if so why? Did you limit yourself and if so why? Were you diving with a computer, diving nitrox? I can't think of a reason why the crew would limit you to 20 minutes unless there was a good reason. That is not their standard practice. If you limited yourself curious to know why.

 

[howswedeofme]

We were diving computers and nitrox. The first dive the DM took us down to around 110 feet through a canyon/swim-through and then our surface intervals weren't very long. It seemed like there was a rush to get the boat back to the dock but it wasn't apparent why. We were told it would be a full day excursion and getting back in around 4p, but we made it back to the dock around 2p. The minimum depth for the third dive was still pretty deep, so we only had about 20 minutes before we had to swim up toward the boat. We stayed ~40 feet above the reef in the water trying to catch glimpses of the sharks for another five minutes or so but couldn't see much from where we needed to be to stay within no-deco limits so we surfaced. So I suppose in a way I did limit myself because per our computers we were making sure we stayed within no-deco limits.

 

[tkaelin]

Ok. Thanks for the clarification. It sounds like your choice of the depths and times were your limiting factor not any arbitrary limit set by the crew. Not sure why they would be in a rush. The only time I felt a rush was when we went out on a marginal weather day with heavy bands of rain with poor visibility forecasted that would have made seeing divers surface impossible and the return through the reef dangerous. This was all explained to us, however, on the boat.

 

[howswedeofme]

Yes - limited by the choice of depths and dive times. The first two dives were fine - only limited by the tank size - but we scooted over to dive three and hopped back in after about 30 minutes top side. A little too fast to get a decent bottom time. It was a beautiful, calm and sunny day, so I have no idea what the rush was. Other than that, a fantastic day of diving and they did deliver the guys in grey suits on the third dive as promised.

 

[Rhone Man]

I lived on GCM for a year and I would sometimes go out and stay at OF for a long weekend. Most things they are pretty good on. Accommodation was good. Restaurant was OK, but there were plenty of other options to walk to or drive to nearby. Diving was very good. Dive instructors were excellent.

The one obvious knock on them was the boats, which were old and cruddy and did periodically break down (although they seemed to get them restarted easily enough).

Dive profiles tend to be deep first dive (around 100' or so) and shallow second dive (around 60') both morning and afternoon. I usually do four dives a day with them when I go - with nitrox that is no biggie.

One thing that I loved but not everyone does is that there is no time limit on the dives. They escort you around for 35 minutes or so and then they leave you under the boat to do what you will and come back when you are ready. Every so often on the shallow second dive some dick will stay down for 105 minutes long after everyone else has gotten cold and board and has been sitting on the boat for half an hour. As a courtesy I never extended my dive longer than 60 minutes, but the freedom is very liberating so long as no one abuses it.

Feel free to PM me (or reply in thread) if I can answer any other questions.

 

[tkaelin]

The one obvious knock on them was the boats, which were old and cruddy

That description seems a little harsh and perhaps could use some context. I dove with OF in 2013, 2014 and 2016. You can check out the boats on the website. They did not seem any different than most of the boats I have been on through out the Caribbean. Are they brand new. Nope, but they don't appear any different than most places. Two Newton type bigger boats and a smaller aluminum boat which is not the prettiest boat but I never had an issue with it. As far as breaking down, I have not had that experience with OF but have elsewhere. To the author of the thread, if this concerns you I would suggest you contact OF directly and ask whatever questions you want about the boats, breakdowns, and how often the dive schedule has been effected by breakdowns.

 

[Rhone Man]

That description seems a little harsh and perhaps could use some context.

I hope it didn't come across as too harsh ("old and cruddy" is a little bit of hyperbole - but they are certainly not minty fresh). For me it was a less good thing, but certainly not something which reduced the overall experience for me. After all, I did keep going back for more...