GUE Cayman Quest 2008

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If you do go, please make sure to bring your camera for the Stingray City dive. Just the thought of a picture of DIR divers and GUE instrutors arranged in a circle on their knees with their thumbs out just makes me smile. :)

Not gonna happen. I do have lots of photos from 2006 and 2007 of GUE divers hovering a few inches off the bottom in perfect trim. If you can do your gas switches, shoot bags and go OOA with your buddy maintaining your positioning you can also play with stingrays to your heart's content without stirring up the bottom.

This is an awesome trip guys. I look forward to seeing you all there. The idea of doing tech training the following week is a great idea (from my own experience).
 
Not gonna happen. I do have lots of photos from 2006 and 2007 of GUE divers hovering a few inches off the bottom in perfect trim. If you can do your gas switches, shoot bags and go OOA with your buddy maintaining your positioning you can also play with stingrays to your heart's content without stirring up the bottom.

Wouldn't be stirring up the bottom that I would be worried about. It heavy sand anyways and would immediately settle. Would be one of those friendly rays swimming under you, getting startled and the diver getting hit with a stinger.

Caymen Islands is an awesome experience, I am sorry to miss it.
 
I have been there 15 times. Never thought about that until the TV guy got killed. We almost cancelled the stringray city part of the next trip, but everyone still wanted to go. I was really aware of where they were, and careful to keep the stingrays from being underneath me<G> They really just want the food, and if the group is pretty good and keeps a reasonable circle, all of the stingrays stay in the middle and just go from side to side collecting the snacks. You can also stay really close to thebottopm and this keeps them from sliding underneath. they usually are not hidden under the sand here,as they come out as soon as the boats stop. feeding time.


Wouldn't be stirring up the bottom that I would be worried about. It heavy sand anyways and would immediately settle. Would be one of those friendly rays swimming under you, getting startled and the diver getting hit with a stinger.

Caymen Islands is an awesome experience, I am sorry to miss it.
 
Finally got approved to post here. <g>

If you have to fake your own death to do it, you need to come on this trip. You will be blown away with Ocean Frontiers and how Fraser runs things there. I've said it before, but they are one of the best customer service organizations of any industry that I've seen.

The guides affectionately call it "Geek Week." In the end, they all comment about how unstressful everything is taking us out. They take us to many sites that they only fun-dive on their own because they know we won't screw them up.

No 30 minute dives, either. Even on the "deep" dives, most are getting 55 minutes or more of casual diving. You can't do that with just any group.

The pace is super slow- we gang up on guides who swim too fast. So, you get to take your time really observing the reef.

You can learn a lot about topics I've read on this board-
Can a photographer be DIR? Yes, and you will see several.
How do you stow an SMB? You will get practice, because you will use yours.
Can that little speck (aka, the boat) find me with this little SMB before I float out to sea? Yes.
Can I get that smell out of my wetsuit now that they found me? Not your problem- Ocean Frontiers will wash it for you.
Can you donate your primary while wearing a wolfman mask? Yes, the long hose will clear the pointy ears just fine.
Where did my backup lights go- they were here when I jumped in? Check the d-rings of your buddy (who might not even know they are there...).
What exactly is "deco fishing?" Ask, and we'll be happy to demonstrate.

You just can't beat it:
1. Great crew.
2. Looooong, easy dives.
3. Fantastic dive sites.
4. Great wildlife.
5. Squared away divers who are fun to be with on the boat, in the water, and back at the condos.

The first boat filled fast before a single thing was posted about this trip. I doubt it will take long to fill the second boat.

Cameron
 
Oh, I'm now contemplating a week on GC, a week of Cave 1, and a week of cave diving . . . drool.

C'mon, you only go around once in life :)

I can't speak highly enough of this week of diving. I have a great time every year. The people are great. Ocean Frontiers staff is amazing. The Compass Point condos are beautiful (but I'm biased). The whole thing is just super relaxing.

As for tech1, we did it after CQ this past year and it was great. The absolute best part of taking a class down there is that the staff of OF takes care of all the logistics... and they hump your tanks and gear for you. And since Fraser is a GUE instructor and runs the dive operations down there, they are all very familiar with what we do. The only problem is that the visibility is so great that there is little chance of that camera missing anything you do while they video you :)

I know that the core group will be there again this year. We hope to see some new faces.

As for stingray city and people on their knees: it was funny this past year. We were on the bottom with 12 or so of us GUE divers and two non-GUE divers. Someone was shooting video and it was a hoot to watch it later as the camera swung around with all the GUE divers hovering horizontally and the two non-GUE divers on their knees. It was all good fun and I'm sure those people had just as good of a time, but it was funny to look at from our standpoint.

Hope to see you there.

Chris
 
Oh, I'm now contemplating a week on GC, a week of Cave 1, and a week of cave diving . . . drool.

BTW, this isn't much different than my plans for next year: CQ for a week, cave1 for a week, European cruise for two weeks, other misc diving adventures to eat up any leave that I have left at work :)

Chris
 
Have we arranged who's bringing the MMs yet?
 
Have we arranged who's bringing the MMs yet?
The green ones are like deco pills.

We are bringing scooters (I think we have 6-8 so far) and I've talked with Fraser about more tech dives. Since they are pretty open to whatever we want to do, the only addition is the trimix and deco gas.

Can't wait. C'mon people: Times a wasting. Send Bob that email... you know you want to :)

Chris
 
So, even if I don't have a scooter, am I worthy to do a few deco dives with?
 
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