Of interest to people wanting to shore dive in Cayman Brac

[AggieDiver]

IIRC, the Cayman government is pretty hands off about what is or isn't allowed for dive operations. It seems like they leave that up to CITA to develop the guidelines and pretty much all of the operators are members of CITA, which means agreeing to operate by their guidelines. It seems like there is some leeway for what happens once the boats leave the dock with some of the operators, but in public when asked about their policies, pretty much all of them will tell you the same thing when it comes to things covered by the CITA guidelines. I remember there being an older thread about this topic and I thought the conclusion was that CITA didn't condone solo diving, but also didn't outright forbid it either.

 

[divezonescuba]

I could not get clearly cayman nor CBBR to return any of my emails. It was a woman not Joe Kellog eventually called told us that they would not allow us to rent tanks to shore dive. I don’t know who she was specifically. Since she said that we should consider staying with them, I can only conclude that they would not rent us shore diving tanks because we were not staying there. This is a change since the previous times we never stayed at CBBR and they always allowed us to rent tanks for shore diving. We also went on their boat several times. CBBR and Brac scuba shack are very competitive. We have been told that they will not fill each other’s tanks.

 

[divezonescuba]

I forgot to mentioned that I was able to get a hold of the mysterious CITA document prior to Covid. I may have posted it in this forum.

The document is not rules, but recommendations that the members would normally follow.

A typical example is that cita does not recommend allowing divers to have more than one tank on a shore dive. I think the reasoning is not allowing the extra tank to be given to an uncertified diver. The shop manager has the discretion to do otherwise in the case that is it justified, like sidemounting. We did that with CBBR one time, but had to get the dive managers approval.

One interesting thing is that cita encourages diveshops with rogue divers to report the presence of the rogue divers to other dive shops.

 

[scubadada]

This post contains an active link to the CITA Water Sports Operations Guidelines, revised October 2016

Little Cayman Tec Dive Training

Tech diving in the Caymans is supposedly regulated by appendix C of the safe diving practices document. However, appendix C is not available on line. I tried to get a copy from the Cayman Toursim board that has the safe diving practices document listed on the website and they basically told me...

scubaboard.com

 

[drrich2]

I forgot to mentioned that I was able to get a hold of the mysterious CITA document prior to Covid.

Hah! It's like you infiltrated the Mafia, considering how hard it's been to get good info. on what meddling they may've been doing. Did that document say anything about solo diving?

One interesting thing is that cita encourages diveshops with rogue divers to report the presence of the rogue divers to other dive shops.

I wonder what they consider a 'rogue' diver?

Edit: From the document in the linked thread:

"16. Rogue divers, defined as those divers who refuse to adhere to the safety code of the CITA, should be reported immediately to all dive operators via email broadcast from the CITA membership office."

Making me appreciate Bonaire even more.

 

[drrich2]

Also from that document -

1. All shore divers must have one dive float/flag in the water per buddy team. This flag may be their personal flag, loaned or given, sold or rented. No flag is required if diving in a marked dive area. All shore divers must be informed of the Cayman Islands laws and regulations requiring a float/flag for all shore diving activities and Marine Conservation Laws.

Do people shore diving off Cayman Brac usually take a dive flag? That'd be an annoyance, and good to know if that's the case.

Richard.

 

[scubadada]

I found the following to be of particular interest. I only dived Turtle Reef, Cobalt Coast, and Lighthouse Point in Grand Cayman from shore and never used a flag. Perhaps these qualify as marked sites. I was told by both Scuba Shack and CBBR that a flag would be needed on Cayman Brac.

8. The recommended maximum depth limit with recreational scuba customers is 100 feet/30 meters, if
within certification (See Appendix ‘B’). The maximum depth with recreational scuba customers is
130 feet/39 meters and 100 feet/39 meters for repetitive dives the same day. #13 is the only place I found buddy diving explicitly listed. The solo diving prohibition must be word of mouth rather than a written recommendation.

10. All shore divers must have one dive float/flag in the water per buddy team. This flag may be their
personal flag, loaned or given, sold or rented. No flag is required if diving in a marked dive area. All
shore divers must be informed of the Cayman Islands laws and regulations requiring a float/flag for all
shore diving activities and Marine Conservation Laws.

11. It is recommended that when renting scuba cylinders to open water divers that only one tank per
certification card be given. It is recommended that when renting scuba cylinders to a certified and
insured scuba instructor that only one cylinder per student is given and proof of teaching status &
liability insurance of the instructor be shown.

13. Dive master/Customer Ratio –
b. Unguided Wall Dives from boats
Operators may elect to allow customers to do unsupervised wall dives with their buddies. It is
recommended they meet the following criteria:
i. The divers must show proficiency at the member’s discretion.
ii. The divers must dive in a buddy team and each member of the team must have a
computer and understand computer diving techniques.
iii. The divers must agree to adhere to depth/certification limitations established by the
CITA.

16. Rogue divers, defined as those divers who refuse to adhere to the safety code of the CITA, should be
reported immediately to all dive operators via email broadcast from the CITA membership office.

 

[divezonescuba]

We did a dive at handcuff reef right across from the police station. While we were getting in the water, a police boat came by and asked for our diver down flag. They wouldn’t let us get into the water until I drove back to CBBR to see if they had one.

CBBR said that nobody had ever had to use a diver down flag before and so were surprised when we asked to rent one. Fortunately they found one and the police allowed us to dive with the flag.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that there is a boat basin at that location.

At scott’s dock the Bracers used to actually have a permanently mounted pivoting dive flag. Some of the sites also have steps to get into the water. Radar reef is particularly accommodating. I always thought that they were very accommodating to shore divers in comparison to some other shore diving places that sometimes take the position that ”it’s not Disney world”.

 

[KathyV]

Good to know! We haven't been to Cayman since B.C. (before covid) so I don't know if things have changed much, but another nice thing about shore diving in Cayman was that we never had to worry about having our cars broken into and our personal items stolen while we were out diving.

We loved our laid back dive trips to Bonaire but that was always a significant concern. Something similar happened to my niece and her husband while they were on the Big Island of Hawaii. They left their car to go take a picture of the volcano and came back to find that it had been broken into and some of their possessions had been taken.

I've never said that Cayman is an inexpensive place to visit (neither is Hawaii!) but at least we've never had any feelings of personal danger while we were there.

I know that it can happen anywhere (including Cayman) but we were once robbed in Cozumel and some friends of ours were robbed in Bonaire while we were also there, and it can change your feelings about a place.

I posted the above statement recently, stating that one of the reasons I like visiting Cayman is because I feel safe there, due to the low crime rate - although I realize that no place is totally crime free. However, I have since read that Grand Cayman has, within the last month, experienced a sudden spike in robberies. So far no one has been injured and the criminals have not targeted tourists but there have been reports that the thieves sometimes "brandish objects that might be handguns" although no shots have been fired, but I find that very concerning.

I know that Provo in the Turks & Caicos has recently experienced an increase in criminal activity and I hope that the problem isn't spreading to Grand Cayman, too. Happily, Little Cayman and Brac continue to be sleepy little places with low crime rates. I really hope that the Cayman authorities are able to get this recent crime wave under control quickly.

 

[Doctorfish]

Kathy, I don't think the police will be able to resolve the recent uptick in crimes on Grand Cayman. Between the recession, inflation and Covid, many native Caymanians are increasingly desperate. Where there is poverty and desperation, unfortunately crime follows.