reasonable dive operators

[navion]

Want to locate a resonable dive operator in Grand Cayman. Staying near Georgetown. Who might have a good package dive for a 4-5 day trip. Have two children divers and am on a budget. Would be interested in hotel/dive package if was reasonable.
Thanks, Navion

 

[Divergirl4U]

I am in Grand cayman now and I am useing Dive Tech West end ..... they are top of the line and when you do 3 or more dive pkg you get free shore dives in the afternoon. i got 15 dives for $398 ... great deal 6 where boat dive and the rest shore dives ... here is a link to my dive reports
Have fun
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=175414&page=2
Kim P

 

[polysemous1]

If the shore dives are free, then you are paying a bundle for 6 boat dives....aproximately $66 per tank. That doesn't sound like much of a deal to me.

 

[Divergirl4U]

I did 15 dives??? that is like $26.66 per dive ... and you think it is not a good deal??? where do you dive cheaper? Good luck and I hope u have a great time ... as i did
Kim P

 

[tsreimer]

If you want to keep things cheap, then stick to shore diving. There's great shore diving at sunset house, eden's rock/devil's grotto, and some other sites which are both really close to georgetown. Venturing farther way, turtle reef (the divetech site at the cracked conch) is fantastic. I'm sure there are tons more around the island too.

If you want to do boat packages, then you are going to pay a lot more money. From the research I did a while back, all the operators were around the same price point for dive packages. But if you want to maximize your diving value for a 4 day trip there, i think you probably can keep plenty busy with some of the fantastic shore diving sites that grand cayman has to offer.

 

[Divergirl4U]

If you want to keep things cheap, then stick to shore diving. There's great shore diving at sunset house, eden's rock/devil's grotto, and some other sites which are both really close to georgetown. Venturing farther way, turtle reef (the divetech site at the cracked conch) is fantastic. I'm sure there are tons more around the island too.

If you want to do boat packages, then you are going to pay a lot more money. From the research I did a while back, all the operators were around the same price point for dive packages. But if you want to maximize your diving value for a 4 day trip there, i think you probably can keep plenty busy with some of the fantastic shore diving sites that grand cayman has to offer.

The shore dives are great in Grand Cayman ... but who would go ALL the way there and not see the North Wall omg it is fantastic ... and not a shore dive ... or Sting Ray City ... sure would miss a bunch of really cool stuff.

 

[DeputyDan]

Grand Cayman and budget just don't go in the same sentence.

 

[billinwilliamston]

Want to locate a reasonable dive operator in Grand Cayman. Staying near Georgetown. Who might have a good package dive for a 4-5 day trip. Have two children divers and am on a budget. Would be interested in hotel/dive package if was reasonable.
Thanks, Navion

Reasonable? On Grand Cayman? At the risk of being rude....

That being said, I empathize with you totally. We travel with two teen divers and go to Cayman for at least a week every year. People who don't have kids forget that folks like us have to multiply everything by 4. A $100 U.S. two tank boat dive is actually $400, so those are few and far between.

We generally start and end the week with a boat dive and do shore dives the rest of the time. As I recall tanks and weights run about $12 US at most places. If this is going to be your one and only trip to Grand Cayman, Sting Ray City or Sand Bar and at least one boat trip to one of the walls (I'm an East End guy myself) are absolute musts.

You don't say how old your kids are. If they're under 15, they won't get the full benefit of a wall dive since the tops of most (all?) of the walls start below their max depth.

There are packages about for multiple dives and hotel-dive combos. I don't know of any specifics since we "own" a time share and have a good enough discount with the on-site shop that we don't look around for other deals.

Easy in and out shore dives we've done include (in no given order) Eden Rock, Devil's Grotto, Smith's Cove, Sunset House, Sea View (no longer there), Turtle Reef and Spanish Bay Reef.

Have fun!!!

 

[Divergirl4U]

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=2223
some nice pics ... but so much of my film was ruined ... do you think it was the xray at customs??
KP

 

[polysemous1]

Divergirl4u said:
"I did 15 dives??? that is like $26.66 per dive ... and you think it is not a good deal??? where do you dive cheaper? Good luck and I hope u have a great time ... as i did"


My point is that you claimed in your original post that shore dives were "free." If they were free then there was no cost for them and your total cost should be applied only to the boat dives. But you see, the "free" dives are contingent on purchasing boat dives, which hardly makes them free. Thus, assuming your $26/tank figure is correct, that still seems like a lot of money for a shore dive. It may well be the best price you find on the the island, that doesn't make it a great deal, only a lower price relative to other prices on the island.