My wife and I took a trip to the Divi Tiarra in the beginning of May. I'll just touch on a few important items.
1. We traveled during the week, which is a lot less hectic than the weekend. From Friday night to Saturday night, the amount of guests increased from 20 to 70. Obviously dive boats became more crowded. The Divi has 3 larger boats and 1 smaller boat. If they need more boats they call in a boat or two from Grand Cayman. Our two tank morning dives ranged from 14 to 18 divers, plus the DM. It is a little crowded, but do-able. The staff hooks up your BC and regs before you leave the dock. Once at the site you grab your mask and fins, go to the back of the boat, put your stuff on and the DM/captain grab your setup and put it on your back. Stand up, adjust, ad giant stride in. You don't have 20 people trying to put on fins, BC and tank and then stubbling into each other waiting to get in the water. So it isn't too bad.
2. The normal schedule is Tues/Thurs/Sun, they take a trip to Little Cayman, and Mon/Wed/Sat, they go to the Russian wreck. There is always at least 1 boat that does local Brac diving everyday. If you get at least 12 people interested in going to LC a different day of the week, the Divi will consider it (weather permitting). The boats leave at 9am for the morning 2 tank dive and 2:30 for a one tank afternoon dive. Night dives are scheduled for Tues/Thursday (weather permitting). You need at least 6 people for the night dives.
It seems that even though there may be 70+ divers at the Divi, VERY FEW do the afternoon 1 tank dive. We did a few of them, and I think at most there were 8 people on board. The last day we were there, there were only 2 divers plus the staff. I think they take the afternoon boat out regardless of the number of divers signed up. The additional cost for the afternoon dive is $30. I guess most people don't want to pay the extra cost. If you get a dive package, you get 1 trip to LC. If you take other LC trips, the additional cost is $30. The night dive cost is $40. (All costs are US). Nitrox cost is $12 per tank. They use a 34% blend only.
The only thing I didn't like about the LC trips (we did two trips) is the time factor. It takes about 50 min. to get back and forth. Then the second time factor is that they want to get back to the dock by 1:15-1:30 so people can get lunch. (Lunch is served till 2pm). So after the first wall dive (maybe 50 min.) and a short surface interval (25 min.), they give you a time of day to be back on the boat (about 12:30 pm). This does not give you a lot of time on the second dive. Then if you want to do the afternoon dive you have to get lunch right away and then back down to the down for the afternoon dive. Both of our trips to LC, we skipped the afternoon dive, too hectic. The Sunday trip to LC is even a little more hectic due to all the new incoming divers from Saturday. They give a group talk before leaving the dock, so the boats leave 15 min. late. The time adds up quick.
All the diving was good. Some spots had better fish life, others had a shear wall, etc. We did not see anything large (sharks, dolphins, etc.) There were reports of some sharks the previous week off LC. We had no luck during our stay.
3. Rooms were adequate, nothing special. Food was great. Everything is buffet style, all you can eat. If lunch is not included in your deal, it is $7 for the salad bar and sandwich bar or $15 for salad/sandwich and the hot buffet. We included the lunch in our package for $100 for the week. It is not much of a deal, but if it's not included and you want lunch, you just have to pay it. There is no fast food or annything quick nearby. There is the Captain's Table restaurant nearby, but we ate at the Divi the whole time. The food was hot and good and dinner included Steak and Lobster (on Wednesdays), Lamb, Turkey, T-bone steak, fish, shrimp, pasta, etc. They usually had at least two main entrees every night. My wife is a real picky eater, and she found something every night to eat. The hot lunch included pasta, chicken fingers, chicken parm, pork chops etc. All very good. Cliff makes breakfast for you, including french toast, pancakes, omlettes and eggs. They had bacon/sausage everyday in addition to rolls, muffins, bagels, fruit. They have a soft drink machine for your Pepsi products (included in the meals) plus lemonade, tea and coffee.
4. All the staff (resort and dive), DM's, boat captains are all nice and friendly. We didn't have a single problem....other than they were building a new outside bar and started working at 6 am. So it was a little early for hammers and saws. But the planes start flying around 6:15 am. So something will get you awake.
5. Not much else to do on the island. You can see a cave or cliff or visit a shop or two. But you will need a car. You can arrange a car rental at the front desk.
6. If flying Island Air, they do have have a 55 pound per person weight restriction. They charge $.50 per extra pound (minus the carry on luggage). But the only carry size allowed is maybe a brief case size bag. We carried our camera bag and reg. bag, but thats it. It you have too much luggage, and the plane is full. You may have to leave a bag behind for a future flight. They will bring it within 24 hours, so pack light and if you are over the limit, make sure you have a bag packed that you can leave behind. We met some people who were 70 pounds over for 3 of them. They had to leave stuff behind on the way over, and then take some stuff over the day before they left so it could make it to GC. (Plus the extra cost, both ways). Remeber on the way home, things will be wet and heavier!
7. If your a pet lover, the Resort Manager has a Brac Lab (part brown lab, part shepard) named Sharka. A very playful dog. There are also three cats that come around for dinner scraps. These cats ARE NOT friendly. They will come and take food from you, but you can't pet them. The two orange cats, you can pet there heads while they eat, however, the calico one will swipe at you at any time....food or not. She is mean!!! They also have some little brown/white birds that come around for lunch and breakfast. MY wife would hold out a piece of bread and they will take it out of your hand. My wife is an animal nut.
8. Lastly they have a water trampoline. It is worth a laugh or two. Just make sure noone in your group has a camera. You can't really jump around, and as you move the tramp moves in the water causing you to fall on the edge. It is fun to watch others try it out.
Also, there is a setup at the end of the dock where fisherman will come in and clean their fish at the end of the day. They throw the guts in the water which attrack taurpen, rays and a nurse shark. Very cool to watch them all battle for food.
All in all we had a great week, and would go back. If you would like any more info. feel free to ask or PM. Have a great trip.
Jeff
