More About Shore Dive Options on Grand Cayman

[caydiver]

Perhaps there is more flexibility when there are less people on the boat— Unless there are enough people to split the groups. If there is only one group and you have a junior or someone who isn’t yet comfortable and not understanding that on a guided dive they can go deeper, the group is not going to go deep. That can happen with any op. No one turns down guests because they are catering to specific skill sets not including tech obviously. We have seen many times when someone goes and has a quiet word with the DM and the dive is planned from there discreetly. I remember years ago on RSS we would be split in 3 groups. Divers with computers (which was sometimes just us) were the first group in, last group out and were not given depth restrictions. We have Seasports and we don’t limit people unless we have juniors which is often a family charter because we are small. We know most of our customers and if we have people we know are finicky we will put a separate DM in the water for them so the others don’t have to be limited whenever we can. Truthfully we are not the only ones that do that. Most ops will especially for long term guests. There are only a handful of ops that I think are all about the money. Some of them may have lower pricing but we all operate on a tight budget so the question is why are they cheaper. I think a big indicator is a place where you see DMs come and go every six months or a year and why they have that turn over. If you see a number of instructors go to a competitor in the same role the minute their permit expires, you know there is something going on that they are just not comfy with. When you see the same smiling faces and/or managers who are not owners, you know it’s a good shop. I too have to say that for me and many of our guests that are really good divers they don’t care about going deeper unless there is a special reason. Most like to mosey along at their own speed and have a chance to explore. I even jump on the boat with some of them - poor souls!

 

[mi000ke]

Another Cayman diver here who has never been given a depth restriction when on air by any of the dive ops. The only restrictions are when diving nitrox (MOD, of course). I almost always dive nitrox, and in those cases, you sign a log stating the O2% and the MOD.

My feeling is that 99.9% of divers coming to Cayman would never notice the difference between diving here and elsewhere in the Caribbean. I haven't.

 

[Joneill]

I don't think I have ever been told what my max. depth should be.

Lately I have been staying more shallow because of the diversity of marine life at shallower depths.

I have also noticed that I see more marine life concentrated at the mooring pin than most other areas of the dive site most times.

Just my observations

I've been diving in GC every summer for the last 4 years. On boat dives with both Don Foster's and Ocean Frontiers, they virtually always say planned max depth/time on the 1st dive is 100 ft/50 minutes and the 2nd dive is 50-60 ft/60 minutes in the dive briefings. They also state no deco allowed/don't let NDL drop below 5 min.

However, no one actually checks your computers post dive, but OF does ask each diver for for max depth/time once everyone is back aboard. I have no issue with it and don't feel it's a Big Brother vibe at all in Cayman. The boats are on a schedule - so they need to make sure they can stick to it (and there are no hassles if you are a little "long"). Best idea is get ready early and be first in if you really want to add more time and not have a boat full of divers waiting for you when you surface.

 

[KathyV]

I am pretty sure that I remember which op told us 110 ft max for bothair and nitrox, but I am not 100% certain and I don't want to post the wrong information. I will check it out when we travel to Cayman soon to confirm my memory. I do remember that my husband was really unhappy about it. Not that he likes to go deep very often, he just didn't like suddenly being told that he couldn't do it, especially without any rationale for the mandate. I tend to use air a little quicker than him so I am usually happy to stay more shallow.

 

[scubadada]

Ocean Frontiers is the only dive op that said we could dive our tank/no deco. I did several dives to the low-mid 70 minutes. I heard not one word regarding my practices. I would often be one of the first in and did not follow the last out by very much. I had a few dives below 110 feet, nobody said a thing. I was diving 32% and did not violate the MOD by very much.

 

[Alucard]

So which ones were saying that you could not dive your tank?

 

[caydiver]

To be fair we have a lady who comes down every year She always does 3Ts. She is easily well over 70 minutes on her first 2 dives so the guys do make #3 50 minutes. She doesn’t mind. I think the two ladies that come with her are relieved

 

[scubadada]

You do have to be conscious of the needs of the dive operation and other divers, duh. Reasonable compromises are indicated.

 

[Alucard]

You do have to be conscious of the needs of the dive operation and other divers, duh. Reasonable compromises are indicated.

I'm sure that Cayman is not unique in that requirement. Any dive business that provides both morning and afternoon dives are going to have that constraint, I would think.

I'm still not getting this over-arching idea that Cayman is overly restrictive or "big brother"....

 

[scubadada]

I'm sure that Cayman is not unique in that requirement. Any dive business that provides both morning and afternoon dives are going to have that constraint, I would think.

I'm still not getting this over-arching idea that Cayman is overly restrictive or "big brother"....

I've dived Grand Cayman many times, Little Cayman twice, Cayman Brac once, they are no more restrictive than any other place in the Caribbean. If you really want your dive freedom, go somewhere and shore dive. I recently spent 2 weeks in Bonaire. My wife is not particularly fond of shore dives, and I did 20 boat dives and 20 shore dives, nearly 50 hours underwater. My longest shore dive on Bari Reef was 1:42. Go where you want/need to, don't complain about standard dive practices.