reefrat
Contributor
I was surprised to see this raised as an issue in these parts!
Here on Grand Turk there are five operators out there every day and only one of them ever leaves a watch on the moored boats during dives- the rest never do! Is there a reg regarding this? I have no idea and I doubt that most operators would know either.
The diving here is great and most of the operators are nice people, but the operations are Jurassic park and there is little or no oversight.
There is NO nitrox or any other gas available except air (with the exception of my personal compressor and nitrox stick)
There are no tanks of any type available other than AL80's and a few 63's.
There are no VIP/ Hydro facilities and AFAIK the local operators simply use their AL80's for 10 years and then discard- that's what one of them told me!
No dive retail, equipment service etc.
It helps to be self sufficient but there are limits to what one person can do and that is why I eventually gave up on rebreather diving here- it was a logistical nightmare. Such a shame because the diving is very much like Grand Cayman and absolutely tailor made for a technical operation if someone was prepared to jump through the draconian legislations hoops required for an expat to set up any business.
Here on Grand Turk there are five operators out there every day and only one of them ever leaves a watch on the moored boats during dives- the rest never do! Is there a reg regarding this? I have no idea and I doubt that most operators would know either.
The diving here is great and most of the operators are nice people, but the operations are Jurassic park and there is little or no oversight.
There is NO nitrox or any other gas available except air (with the exception of my personal compressor and nitrox stick)
There are no tanks of any type available other than AL80's and a few 63's.
There are no VIP/ Hydro facilities and AFAIK the local operators simply use their AL80's for 10 years and then discard- that's what one of them told me!
No dive retail, equipment service etc.
It helps to be self sufficient but there are limits to what one person can do and that is why I eventually gave up on rebreather diving here- it was a logistical nightmare. Such a shame because the diving is very much like Grand Cayman and absolutely tailor made for a technical operation if someone was prepared to jump through the draconian legislations hoops required for an expat to set up any business.