Best Dive Operators near Westin Grand Cayman

[Damselfish]

how are dive times with Red Sail nowadays?

 

[mi000ke]

Red Sail sometimes gives you a free Sunset Sailing Excursion if you book your diving with them - not a deal breaker but a nice "extra perk".

One additional bonus for residents diving with Red Sail other than the incredibly low price is that for every 5 dives you get either a free dive outing or a free sunset cruise for two. My wife, the non-diver, insisted that we do the cruise the last time I got my freebee. It was a lot of fun.

 

[caydiver]

I'd just like to thank everyone for this thread. I'm taking my family (wife, son, daughter, and spouses) to Grand Cayman NEXT summer. And, we're most likely going to stay at the Westin.

Quite honestly, I thought my only option was to go through Red Sail since they have a shop at the Westin. It's nice to know that I have options because I too would like to stay away from the crowds (especially cruise ship crowds).

I am not sure what this means. Red Sail does not have cruise ship guests on their boats mainly for the same reason other ops that cater to stay over visitors don't . . . the timing simply does not work. Red Sail boats leave the beach at 8:30/8:45. Most cruise ships get in at or after that time. They do not dock, they tender. Cruisers then have to wait for tenders, would have to get a taxi to the Red Sail shop location and it simply does not work. Years ago RSS did have contracts with several of the cruise ship lines and had one flat top that exclusively went up to GT to collect those guests and keep them on a schedule that worked for them. We are a small op based in GT near the port and we leave at 9:00 for several reasons (one is no competition for dive sites-DNS does the opposite). The sites are so close by that the longest time anyone is sitting on any boat the SIT between dives. When we do have cruise ship guests we cannot leave that early so we don't mix day and stay over guests. So whether you choose to go with RSS or a six pack you don't need to worry about trying to distance yourself from cruise ship crowds. In the 25 years that we came here as visitors it was never ever an issue and we did many a dive with Red Sail! You will love the Westin. They just completed a wonderful renovation. Haven't seen rooms, but have been in the common areas and outside for a few events and conferences and it truly is lovely and has some of the best beach real estate on SMB which is saying a lot considering it is consistently rated one of the best beaches in the world. You will have an awesome time!

 

[KathyV]

I'd just like to thank everyone for this thread. I'm taking my family (wife, son, daughter, and spouses) to Grand Cayman NEXT summer. And, we're most likely going to stay at the Westin.

Quite honestly, I thought my only option was to go through Red Sail since they have a shop at the Westin. It's nice to know that I have options because I too would like to stay away from the crowds (especially cruise ship crowds).

I am not sure what this means. Red Sail does not have cruise ship guests on their boats mainly for the same reason other ops that cater to stay over visitors don't . . . the timing simply does not work. Red Sail boats leave the beach at 8:30/8:45. Most cruise ships get in at or after that time. They do not dock, they tender. Cruisers then have to wait for tenders, would have to get a taxi to the Red Sail shop location and it simply does not work. Years ago RSS did have contracts with several of the cruise ship lines and had one flat top that exclusively went up to GT to collect those guests and keep them on a schedule that worked for them. We are a small op based in GT near the port and we leave at 9:00 for several reasons (one is no competition for dive sites-DNS does the opposite). The sites are so close by that the longest time anyone is sitting on any boat the SIT between dives. When we do have cruise ship guests we cannot leave that early so we don't mix day and stay over guests. So whether you choose to go with RSS or a six pack you don't need to worry about trying to distance yourself from cruise ship crowds. In the 25 years that we came here as visitors it was never ever an issue and we did many a dive with Red Sail! You will love the Westin. They just completed a wonderful renovation. Haven't seen rooms, but have been in the common areas and outside for a few events and conferences and it truly is lovely and has some of the best beach real estate on SMB which is saying a lot considering it is consistently rated one of the best beaches in the world. You will have an awesome time!

A Redsail divemaster told me that they do dive trips for the Disney cruise line, but they use a separate boat for the cruisers because of the timing issues. That was last year, I don't know if things have changed.

I think that Redsail is a good op, as I have said before - the competition is tight on Grand Cayman and a bad or mediocre dive op is unlikely to last very long.

 

[caydiver]

A Redsail divemaster told me that they do trips for the Disney cruise line, but they use a separate boat for the cruisers because of the timing issues. That was last year, I don't know if things have changed.

I think that Redsail is a good op, as I have said before - the competition is tight on Grand Cayman and a bad or mediocre dive op is unlikely to last very long.

 

[caydiver]

Yes they still have a contract with Disney but as I said they don’t mix cruise guests with stayover so the OP does not have to worry about crowding from day visitors. I could have clarified but the post was wordy enough and explained there was no need fot that particular concern.

 

[mi000ke]

Yes they still have a contract with Disney but as I said they don’t mix cruise guests with stayover so the OP does not have to worry about crowding from day visitors. I could have clarified but the post was wordy enough and explained there was no need fot that particular concern.

I dive frequently with Red Sail and don't recall running into any cruise ship passengers.

 

[mi000ke]

how are dive times with Red Sail nowadays?

If you mean bottom time limits, they generally ask divers to stay to around 50 minutes on deep dives, and 60 minutes on the second shallower dive. That said, they are pretty cool about it, and as every one is entering the water at different times (well, within 5-10 minutes or so) it is not a hard and fast limit. I usually try to get in the water as early as I can. Last time out with them I got close to a 60 minute deep dive and a 76 minute shallow reef dive. In fact I just looked at my logs, and all of my deep dives last year with them were between 55-62 minutes, limited by my air or buddy's air. They generally let you finish a dive near the boat as long as you have a buddy.

 

[caydiver]

Basically you need to be back on the boat with 500psi and to have not gone into deco.