CAYMAN BRAC??

[FindingMenno]

Oh we never tip toe.. sometimes you have to put a DM in their place... they work for you! I'm always quick to point out that when I pay for a tank I use a tank, and my wife and I typically go over an hour. We are going to Brac in May. I'll post a full report and video,,, Thanks Magellan

It's a bit of a late reply to this post, but this thread just resurfaced due to the trip report by @RTee.

To offer a different perspective on this speaking from working as a dive guide/instructor, there might be reasons why there is a time limit to a dive plan. I've copied an earlier reply from a colleague which explains the reasoning behind this.

I'd like to comment on the dive times from someone who works as an ops manager, boat captain, and dive guide in the Caymans. Perhaps it's not always apparent to the customer - "what does 10 extra minutes make?" Often times it creates a domino effect on the rest of the day that isn't seen.

Just last week, we had a couple staying with us, who thought nothing of doing 70 minute dive times, after being briefed that 60 minutes was the maximum allowable time. This 20 minutes that we are now behind can easily turn into 30 or 40 when we get behind in the West Bay dock or fuel queues. This 30 or 40 minutes must come from somewhere - usually the employee forgoes their lunch break.

To be anywhere close to profitable, a dive shop cannot have employees just sitting around - they must be productive. To this end, perhaps there isn't an afternoon boat to go out, but employees time is sold to other customers to teach classes, to conduct guided dives, or perhaps a kids program. In the case of our couple last week, we now have a delayed boat, with 4-5 employees on the boat, or meeting the boat at the dock to re-tank it, who will all get no lunch break and be late for their next customers.

I strive to make my customers as happy as possible. I know where my paychecks come from. We like giving people longer dive times when we can, but many times this isn't possible. If you like to do long dives, then talk to us beforehand. I'll make my briefing short, I'll pick closer dive sites to the dock. Or take advantage of the shore diving. You can do 2 hour dives from shore if your SAC rate allows.

Also wouldn't be surprised if the poster's problem was that he asked if he could extend the profile. If you ask, they will almost always say no. But if you just do it, and they can see you under the boat at the end of the dive, I doubt they would say anything.

Most likely you are 100% correct. None of my co-workers would likely say anything, like we did last week. Most of us try to be kind, and know you are on vacation, and also live in fear of the negative trip advisor review, a gun which people pull out at even the slightest perceived offense.

We may live in paradise, and it may be a dream job. All I'm asking is consider when you are asked to keep the dive to a certain time, it's not because we are just trying to be difficult. Just some insight.

TBH, I find the attitude as demonstrated somewhat inconsiderate of your fellow divers. The dive guides try to organise a day of diving so that all the divers get the best experience. We want you to enjoy your dives, and will do our best to make that happen. However, we try to do that for all divers diving with us.

Imagine it's a colder, windy, wavy day. The divers are back on the boat at the briefed time. Now a diver and their buddy ignores this time and stay down 15 minutes longer. This means now we might have 10-15 divers getting cold, tossed around and getting sea-sick waiting on a boat for that last buddy pair. Or because divers ignore briefed dive times, the boat is back 20-30 minutes late. Now the afternoon boat, or classes, have to start 30 minutes later, and we have unhappy divers waiting around for things to start.

Yes our guests pay our salaries, you are on vacation to enjoy yourselves, and we are all very aware of that. Our job is to try to make everybody enjoy their dives, and make a diving day run smoothly. That requires some planning, and we're not trying to be unreasonable a**holes. Like any guided (sports) group activity, I don't think it is unreasonable to follow a briefing for the benefit of all participating.

 

[AggieDiver]

Well, if your comment about "that attitude" was directed at my quoted section above, you have clearly not read anything else I have had to say on the subject of dive times. First of all, my experience and advice in regards to the Caymans is limited to Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. So there is no "line at the fuel dock" or "new group of customers to take out after lunch" who will be kept waiting. The schedules for LCBR and CBBR are set solely to keep the kitchen on schedule and minimize the dining window for lunch time...not because there is some traffic jam at the dock or a fuel pump schedule to be met. With that in mind, I always suggest to people that they get to the dock early and be ready to go before the time requested by the crew, as leaving the dock early gives the crew flexibility in meeting the rest of their schedule requirements for the day.

If you have read any of my posts about how I suggest getting in longer dives at LCBR or CBBR, I always mention trying to be the first into the water and the last out...but I always follow it up with "don't be the last in the water by 10-15 minutes and keep the rest of the boat waiting". Your assumption is that if I dive a 70 minute profile, I will make everybody wait on the boat for 10 minutes. First of all, you are wrong. If I am the first in the water, I make sure that I follow the last person up the ladder if I am the last one still diving. Regardless of my own desires, I won't keep the rest of the boat waiting on me, because I know that is the quickest and easiest way to get the DMs to start looking at dive computers and lecturing people about dive times. I am respectful of their need to meet a schedule, but I also know that there are plenty of people who mill around on the boat and take their sweet time getting in the water to start their dives. If I am in the water 10 minutes ahead of them, and I come up the ladder right behind them, I can get a nice long dive, and nobody is kept waiting. I agree that somebody just saying "I paid for the tank, I am going to dive it" is a bit out of line if they haven't cleared it with the DMs, but my experience is that with proper communication and recognition of the need to maintain a schedule, usually people can work out a way to get what they want without ticking off the DM.

The response of mine that was quoted above was not an advocation to dive any bottom time you wanted and simply ignore the DMs; it was simply a statement that if you ask them for permission, they are going to say no because they have no doubt been told to keep to a specific schedule. But if you do it in a respectful way that doesn't impact their schedule as I described above, and have advocated in other postings, you give them no reason to get after you for it. If you are in the water for 70 minutes and they can see you in the water by the boat coming up right behind the last group of divers, they aren't going to ask or care what your dive time was. But if you are 100 yards out from the boat and haven't started your safety stop when the last group comes up, they are going to be annoyed...and rightfully so...and will probably check your dive computer as soon as you exit the water.

 

[FindingMenno]

Hi @AggieDiver, the comment was certainly not aimed at you! I followed the other thread where this was discussed, and I think it was a positive, educating way to discuss the subject with everybody getting a better understanding. Don't see that happening too much on the internet!

And I completely agree with you. As mentioned an important part of our job is to ensure that all our guests are having a great trip, and that includes time management to make sure things run as planned and promised. With proper open communication as you mention, we'll always do our best to accommodate any requests (longer dive times, specific dive sites, special critters you want to see) as long as that doesn't negatively impact the overall dive experience for all our guests.

And apologies if you felt I accused you of staying down longer and making others wait. From the other thread on this subject and this one, it appears you have a good awareness of the 'overall picture', and are clearly communicating and adapting your plans accordingly. Absolutely no issues with that.

I just find the comments made by others in the thread 'put the DM in place', 'they work for you', 'I pay for the tank so I dive it' somewhat inconsiderate to your fellow divers. And yes, as dive guide I do work for you to ensure you have a great dive experience. But I also work for the other divers on the boat, and the ones diving later in the day, so that they all have a great dive experience.
Like anything in life, sometimes you have to sacrifice a little personally to help make it better for everybody!

But this the internet, so I'm going to assume I'm interpreting the words of the OP incorrectly and the words were meant somewhat more balanced then they appear.

 

[PatW]

I have been there about 6 times. I have always stayed at Cayman Brac Beach Resort (CBBR) and dove with Reef Divers. There is another dive op on the island that does a very nice job. CBBR is just really convenient. You can rent a place on the island and shore dive. There are some very good shore dives on the island and, I believe, you can get a tank for $10 a fill. I understand that the other dive op will guide people on shore dives. Cayman Brac has limited restaurants and shops but it is an OUT ISLAND. For an out island, it does pretty well.

The south side of the island has a deep wall that undulates. The bottom ranges from 60' to 80'. It has very good corals and good fish life. You will often see a reef shark on one of these dives. The shallow dives here are quite interesting also. There is a site with really good piller coral heads. There are several sites with a number of healthy stands of elk horn coral. There is a site where a school of tarpon hang out and you almost always see them.

The north side has some very good dives. There are a series of wall dives where the outer wall is about 60' and those are quite a bit of fun. There is the popular Keith Tibbets (the Russian frigate) which is a fine wreck dive. It has a resident goliath grouper and a resident hawksbill turtle. You usually will not see the grouper.

Cayman Brac tends to seldom have significant currents. The visibility ranges from a low of about 40' to over 100'. You are more likely to have 100' visibility than 40'. It can happen but not often. It has very good corals. They are pretty near the best I have seen in the Caribbean and I have been to Belize, Roatan, Utila, the Turks and Caicos, the Florida Keys, Cozumel, and the BVI's.

As for resident life, hawksbill turtles are seen on nearly every dive. I have seen green turtles there and loggerhead turtles but those are rare.
Groupers, the most common are the tame Nassau groupers. This is one of the best places in the world to see this endangered species. Tiger groupers are common and you will probably see yellowfin grouper and maybe a black or a goliath grouper.

Green morays and speckled morays are pretty common and golden morays less so.

You will probably see bar jack and a school or two of horse eyed jacks. Nurse sharks are reasonably common and reef sharks less so (and almost always on the south side deep walls. You will see the usual collection of grunts, squirrel fish, stingrays, golden rays and maybe an eagle ray. Queen, Grey and French angels are pretty common. Sometimes, a sea horse is seen. There is a fair collection of macro life but people often miss it because they are looking at the larger stuff. It is a little hard to look for something like a pipe fish when an eagle ray is swimming around.

 

[caymaniac]

We've dived with a lot of nice folks at CBBR and Barb is our favorite DM.

I would agree, Barbie is one of my favorites as well. She knows how to be in charge and still be accommodating, such a nice smile. She used to be at the Divi...if I remember correctly.

 

[Neschy]

Just wanted to chime in here as we are returning to the Brac in April after 11 days of 2 tank dives there last April. We've been to Grand 3 times and have not yet been to Little. The diving on Cayman Brac is very good. The reefs are much healthier than they are on Grand and there are plenty of dive sites. Very friendly grouper, amazing elk-horn corals, huge nurse sharks and some reefies, rays, eels, lobster, tarpon... We dove with and will continue to dive with Brac Scuba Shack. We really liked them a lot. Stewart, Caz, Martin and Liesel are the absolute best! They offer the same valet service that Reef does, short of picking your gear up for you at your room door. But you're more than welcome to leave it with them, if you don't plan on shore diving, and it will be setup for you when you meet the boat.

We've heard good things about CBBR and Reef Divers, but we prefer a much more relaxed atmosphere. We use VRBO (Homeaway) to book one of the many condos available on the island and rent a car using CB Rent-A-Car. We find doing it this way allows us to see more of the island and get to know it and the locals a bit better. While I get the idea of all inclusive resorts, it just doesn't feel like you've really gone anywhere when everything is at the resort and there's rarely a reason to leave. We get groceries from one of the 3 grocery stores on the island, spend some meals cooking in the condo and others dining out at different restaurants. Seriously, if you don't hit the jerk stand by the airport at least once on your visit you are missing out!

Cayman Brac is a much quieter island than most. There's no night life other than a few bars. We recommend the Captain's Table, but Barracudas Bar is really good too. It rarely sees a cruise ship, even then only very small ones compared to the ones that visit Grand. The locals are very friendly and one of the main reasons we are returning again this year.

The Cayman's are tailor made for scuba divers. I don't know if you could go wrong with any of them tbh.