Grand Cayman - dive shop recommendations

[scuba4163]

Hi all,

Wife and I will be taking a short trip to Grand Cayman 8/30/2018 - 9/3/2018. We are staying on 7 mile beach. Are there any dive shops this group would recommend or dives the group would suggest?

We will be arriving at 12:30 in the afternoon on 8/30. Are there any trips offering 1:30-2:00 PM afternoon dives?

 

[muzikbiz22]

There's a million threads on Dive Op's, but I'll get the party started. DiveTech and In Depth Watersports. If you were staying for a week, Cobalt Coast would be an option, as well.

 

[KathyV]

Hi all,

Wife and I will be taking a short trip to Grand Cayman 8/30/2018 - 9/3/2018. We are staying on 7 mile beach. Are there any dive shops this group would recommend or dives the group would suggest?

We will be arriving at 12:30 in the afternoon on 8/30. Are there any trips offering 1:30-2:00 PM afternoon dives?

If you arrive at 12:30 you will have to go through immigration, collect baggage, go through customs, and then travel to your hotel/resort to check in so a 2 pm dive doesn't seem likely.

Will you have a car? There are very good shore diving options on Grand Cayman just north of 7MB with onsite dive ops. Take a look at Turtle Reef at Macabucca or Lighthouse Point, they might work for a dive on the day of arrival.

There are lots of great dive ops that service visitors staying on 7MB, where are you staying?

 

[tkaelin]

Look at all the past threads. This topic appears many times each year.

 

[Tienuts]

Look at all the past threads. This topic appears many times each year.

Yes, but things change. Operators change ownership, some new ones start, some go out of business. Employees come and go, and a favorite staff member could go work for a competitor now and be replaced by a real jerk. Or vice-versa.

Nothing wrong with someone asking for new info.

 

[tkaelin]

Yes, but not that quickly an Op wasn't asking for new info since the last post or since x. Similar posts in June still running with responses a couple weeks ago.

 

[mi000ke]

Yes, but things change. Operators change ownership, some new ones start, some go out of business. Employees come and go, and a favorite staff member could go work for a competitor now and be replaced by a real jerk. Or vice-versa.

Nothing wrong with someone asking for new info.

There are lots of recent threads on this topic.

 

[mi000ke]

You probably won’t make a 2pm dive on your arrival day as mentioned above but if you contact a smaller dive op you might be able to get them to flex their schedule. I’ve had some luck doing this with Neptune,s Divers. Also Red Sail will occasionally come back to shore to pick up divers for the second dive of a two-tank afternoon dive trip. You can also schedule a guided shore dive with most of the dive shops. In general you can’t go wrong with any of the GC dive ops.

 

[CoasterFreak]

Loved my dives with Deep Blue Divers this past Spring Break. My son and I only had one day to dive with them as we were off the cruise ship, but we would have dove with them again had we had more time/days.

 

[caydiver]

We have guests that have managed to do it. In fact we have a guy that comes straight to us from the airport and sends his wife to the condo and a couple that both come straight over to the boat. The last couple of trips that I have down from NY have landed early and I have been through Customs and Immigration in minutes. Because of how many newcomers we have had to the island this year, some of us are offering 2Ts in the afternoons regularly now. So based on my experience I don't agree with the comment that it cannot be done. Two weeks ago I was in my house across from The Kimpton (so on the border of SMB and West Bay almost before 12:00). I didn't have to pick up a rental car, but if I had taken a taxi could have made it within that time frame. I could easily have been at any op on the west side by 1:30.

As for the rest of your dives just pick whoever best suits your style of diving. Almost everyone does pick up and drop off along the SMB corridor, all the little ops pretty much offer valet service, big ops have big rinse buckets and lockers if you choose that. You really cannot go wrong there is not best