Have SB divers lost interest in GC?

[Kimela]

I got the impression GC wasn't interested in us! I haven't checked in a while, but last time I had half an interest in doing so they were still making it difficult to get in. At that point I lost interest and haven't looked back. I didn't think the diving was awesome last time we were there (I think it was 2019?), on the east end.

 

[morecowbells]

I have been diving in GC once and Cayman Brac once. I definitely liked Brac better. The diving in GC was good, but there are far more options available with more impressive diving at a fraction of the price. My intuition tells me that they are not marketing themselves as a dive destination like BC or Little Cayman does. While Curacao, St. Lucia and Costa Rica( to name a few), were not as well known as being a divers destination a decade ago, compared to Belize, Bonaire or Cozumel, they seem to be gaining traction(more advertising?) in appealing to the scuba crowd. I think people have more Caribbean scuba options, especially with liveaboards.

 

[scubadada]

I got the impression GC wasn't interested in us! I haven't checked in a while, but last time I had half an interest in doing so they were still making it difficult to get in. At that point I lost interest and haven't looked back. I didn't think the diving was awesome last time we were there (I think it was 2019?), on the east end.

Do you think the diving off Cozumel is better?

 

[FF / EMT]

Where's the advertising? Why aren't they drumming up business? If you aren't getting divers then look at what you're not doing. We're cheap as hell to advertise on, yet nothing.

Perfect!
I’m going to advertise my lawn care business…

 

[azstinger11]

We just went to GC in March. I want to explore the other smaller islands but I’m no rush to return to GC. Excellent diving and actually reasonably priced. However we found the cost for dining out ludicrously expensive, particularly for the meals provided.

 

[Joneill]

Tell it to Clearly Cayman Pete, doesn't SB have some marketeers? That could be generalized to many dive resorts... Maybe SB should make the first move, let them know what we have here. Maybe a modest SB discount?

I just met their head of Operations and Director of Sales in Fiji - very nice people. I’m actually heading to LCBR for the first time next September.

Prior to the pandemic, GC was my most dived location. Given their tight restrictions, that’s no longer the case and not sure I’ll frequent as much as I did previously as I’ve found the overall balance of diving and non diving activities as good or better at cheaper destinations.

 

[Damselfish]

We just went to GC in March. I want to explore the other smaller islands but I’m no rush to return to GC. Excellent diving and actually reasonably priced. However we found the cost for dining out ludicrously expensive, particularly for the meals provided.

Where did you stay/dive/eat?

 

[AggieDiver]

Given their tight restrictions, that’s no longer the case and not sure I’ll frequent as much as I did previously as I’ve found the overall balance of diving and non diving activities as good or better at cheaper destinations.

Are you referring to Covid restrictions? Or diving restrictions? If the former, there are no more covid restrictions, they have removed them all.

 

[Joneill]

Are you referring to Covid restrictions? Or diving restrictions? If the former, there are no more covid restrictions, they have removed them all.

I know that - I was just saying that, given their tight restrictions during the last 2 years, I was forced to dive in other places and GC is no longer my most dived location.

 

[Damselfish]

First, it was closed for a long time, obviously. But Cayman was relatively unique in that their early aggressive response to Covid successfully eliminated it domestically and they were able to resume normal life (inside a bubble). That, together with the fact that they get so much revenue from financial industry, explains pretty well why they took so long to reopen. It's not like other places where they always had "domestic" Covid so it wasn't like reopening was going to really change things. They had beat it, and so they were understandably slow to reopen the borders and go back to social distancing, etc. Just sayin' they had a different sent of considerations when it came tor reopening than, say, Turks, Mexico, or Belize.

This may be true to an extent, but I thought it just matched their usual conservative stance on most things. I question if they were really thinking through all the possible ramifications of their decisions and constant changes. While they may have a more diversified economy than some islands, tourism is still a big thing, and a large percentage isn’t even dive related. I doubt the many people working in tourism or owning all those hotels and restaurants considered things to be “normal” in the bubble. I’ve read the newsletter from Cayman Compass all along, and it was pretty clear plenty of people weren’t happy with the decisions being made, especially as it dragged on and gave people whiplash.