Resort Sports Ltd is the dive op at Beach Club Colony.
small dive ops
- Thread starter sevenmeadowsdiver
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Resort Sports Ltd is the dive op at Beach Club Colony.
likestodive
Registered
Deep Blue Divers. They run fast smaller boats in good shape usually with six people or less. Good guys. The leave on time, let you actually get some bottom time (which not all of them in Cayman seem to want to), and normally dive the north walls in the summer time. Lots of choices on Cayman. It will be my 4th trip with them next week and probably not the last. Definitely recommended.
I dove with Off the Wall on August 4, 2009. The overall experience was less than stellar and I would not dive with them again. Short fills (26-2700 PSI in AL80s on the entire boat), arrogant dive masters that liked to argue, so-so rental equipment, poor contact with the group (several inexperienced divers were present and the DMs sent everyone down before the DMs even got in the water); poor organization of the dive, and they made up a BS excuse to not take us on the promised-months-in-advance trip to hang out with the stingrays during the SI. At least we didn't pay for that part of it.
Oh, and they handed out dive computers to those that didn't have them insisting that they had to be used. The one he handed to my girlfriend did not activate when she entered the water, so it was useless (not that we rely solely on computers for our diving). The DM said that he didn't know how they all worked. It's one thing to be handed an unfamiliar piece of gear for mandatory use if at least you can be given instructions on the operation of important functions. That even the most basic of instruction was unavailable made that computer not even the gauge the DM told her to use it as on the second dive, but a 4 ounce wrist weight.
Plusses were, 7 customers on the boat; they picked up two of the divers from the beach at their condo; they were on time and exactly where they told us to meet them for the pick up near the Hard Rock; the price for the dives was reasonable.
Dive sites as we were told were Little Tunnels and Hammer Head Hole, though it didn't seem like we ran more than 10 or 15 minutes from the shop.
~ Matt
dashark
Contributor
That sure dosn't sound like the same dive op we used. We dove three days with them and had a great experience. 2 of the days we had the boat to ourselves. They tailored all 3 days to whatever we wanted to dive. And even threw in a boatride for the kids.
No equipment problems ( we used our own computers ) .Plenty of air and bottom time. And the DM's were great. And,we did stingray city during the SI
Are you sure you aren't confusing them with Wall to Wall?
Off the Wall didn't leave "from the shop" when we used them.....
I have given a lot of recomendations to Danny and Off the Wall over the years on this site. I also received a lot of recomendations from this site prior to using them.
Sorry you had a bad experience.....
No equipment problems ( we used our own computers ) .Plenty of air and bottom time. And the DM's were great. And,we did stingray city during the SI
Are you sure you aren't confusing them with Wall to Wall?
Off the Wall didn't leave "from the shop" when we used them.....
I have given a lot of recomendations to Danny and Off the Wall over the years on this site. I also received a lot of recomendations from this site prior to using them.
Sorry you had a bad experience.....
Based upon weather conditions that day you were taken to the northwest point area. A surface interval at Stingray City is only possible if you are diving the North wall. North Wall diving is regularly blown out due to wind and wave conditions.
Sounds like you were unwilling to accept the judgment of the staff.
dashark
Contributor
Even offering a SI at stingray city is a great courtesy. I was lucky enough to have good weather on the north wall when I dove with them. I certainly would have understood if weather did not permit it. I would be a fool not to follow the advice of local navigators and dive crew.
Drew: Are you the same guy I dove with there in 2007? If so, you couldn't possibly be the DM the OP is referring to. We had a great time with you when we were there.
Most certainly not. I still have the emails from my initial contact and my copy of the charge slip.
We were picked up at the Hard Rock in a van and transported to the shop that is shared with a couple of other small dive ops. We boarded the boat from the pier behind the shop, and set out towards the beach in fromt of the condo from which we picked up the last three divers before heading to the dive sites.
Thanks. It happens. We only dove with them one day, and of course we by random chance may have been out on that rare one-off not-so-great day for them. Unfortunately that day resulted in a bad impression, and enough things were wrong in my observation that I would be disinclined to try them again or recommend them.
Not like we had a choice in the matter, but of course we accepted our fate without inciting an argument. It was the way we were told. It was more the statement they made that they did not want to do a 40 minute run in each direction, and was less about conditions in the area. The attitude of the statements implied, "there's no way we'll go there, why did you think we would?" It wasn't the weather; in fact we were told that they day we were out was one of the best weather days in a week or so. But they also told us that Stingray City was totally blown out that day, which was contradicted by many others to whom we spoke. I'll never know the real truth since I wasn't able to get there, I just have conflicting statements from a large number of happy people that did to counter the DM's.
You know, it's fine if they are generally disinclined to want to go there. I understand that running for 40 minutes each way burns a lot of fuel and time, which is why we accepted a 40% higher price per diver to be able to get there. When I contacted Danny almost two months in advance I told him that going to Stingray City was a high priority for us. If they were not interested in accommodating us, which is the attitude I got on the boat, then they could have told me in advance and I'd either have booked with someone else or been prepared in advance to not go there. That simple. The expectation of them fulfilling my request resulted in me sending them another couple that also really wanted - and expected - to go hang with the stingrays for a bit on that same day. That couple was going to book a private charter and was looking for someone to share; instead they dropped that idea and booked alongside us on the OtW trip.
In spite of the fact that I was on vacation I would not have let my wants compromise my safety or that of others on the boat. I was quite impressed when every diver was told to use a computer and given one to use before the first dive. I wasn't impressed when two of them didn't work correctly and instruction was not available on even the basic operation for those that were. I also wasn't impressed with some of the equipment problems I observed. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect the DM to be the support specialist for every item that comes onto the boat. However if it is equipment that is declared as mandatory to use and is supplied by the operator, they should make sure it is operable and that the user is comfortable with the basics. Everyone had to have a computer, no one had to use the computer. False sense of safety. I also wasn't impressed when inexperienced divers were sent into the water and told to descend and that the DM would be in some time after them. Gonzo diving is not safe diving.
I did take the other "stingray" couple aside and ask their opinion of the dives, boat, and crew as we were heading back to the shop. There impressions mirrored ours. We weren't angry and we did enjoy the dive sites, but we were disappointed with what we believed was a bad choice of operator.
~ Matt
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