No photos available at this time
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5
(best):
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Accommodations |
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Food |
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Service and Attitude |
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Environmental Sensitivity |
N/A |
Dive Operation |
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Shore Diving |
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Snorkeling |
N/A |
Overall Rating |
Value for $$ |
N/A |
Beginners |
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Advanced |
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Comments |
My 7th visit to the Cayman Islands(5th to the Brac), my 2d time at Divi Tiara Beach Resort, and one of my most favorite diving destinations. But for Cayman Air this would be diving heaven. Their ineptitude, insensitivity, unprofessionalism, and unfamiliarity with customer service is all but unrivaled, even considering TACA & ALM. To fly with Cayman Air is to appreciate an American run airline. The Divi Tiara Beach Resort and it's staff were better than our last visit in 6/03(hard to believe). Everyone is geared to providing the best possible vacation for their diving and non-diving guests. From the outset, Max(manager-par excellence)kept the restaurant open for us(nice touch) after Cayman Air fouled up our flights causing us to arrive at midnight. All of the resort staff are both courteous and friendly and helpful to a fault. The meals presented were excellent in both quality and quantity from breakfast through lunch to supper. You will experience no "turista" here. Chef Phil's breakfasts start your day and his lunch is there upon your return from the morning's dives. You will not lose weight during your stay. Excellent dinners await you after your afternoon shore dive or island excursion or hammock dive. Slide and video shows are held after dinner just outside the restaurant with the Caribbean at your back. Bugs are not a problem unless the wind is down at dusk. We were assigned to the resort's fast new dive boat "Cayman Fever" for our week's diving that included 3 trips to Little Cayman to dive the legendary Bloody Bay Wall and Jackson's Bight. Our boat crew for the week again was Canadian captain Ken and Brit dive master Rich who made it their mission to ensure that our Central Florida dive group(Neptune's Underwater Tours) dove in the best conditions on the best sites available. Max started the week off with an orientation gathering at the dive shop outlining common sense dive restrictions and his expectations that we should enjoy ourselves. Your boat crew handles all of your dive gear for the week, bringing it to the boat to be set up for you and rinsing it and storing it for the night. You are provided a numbered mesh bag for your gear that is used also for shore diving, etc., after coordinating that with your crew. You have unlimited tanks for shore dives/night shore dives. Your crew will provide a thorough dive briefing of each site you dive and one of them will dive with you to help you find the little or big things you miss. On board you get as much help with your gear as you need, a fresh water rinse is provided along with a water cooler and ice chest for snacks between dives. Captain Ken's pre-dive artwork of the site is choice along with the very animated British site description provided by Rich who was wounded for our week, having stepped on a nail a few days prior to our arrival. Ken had to do all of the diving(poor guy)while Rich stayed on board tending his injury. Cousteau has been proved right many times over about the quality of Cayman Brac/Little Cayman diving and it doesn't take forever to get there. That is, unless you fly Cayman Air. Car rentals are available close by and island tours are highly recommended to see the Bluff(Brac) at the high end of the island along with the many caves used by islanders during hurricane visits. The Brac museum and the "Mall" should be seen, as well as long beach walks on both sides of the Bluff end of the island to see the blowholes and driftwood and the flotsam and jetsam that arrives from the Caribbean. Going back to the Brac is always a pleasure for the diving, the cordial locals, the scenery, the relaxation, and the Divi Tiara Beach Resort. Diving the "Big Blue" on the walls, great visibility, light currents, normally stable weather, beautiful corals and psychedelic tropicals, numerous turtle and shark sightings, healthy grouper and snapper populations have made me a repeat visitor for 16 years and the wife and I will be back. If power shopping is your bag, do it on Grand Cayman as you transit through. Thankfully the Brac has escaped what Grand Cayman has become with it's traffic and modern day hustle and bustle. The rooms are all air conditioned, are clean and well appointed, have comfortable beds and plenty of room to store/hang up your things. They have a phone for wake up calls, a TV to keep up with CNN, and a balcony/porch to hang up skins and other wet things to dry. There is 110v current on the island, so no converters are needed. Bring your batteries, film, and other personal supplies as things are expensive on the Brac. See you on the Brac. |
Reporter and Travel |
Dive Experience |
501-1000 dives |
Where else diving |
Red Sea(Sinai), Palau, Yap, Fiji, Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, Little Cayman, Cozumel, Roatan, Bahamas, Dry Tortugas, Florida + Keys, N. Carolina |
Closest Airport |
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Getting There |
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Dive Conditions |
Weather |
sunny, windy, cloudy |
Seas |
calm, choppy, surge |
Water Temp |
84-86°F / 29-30°C |
Wetsuit Thickness |
1 |
Water Visibility |
60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
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Dive Policy |
Dive own profile |
yes |
Enforced diving restrictions |
Common sense restrictions for computer and non-computer divers. 100' 1st dive-60' 2d dive, no deco dives, safety stops after every dive, computers are recommended, no gloves(stay clear of reefs), skins or 1mm suit recommended, no deep dives on last dive day
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Liveaboard? |
no |
Nitrox Available? |
N/A |
What I Saw |
Sharks |
Lots |
Mantas |
None |
Dolphins |
None |
Whale Sharks |
None |
Turtles |
> 2 |
Whales |
None |
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
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Corals |
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Tropical Fish |
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Small Critters |
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Large Fish |
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Large Pelagics |
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Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5
(best):
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Subject Matter |
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Boat Facilities |
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Overall rating for UWP's |
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Shore Facilities |
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UW Photo Comments |
Boat crew sensitive to photogs needs, very helpful with cameras, etc., dedicated rinse tank on board, no real work area on board, film supplies and processing on site, instruction and rentals available, videos and slides available for purchase, slide and video shows during week in evening, and the delightful photo pro Barbie is always available on site. |