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Dive Review of Red Baron Divers in
Cayman Islands

Red Baron Divers, Jun, 2002,

by John Shumate, IL, U.S.A. . Report 8.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 2 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments Nick Buckley and Patrick were very accommodating and interested in their clients having a good time. Beyond just leading dives (photographers were allowed to go off on their own) and pointing out the unusual, they made excellent restaurant recommendations tailored to what we wanted.

They set up your gear (which always makes me nervous since I like my tank high to help with my trim and generally worry about competence), but they did things just right for me and didn't even have trouble with the long hose and crotch strap on the Halcyon gear that a couple of us had. They also kept us well hydrated and entertained during our surface intervals.

We spent every day but the last on excellent sites on the North Wall until the last day when the winds kicked up and Patrick took the dive boat around to the West Wall. My favorite dive site, which I'd never dived before, was Ghost Mountain, a big bommie with a swimthru at ~115' hanging off the edge of the North Wall. Small canyons running perpendicular to the wall added to the pleasures of the site, and a passing hawksbill framed himself in the swimthru when I exited. Also, as an added treat, almost every dive gave us eagle rays either off the wall or over sand. Although I love Grand Cayman's restaurants, until this trip unpleasant restrictions and bad divesites had pushed my diving over to Little Cayman, but Red Baron has changed that with their excellent service and careful selection of dive sites.

As a part of this trip, we also chartered the whole Cayman Aggressor IV with other internet listserv SCUBA-SE NEDfesters for a week and were pleasantly surprised. We hadn't been on an Aggressor since 1996, and my wife was delighted with the head and shower in our cabin. The sign-in board has been replace by the dive deck crew getting depth and bottom time on your dive. Perhaps because our group was mostly DMs and Instructors with thousands of dives, the charming and efficient crew kept the restrictions easy enough to allow us to have a good time, and we in turn didn't abuse their trust.

The substitute chef, Leigh, had mastered all of the offerings and was always there with a fresh baked treat between dives. If we decided to skip the night dive, beer was alway on tap and high value Chilean wine varietals were available with dinner. In all, I really enjoyed this trip and got lots of pleasing pics. The Aggressor, of course, had excellent facilities for photographers with a battery charging station under the camera table, tv/vcrs in the cabins, and a large screen TV.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Mostly Bahamas, T&C, ABCs, Belize, Mexico, St. Martin, and Florida. Once to Hawaii, Silver Banks, St. Vincent, Saba, U.S. Virgins, BVI, and Barbados.
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather rainy Seas noCurrents
Water Temp 82-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 0
Water Visibility 60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile ?
Enforced diving restrictions Safety stop
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 3 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 3 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Red Baron had a dedicated rinse bucket for cameras which was separate from the mask rinse bucket.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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