Best Diving Company

[mkluvs2cruise]

My husband wants to take a beginner's dive excursion. Can anyone recommend anyone?

[Capt_BJ]

I've twice had good experiences setting up 'Discovery Dives' for dd and dil at Sunset House

 

recently I recommended them tho and the party contacted and was told ' no room ' ....

 

it happens .... but I'd still give Sunset a call

Sunset Divers Operations: pete@sunsethouse.com

Sunset Divers Training: roger@sunsethouse.com

 

second choice would be Eden Rock

http://www.edenrockdive.com/DiscoverScuba/default.html

 

these two operations have been around for ever .... I trust them completely.

 

Eden is a short walk from the tender landings ... Sunset about 3/4 of a mile.

 

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I'd be very surprised if your cruise did not offer this as an excursion and while I also believe that some operations are better than others I'd also say that Cayman has a very active 'association' of their dive operators and to stay in business they are ALL required to maintain higher standards then you see at some shops on some other islands . . .

Edited September 10, 2014 by Capt_BJ

[pompeii]

I was one of the parties that contacted Sunset House and they said they don't offer it at all, not that they didn't have room. So we had to look elsewhere. We haven't done our resort dive yet so I can't comment on the operator we chose. We just used Trip Advisor reviews and went with who we felt comfortable with after emailing a few of them. It's hard to choose, there are so many in GC, but as Capt BJ says they are probably all quite good since there is so much competition and GC is such a "diving" island.

[Capt_BJ]

your experience really bothered me so I contacted Sunset, especially about they said they don't offer it at all,

 

Here are parts of reply I got .... within just a couple of hours:

 

Hi Brian and thanks for your email.

 

Of course we (do) Discover Scuba classes for both in house guests and those staying elsewhere.

 

It may be that the dates requested we were unable to do but would be very shocked if the response they got was “we don’t do that.”

 

You can either ask your friends to contact me directly, or I can contact them, if you can supply me an email address, so I can look into this matter further. Also, if you have a name of the staff member that allegedly made the statement then that will allow me to also make enquiries.

 

I've asked Rodger to not take any action as I think something was lost in translation BUT would still say Sunset is your best place for a Discovery and maybe e-mailing Rodger directly is a good idea

 

I have suspicions of what the disconnect is here .....

 

Sunset caters to the guests staying at the hotel/resort ... outside guests are 'accommodated'

 

I know of 'dive resorts' that have flatly stated they will not entertain day visitors .... to my knowledge Sunset has not gotten CLOSE to this line. Their shore entry point is very popular with the locals {at no charge} ... and with My Bar close by!

Edited September 11, 2014 by Capt_BJ

[pompeii]

You're right, I stand corrected. Pete's response was "with your cruise ship schedule you will be better dealing with .........." and then he referred me another dive operator. He didn't say "normally we would love to help but we are booked that day", so I read into that they don't really cater to ship passengers, since we will be in port from 7-4, which is plenty of time and not an unreasonably short or inconvenient schedule. I know there has recently been another poster who got the same type of response.

 

Anyway, I am sure they are terrific dive instructors, perhaps the best on the island, but maybe not so much for ship passengers. Sorry to state incorrect information, I really was just trying to point out that if you are on a ship, you should probably contact a couple of shops.

[Capt_BJ]

for the record both times I did DD's there it was from a cruise ship visit

 

I told them that so I could discuss "no show" issues but other than that, I just asked if I could schedule a DD at 9AM and they said "sure!"

 

and for shore dives a good place to DIY

 

But Sunset is a poor choice - a non choice - for a boat dive as they simply don't wait for cruisers .. their morning dives have typically left the dock by the time the first tenders are landing and afternoon dives may be late depending on the dive sites used . .