divi tiara cayman brac

we are planning a dive trip to Cayman Brac in December. Is Divi Tiara
really anice place?? I heard so many bad things about the conditions
and the lack of maintance on another scuba group. They were also
speaking about overcroweded boats (up to 20 people).
The prices seem to be okay, but I ask myself,if Cayman Brac Resort
would be the better optionm, however it is more expensive.
How is the weather in December????
We went to T&C this year and it was not so warm.

Has anyone been there lately and can give some reliable information.

In article <38081448.0401061708.2f82b292@posting.google.com >,
bauer@vw.com.mx (Heike Bauer) wrote:

> we are planning a dive trip to Cayman Brac in December. Is Divi Tiara
> really anice place?? I heard so many bad things about the conditions
> and the lack of maintance on another scuba group. They were also
> speaking about overcroweded boats (up to 20 people).

Diver Lori's posts in ScubaBoard, I presume?

Lori had some legit points, although she diluated her case with some
irrelevant material.

Overall, Divi did have a big overbooking problem this past July and
ended up having far more guests than diveboats and tanks. They did
finally admit to that and issue Lori the apology that she was looking
for.

Insofar as the Resort, on the hotel side, things are being rennovated.

Insofar as the dive operation, they've claimed that they're going to get
their own Nitrox station and a replacement diveboat. As of two weeks
ago, neither had yet arrived. Overall, I really like the dive op here.

Insofar as the 12 timeshare units that Divi has in this resort, they are
in bad condition and were closed back in Sept 03. I happen to own a TS
here, so I'm monitoring their progress. So far, I'm afraid to say that
there have been virtually no signs of progress on the claimed 'major
rennovation'.


> The prices seem to be okay, but I ask myself,if Cayman Brac Resort
> would be the better option, however it is more expensive.

I'd suggest shopping around a bit more: Brac Reef Beach Resort's
discounted package deals are often slightly better than Divi's.

Personally, I prefer Divi over BRBR because their diveboats are smaller
and carry fewer divers - even if you're more crowded while on the ~15
minute boat ride, putting only 18 divers on a dive site instead of
double that makes for a less crowded and more enjoyable dive. Plus,
Reef Divers tends to be more restrictive with their diving rules.


> How is the weather in December????

I've not been to the Brac in December, but that should be "winter"
conditions, which means winds more generally prevailing from the North.
This generally means diving's mostly on the Brac's Southside and these
walls are deeper, so less dive time from multi-leveling. It also means
potentially fewer good day for daytrips over to Little Cayman. Water
temperatures should cliimatically be around 78-80F for this time of year.

Hope this helps,

-hh

l