Cayman Brac Divi Trip Report

I was lucky enough to be part of a group of four divers staying at
Divi Tiara on the Brac from 10 to 24 July. As Time-Share owners, we
routinely stay in those units, but because they are currently under
renovation, we stayed in two poolside hotel rooms.

The diving operation was absolutely superb. Fairly large organized
dive groups were in attendance both weeks, and the crews handled them
(and several Open Water Course trainees) with no difficulty. In
general, two boats operated daily, with one of the five "Old" boats
carrying 8 to 14 divers, and the new Newton 46' carrying 12 to 20.
The Newton is a joy to dive from, with dual ladders, three water entry
points, huge amounts of deck space and room for cameras, and with the
big engines it took about 15 minutes less to make the trip to Little
Cayman. The divemasters were outstanding, and handled various problems
with gear, scheduling, etc. in a competent and friendly manner.
Because the weather cooperated, we dove several of the sites on the
Brac South side along the bluff at the East end, and they were just
magnificent. A government mooring crew was active on the island,
replacing some moorings and opening up some new dive sites.
Conditions at Little Cayman were just as good, and Reef Sharks were
seen around Jackson's Bight on both our trips.

The food at Divi is wonderful (we always get the Breakfast / Dinner
package, and have never been disappointed). Some work has been done
to improve the hotel rooms, and they were very acceptable, although
some characteristics of Island engineering and maintenance may drive
many Type-A Americans nuts.... like watching the air conditioner
churning its little heart out to make up for the 1/4 inch gaps in the
corrosion-fused louvered windows. Such minor points, however, do
nothing to diminish the very positive experience, and I did not hear a
single complaint from a guest/diver during the whole visit.

The on-site manager, Max, is doing an excellent job, and I would (and
do) recommend the current Divi operation most highly.

Hawkeye Hughes
Polson MT

Nice report. Serious question: On Cayman Brac, how are the mosquitos; my
wife is very reactive to the little offenders and rule #1 is, if she
ain't happy, I ain't happy.

Next question: Which time-share outfit do they use. We own an Interval unit.

Final question: She doesn't dive for medical reasons. Anything else to
do there?

Thanks,

Bart F.

Hawkeye Hughes wrote:
> I was lucky enough to be part of a group of four divers staying at
> Divi Tiara on the Brac from 10 to 24 July. As Time-Share owners, we
> routinely stay in those units, but because they are currently under
> renovation, we stayed in two poolside hotel rooms.
>
> The diving operation was absolutely superb. Fairly large organized
> dive groups were in attendance both weeks, and the crews handled them
> (and several Open Water Course trainees) with no difficulty. In
> general, two boats operated daily, with one of the five "Old" boats
> carrying 8 to 14 divers, and the new Newton 46' carrying 12 to 20.
> The Newton is a joy to dive from, with dual ladders, three water entry
> points, huge amounts of deck space and room for cameras, and with the
> big engines it took about 15 minutes less to make the trip to Little
> Cayman. The divemasters were outstanding, and handled various problems
> with gear, scheduling, etc. in a competent and friendly manner.
> Because the weather cooperated, we dove several of the sites on the
> Brac South side along the bluff at the East end, and they were just
> magnificent. A government mooring crew was active on the island,
> replacing some moorings and opening up some new dive sites.
> Conditions at Little Cayman were just as good, and Reef Sharks were
> seen around Jackson's Bight on both our trips.
>
> The food at Divi is wonderful (we always get the Breakfast / Dinner
> package, and have never been disappointed). Some work has been done
> to improve the hotel rooms, and they were very acceptable, although
> some characteristics of Island engineering and maintenance may drive
> many Type-A Americans nuts.... like watching the air conditioner
> churning its little heart out to make up for the 1/4 inch gaps in the
> corrosion-fused louvered windows. Such minor points, however, do
> nothing to diminish the very positive experience, and I did not hear a
> single complaint from a guest/diver during the whole visit.
>
> The on-site manager, Max, is doing an excellent job, and I would (and
> do) recommend the current Divi operation most highly.
>
> Hawkeye Hughes
> Polson MT

"Hawkeye Hughes" <hawk@digisys.net> wrote in message
news:81569ac2.0408111244.72a4f43b@posting.google.c om...
> I was lucky enough to be part of a group of four divers staying at
> Divi Tiara on the Brac from 10 to 24 July.

<snip>

It's nice to hear Divi is doing well. We used to go there yearly up until
about 1990 and have great memories. My kids still have the "I got the crabs
at Tiara beach" t-shirts Donna and Chris gave them after winning the crab
races one year. Treasured possessions, ya know! In those days there was only
an option or two, not always open, not always willing, for meals other than
the Divi plan and I would get tired of the food at the resort by the 5th or
6th day.

I haven't dived Brac or LC for years now but I used to think that LC had a
more spectacular site or two, but that overall Brac had better diving.
Having just returned, what's your take on that?

hawk@digisys.net (Hawkeye Hughes) pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:
:The on-site manager, Max, is doing an excellent job, and I would (and
:do) recommend the current Divi operation most highly.

So do I. Nice to hear that you had a good time.

Dan Bracuk
If at first you don't succeed, you run the risk of failure.
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/


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nobody wrote:
> Nice report. Serious question: On Cayman Brac, how are the mosquitos;

We didn't notice any on a January/February trip, but we didn't spend much time
wandering in the woods.

> Next question: Which time-share outfit do they use. We own an Interval
> unit.

If you want to go there, check with your company to see if you can trade.

> Final question: She doesn't dive for medical reasons. Anything else to
> do there?

Sure, but not nearly as much as on some other islands. There's good snorkeling right
out front or just down the beach (if it's at all like CB Beach Resort be extra
careful of the numerous sea urchins). There are lots of caves, and plenty of jungle
to explore (much of the jungle will have very sharp ironshore underfoot; if you fall
you may die from blood loss). The view from the bluff is very nice, so she could
bring a chair and read there instead of at the resort for a change of pace. The bluff
also offers plenty of rock climbing opportunities.

If she needs to fill up her time by shopping or gambling, OTOH, she won't like CB.

--
Steve

The above can be construed as personal opinion in the absence of a reasonable
belief that it was intended as a statement of fact.

If you want a reply to reach me, remove the SPAMTRAP from the address.

"Luca Rossetti" <dontw@nt.spam> wrote in message news:<waxSc.307$dm1.28285@news.uswest.net>...
> In those days there was only
> an option or two, not always open, not always willing, for meals other than
> the Divi plan and I would get tired of the food at the resort by the 5th or
> 6th day.

The options for meals are a little better now. Lenny's 'Captain's
Table' restaurant is a short bike ride/walk East, as is a wonderful
local fish place in a pink building a little further on. If you have
access to a car there are several fine places to eat in Stake Bay on
the North Side.
>
> I haven't dived Brac or LC for years now but I used to think that LC had a
> more spectacular site or two, but that overall Brac had better diving.
> Having just returned, what's your take on that?

Sites like Mixing Bowl on LC are unique in that they provide a
gorgeous wall dive that starts at such a shallow level that 55+ minute
dives are the rule. The walls on the Brac, particularly on the South
side, are magnificent, but they generally require 70 to 80 ft dives to
appreciate them. It was heartening this year to see how well most of
the shallow sites on the North side of Brac have recovered from the
algae that was pretty prevalent a few years ago. The sites at the far
West end (like Fisheries) were in great shape with more critters than
I ever remember seeing in the past.

Most of the dive packages at Divi provide for one trip per week to LC,
and we usually opt to add a second day to LC if weather and boat
scheduling allow (in the past we have always been able to do this).
It is interesting that the new Newton 46 at Divi gets to LC Bloody Bay
Wall in about the same transit time as some of the Little Cayman
based operators.

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 21:46:55 -0400, Dan Bracuk <NOTbracuk@pathcom.com>
wrote:


>:The on-site manager, Max, is doing an excellent job, and I would (and
>:do) recommend the current Divi operation most highly.
>
>So do I. Nice to hear that you had a good time.

We used to go several times a year back in the 90s. Of all the places
we went (Bonaire, Coz, Grand Cayman East End, Little Cayman, Bahamas),
it was by far our favorite. Haven't been (or dived) since. Glad to
hear the food is still outstanding.

We always stayed in the nicer rooms around the pool (ground floor) -
is that where you stayed or did you use the "standard" rooms (I call
them the barracks). And who are some of the dive masters these days?


-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC

"HW \"Skip\" Weldon" <skip5700removethis@hotmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 21:46:55 -0400, Dan Bracuk <NOTbracuk@pathcom.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> >:The on-site manager, Max, is doing an excellent job, and I would (and
> >:do) recommend the current Divi operation most highly.

Max has got his hands full; I did drop him a note this past week to find
out how they made out with Hurricane Charley, and his report was some
minor dock damage that wasn't significant enough to stop them from going
out diving.

-hh

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 07:14:22 -0400, " H. Huntzinger"
<{NOSPAM-rm_to_reply}rec-scuba@huntzinger.com> wrote:


>Max has got his hands full; I did drop him a note this past week to find
>out how they made out with Hurricane Charley, and his report was some
>minor dock damage that wasn't significant enough to stop them from going
>out diving.

Hugh are you going down this year? If so, I look forward to your trip
report.

Speaking of having your hands full, I just got a new Harley with what
would have been dive money.

-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC

"HW \"Skip\" Weldon" <skip5700removethis@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hugh are you going down this year? If so, I look forward to your trip
> report.


Going to be heading down to Pirate's Point on Little Cayman (heard they
got better food .

I thought I sent you the dates for this offline, to see if you were
possibly interested?

We might swing over to the Brac to see how the Divi's Timeshare
Renovation is coming along. They've now been closed for repairs for
roughly 50 weeks, and the scuttlebutt is that they will probably finish
the first building by Christmas.


> Speaking of having your hands full, I just got a new Harley with what
> would have been dive money.

Sounds like fun in your warmer climate. My future vacation/diving
budget may be severely curtailed, depending on the outcome of an
interesting opportunity at hand. We'll know more in a month or so.


-hh