What to expect as Cayman diving opens
For Cayman residents, by now you've heard the good news - diving is reopening on Sunday June 21. Lots of things have changed however - new rules, guidelines, distancing - it's all very confusing. So here's a quick list of what to expect, and what to prepare for:
Protective measures
Obviously social distancing is still in full effect. We need to keep apart, limit contact whenever possible. Markers on the ground will aid in this, and signs will help remind us. Staff members will also be reminding customers of these rules. If this gets annoying, we understand. Remember, they need to do this or we can't dive.
When on Divetech's properties or boats, we must wear a mask at all times. You may remove the mask just prior to donning your dive gear. Remember your mask must be kept in your own personal dry bag - you cannot leave it out or share with others.
Hand sanitizer will be widely available. Use it!
What to bring:
Protective facemask - Sorry, we cannot let you on our premises or boats without one.
Towels - please bring your own towel.
Water - we will no longer provide water from a common cooler, so please bring your own water.
Personal Bag - the most important! You need to have your own personal bag to store all of your belongings in, including your protective mask when you are not wearing it. This is a CIG requirement!
Your diving gear - As of right now, we are not allowed to rent out masks, snorkels, fins, regulators or wetsuits. We can rent out BCD's and tanks.
Pre-book
Pre booking is essential to the contactless check-in. To dive with Divetech, you need to have a certification card, waiver, health declaration and payment. Fortunately, we keep all of these things except the payment on file, so you only need to do them once.
For waivers, health declarations and certification cards - all forms can be emailed to you, and you can submit digital copies of everything back. Once we receive them, they will be entered into our computer system so you don't need to do them again.
Payment - pre-payment can be made over the phone by calling our reservations number at 946-5658.
Diving gear
As said earlier, under the current regulations we cannot rent out masks, snorkels, fins, regulators or wetsuits, so please bring your own. If you don't have your own, consider buying a set to help keep the economy going!
We can rent out tanks, and BCDs, and scooters! Ooooh scooters...
We cannot use rinse tanks, mask buckets or camera buckets. Sorry, rules. You'll need to rinse your gear at home. For rinsing defog from your mask, this may be done in the ocean.
You need to carry your own dive gear to and from the boat. As part of our concierge service, we used to pride ourselves in carrying 5 or 6 dive bags at once for our customers. Sadly, this is a great way to cross-contaminate, so we cannot do this any longer.
Label
Please label all of your items with your name to avoid confusion on who owns what.