We all get a little grouchy sometimes, and Mother Nature is no exception. Sometimes she just wakes up on the wrong side of the planet and says “ today, someone’s gonna feel my wrath”
Well, unfortunately it’s the same for us and our dear Mama Nature. We can’t tell her what to do, so when she’s in a mood it is completely out of our control. And I get it, it’s annoying that we all have to suffer just because she’s in a grump. Especially when you’re on vacation and your time is limited, and you had all these plans. And the plans aren’t going to plan, like plans have a tendency to do. But we have to be patient, because when she’s happy, we’re happy too.
At Divetech, our priorities are like this:
Customer safety
Customers having a good time
Sometimes wind and wave conditions make these 2 conflict with each other. When the weather is not on our side, it can affect how our day goes in many ways, and it's not always obvious to our customers why.
West Bay dock is a great example. When visitors drive up to the dock, they are greeted with a picturesque scene of turquoise blue Caribbean water. The problem with West Bay Dock is it often takes a very small swell to make it highly unsafe, and customers sometimes don't recognize this. With the hardpan being so shallow here, rolling waves of just 1 foot high can wreck havoc with the boat. We've had lines and cleats break, causing dangerous situations for passengers boarding and loading gear. Another dive company had a person's thumb caught between a line and a dock piling which resulted in severe injury.
Lighthouse Point is another good example. Our shore diving location is diveable about 300 days of the year. Sometimes you'll see us closing the dock due to bad weather. And other times you'll see us closing the dock in good conditions. Why? Well this is because of what we think the weather will do based on the forecast. With Cayman being an island, and Divetech located on the northwest point, we are subject to something called wave diffusion. Changing wave patterns can happen quickly. When waves come from the wrong angle, it will make getting out of the water highly difficult if not very dangerous. Twice now, we've had the wave direction change when hardy customers decided to brave the declining conditions and go for a quick dive. On one occasion, recovering divers from the swells breaking over the iron shore became a daunting task, risking the safety of all the staff involved.
With our priority being customer safety, and the uncertainty of weather, sometimes we make judgement calls that aren't correct. And customers get mad at this. Trust us, if we could get your business and get you in the water safely, we would absolutely make it happen. So when we cancel a planned trip, there is a good reason for it.
We are generally pretty blessed here with flat calm waters most of the year. But sometimes the waves don’t work in our favour.
We are pretty lucky here on Grand Cayman in that if the weather is too rough on one side of the island, a lot of the time the other side is pretty calm. Though that is not always the case.
Most of the time we can plan accordingly to the forecasts. But every so often weather conditions can change pretty fast unexpectedly. Sometimes our boats are moored in the North, so if, for example, we wanted to dive the Kittiwake on the other side of the island, it would have to make its way through some very rough weather to get to where it wants to be. And I can promise you that that is not a very pleasant experience for anyone.
If you’ve ever been on a boat with someone feeling seasick, you may have noticed it can be quite contagious. Nothing screams joy like 8 green faced divers forming an orderly line around the side of a vessel, chumming the water with half digested croissants and bacon sandwiches.
If guests have special requests for dive sites, we try our absolute best to get them there, but sometimes even with the best will in the world our goal is unattainable. 98.7% of our dive sites here on Grand Cayman have one mooring. We can’t pre-book the site, so if someone else gets there first, or if the mooring line is damaged we can’t dive it. Another factor is the underwater current. When we get to any dive site, we always throw a line to check the current. If it’s ripping, at worst it is a potentially dangerous situation waiting to happen, at best it’s just not going to be an enjoyable experience for all. So the plans have to be deviated. Sucks, but such is life.
At the end of the day we are in business because we love to dive and take people diving. If that can’t be done in a safe and controlled manner, then unfortunately that’s ultimately the will of a force beyond our control.
If you find that magic word that can miraculously alter someone's disposition, please do let us know. We will try to communicate it with Mother dearest via smoke signals.
But we can’t promise anything.
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