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Red Sail Sports

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lvohra
lvohra
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
3
Reviews
7
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Editor Pick

A Resort Dive Experience

  • October 7, 2009
  • Rated 4 of 5 by berky from Nepean, Ontario
A Resort Dive Experience

Red Sail Sports

As Red Sail is located right at Morritt’s, where we were staying, it seemed the logical company to book seaside excursions with. We had done some research prior to our week’s vacation and found Red Sail to have a decent reputation.

We were hoping to take their excursion to Sting Ray City, as well as a sunset sail and an introduction to diving. Unfortunately we did not plan on Hurricane Paloma striking the island and totally wrecking our plans for the week. My priority was to get into some scuba gear and determine whether I would like to get my open water certification at a future date and I did manage to fit this in before the weather became too bad to go out on the water.

The scuba orientation course cost $100. I was very fortunate that there was only one other student in my group and he was close to my age, which is not too far from the age that many people retire at. Our pool instructor was a very fit Australian woman with years of diving experience, but not too much enthusiasm for teaching. She went through the motions and was professional, but it did not seem that teaching was her passion.

The weather was not the best and the water in the pool was cool so we donned wet suits for our first exposure to breathing underwater. Scuba was something I had seen on television but never given too much thought to the actual logistics of swimming underwater without being able to take a breath regularly. I found there is much equipment devoted to this and it is more complicated than I had considered. First there is the BCD or Buoyancy Compensator Device, which is the vest, or equivalent, which enables one to sink or rise to the surface by regulating the amount of air in it. Then there is the actual equipment to help one breathe, the air/oxygen tanks, the regulator with first and second stage and the hoses connecting all the parts together. Also important are the fins and the mask, both which must fit well or they will not enhance one’s underwater experience.

There are many skills involved in swimming underwater and some of those involve a momentary loss of the ability to breathe. . .a pretty scary prospect. Two main lessons that were emphasized over and over are to never hold your breath and never to rise to the surface too quickly. We spent a good morning learning all these tasks so we could try them out in the afternoon on an actual dive.

We met at the dive boat just after lunch and found that in addition to our instructor and the other student there were a few other people going out as well. They already had their certifications and were just going out to dive. The water was rough and it started to rain as we headed out to Indian Shores. On our way we reviewed our knowledge and got our equipment ready.

We arrived at our destination and proceeded to do the giant stride into the ocean from the diving platform at the stern of the boat. We then swam alongside the boat to the anchor rope, which was going to be our descent guide. The other student had technical problems and was banished to the boat, so I had the instructor to myself, which was absolutely awesome. She only had me to worry about which was a good thing, because clearly I had already forgotten some of the lessons I had learnt in the pool. The dive experience itself was totally amazing and fueled in me a desire to do more, so I did subsequently acquire my open water certification course. The colours of the fish and coral were phenomenal. The serenity and peacefulness of communing with nature was indescribable.

I did have one moment where somehow I lost my regulator and started choking. I was starting to panic when the instructor found and shoved the regulator back in my mouth and got me breathing again. We surfaced so that I could cough and sputter (we were not down deep or long enough to need a decompression stop) and she asked whether I wanted to go back down. Despite being quite anxious by this point at having discovered how much there was that I did not feel adequately prepared for, I felt that I should "get back on the horse" so to speak and go back down. So we did and it was fabulous. As a newbie I was having great difficulty with buoyancy, but when the instructor took my hand I was much more able to swim alongside her and enjoy the experience.

From journal Cayman Islands-Be Careful to Visit When Hurricanes do NOT!

Red Sail Sports

  • September 12, 2004
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Alias Girl from New York, New York
The best ever was a Waverunner Snorkel Safari Adventure for 1 and a half hours. This entire excursion happens aboard a wave runner (you could get a single or a double). We shared a double. You follow a guide who takes you and your fellow riders to three fantastic snorkel spots. Not only do you get to use the wave runner for 1 and a half hours, but you stop every so often to snorkel. The hardest thing is getting back up the wave runner from the water. But it was SO worth it. We had a blast taking turns steering the wave runner and going super fast. Highly recommended!

From journal Peaceful Beach Retreat

Red Sail 2 1/2 hour Snorkel - Stingray Sandbar

  • January 4, 2004
  • Rated 4 of 5 by lvohra from Oakville, Ontario
Red Sail 2 1/2 hour Snorkel - Stingray Sandbar

As a group, we got a deal. The catamaran that took us out was clean, and the staff were friendly, but not overly helpful getting people in the water, and they expected you knew what you were doing. This is still the best place to go for your stingray tour, as it is only 15 minutes from Morritt's and fairly cheap. We had an amazing view of everything, more than we had thought, and we'll never forget it.

From journal Cayman Wedding

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