Cayman Brac is part of the Cayman Islands chain located on ridge above the Cayman trench. The trench, being the 3rd deepest place on earth contributes to the stunning wall dives that the Cayman’s are famous for. The Island of Brac lies in the Caribbean Sea about 80 miles north-east of Grand Cayman, 5.0 miles east of Little Cayman and 88 miles SW of Gardens of the Queen, Cuba. The island is about 12 mi long, with an average width of 1.2 mi. Its terrain is the most prominent of the three Cayman Islands due to a 141 foot limestone bluff that rises along the length of the island on the eastern side. Long story short Brac gets it’ name from the Gaelic word for bluff. The resident population is about 1,800. Over the course of a year, the temperature typically varies from 75°F to 91°F, and they are on Central Time. Water temperature ranges from in 78°F the winter to 86°F in the summer. Water clarity can vary from 70’ to 150’. Brac is not a major tourist destination. Simply put this means no cruise ships dumping loads of travelers off and making things hectic, and there’s just not a lot of tourist stuff to do there anyway. If you’re traveling to Brac you’re going there for one of two things; diving or chilling. We were there to do both.
Getting there:
Flights to the Caymans are expensive, especially if booking through a major carrier. They tend to charge more because major airlines don’t service Little Cayman or Brac. This requires you to either book a Cayman Airlines direct flight out of Miami or Houston, or take a major carrier to Grand Cayman and then hop over to the sister islands on Cayman Airlines. I did some homework and decided to book direct to Miami, stay overnight at an airport hotel, and fly out the next morning on Cayman Airlines. This got us to Brac at 11:30 in the morning and even with a Miami hotel stay we saved half on our overall flight cost. Flights may be direct to Brac or to Grand Cayman with a quick hop to Brac. The Airport in Brac is quaint and not at all crowded. Our flight was a little over an hour from Miami. Most passengers on the flight were continuing to Grand Cayman so it was quick to get through de-boarding and off to the resort. However, leaving Brac we did have to hop over to Grand Cayman which was a bit of a nightmare. The airport at the time of this report was undergoing growing pains and renovations. Crowded is an understatement. Although we were connecting with the same airline, we were required to collect our luggage and cycle back through security. With this came extremely long lines stretching well outside the airport whilst drenching in the heat and wishing for a cold drink, and maybe a shirt change.
Accommodations:
There are several choices on the Island for divers to consider. We chose Cayman Brac Beach Resort as it seemed to offer the best amenities for what we wanted and quite frankly the best service which included all inclusive. We chose a schedule of 17 dives in a week. For those not into a schedule like that there are smaller available dive packages and snorkeling is an option. There is a great beach however, the water off the beach is extremely shallow and full of rocks and sea grass, so ocean swimming out front of the resort would be ill advised. However, there is an awesome pool if just relaxing is on the menu. The resort had recently undergone a major overhaul and is clean and modern. We had a room with two double beds. The surprise here was the mattresses were real beds and not lacking in comfort. The space though was somewhat cramped and there was limited closet and drawer space. Consider that if you travel heavy. There is cable TV, but reception is not the best and there are only 9 channels. However, another surprise is they have a robust wifi that reaches the rooms and it provides enough bandwidth to stream Netflix or the like if you need that kind of entertainment. There were also resort activities scheduled every night which gave everyone the chance to mingle and have some fun off the water.
Food:
The Palms dining room provides a buffet style platform, but for those with special needs items can be chosen off a menu. Breakfast is 7-10am, Lunch is 12:30 to 2pm, and dinner is served at 6:30pm. Unlike most inclusive resorts we have visited we never tired of the offerings as the food was actually good with nights of luscious prime rib, fresh shrimp, and juicy steaks to boot. Be wary that drinks not included in your package are very expensive so be careful, unless you like getting caught in the rain paying $17.50US for a pina colada.
Dive Operations:
On site dive operations is provided by Reef Divers, which by the way has service on all the Cayman Islands. http://www.reefdiverscaymanbrac.com/ Boats are comfortable and well equipped. They currently have five boats – four are Newton 46’ boats with a seating capacity of 36 divers each, but they only allow 20 divers per boat. The fifth boat is a Newton 42’ with a capacity for 25 divers, but board a max of 20 divers on her as well. We never had more that 15 divers on a boat during our stay with several trips of only 10. There are over 50 marked Brac dive sites to include four wrecks, one being the famous 330 foot Russian Frigate Capt. Keith Tibbett’s. We were there the last week in May 2017. There was no rain during our stay. Ambient temperature was 85 degrees with average water temperature of 81. Winds were Southerly with sustained winds at 10-15 knots. The resort is on the windward side and 5 foot swells diverted all dive trips to the leeward side, but a quick 7 minute trip around the point put you into calm waters. When you arrive at the resort you place your gear into a bag provided by the dive shop and leave it outside the door the next morning where it is picked up. That is the last time you have to touch your gear for the remainder of your stay with the exception of your normal operational check off’s. Dive briefings are very long, but very detailed as a map of each dive site is drawn out on a white board and extensively discussed. Once briefed you walk to the platform on back of the boat, sit down, and your gear is brought to you. All you do is lock in and step off. It is truly a valet style operation. The dive staff is professional, very knowledgeable, and they work hard to accommodate everyone. Three boats were operating daily while we were there, but you never ran into another group on the water. Water and snacks were on board, but I was not impressed with being offered one orange wedge and a pack of potato chips, but that’s about my only complaint if I’m forced to complain. My suggestion is to bring the snacks you like on board. Visibility varied by site ranging from 100’+ to 40’ in some spots. Marine life was spotted and varied with common sightings of typical Caribbean critters and occasional schools. Large variety sightings were slim with a few Loggerheads and Caribbean reef sharks making brief appearances off the walls. We had I would say an 80% chance on every dive to get on top of any number of groupers and a 50% chance to have some turtle time. The wall dives were amazing and the reefs were extremely healthy with vast numbers of sea fans, tubes, and giant barrel sponges. Overall the diving rates at excellent. This trip places the Cayman Islands on my list of spots worth exploring so if you haven’t been…. Gear up! It’s a great place to absorb some nitrogen. Safe diving my friends.