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What is really great about Grand Cayman verses Roatan is Grand Cayman has great shore diving that Roatan does not and the deep walls 40' -4,000' in Grand Cayman are breath taking shear. In West Bay, Grand Cayman is Cobalt Coast Dive Resort that has unlimited diving 24/7 for a price of a boat trip in Roatan.I have narrowed down my choices for a summer dive trip to either Grand Cayman or Roatan. Which would you choose and why?
thanks
J
I have dived both Roatan (at CocoView) and Little Cayman. I think the diving is better at Little Cayman.
I did the south side of Roatan. Most of the dives are wall dives. The wall can start almost at the surface to about 60' depending on the site. The wall itself is generally about 60'-100' before leveling off and plunging again at depths I don't go into. Roatan seems to have suffered fishing pressure until recently. I saw few large grouper. I think I saw a couple of turtles. I don't recall seeing a shark. I did see a considerable number of angel fish, parrot fish, blue tangs, snappers and so on. I saw more morays than I have seen anywhere else. I think the relative absence of large diurnal predators has given the morays an opportunity that they are exploiting. Also, I frequently saw sea horses.
I was at the resort and never really got off of it. But the people I came into contact with were uniformly cheerful, pleasant and helpful. I saw open evidence of pretty extreme poverty but crime on the island seems to be low (at least for the tourist experience). You see often see another side of things if you are a resident.
The diving I have had at Little Cayman is the best I have seen in the Carribean. I have been to South Caicos (Turks and Caicos), Salt Cay (Turks and Caicos), south east coast of Florida, the Florida Keys, the British Virgin Islands, Roatan, and Little Cayman. The visibility at Little Cayman is often near 100'. The large critters are abundant; stingrays, eagle rays, reef sharks, nurse sharks, turtles, and large groupers. The island sanctuary is more than lip service. It is enforced and the sea life shows it. The large animals are often quite unconcerned about divers (turtles seem to think that they have the right of way and divers should get out of their way). Little Cayman also has a rich selection of small critters which I often miss because I am gawking at something big.
The Cayman Islands have much more of a social safety net so the local inhabitants seem to be reasonably well off. On Little Cayman, there are so few residents that the locals are not much of an issue. The cost of the Cayman Islands is much higher than Roatan. From what I gather, Grand Cayman has fairly similar diving to Little Cayman with a developed island infrastructure. As far as choice goes, you are talking about a well established resort area with a place that is definitely third world.