Grand Cayman Recommendations

[Net Shark]

Hi All,

My wife and I are going to be in Grand Cayman the first week of May. We are staying at the Marriot at SMB. This is our first trip to Grand Cayman.

I will probably get to dive only one day. My wife does not dive or snorkel, but I like her to come on the boat with me and be able to relax and read while I am underwater. I have OAW cert, have done multiple deep dives, and drift dives.

1) Should stingray city be done as a snorkel trip or a dive (I know it's only 12-or-so feet deep). If I go to Stingray City, this would be in addition to my "one day" of diving.

2) Are there any "must see" sites?

3) How realistic is it to do 4 dives in one day? I see some operators offer this.

4) Any recommendations on operators/boats, given that I not only want a great dive but want my wife to be comfortable on-deck?

5) Do you know of anyone that offers video services . . . where they dive with me, record stuff, and provide me with a nice-looking DVD for my wife?

Many Thanks,
Steve "Net Shark"

 

[diversteve]

Hi All,

My wife and I are going to be in Grand Cayman the first week of May. We are staying at the Marriot at SMB. This is our first trip to Grand Cayman.

I will probably get to dive only one day. My wife does not dive or snorkel, but I like her to come on the boat with me and be able to relax and read while I am underwater. I have OAW cert, have done multiple deep dives, and drift dives.

1) Should stingray city be done as a snorkel trip or a dive (I know it's only 12-or-so feet deep). If I go to Stingray City, this would be in addition to my "one day" of diving.

We did it as a dive. There was a family on our boat, the parents dove and the kids snorkeled down. If you do a "snorkel" trip with a non-dive op they'll go to SandBar where you can stand. It's closer to 14'...diving lets you get up close and personal with the resident Moray after the squid is gone and the rays suddenly disappear - they all go over to the next boat.

2) Are there any "must see" sites?

Big Tunnel, Trinity Caves, Orange Canyon. Anything that drops off the North Wall is pretty epic.

3) How realistic is it to do 4 dives in one day? I see some operators offer this.

We did 3 of 5 days. The dives get shallower later on in the day. I think we did 100-ish and then 40-50ish in the morning. Then a couple of 60+ dives in the PM. Aquarium is a great site in about 40-50' for your second dive. If they offer Governor's Reef ask them to go somewhere else. Plus the diveop dropped us off in their van for lunch between trips. I'd recommend them but they're gone post-Hurricane Ivan.

4) Any recommendations on operators/boats, given that I not only want a great dive but want my wife to be comfortable on-deck?

Looked at Neptune's Divers? Red Sail has the big boats but limit your bottom time with their AL72's. You may have to pay a snorkel rate for your wife to ride along also. Most of the diveops will pick you up for free along SMB.

5) Do you know of anyone that offers video services . . . where they dive with me, record stuff, and provide me with a nice-looking DVD for my wife?

I don't - but I shoot HD if you want to send me a ticket..

Welcome to Scubaboard!!

 

[Rynomar]

I was there around New Year's and stayed at the Marriott on Seven Mile Beach. We dove with Diver's Down, which seemed to be a pretty good operation. Diver's Down as well as Neptune Divers take off from the beach directly across from the Mariott. We generally did two dives in the morning (leaving around 0900 and getting back about noon) and one dive in the afternoon.

We also dove at Stingray City with Diver's Down (Divers Down -The best scuba diving and snorkeling in Cayman Islands, Snorkel trip to Stingray City, Private Charter and Scuba instruction, from Open Water Diver to Instructors Development Courses.). The site that we went to was different from the snorkelling site but we had several snorkelers with us. Several people on the Stingray City dive had videos taken but we did not. I am sure that you could arrange something with Divers Down or whatever operation you choose to use. Diver's Down is the only operation I have used but they were very helpful and professional.

Also, for travelling around the island, cabs are pretty expensive on the island. We paid about $40 US to get from the airport to the motel. A less expensive option is a van service on the island if you don't mind riding with other people. The certified vans have green or yellow identification placards and will take you to Georgetown, Hell or anywhere inbetween for 2 Cayman Dollars ($2.50 US). We also had one of the vans take us back to the airport for $18 but that may have been an under the table deal. It seemed that the vans are everywhere during the day but are hard to find at night so you might want to try and get an idea of their schedule.

Enjoy the trip!

 

[sigourneya]

Wow! A bunch of us decided to be spontaneous and will be in the Caymans in June for the open water swim and these are great recommendations for divers and non-divers. However, would anyone have any other recommendations for places to stay on the island. There are 8 of us and would like to make it as cheap as possible. Thanks!

 

[dive ladder]

Have a look at these package rates. We dive with these guys often"ambassador divers", but have never stayed here. The place looks nice.
Ambassador Divers Ltd., Grand Cayman Exceptional scuba diving in the Cayman Islands - Dive Packages

 

[DiverDebbie]

Not to be a pessimist, but I think you may have trouble finding a dive op. that will let a non-diver along. They just usually don't have the extra space unless they're running those big cattle boats with a mix of divers and snorkelers, which wouldn't be the best diving experience, IMO.
I'd certainly contact them all ahead of time to find out if your wife can in fact go along.
We dove mainly with Don Fosters and thought they were great... and very accommodating. They even took me out solo for a dive.
We did the stingray city dive with them and it was awesome. Since your wife doesn't even snorkel, I'd absolutely do the dive. Just a comment though... It was a good thing we didn't have snorkellers too. The current was ripping really strong, and unless snorkellers were hanging on a rope, they would not have been able to stay with the boat. As it was, we had to keep moving to not end up miles away. So personally I think it's best to keep the divers and snorkelers separate with divers in 12 feet and snorkelers in waist deep, especially in conditions like that.

 

[sigourneya]

Have a look at these package rates. We dive with these guys often"ambassador divers", but have never stayed here. The place looks nice.
Ambassador Divers Ltd., Grand Cayman Exceptional scuba diving in the Cayman Islands - Dive Packages

Thanks for the info!!!

 

[beachgirl630]

I was on Grand Cayman last summer, I stayed at Cobalt Coast and dove with them as well. The diving was great , my favorite was the North Wall and the wreck of the Oro Verde, there was a colony of garden eels near the Oro Verde. Don't forget to take along some orange slices down with you, the fish love to eat them!! Have fun!!

 

[DiveDad]

I'm not sure the word 'cheap' actually exists on Grand Cayman...but I found Sunset House to be reasonable. I had a group there in February and had a great time. There's a selection of rooms from oceanfront/view to dorm room type accomodations, with varying prices. 24 hour a day shore diving is right out front so you get more bang for your diving dollar than virtually anywhere else. Cobalt Coast has shore diving but it is much more weather dependent than Sunset House. And Sunset House is within walking distance of Georgetown, so you don't have to have a car, pay for a taxi or wait for the bus to get around. Some other positives...you can get breakfast included at Sunset House; My Bar has a great bar menu and some of the rooms include a fridge but you can rent one if you're in a room where it isn't included.