ScottNY
Contributor
Short Version:
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Stayed at Marriott on Seven Mile Beach. Amazing deal for slightly under $1,600 from CheapCarribean.com included air fare from NY JFK and five night stay. Dived with DiversDown.net. We did the Summer Splash package for $350, which included 3x2 tank boat dives, 1 tank dive to USS Kittiwake, and 1 tank dive at Stingray City. (This package made most sense price-wise even though wife skipped one of the two tank dives in AM.) The Marriott was nice, but the food there is expensive. Plenty of other places nearby in walking distance. Divers Down was a great experience. Would definitely go with them again. They pick you up at beach by boat for typical dives, and at lobby to go by truck to other side of island for Stingray City dive. All the dive sites were good fun, a couple of them deeper, (100+), with swim through reefs. Diving the Kittiwake wreck is very cool and I highly recommend it.
All the Details
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Land...
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The Marriott was decent. Friendly, competent staff. Clean rooms. No real complaints about the hotel. We might not have stayed there if we hadn't gotten such an amazing deal though, since we really came more on a dive vacation and wouldn't have cared as much about accommodations. Still, it was nice to stay in a decent place. The pool and beach are both well attended by staff. And there's a well appointed exercise room; that we didn't use. On the beach, you can snorkel there and check out the 'reef balls' they've sunk out there. It's not much if you're a real diver, but if you snorkel along the reef balls and go south past the resort area, you can see a little bit of reef development and life happening right there.
This is not an all inclusive hotel. If you want to sail the Hobie Cat, a Kayak or a Wave Runner, you'll talk to the on-site folks at Red Sail. You can also dive with them, but they seem the most expensive around. (I've dived with Red Sail in Aurba and they were great, but on Grand Cayman, it seems they do a lot of business with the cruise ships, so somehow charge a lot more.) You can rent cars on Cayman, but we didn't see the need and I didn't feel like learning to drive on 'wrong' side of road. The Marriott is deep into the famous Seven Mile Beach area, (which is really only 5.5 miles), and has some things nearby. Within reasonable walking distance, (a few blocks to a mile), you have a wide variety of restaurants, including fancier places at Caymana Bay. A short taxi ride, (about $11 U.S. - and we probably overpaid on this one), will take you to Dolce Vita, which is great Italian. Really good. But pricey. On the other hand, practically across the street is Coconut Joe's, for breakfast, lunch or dinner which is basic pub food at reasonable prices. There's some more local restaurants like Cimboco, The Reef Grill and others. Then also Pizza Hut, Burger King and Quiznos for those who like the usual junk instead of trying local stuff. (We prefer local stuff and were for some reason surprised at all the chain stuff.) The supermarket is a bit of a walk, (probably about a mile), but there's a little market just a few blocks away as well. We got things at the supermarket for the fridge for our basic needs. The room had the usual fridge, but no cooking facilities. You can go all the way into Georgetown, but we didn't feel compelled to do this either. There's some more restaurants and fancy shopping there, (for the cruise ships), but from what we saw passing through, it's mostly just typical town stuff; that is, doesn't seem to be a lot of interesting walks or anything. The only time we spent there was on a three dive day. Instead of going back to hotel, we went with Divers Down back to their George town port and had lunch there before heading out to PM Kittiwake dive. There's supposedly other land stuff to do, golf, horseback, etc., but we weren't there for that so can't offer any info.
Note: Almost everything is closed on Sunday, excepting restaurants, dive Ops, etc. So if you are going to do a non-diving day, I'd suggest NOT making it on Sunday as there won't be much to do.
Dive Op
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Tons of dive ops here. We found the DiversDown.net web site and they looked good. I was a little concerned about the fact that I couldn't find much about them on ScubaBoard.com. In fact, I asked them about this and they said they do a lot of diving with locals, they don't have contracts with the cruise ships, etc., but have plenty of business so they just don't seem to be a popularly reviewed operation. This should change as ideally others will see this and give them a shot. They have a few locations. I'd first contacted Nicole by email with a couple of questions, then called them on phone to do initial scheduling and purchase a package. As mentioned above, we went with an 8 dive package for $350 which included the special dives for Kittiwake wreck and Stingray City. When we first got in to Grand Cayman on Wednesday PM, we did the 5 minute walk to their Seven Mile Beach shop to set up our dives. They picked us up on the beach at the Marriott the next AM. They pull the boat up right on to the beach and it's pretty easy to get on and off the boat. Make sure if you're diving the next day to ask them if you should take your equipment back to your room with you. They probably want you to take a rental BC and regs with you. One mess up we did have is that I've got my own gear, but my wife was using rental BC / Regs that she left on boat. (We misunderstood what they'd said.) The next day, we were short equipment. They let her use the boat Captain's gear on a dive, which was nice. We mostly dove with either Celeste or Ari, both of whom were great, safe Guides.
Dives
====
* Thursday was Round Rock and then Angel Fish. Both are basic reef dives, between 60' - 80' The usual reef inhabitants, great visibility in the area, 80' - 100' and while I don't know the specific temperature, I was perfectly comfortable, (maybe a bit warm), in a 3mm shorty.
* Friday was Big Tunnels, (deeper at around 110'), and KIller Pillar, (around 60'). Big Tunnels was really cool. Lot of swim thrus. Killer Pillar had.. well... pillars. On these dives, photographer Michelle de Villiers from deepblueimages.com went with us. So you can see some of the sites for yourself on my pics site if you like: GrandCayman-June2012-ProPics - scottgermaise's Photos
On the first dive here, my computer / pressure gauge console started bubbling a small air leak. Nothing crazy, but still... air is air. Ari was able to fix it. Apparently, the O-ring seals to my SPG were dirty. They didn't have replacement for these small rings, but cleaning them and re-sealing them was enough to do the trick. So I was really thankful that this was a no big deal problem that let me dive with my own gear still, (including computer), and not have to deal with rental gear when I had my own stuff.
We then headed back to port, had lunch and got ready for PM dive, which was the former submarine rescue ship, the USS Kittiwake, for which you can search out a bunch of info. Fun dive. They've really prepped the ship for diving. You do need to watch you don't bump your head on stuff. And there are rusty spots you don't want to cut yourself on, but most of the nasty bits have been cut / welded off. A bunch of relatively safe swim through areas. Even a couple of air pockets. (though it'd be stupid to breath from them.)
* Saturday we did the North Wall and Princess Penny's Pinnacle. For these dives, (my wife thankfully didn't go on these because she wouldn't have liked the rougher boat ride), we took one of the faster boats from the company and went somewhat far out for these dives. The seas were a bit rougher so it was a longer bouncy ride. This is all relative of course. It was rougher compared to other dives in the area. Still nothing compared to typical northeast U.S. diving. In any case, really nice dives. Great life all over the reef. DM manged to spear a couple of the hated Lion fish down there as well. In the afternoon, wife joined me again for the more docile 12' - 15' dive in Stingray City. This was a lot of fun. You can optionally take some squid from the DM while down and feed them yourself, but you don't have to. Their undersides are incredibly soft. They're a lot of pun to get up close and personal and they weren't at all aggressive. (Though of course, I'm sure if you do something stupid, like any animal they'd demonstrate their less friendly side.)
That's about it. Overall a really great trip. There's a ton of sites on Grand Cayman and I think we'll be going back there.
Have fun!
Scott
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Stayed at Marriott on Seven Mile Beach. Amazing deal for slightly under $1,600 from CheapCarribean.com included air fare from NY JFK and five night stay. Dived with DiversDown.net. We did the Summer Splash package for $350, which included 3x2 tank boat dives, 1 tank dive to USS Kittiwake, and 1 tank dive at Stingray City. (This package made most sense price-wise even though wife skipped one of the two tank dives in AM.) The Marriott was nice, but the food there is expensive. Plenty of other places nearby in walking distance. Divers Down was a great experience. Would definitely go with them again. They pick you up at beach by boat for typical dives, and at lobby to go by truck to other side of island for Stingray City dive. All the dive sites were good fun, a couple of them deeper, (100+), with swim through reefs. Diving the Kittiwake wreck is very cool and I highly recommend it.
All the Details
=========
Land...
=====
The Marriott was decent. Friendly, competent staff. Clean rooms. No real complaints about the hotel. We might not have stayed there if we hadn't gotten such an amazing deal though, since we really came more on a dive vacation and wouldn't have cared as much about accommodations. Still, it was nice to stay in a decent place. The pool and beach are both well attended by staff. And there's a well appointed exercise room; that we didn't use. On the beach, you can snorkel there and check out the 'reef balls' they've sunk out there. It's not much if you're a real diver, but if you snorkel along the reef balls and go south past the resort area, you can see a little bit of reef development and life happening right there.
This is not an all inclusive hotel. If you want to sail the Hobie Cat, a Kayak or a Wave Runner, you'll talk to the on-site folks at Red Sail. You can also dive with them, but they seem the most expensive around. (I've dived with Red Sail in Aurba and they were great, but on Grand Cayman, it seems they do a lot of business with the cruise ships, so somehow charge a lot more.) You can rent cars on Cayman, but we didn't see the need and I didn't feel like learning to drive on 'wrong' side of road. The Marriott is deep into the famous Seven Mile Beach area, (which is really only 5.5 miles), and has some things nearby. Within reasonable walking distance, (a few blocks to a mile), you have a wide variety of restaurants, including fancier places at Caymana Bay. A short taxi ride, (about $11 U.S. - and we probably overpaid on this one), will take you to Dolce Vita, which is great Italian. Really good. But pricey. On the other hand, practically across the street is Coconut Joe's, for breakfast, lunch or dinner which is basic pub food at reasonable prices. There's some more local restaurants like Cimboco, The Reef Grill and others. Then also Pizza Hut, Burger King and Quiznos for those who like the usual junk instead of trying local stuff. (We prefer local stuff and were for some reason surprised at all the chain stuff.) The supermarket is a bit of a walk, (probably about a mile), but there's a little market just a few blocks away as well. We got things at the supermarket for the fridge for our basic needs. The room had the usual fridge, but no cooking facilities. You can go all the way into Georgetown, but we didn't feel compelled to do this either. There's some more restaurants and fancy shopping there, (for the cruise ships), but from what we saw passing through, it's mostly just typical town stuff; that is, doesn't seem to be a lot of interesting walks or anything. The only time we spent there was on a three dive day. Instead of going back to hotel, we went with Divers Down back to their George town port and had lunch there before heading out to PM Kittiwake dive. There's supposedly other land stuff to do, golf, horseback, etc., but we weren't there for that so can't offer any info.
Note: Almost everything is closed on Sunday, excepting restaurants, dive Ops, etc. So if you are going to do a non-diving day, I'd suggest NOT making it on Sunday as there won't be much to do.
Dive Op
=====
Tons of dive ops here. We found the DiversDown.net web site and they looked good. I was a little concerned about the fact that I couldn't find much about them on ScubaBoard.com. In fact, I asked them about this and they said they do a lot of diving with locals, they don't have contracts with the cruise ships, etc., but have plenty of business so they just don't seem to be a popularly reviewed operation. This should change as ideally others will see this and give them a shot. They have a few locations. I'd first contacted Nicole by email with a couple of questions, then called them on phone to do initial scheduling and purchase a package. As mentioned above, we went with an 8 dive package for $350 which included the special dives for Kittiwake wreck and Stingray City. When we first got in to Grand Cayman on Wednesday PM, we did the 5 minute walk to their Seven Mile Beach shop to set up our dives. They picked us up on the beach at the Marriott the next AM. They pull the boat up right on to the beach and it's pretty easy to get on and off the boat. Make sure if you're diving the next day to ask them if you should take your equipment back to your room with you. They probably want you to take a rental BC and regs with you. One mess up we did have is that I've got my own gear, but my wife was using rental BC / Regs that she left on boat. (We misunderstood what they'd said.) The next day, we were short equipment. They let her use the boat Captain's gear on a dive, which was nice. We mostly dove with either Celeste or Ari, both of whom were great, safe Guides.
Dives
====
* Thursday was Round Rock and then Angel Fish. Both are basic reef dives, between 60' - 80' The usual reef inhabitants, great visibility in the area, 80' - 100' and while I don't know the specific temperature, I was perfectly comfortable, (maybe a bit warm), in a 3mm shorty.
* Friday was Big Tunnels, (deeper at around 110'), and KIller Pillar, (around 60'). Big Tunnels was really cool. Lot of swim thrus. Killer Pillar had.. well... pillars. On these dives, photographer Michelle de Villiers from deepblueimages.com went with us. So you can see some of the sites for yourself on my pics site if you like: GrandCayman-June2012-ProPics - scottgermaise's Photos
On the first dive here, my computer / pressure gauge console started bubbling a small air leak. Nothing crazy, but still... air is air. Ari was able to fix it. Apparently, the O-ring seals to my SPG were dirty. They didn't have replacement for these small rings, but cleaning them and re-sealing them was enough to do the trick. So I was really thankful that this was a no big deal problem that let me dive with my own gear still, (including computer), and not have to deal with rental gear when I had my own stuff.
We then headed back to port, had lunch and got ready for PM dive, which was the former submarine rescue ship, the USS Kittiwake, for which you can search out a bunch of info. Fun dive. They've really prepped the ship for diving. You do need to watch you don't bump your head on stuff. And there are rusty spots you don't want to cut yourself on, but most of the nasty bits have been cut / welded off. A bunch of relatively safe swim through areas. Even a couple of air pockets. (though it'd be stupid to breath from them.)
* Saturday we did the North Wall and Princess Penny's Pinnacle. For these dives, (my wife thankfully didn't go on these because she wouldn't have liked the rougher boat ride), we took one of the faster boats from the company and went somewhat far out for these dives. The seas were a bit rougher so it was a longer bouncy ride. This is all relative of course. It was rougher compared to other dives in the area. Still nothing compared to typical northeast U.S. diving. In any case, really nice dives. Great life all over the reef. DM manged to spear a couple of the hated Lion fish down there as well. In the afternoon, wife joined me again for the more docile 12' - 15' dive in Stingray City. This was a lot of fun. You can optionally take some squid from the DM while down and feed them yourself, but you don't have to. Their undersides are incredibly soft. They're a lot of pun to get up close and personal and they weren't at all aggressive. (Though of course, I'm sure if you do something stupid, like any animal they'd demonstrate their less friendly side.)
That's about it. Overall a really great trip. There's a ton of sites on Grand Cayman and I think we'll be going back there.
Have fun!
Scott
anyway).
