Shore Diving Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac advice

Hi all,
The wife and I just returned from a great trip to Bonaire(trip report to come once we dig out of the snow) and since it is below 0 wind chill and 2 feet of snow we are thinking warm thoughts and looking at next years trip.

A little background. We are newbies. OW cert in Roatan January of 13. only 4 dives there post cert.All Boat dives. This year Bonaire, 33 dives, all Shore Dives.

So we are thinking about trying Grand Cayman or Cayman Brac. We loved the shore diving in Bonaire and the freedom to go on our schedule.

We typically rent a VRBO for 4-5 weeks which allows for lower cost and allows us to go at a leisure pace. What can you tell me about shore diving on GC or CB in January, difficulty, cost, can you do it on your own like Bonaire? We have our own equipment and would just need tanks and weights. We are also not into the night life/party scene and prefer the quiet on our own. We do mostly our own cooking with an occasional eating out to get the local feel.

I appreciate any advice and information on places to stay dives to do, dive ops to use etc. Ive looked at other forums and will continue to search, but thought there might be some recent info out there as well.
Thanks for the help
Montana Tom

Almost all the easily accessible (without a long swim out in boat traffic) shore dives on Grand Cayman are either in the NW Point area or along the West side.

So although from a housing perspective you might enjoy Rum Point or east of there due to the quiet, you'd have approximately an hour drive back around the island. You might look for something in West Bay, there are still some quieter areas there. Even some waterfront properties closer to NW Point. Seven Mile Beach has been described as a small Miami Beach...

Most of the better known shore dives on Grand Cayman are:

Cobalt Coast - the more remote AI dive resort. Divetech is onsite there.
Turtle Reef - IMO the best of this list. Sundivers is onsite (at Cracked Conch restaurant)
Lighthouse Point - condos there and the 2nd Divetech location
Cemetery Beach (shallow)
Eden Rock/Devils Grotto (near the cruise port - can be congested when 4-5 ships are in)
Cheeseburger Reef (near the cruise port - worn from what I've read)
Sunset House - the AI dive resort south of Georgetown
Smith's Cove (shallower)

If you rent the right property on the north side you can also access sites near Hepp's Wall. Hepp's Condo's or Coconut Bay both have a ladder over the ironshore and it's a pretty long - but doable swim out. Arguably the best shore dive on Grand Cayman is Babylon but it's in the middle of the north side, not near much, not the easiest entry thru the coral and a long surface swim out thru potential boat traffic. Worth it when you get there or you can dive it with Ocean Frontiers (or others) via boat.

You can locate all of these on idiveglobal.com. And see short videos about each one. Grand Cayman's northwest side is ironshore like Bonaire. The difference is that in many areas it's too tall to climb down. So the dives often have ladders for access.

The other issue is that some of these sites have resort facilities - they own to the waterline. So you rent from them. I know of two places on Grand Cayman that rents tanks for off-site use - Divers Supply in West Bay and Eden Rock downtown. None of the dive resorts let you remove their tanks any longer.

hth,

Thanks diversteve,
Do you know anymore about Cayman Brac. We have found a couple rentals we like there, and wondering all thoughts about shore diving there. Have heard on another forum that the two dive ops on CB don't do tank rentals for shore diving unless you sign up for their boat diving package as well.

The Brac Scuba Shack stopped renting tanks for shore dives? We just did boat dives but I saw people renting tanks for shore dives. And I might add someone dropped off a tank they dropped and damaged. Coincidence?


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You can rent all the tanks you want from Reef Divers or Brac Scuba Shack. Pick any place around Brac, swim out with a flag, and knock yourself out. I like the South walls, the top is about 50-70 feet, but there are shallower reefs to the west. The Southeast sites like Rock Monster are awesome dives, weather permitting. The extreme SE(Great Cave) has a shallow top and dramatic drop off, one of my favorites. The North walls are nice and the Marine park just west of spot Bay has some fantastic sites just offshore. They have placed some rocks(like Bonaire) to locate the more popular sites, but really any place you park you can swim out and enjoy.

The rock shore requires some rubber soled booties to navigate, then throw your gear in and go for it. No surf, current or boat traffic, but a flag is required for shore diving. The extreme west is difficult to access from shore because of the fringe reef, and boat traffic. I like Sylvias reef, Burt's Boulder's and Green House(all north side) The wall is easy to get to from these spots, easy parking, and usually a lot of sea life.. I'll usually surface swim to the buoy with flag, drop down for 2000 pound dive, then swim back along the bottom. Safety stop is done while going over the sand flats. It's hard to get lost, if you go too far out you are over the wall.

Once your comfortable, a fun dive is to swim out past the wall and wait for something big to swim by. Sometimes nothing, sometimes a shark or a school of tuna, always cool to see the dark blue. Watch the weather, if wind is up there is usually a calm spot somewhere. Love rambling on about Brac. Cheers

IMO the best shore dive in Grand Cayman is the deep wall at Lighthouse Point with double pinnacles, swim throughs, canyons with top of wall at 45' and sheers off to 4,000'. Have always seen turtles and abundance of marine life like eagle rays, hammerhead sharks, green morels, schooling jacks and ocean triggers.
#1 shore dive is Cobalt Coast Resort shore dive called "Sea Fan Reef" in West Bay was voted by 9 NOAA scientist as the healthiest reef system of all 3 Cayman Islands. There are thousands of sea fans starting at the dock ladder with an abundance of marine life even under the dock. The night dive is awesome with 20-30 tarpon that hang around the dock light at night.
#2 shore dive would be Lighthouse Point also in West Bay called "Macro Reef" (shallow dive site) and the deep wall called "Turtle Canyon". The deep wall site is very close to the dock with underwater navigational lines.

Divetech in West Bay also allows Air/Nitrox tanks offsite during that day but need to be returned before 5PM or charged for another day rental. They also rent 63's, standard 80's and even 100 c.f. tanks. Don't take Divers Supply, Divetech's or Eden Rocks rental tanks onto other dive resorts or private property. Divetech's dive boat packages include "free" unlimited shore diving 24/7 from their 2 locations.

Diversteve recommended Condo's at Hepp's & Coconut Bay as a public shore dive but this is "Private Property".

divejay:

Diversteve recommended Condo's at Hepp's & Coconut Bay as a public shore dive but this is "Private Property".

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Actually no I didn't...

If you rent the right property on the north side you can also access sites near Hepp's Wall. Hepp's Condo's or Coconut Bay

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diversteve:

None of the dive resorts let you remove their tanks any longer.

hth,

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Not entirely true. We will do a couple of boat dives with Ocean Frontiers and have always been able to rent tanks from them for shore diving. Here's their policy: Shore Diving