Cayman - with Jr divers

[shrkdive]

We are planning our family vacation for this next summer and thinking of going to Grand Caymen. Our two youngest... ages 11 and 14 got certified this past summer on Bonaire and loved it. Given that the youngest is going to be limited to 40 ft max are there still good sites on Grand Caymen, Little Caymen or Caymen Brac or will we be dissapointed since the walls are all deeper dives?

We could always return to Bonaire but would like to let the kids experience a different island.

 

[AggieDiver]

Little cayman will have the most reliably shallow diving unless you are forced to dive the south side due to windy conditions. All three islands will have plenty of options for staying shallow, but on LC nearly all the mooring pins are in around 20-25'.

 

[vincent54]

My little ones got there certification and first 20 dives at Cobalt Coast, Grand Cayman. Plenty to see on the North side site, Stingray City shallow dive and when it was windy, Eden Rock,Sunset House and Turtle Reef.
Never went deeper than 60 feet, most below 40 . They also like feeding the Tarpon at the Wharf Restaurant, which is a beautiful place to dine.

We tried Bonaire, and that was an equal success. Beautiful diving and some nice exploring.

The kids will be bored to death on Little Cayman and Brac. As much as I hate to admit it, the Stingray City dive is still one of my favorites, and the kids still talk about it. Hopefully there is still a Green Moray that makes an appearance. It sounds a bit Disney, but I still love it. Have fun.

 

[diversteve]

I agree with vincent.

I'm almost positive the Tarpon Cave at Turtle Reef is above 40'. In some places the bottom of the mini-wall to the south is about that - or less than 10' deeper. And it bottoms out into sand so no reason to do that anyway typically. I'm pretty sure our second dive there we never broke 40'. And it's a good dive, the mini-wall is covered in stuff. Happy Fish Divers does guided dives there also - they work with Sundivers on-site.

At Lighthouse Point the reef starts in 6' off the dock. Cobalt Coast is pretty similar.

Sunset House has decent reef structure above 40'. Time the sub passing and the kids can wave to the tourists. (ask at the shop) The mermaid is actually 55' to the base but they could get pretty close - it would just be blue water diving for them though as there's not a lot shallower in that area - she's kind of in shallow fold in the reef.

Parts of Eden Rock are 15' deep. Once you get out to where the reef becomes patchy (don't go further, it won't get any better) you're at about 42-45'. But there's a lot of reef in 20-30' also. Some of the swim-thru's at the Grotto nearby are pretty shallow also - don't remember the exact depth. Cheeseburger Reef in town off Lobster Pot Dive is similar. If possible you'd want to dive them when there's no cruise traffic since they're within 1/4 mi. of the port or less. We had Eden Rock to ourselves after 4PM one afternoon. They close at 5 so rent a 2nd tank on a 24hr. rental if you want to dive there twice.

Stingray City is the most fun they'll have in 14' of water. There's also Cemetery Reef north of Seven Mile Beach but it's really a better snorkel than dive. And Smith's Cove south of Sunset House. Rent tanks at Eden Rock for these - most other ops don't let you remove them.

They could also dive the Kittiwake IIRC. All that's required is an OW card to access the top 2-3 levels of the ship. It was put down as a combo dive/snorkel site so it almost breaks the surface. Diver cleaned so it's safe and the rules require a DM per group/level - AOW and wreck cert divers can penetrate deeper. http://www.dive365cayman.com/kittiwake-cayman

There's also a lot of boat dives that are within the kids range. Talk to Jason at Ambassador Divers - they'll go with 2 divers - 6-8 max, so he might be able to do some "private" charters for the 4 of you at their regular 2 dive rate. Dive Sites lists about 30-40 dives above 40'. If you've got more divers with you - with 6 pax you'd "own" the boat at many of the operators. Here's the big list: Cayman Islands Tourism Association - Things To Do In Cayman, Cayman Culture,Cayman Islands Watersports

I'm sure we weren't much more than 40' at the Aquarium and that was only because we followed one of the sand chutes down the wall. Many of the cleaning stations are above 40'. The cleaner shrimp will trim cuticles if you hold out your hand. Another 2nd dive nearby - Mitch Miller is at 30'. The topography there is different than nearby which is why to dive it. http://www.dive365cayman.com/dive-sites for many more - they list depths.

Red Sail does a single tank afternoon shallow dive guaranteed to be between 30-50' max. One Tank PM West Shallow Dive | Cayman Islands | Red Sail Sports Cayman

We could always return to Bonaire but would like to let the kids experience a different island.

fyi, Bonaire with a lot more to do on the surface - and much easier shore entries - is called Curacao. We did 25 dives there - only one from a boat to get to a site not shore-accessible.

 

[Doctorfish]

I agree with diversteve.
Your kids will go crazy on LC or Brac. Not much else to do but dive and not many other people to interact with. Many of the best sites on Bloody bay and Jacksons are quite a bit deeper than the 20 ft wall at Mixing Bowl and you won't have much say in where the boat goes. There is enough shallow diving on GC to keep them interested and lot's of other activities. Stingray City will blow their minds. A lot of the Kittiwake structure is shallow as well.
Cobalt and Turtle reef have plenty of structure in 30-40 and in fact at night there, we always stay shallow. The tarpon cave at Turtle reef is about 40 ft. Mesa Armchair,Aquarium are all shallow west side boat dives. There are others. The kids won't get to the wall but they will have an excellent dive experience on GC.

Take them to LC and Brac when they are a bit older.

 

[tkaelin]

We started diving as a family in 2009 starting in Bonaire when my kids were 12 and 15. We all loved Bon and it was a perfect place to get started. We went to Little Cayman in 2010 and Grand Cayman in 2012. We also enjoyed diving LC and GC. I think GC would be a better choice over LC and you should enjoy GC so long as you know that it will be different than BON. My crew enjoyed being on 7MB and took advantage of being on a beautiful beach. We dove everyday but it was mostly shore diving. My daughter then 15 and I dove three mornings with Divetech for 2 tank boat dives. We dove the KW on a six pack one afternoon and well worth it. We all dove in the afternoon at either Lighthouse Pt or Turtle Reef. Depth should not be an issue for you at either location. My kids also thoroughly enjoyed diving Eden Rock for the swim throughs. Yes it is a little beat up but if you go early in the morning or better yet on a non cruise ship day you will enjoy it as well. There is a lot more to do and see topside in GC then Bon. Just keep in mind that the diving and just about everything else will be more expensive in GC. If you stay in a condo with a kitchen and eat in a lot and do mostly shore diving it can be affordable and enjoyable. We stayed at discovery point on 7MB and it worked out well. We also rented tanks one day and did a sunset dive out front of the condo. Probably only 15ft deep and not by any measure a Bon house reef but everyone had fun. If you stay on the East End and stay/dive with Oceanfrontiers, they will do there best to accommodate younger divers. Almost all the diving on the East End starts shallow and you have the option of staying on top of the walls instead of going deeper. OF units have kitchens as well. Enjoy!

 

[redacted]

A 40 ft limit puts quite a restriction on the boat and on other divers for site selection. Most of the dive sites on GC are deeper than that. Maybe it would be better to enjoy Bonaire until they are ready for at least 60 ft.

 

[scoobydrew]

A 40 ft limit puts quite a restriction on the boat and on other divers for site selection. Most of the dive sites on GC are deeper than that. Maybe it would be better to enjoy Bonaire until they are ready for at least 60 ft.

It depends on the operator. A common solution is to run afternoon boats which are double reef i.e. double shallow. There are plenty of dive sites available for divers with a 40ft restriction, last week from Mon-Fri we had afternoon boats with a 40ft guide and a 60ft guide

 

[shrkdive]

Thanks everyone for your good advice. Including our oldest son, we will be 5 divers total, so I will most likely look into booking with one of the Dive Ops that has a 6-pack boat.

 

[diversteve]

If you like the looks of Indigo Divers, they do. I personally like Neptune's but they could have 8. Wall to Wall is another 8max option. But really almost anybody on the list I linked to works except maybe Red Sail or Foster's since they also handle cruise traffic - Red Sail is also at about 3-4 resorts. So they tend to have upwards of a dozen or so on their boats. Not always but it's hard to know when they might. And Fosters is downtown by the cruise port so that's not convenient when the 3-4 ships are in port daily.

All the shore dives anyone has mentioned are benign, easy entries also especially in summer. Turtle Reef is most of the time. There's something about the north side orientation that makes either Turtle Reef or Lighthouse Pt. divable even when the other isn't. I don't think you'll have any problems at either in summer though. Having to pay for 5 divers that might be a good option...

Another good boat dive I forgot is Killer Puffer. It's 35'. Most operators dive Sting Ray City as an afternoon dive also. Those boats all leave from the west side of the North Sound.

East End diving is all boat diving if you're considering that. Babylon is about the only shore accessible site on that side and it's deep, a long swim out and thru boat traffic. From the East End to the NW shore dive sites is an hour drive also. Ocean Frontiers is a good operator, they do shallow dives in the afternoon at shallow protected sites but unless you're diving all day I think the kids will be bored staying out there - it's still pretty quiet.

On the West side there's the Turtle Farm/Boatswains Bay, kayaks, all the beach activities, etc. And to feed them all there's the Subways, Dominos, Burger King, KFC etc. Also My Bar at Sunset House has affordable food and you can dive there...or Macabuca Tiki bar at Turtle Reef.