Grand Cayman question

[Becmojo1963]

Hello. This is my first posting on this website, so please forgive me if I am asking redundant questions. I was wondering if there was a good dive operation near 7 Mile Beach? We are heading to Grand Cayman next week and are currently booked at a hotel on 7 Mile Beach. Are most of the good dive sites located on the East End or on other parts of Grand Cayman? We will have our college age daughter who loves to dive and my husband who likes to dive once a day. Want to be in a fun place with easy access to good dive sites but not a super touristy one. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Visited Grand Cayman in 2001 and stayed at East End Dive Lodge. Think it was destroyed by a hurricane. I remember the East End area as being very remote. Is this still the case?

 

[BUDMANOK]

I use Deep Blue divers in George Town. Nick is the owner and they have always been very accommodating. They will pick you up if you need a ride to the dive shop.

 

[tdchandl]

I've been coordinating with off the wall for New Years. They have been great to work with and am looking forward to diving with them.

 

[diversteve]

Many operators keep a boat in the marina behind SMB to the east. I like Wall to Wall, Neptunes Divers or Ambassador Divers at Comfort Suites if your hotel is near there. Indigo Divers is another 6pack option. Red Sail is at the Westin, the Marriott and a couple other locations. They handle some of the cruise traffic, Fosters downtown the rest - mostly.

Not sure how much you remember but for shore dives the better ones are in West Bay/NW Point - Turtle Reef, Lighthouse Point or Cobalt Coast. There's also the sites in town (Eden Rock/Devils Grotto etc.) and Sunset House just south of there.

Most operators will pick you up along SMB and shuttle you to where their boat is that day. Current weather conditions may drive them south or west for diving - I read it was rough last week on the North Wall and some dives moved south. Although a lot of the west side sites can still be good even when the north is blown out.

IMO the best dives are on the North Wall - mid-island. Some are accessed by dive operators who keep a boat in the sound or one of the west side marinas. The farther east sites are pretty much done by Tortuga Divers or Ocean Frontiers in the East End. It's still comparatively quiet out there although there's a few more resorts and now even a small market.

SMB has gotten a lot more touristy since you were there though - was the Ritz Carlton complex there then? Or the marina? Farther north on SMB is still pretty calm. So is West Bay. The Sound is more developed also, there's a marina where the cruise excursions leave for Stingray City and some stuff has grown up around it. Including several decent restaurants. Even the Turtle Farm was re-done as Boatswains Beach.

Quite a few things were lost in the 04? hurricane. Seaview Hotel is now a condo complex and I believe East End (Cayman Diving?) Lodge didn't survive either.

Downtown can have 4-5 cruise ships in daily now also.

The Kittiwake is the new signature dive. Stingray City is still popular also. Sand Bar nearby now gets up to a dozen or more snorkel boats daily - progress....

Here's links to all the CITA dive operators, the Kittiwake site and Dive365Cayman which has HD videos/info on 230 of them.

Have a good trip...

 

[Kharon]

Don't go with anyone wanting to take you to (or anywhere near) Devils Grotto or Eden Rock. Dead, dead, dead coral with no fish life.

 

[Father]

I"m going to hitch onto this thread rather than start a new one.

My wife and I have a GC trip booked for a week in July 2015. We're staying on the East End at the Morritt's Tortuga.

I've found at least three dive operations in that area. Wondering if anyone has any experience with any of them.

Off the Wall Divers
Ocean Frontiers
Tortuga Divers at Morritt's

I emailed all of them about the same general questions and am hoping two will a package rate comparable to the Tortuga Divers.

The reviews for all of them seem favorable on trip advisor with only a few negative ones and the operation addressed those very professionally and hopefully they have made any changes that were needed as a result.

I'm guessing the easiest one will be Tortuga Divers since it looks like they're based on the resort we're staying at. If the others are close enough and offer to pick us up at the hotel and offer similar packages I might have a hard decision to make.

I definitely want to dive the Kittiwake. Looks like a wreck my wife would actually enjoy and probably go into.
We've both done our share of wall dives where we live so we're not expecting them to be mind blowing but I'm happy with doing it.

I may pick up a fluro light by that time so at least one night dive would be cool.

I wouldn't mind doing a shore dive but I'm also not looking to kill myself when a perfectly good boat is more than happy to take me out.

Anything else I should look for?

 

[diversteve]

Actually Off the Wall is not in the East End. LPDC is in downtown Georgetown - about 5mins. north of the cruise pier.

Located at The Lobster Pot Dive Center, Off The Wall Divers operates a 28ft. Parker, taking a maximum of eight (8) divers, with scheduled trips at 745AM and 1245PM. The company teaches through the agencies of PADI, SDI and SSI and can handle "universal referrals" also.

https://www.facebook.com/offthewalldivers

If you drive around to dive the Kittiwake - they'd be an option since you could go through Georgetown. My advice - don't...generally there's 3-5 cruise ships in the harbor daily so try to avoid that. Look on a map, there's a "back road" that goes up Seven Mile Beach and bypasses Georgetown completely - trust me when I say that the slightly longer drive to the SMB resort/marina area is preferable. The Kittiwake is actually off the upper end of Seven Mile Beach anyway.

I'd take a change of clothes and eat somewhere along SMB also. If there's something you can't find in the store near Morritt's there's several big Hurley's/Foster's markets you could go past also. One just a block or two past the airport exit. If you wanted to make a day of it, arguably the best - easily accessed - shore dive is Turtle Reef in the NW Point area. Macabuca is a good spot for lunch. http://www.crackedconch.com.ky/turtlereef-shorediving-snorkelling.php

It's such a popular dive that many of the operators have scheduled time slots so maybe pick a later one since you'll be driving about an hour from Morritt's back to the west side. Kittiwake Schedules - Scuba Diving Grand Cayman - USS Kittiwake Shipwreck

Red Sail goes a couple afternoons a week from the Westin on Seven Mile Beach. Ocean Frontiers has a Tuesday PM time slot but I'm pretty sure they tell you where to meet the boat in West Bay - they don't take you over on it.

 

[Father]

Actually Off the Wall is not in the East End. LPDC is in downtown Georgetown - about 5mins. north of the cruise pier.
https://www.facebook.com/offthewalldivers

All these abbreviations... it's taking me a little time to figure out what they mean and where they are.
LPDC and SMB are good ones to know.

 

[diversteve]

I made up LPDC but I got SMB from someone working there while describing how we'd find a site.

 

[mrose]

If you're staying at Morritt's, then Tortuga Divers is very easy. It's right on the resort and you can get a locker for your gear each night. They do the Kittiwake a couple of times a week, but you'll need a car to drive there. It didn't work out for my schedule this trip, but I definitely plan to come back to check it out sometime. I really liked Tortuga Divers' boat setup, but they only provide oranges as snacks on the morning two-tank dives. If you get hungry on your dives, make sure to pack your own snacks!