Need suggestions/help Grand Cayman Trip

[kristen8416]

Hello! I'm new to the site and looking for suggestions for an upcoming trip to Grand Cayman. I have scoured the site and gathered what I could already.

My husband and I dive together, mostly in Key Largo so far with some in Jupiter and Pompano. Almost all of our dives have been ocean dives other than our initial check out dives when we started. We try to do a trip every 3-4 months. We've really enjoyed the Keys but are looking to venture out somewhere new. We are a little bit of creatures of habit.

I travel for a living so I rack up lots of Marriott points and Delta miles. The downside is this limits where I can go. I'm looking for destination that utilizes both. It just saves more money for diving. :cool2: We really don't care much about the nightlife. We just want to dive, eat great local food, and enjoy the scenery. We aren't much for sitting around the pool. We also prefer to be on boats with more competent divers if certain places attract more of one than the other.

Enough about us, on to my point. Sorry to rattle on, I am a girl. We are looking at Grand Cayman, staying at the Marriott on SMB (it's free). I'm trying to figure out who to dive with. Based on my research it seems most operators are good. But I've read a lot about the East side being so much better than the West Side. Since it's a dive trip, I want the best diving. Unfortunately, I'm staying on the West Side. It looks like a 45 minute drive to get there. We can rent a car.

So, my questions are...

1. Who would you recommend diving with?
2. Is it worth it to drive from the West to East every day to dive? I would prefer to choose one operation to reduce cost and I find staying with one operation is nice because you get to know them and vice versa. (I don't want to be lazy and miss out on great diving because there is a dive shop next to my hotel, although it would be nice)
3. Best places to eat, not chain type but local and any other tips would be greatly appreciated?

 

[diversteve]

Since you're staying at the Marriott the in-house operator is Red Sail. They dive the North/West sides. Dive Red Sail Cayman | Red Sail Sports | Grand Cayman | Cayman Islans

Red Sail has a shop on the East End - Tortuga Divers at Morritt's. That's about an hour drive though as it's on the NE side. Ocean Frontiers is a little closer since it's on the SE side. Those are your only two options out there. Tortuga's morning dive is at 8AM though. They also do a 2PM dive but some of the west side operators do Two afternoon dives so to maximize your dive count, maybe pick one of them instead for most of the week.

My personal preference would be someone other than Red Sail though based on the diver load I've seen on their boat - once. We were at the next mooring over on a SI when a Red Sail boat dropped at least 16 divers on it - 2 were DM's. Our DM actually said "watch this"... I was glad we were leaving after that. On our boat with two of us and two other couples. They're no longer in business or I'd recommend them.

Red Sail aggregate divers from a couple of SMB resorts plus cruise traffic from the two lines they're contracted for. All operators legally put a DM in the water for every 8 divers - since you're more advanced you won't be diving with the beginners but it does affect their choice of dive sites since they have to find one that has a shallower component also. Their afternoon dive is their Discover/Refresher Dive boat so that may be even more of a beginner selection - they hold it to a pretty shallow depth.

Some of the smaller operators have an 8 divers max per boat - some it's even 6. I often recommend Ambassador, Indigo, Neptune's or Wall to Wall but they all basically work. I wouldn't pick an operator like Off the Wall though since they have one boat and it's in Georgetown. Or Sunset Divers since they're the house op at Sunset House. Being that far south they may not range as far North/West as other operators. Operators that work SMB keep their boat behind it in the marina on the Sound most likely. So they're more likely to go to the North Wall.

If you do drive out generally every day there can be as many as be 4-5 cruise ships in Georgetown. You'd probably be on the road before they port though. Study a map - there's a "back road" behind Seven Mile Beach that connects over to the road that leads to the East End. Might not be a bad idea - at least on your return.

There's also some really good diving on the North Wall accessible from the west side. Many of the operators keep a boat at Safehaven or one of the nearby marinas so some of them range east as well on more extended trips. Wall to Wall does this on a 3-tank, they stop along the way somewhere for lunch. I think Ambassador might also.

The Kittiwake is on the west side if you plan to do that. The boats that dive Stingray City leave from the west side of the sound also. Not to be confused with the snorkel boats that go to Sandbar which do as well.

Don't overlook shore diving either. IMO the three best easily accessed shore dives are all less than 10mins. north of the Marriott in West Bay. Turtle Reef, Lighthouse Point and Cobalt Coast. Sundivers is on-site at Turtle Reef, Divetech at both Cobalt Coast and Lighthouse Pt. Since they own the property to the water line you rent tanks from them. It's convenient anyway - the other option is Diver's Supply or Eden Rock - which is downtown. No one else allows tanks to be removed from the premises - many are boat-based operators so don't have a shop either - you meet at the dock - or more than likely, they pick you up at the Marriott. There's a dozen+ dive van shuttles running up and down SMB every morning.

An additional factor is when? During the winter months there's a higher likelihood of the North Wall being blown out. If that happens, the operators move boats and shuttle you south. Or dive the west side which also has some pretty good dives and is leeward so less likely to be affected. Also for shore dives, often if Turtle Reef is undvivable, Lighthouse Point still might be - and vice versa.

I'm sure you've probably seen this but: Dive in Cayman, Grand Cayman Diving, Cayman Islands Scuba Diving covers pretty much everything.

 

[kristen8416]

Thanks for the response! I was considering Ambassador, since they are next door and I've heard good things. Or is it worth it to drive to Ocean Frontiers? I want the best diving. Everything I've read is to dive East side. I would also be interested in diving the North Wall. I'm looking at the last week of April right now but am open if there's a better time.

We definitely don't want to be diving with beginners stuck doing the shallow easy dives. We've just seen too many idiots out there. I don't want to go all the way there to do the mediocre diving. I've seen posts with complaints about the West side diving and then people claiming they did the worst the Island has to offer. I noticed OF has 3 tank dives, which may make it worth the drive but I think they are only one day a week.

 

[diversteve]

My buddy dove with Ocean Frontiers a couple years ago. But they stayed in Bodden Town so it's fairly close which was one of his criteria with only one vehicle - and no pick-up. Once dove Babylon which makes anyone's top 10 dives. Right after Christmas although weather was a factor in keeping them south a couple days later in the week. Family trip so he couldn't dive every day. He's also been all over the north/west sides with me and said the East End was better.

There's some good dives on the North/West sides also though. My short list:

Babylon - technically NE - actually Tortuga lists it also.
Ghost Mountain
Hammerhead Hill
Trinity Caves
Big Tunnel
Bonnnie's Arch
Orange Canyon
Turtle Reef
Stingray City
Aquarium (shallow 2nd dive)

hth,

 

[releck97]

If you are looking at the end of April, you could have very good luck with diving the north wall. The reef here is in much better condition than the west wall. I highly recommend Epic Divers. They are extremely accommodating and a first class operation. You probably won't get all the way over to Babylon, McCurley's, etc, but you won't be disappointed with the diving on the north wall. As stated above, consider doing some shore dives, especially with Sun Divers at the Cracked Conch. The mini-wall there is wonderful (especially north) and it's a short kick out to an unspoilt main wall. Perhaps you might want to consider one or two days with OF. This would give you a good sampler of what the island offers. With some basic knowledge, you should thoroughly enjoy your time in GCM!

 

[Lopez116]

The north wall is IMO as good as East End, so don't rule it out and assume EE is best.

I'll throw DNS Divers into the mix as well. Very "hands off" style of diving and they love that north wall.

I also wouldn't blow off diving the main wall on the west. The further north you go, the better it gets. The vast majors of tourists only dive the mini walls or closest reef, leaving the main wall in much better shape. It's really not that far at all IMO.

 

[Doctorfish]

I echo what others have said and would give Red Sail a pass. The other west/north side dive ops mentioned all do small group diving and preferably dive the north wall when weather allows. They tend to do a wall/shallow combo in the AM or a double wall.

I've dived the north and east end a fair amount and IMO, the east is marginally better but not worth the drive out there every day.
Most of the west side operators will pick you up in front of your hotel so being next door not relevant. I agree with Lopez, there is some good wall diving to be had on the west side up by NW Point, Orange Canyon etc.



Some of the operators will do a three tank dive at times; starting out at Babylon and then working way back along the north wall. For sure Wall to Wall offers this option if there are enough sign ups and the weather is appropriate.

 

[Steve_C]

I will be at Moritt's in April for a wedding and checked with tortuga divers since next to hotel and my wife does not dive. They said that their AM dive is a wall, reef. For the wall there is a DM in the water as noted and you are in a group. However, for the reef dive the DM is there but a buddy pair is free to do their own thing.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Sigh... I hate to disagree, but several inaccurate things were written about Red Sail.

Red Sail does congregate divers from various resorts. Red Sail did not mix cruise ship divers with those staying on island in my time working with them (actual with Tortuga in East End). Their scheduled dive times were not generally conducive to a cruise visitor's schedule.

Tortuga Divers is a part of Red Sail. Tortuga and Ocean Frontiers go to exactly the same sites. You can run one group deep along the wall and another group shallow at every single wall site in East End. There is no need to place a limitation on site selection due to diver skill for certified divers. Second dive with either company is at a shallower (max 60ft) site. Both OF and TD will take 16 divers out, so no difference there.

Both TD and OF do take training requirements into account with afternoon site selection for any boats taking student divers doing Discover Scuba Diving or Open Water dives 1&2 which have a maximum depth of 40ft. Open Water dives 3&4 have a maximum depth of 60ft. This does eliminate a few wall sites for the afternoon boat if DSD or OW 1&2 dives need to be done. No problem for OW 3&4. As many afternoon divers already did a wall dive in the morning they will be encouraged to stay shallow in the afternoon anyway.

White Sands Watersports has recently begun dive operations in East End. I don't know enough about their operations to comment on how they compare.

The drive out to East End is about 45 minutes in the morning as you are driving against the flow of rush hour traffic. Planning on an hour is not a bad idea as it leaves a little time to get gear unloaded. If you dive all week with OF then they will store your gear for you and have it set up on the boat the next day. Tortuga has some dock storage for guests' gear.

Babylon is one of many great East End sites (though not in my personal top 5 East End wall sites) and is often mentioned. The East End based dive shops are the only operators that regularly visit those sites. It is just too far for anything but an occasional extraordinary trip for the west side operators.

 

[diversteve]

Maybe they didn't realize it but there have been a couple threads lately from cruise divers who taxied up to and went out with Red Sail at the Marriott. They didn't mention being segregated if they were. It's obviously possible Red Sail didn't know either if they just showed up.

I don't have any personal knowledge of that but I definitely saw 16 divers off their boat once. Probably more but I was being optimistic.

Sigh...