Site recommendation for 1 day of boat diving on Grand Cayman

[choiahoy]

My wife and I will be staying for two nights in Grand Cayman before heading to Little Cayman for a week.

Thanks to scubaboard, we have a pretty solid list of great dive ops on Grand Cayman that all take out small groups and have great reputations. We'll have enough time to do some shore dives (Turtle and Lighthouse) but only one day of boat diving.

Any recommendations for a favorite site that we can aim for? And is the Kittiwake worth it to request as the second dive?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[Dish]

There are quite a few Caymaniacs on the board and I'd be interested to hear what they say, as well.

Most ops on the West End will do a wall dive first and follow up with something shallower. So if you ask for a Kittiwake dive, you'll probably hit the wall somewhere for the first dive. If you have an option, I would suggest "Northwest Point" or one of the sites near there.

...or just wait for @KathyV to respond.

BTW, here's a dive site map...
http://www.caymanislands.ky/portals/divecayman/images/365divesites/Grand Cayman.jpg

 

[tkaelin]

Where are you staying and where are you wiling to travel to dive? I think one of the most impressive dives I have done is Babylon on the north wall. Sheer drop off wall with a pillar standing out from the wall. If you are a big fan of swim throughs, there are some nice sites on the east end. On the kittiwake, it really depends how much you enjoy wrecks. If staying and diving on the Westside, I don't think it really matters all that much where you dive but I do remember Trinity Caves, Orange Canyon, and Sand Chute as deeper dives that were nice. Sand Chute is next to the KW.

 

[choiahoy]

Where are you staying and where are you wiling to travel to dive?

Thanks for the info. We'll be staying in the Georgetown area. How far would the drive be to get to Babylon?

 

[arcticat99]

I did a cruise back in January and dove with don fosters .and one ofe the dives we did was hope im spelling right the orde verda ship wreck. The wreck is no big deal but lots of beautiful marine life there and some cool seahorse that hang close to the site

 

[mi000ke]

I did a cruise back in January and dove with don fosters .and one ofe the dives we did was hope im spelling right the orde verda ship wreck. The wreck is no big deal but lots of beautiful marine life there and some cool seahorse that hang close to the site

Oro Verde
Oro Verde's Untold Story | Cayman Islands Diving | iDive Blog

 

[mi000ke]

Trinity Caves is a beautiful 100' wall dive on the west side. Did it last time I was on GCI and was not disappointed.

Trinity Caves | Scuba Diving in Seven Mile Beach | iDive Cayman

 

[Dish]

I agree, "Babylon" is fantastic and it caaaaan be done as a shore dive, but you'll need a local to help you find the water entry point and point out the buoy. "Julie's Wall" is right next to it and also quite amazing. Most folks dive it from a boat and then it depends on the conditions.

To answer your question, though, it's on the north side of the East End. Look on the map that was linked in my post.

 

[jonhall]

Since you will be in Georgetown, your close to 7 mile beach with some nice sites there. One of my favorites is Big Tunnels. It will be the first of a boat dive (most likely) as it will get you down to between 95-110 ft. There is some cool topography and some nice swim throughs. Second shallower dive sites are also right there. Trinity Caves is also a good one, as mentioned earlier, in the same area and would also be a deep dive.

My experience with 3 different dive ops I've gone with (and a few that I researched) only do the dive as a one dive only trip. But others here on SB may be able to tell you of a dive op that includes it in a 2 tank boat dive.

I dove the Kittiwake in Feb. 2015 (it was sunk in Jan. 2011 as an artificial reef.) For me, although it is easy to swim through and you see some of the actual ship features, there wasn't time for growth to occur and fish to call it home, which would have been of more interest. I was there in Jan. of this year but chose not to dive it - think I want to give it more time to become the artificial reef.

From Georgetown, Babylon would take you about 35 minutes. Risky depending on when you're going to GC as, if it is winter months, the water conditions may be too rough to go out on the north side.

 

[diversteve]

If you need further encouragement to dive Babylon, it's on the Top 10 Wall Dives in the Caribbean list. The distance though makes it less likely to get more than 3 dives in that day. Ocean Frontiers or Tortuga Divers on the East End should go there - my buddy dove it with OF in Jan. a couple years ago. 1/2 hr. drive from GT to OF.

Also some of the longer excursion trips from the west side will also - Wall to Wall could do it on their 3-tank Cayman Rover - which might be one use of your one day - although staying local could mean 4 dives instead - we did 4 a couple days. Our operator (since closed) had a mid-SMB dock location so we'd return for lunch.

Also liked Big Tunnels on the west side. Big Tunnels | Scuba Diving in West Bay | iDive Cayman

Supposedly one of the best (I've not dove it) is Ghost Mountain - a more distant north site so not dove as often. Ghost Mountain | Scuba Diving in North West | iDive Cayman

Honestly I don't remember a bad dive on the North/NW side but some were better than others. A good shallow 2nd dive was Aquarium.