Grand Cayman in the winter?

[EricTheDood]

How bad are the winds in the winter?

I'm planning a trip for Q1 2018. Would like to dive the north and east ends of GC, specifically the vertical wall dives that folks rave about. Visibility is a top priority.

Or should I hold off until summer and go somewhere else in the winter?

 

[Joneill]

How bad are the winds in the winter?

I'm planning a trip for Q1 2018. Would like to dive the north and east ends of GC, specifically the vertical wall dives that folks rave about. Visibility is a top priority.

Or should I hold off until summer and go somewhere else in the winter?

North will not typically be diveable in the winter months. Summer is best for North Wall diving conditions. I believe East End can be dicey in winter as well?

 

[Doctorfish]

Not entirely true.
I've been in December for years and usually get a couple of days in on the north wall over the course of a week. Diving on the west wall is a pretty good default. IMO, some of the west wall sites like orange canyon and northwest point are as good or better than north wall.

The dive ops on the east end have the option of going north east or south east as they are at the tip of the island. They can therefore almost always find relatively calm conditions. If you go in the winter, you will not be disappointed.

 

[Joneill]

Not entirely true.
I've been in December for years and usually get a couple of days in on the north wall over the course of a week. Diving on the west wall is a pretty good default. IMO, some of the west wall sites like orange canyon and northwest point are as good or better than north wall.

The dive ops on the east end have the option of going north east or south east as they are at the tip of the island. They can therefore almost always find relatively calm conditions. If you go in the winter, you will not be disappointed.

Thanks - I was going by what a friend who lives there told me. She said that North tends to be rough quite often in the winter. We go to GC every year, but in July/August.

That's not to say you can't get a few calm periods in during the winter months, but summer will provide a much higher probability for good conditions on the North Wall.

The good thing about Cayman is that it is a small enough island that you have many options (North, South, East and West) to dive based on the weather, regardless of the season (and lots of great sites on every side).

 

[flyboy08]

I agree, we've been twice over the xmass holiday and diving was just fine......I assume this could change depending on the winds.

 

[Joneill]

Here's a good summary of seasonal trends from Ocean Frontiers:

Diving Conditions

WRT to North Wall diving, they say:

"The summer is known for some of the calmest diving conditions, especially on the Northside."

And:

"The diving conditions in the winter can be impacted by slightly stronger winds from the North, resulting in more dive trips running to the South shore of East End."

 

[mi000ke]

I spend winters (Jan-April) on Grand Cayman every year, as well as a few weeks during the other times of the year, and generally speaking the north side is usually too rough for diving until May. That said, this past winter we had a week where the west side had 5-7 ft seas and the north side was calm. I dove the north wall that week. So it's not impossible, but it really is a roll of the dice for diving north side during the winter. That said, there is still a lot of great diving to be done during the winter months.

 

[releck97]

I've never gotten totally blown out on the north side in February. The best diving is on the east end (summer or winter). Ocean Frontiers tends to take you to the calmer side. Both South and North have beautiful walls out east.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

The wall extends all the way around East End and is pretty sheer no matter which wall site you go to. I worked 4.5 years as a dive instructor in East End and we had no problem diving the wall any particular time of the year (excepting a couple unfortunate days in September 2004).

Some of the most requested wall sites in East End are on the south. Wall sites on the south of East End such as The Maze and Jack McKenny's Canyons are some of the few East End sites with semi-regular shark sightings making them highly requested spots.

Pair those up with a shallow dive at a spot such as Maggie's maze or Ironshore Gardens and you've made for one of my favorite days of East End diving. Some excellent south shore shallow sites in East End too.

 

[EricTheDood]

Thanks all!