Suggestions for must do dives in Grand Cayman

[swimbody]

Will be heading to GC June 2 for 7 days. We have never dove there and are staying with friends who are Holiday Inn point folks. The whole week will cost my family $400 to upgrade us all to a villa, not bad.

If you were in charge of my group and had to deal with me, 100 or so dives, wife, same, temperamental 16yo diver who may or may not dive, my friend, newly minted and his son, newly minted, also 16yo...what would you suggest for budget and where do we focus our efforts?

I love big walls so the North sounds attractive to me and I understand it may just be me and my wife for those dives or just me. I understand shore diving is the best plan of attack to save money. What tourist traps, from a diving sense, should I avoid like a case of AIDS?

This will be the first trip my wife and I haven't planned our dive trip. I'm letting the newbie get his feet wet and do all the research. I've given him advice when he's asked for it but have tried to stay out of the planning. Normally my wife starts packing two months out...it's 11 days till and I just got the dive bag out and sorted. Any lists or links to lists of previous posts are gladly welcomed so I apologize if there is a recent post on this subject. We are fun loving Parrotheads that have an eager outlook on diving new places. We are Roatan junkies so we are looking forward to a new locale and would love this to become the beginning of a new outpost, Cayman Brac, Little Cayman, etc...this first trip is for our friends. I'm excited especially since I have all my own gear this time. I love Scubaboard and y'all have been with me since I first made bubbles some years ago. I know we aren't huge divers compared to so many here but if it were up to me, I'd move to the tropics and die a Divemaster if I could...maybe in another 10 years...I look forward to your replies or links, thanks. Swim

 

[KathyV]

Welcome to Cayman diving! Dive Tech is the onsite dive op at the Holiday Inn and they have an excellent reputation, as do many other GC dive ops but I would go with the onsite shop for the convenience.

I usually advise new GC divers to make sure that they don't get put on a boat that will be filled with cruise ship divers - but I don't think that will be a problem with Dive Tech.

Everyone should dive Stingray City at least one time. We like to go early in the morning to avoid the cruise ship crowd, but the dive op may offer an afternoon trip to SRC around the time when cruisers are heading back to the harbor - or on a day when there aren't many cruise ships in port.

The North Walls sites are our favorites and you will be close to them, but I would let the dive op suggest the best sites for the conditions and your group.

The Kittiwake is a popular wreck dive and it is a large and impressive ship, but there's not a lot of sea life on it yet, so that's up to your group if you want to dive it. There are also some other wrecks around GC that may be of interest, ask the dive op about them.

Dive Tech also operates out of Lighthouse Point which offers a very popular shore dive.

Most of the shore dive sites have an onsite dive op that will rent tanks and weights for about $15 Cayman, and Turtle Reef at Macabuca is our favorite.

There are some very nice walls and sites on the East End, but it is a long way to go and it can get rough, so it may not be the best choice for your newbie divers.

I am sure that others will chime in with information about their favorite GC dive sites.

As far as topside activities, I think that the Holiday Inn offers a shuttle bus to the attractions of West Bay and Seven Mile Beach and Dive Tech may be able to shuttle you to Lighthouse Point - I don't know. But I still recommend renting a car, because there is a lot to see and do on GC and the location of the Holiday Inn is pretty remote.

Have a great trip!

 

[Doctorfish]

How big is the group? Does Holiday Inn have it's own dive op on site? Why would you let the newbie do the planning? Is it not better to have the experienced dive travellers make the arrangements as you know what you want and don't want.

You could either head out daily with a local operator or even potentially charter a boat depending on group size. You should use the same op for the whole week to get best rates as well as continuity of DMs. Maybe one day with Ocean Frontiers at East End for variety.

Having newbies is not an obstacle for GC diving as there is clear water and your DM and Captain should be able to find sites with minimal or no current. Ops tend to schedule a 100 ft max wall dive followed by a shallow on a wall or reef. You certainly do not need to go to 100 feet to enjoy the wall diving so no threat to the newbies.
The west side based ops all tend to dive north when weather permits and west when it does not. Let the captain and DM choose the best sites for the conditions of the day. We tend to use DNS Diving or Wall to Wall but everyone has their personal favorites and all tend to be good. Look for an operator that provides big boats, small groups and valet service. Book the dive op well in advance as the good ones tend to get booked up early.

The shore diving up at North West Point; Turtle Reef and Lighthouse, is very good and the sites are both miniwall so navigation is easy. When on GC, we boat dive in the AM and then another 2 tanks from shore afternoon +/- night.

 

[KathyV]

How big is the group? Does Holiday Inn have it's own dive op on site?...

Below is the announcement from a year ago about the partnership between Holiday Inn and DiveTech. It says that they will be adding a dive shop and facilities on site. I figured that they have already done that but the OP should check it out to confirm.

If they have an onsite dive op, I would make arrangements to dive with them for the convenience, especially if the package includes unlimited shore dives at Lighthouse Point and transfers. Dive Tech also has a good reputation like DNS and Wall to Wall and many others. I don't know if they offer valet services though, that's a good point.

New Resort Partnership for DiveTech: Holiday Inn Grand Cayman Resort

Posted April 29, 2016

The Holiday Inn Resort is situated on the North Sound, providing the most amazing sunrise views right from the seaside pool and beach area. All of the spacious rooms and suites feature a balcony or patio, and breathtaking views of the waters of North Sound, the greens of the North Sound Golf Club, our beautiful gardens, or pool. With their own private dock, Divetech will have further access to the North Wall & Stingray City trips. Divetech will be adding a new retail store, offices and dive lockers with rinse facilities for their guests.

New Partnership Offer
7th NIGHT FREE/6th DIVE
HOLIDAY INN RESORT & DIVETECH, GRAND CAYMAN
$1380 per person*
Studio Suite**

7 Nights’ Accommodations, Breakfast, 6 days of 2 tank boat trips including the Wreck of the Kittiwake, Unlimited Shore Diving at Divetech’s Lighthouse Point Shore Location (home of the Guardian of the Reef), Complimentary Dive Computer Rental & Dive Transfers, Airport Transfers & all Taxes

Resort Amenities:
• Largest Guest Rooms on Island
• Blue Iguana Grill
• Free High Speed WIFI in guest rooms & public areas
• Fresh Water Pool with Sun-Deck, Beach & 240ft Deck
• In Room Safes
• Complimentary Beach Towels, Chairs & Hammocks
• On-Site Gym & Unlimited Access to World Gym (off site)
• Complimentary Seven Mile Beach Shuttle

*Valid for travel 15 April-31 October, 2016. Price is based on double occupancy. Must be booked no later than May 31st, 2016

**Studio Suite = 1 Queen or 2 double beds, patio, microwave & mini-fridge

Price $1380
Package Validity - Start Date Apr 15th, 2016
Package Validity - End Date Oct 31st, 2016
Travel must be booked by May 31st, 2016
Website www.divetech.com
Booking Email Address reservations@divetech.com
Booking Telephone 1 877 946 5658

 

[howswedeofme]

Dive Tech is a GREAT op and one of our favorites. We like to dive with Steve there, but everyone we had on the boat each day was phenomenal. We did our Stingray City dive with Dive Tech and loved it. I agree that it is a must to do once. I second the recommendations for shore dives at Lighthouse Point and Turtle Reef - absolutely beautiful and very easy dives. As for SMB/West Bay dive sites, we have loved Big Tunnels, Big Dipper, Trinity Caves, Hepp's Wall (if you aren't able to do the Hepp's Pipeline shore dive off of Coconut Bay condos - I'm not sure how that works if you aren't staying there, but I'd contact Stingray Sports to ask because it's our favorite shore dive on the island). On the East End, Ironshore Gardens was our favorite - great topography and very easy swim-throughs for beginners. There are apparently almost always sharks on the site just off of Ocean Frontier's dock in the afternoon, too. We did No Name Wall on the North Wall and it was beautiful and also a very easy dive if there isn't a lot of current or waves.

 

[swimbody]

AWESOME, you guys are great, thanks for posting so quickly. We did rent two vehicles, one van for the shore diving and when the whole group of 6 is top side for the day. We rented another sedan for groups of two to four to go do their own thing if they wanted to. DiveTech was quoting CRAZY expensive numbers to my newbie friend. I'm going to walk over to their shop when I get in town and see what's up...not worried. WE plan on diving two shore tank dives guided on Saturday when we get there to let the group acclimate. A night dive that evening may be our third dive of the day. Sunday, which I believe is a no cruise ship day in GC, is our day to do the Kittiwake and a separate reef dive. The price for all 7 of us on our own vessel for the day is $750 plus tip. Not bad.

 

[Doctorfish]

If Divetech has an onsite shop, that would be the way to go, price dependent.
You should be able to work out a price for boat dives + unlimited shore diving at Lighthouse. Diving on GC is competitive so most ops will cut a deal for multiday/multidivers.
If Divetech won't budge on pricing, try DNS, Wall to Wall, Ambassador, Off the Wall. They all advertise multiday discounts.

No need for a guided shore dive IMO, the sites at Lighthouse and Turtle Reef are miniwall, so near impossible to get lost.

I would make arrangements before going rather than waiting till you get there and walking over to Divetech's shop.

Presence or absence of cruise ships should not impact you in any way on the northwest of the island. The cruise shippers tend to mill around Georgetown or Camana Bay +/- a tour up to the Turtle Farm or the Sandbar to see the rays. If you plan any of these activities, suggest afternoons especially Friday.

 

[howswedeofme]

That's odd about the DiveTech cost, most of the ops are within $10 of each other per two-tank. DiveTech is $108 per two tank for three or more days and this price includes unlimited shore diving. If you have fewer than three days, its $120 per two tank. The other ops are usually $100 per two tank with the deal and $110 per two tank without a package. You could maybe find somewhere for $95 per two tank with a package, but none of those would include shore diving. Also keep in mind that if any of you want nitrox, it's typically a $15 per tank up charge basically with any op.

If you're looking to do a private charter then maybe that is why the price is so different. We haven't done private charters because in our experience, the boats aren't ever crowded with DNS or Dive Tech. Dive Tech does have much, much bigger boats than many of the other ops because most ops try to stay along SMB. Dive Tech goes north as much as they possibly can, weather permitting, which uses more fuel. I didn't mind the $10 more per person for that. I've dove with Ambassador, as well, and like diving with Siggy at that op. I do not like their boat, however. It is a really far jump into the water. I agree that you don't need a guide for the shore dives unless you're going at night. It's nice for newbies to have a guide in the dark because it can be pretty intimidating and isn't as easy to pop up to get your bearings if you do get lost. I wouldn't do the sandbar for the stingrays if you have time to do the dive. The dive is much, much more fun. I would also recommend booking what you can in advance. Boats tend to fill up fast since they don't take a ton of people.

 

[Doctorfish]

Shore dive tanks and lead on an individual basis run 12 -15 USD per air tank. If you plan to do a significant amount of shore diving, the unlimited package at Divetech, still makes sense.

 

[KathyV]

...Also keep in mind that if any of you want nitrox, it's typically a $15 per tank up charge basically with any op...

On a related topic - the Reef Divers dive ops and the Tibbetts resorts on Grand Cayman, Brac, and Little Cayman are offering packages that include free nitrox (and free nitrox certification) from mid-November to mid-January, see the link below.

Free Diving, Nitrox, and Nitrox Certification*