We have been diving in Roatan twice and absolutely love the island but want to go somewhere new. Haven't looked into the Caymans thinking they are more developed.....we like a laid back atmosphere and outdoor activities in addition to diving. How do the Caymans compare to Dominica?
Dominica is very beautiful and very poor and the people are friendly and welcoming. It used to be hard to get to and from Dominica and you usually had to overnight in Puerto Rico each way - but now I understand that has been fixed and you can fly to/from the US in one day.
Lots of jungle and steep hills and deep valleys and very scary roads and beautiful rivers. It's not very developed at all but very lovely and you will see a lot of small, rare creatures when diving - like seahorses, frog fish, and flying gunards. But not everything is small, our boat got buzzed by baby Humpback in Dominica!
One issue of concern IMO is that is that Chikungunya is endemic on Dominica and you will have to wear Deet and take precautions against biting insects, but since you've been to Roatan you must be used to that. It was a British colony before independence but there is also a lot of French and Spanish and African influence on the culture.
Saba is lovely and unusual. It is very, very steep and the one road that wraps around the island is very narrow. Diving is interesting because it is around sea mounts but it is typical Caribbean reef and sea life. There is a rain forest at the top of the island. It is a Dutch island and the people are friendly. It is a law that the houses are white with green roofs and red shutters and have flowers in the garden, and it is very charming. The ground it very rocky and there is little open space so everyone has above-ground tombs in their backyard for Mom, Dad and the Grandparents.
One thing I remember about Saba was that there were a lot of big vermin - okay I'm a little paranoid about bugs and I recognize that it is a tropical island, but I was afraid to go out at night because the flying roaches were bigger than the tree frogs - and there were a lot of both and they made an unholy racket at night while I was cowering in bed under the mosquito net!
There were really big centipedes and rats scurrying around, too. I didn't mind the bats flying around because I was hoping that they were eating the bugs! You drank water from the cistern and they put guppies in the cistern to eat the mosquito larvae so you were drinking guppy water! Saba was just a little too far off the beaten path for me, but I am glad that we went there once. We were there some time ago so maybe things have changed. If I were to go back I would probably stay on the liveaboard with one or two land excursions.
Grand Cayman is very developed, there are parts of the island that are more remote but the Seven Mile Beach area is very built up but the beach is beautiful. However the sister islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are very undeveloped and the diving is better IMO. You can only fly small propeller planes in and out of Little Cayman and the whole island pretty much shuts down during August and September. Lovely wildlife preserves on the sister islands and beautiful walls and reefs - especially Little Cayman.
Below is an article I posted awhile ago on TripAdvisor comparing the 3 Cayman Islands from a Diver's perspective. We like to spend time on GC enjoying some of the touristy fun things - but we don't stay on 7MB - and we do some snorkeling and shore dives and maybe a few boat dives while we are there; and then we head to Brac or Little to "get off the beaten path but keep one foot in the first world" and enjoy nature and diving. Cayman is a British territory.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147364-i260-k8593445-The_differences_for_a_diver_between_the_3_Cayman_islands-Cayman_Islands.html
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