realdiver7:
Does anyone know about diving conditions at Cayman Brac in mid to late September?
I love September on the Brac. The water's still warm, the air has lost its summer scorch and there's few tourists, so its quiet.
I've done 2 weeks in September/October every year since 1991 except for 2005 (business schedule), two weeks at a pop, so that's 220+ days. During that time, I've lost less than 10 (probably 6 or 7?) days due to bad weather. Only got hit by really bad weather once (H Lilly in 2002;
click here). While I always am concerned about Hurricanes, the reality is that the actual part of a hurricane that really causes damage isn't everything under the clouds, but generally less than 100 miles across - and the Caribbean is a big place.
Water temp, current, vis, walls, reefs, any wrecks, etc.? What about air temp?
Water - temps has been 83ish the last couple of years...it used to be 80-81 back in the 1990's.
Air - temp typically just a couple of degrees cooler than the water overnight; call it 79F. Generally speaking, if you have a room with good airflow, you don't need A/C at night; just the ceiling fan. Daytime will be 89F; generally there's wind from the south that keeps things comfortable...the north (lee) side will feel a bit warmer, and if you go hiking in the woods, this will also cut off the breeze and feel warm. We went down one year in July...water conditinos were great, but it was blisteringly hot on land (especially trying to bike on the blacktop roads)...that's why we've not gone back at all during summer months. The spring is pretty good, but the water's still "cold" from the winter.
Currents - are generally minimal. Dive Ops generally do a good job of avoiding sites that have anything significant current running, since they want you to be able to swim back to the boat. Generally no drift diving offered, but there is the occasional exception; it generally requires asking and having a group that the dive op is comfortable that *everyone* is a strong diver. So it depends on the customers onboard, which is hard for one or two travellers to control.
Viz - depends a lot on weather, since there's plenty of deepwater to flush things clean. If weather's been rough, expect the worst to be 50ft on the shallow reefs, 75 at the wall. With a stretch of good weather, you can get 100 in the shallows and an honest 150+ off the walls. FWIW, our first dive after Hurricane Lily was the day after it passed, and we had amazingly crystal waters at the wall: 150-200ft viz.
Walls - yeah, they have those
Northside of the Brac, the dropoff varies from 60fsw to 100fsw. Main formation of interset are sand chutes going off the wall (varies in slope). Southside doesn't have as many shallow spots; figure 75fsw most times, but is IMO more 'rugged' and vertical, plus it features some really nice tunnel/canyon swim-throughs in the 90-110 range...yeah, around 30ft of relief.
If you want really shallow walls to do a long first dive, you'll have to daytrip over to Little Cayman (1 trip is usually included in dive packages), but do be aware that the Dept. of Environment is trying to remove 50% (11 of 22) moorings in Bloody Bay because the area has been damaged from overdiving. These sites may look "great" to a first-time visitor, but IMO, they're suffering and really doesn't look anything close to what they were like 10-15 years ago. FWIW, much of the problem is more algae, probably from the warming trend I've noticed. Algae growth peaks in August/September, because the water's been warm and there haven't been any winter storms yet to break it off and "scrub" some of it off.
Reefs - generally spur and groove, 50max and 25ft min (20ft of relief), although there are some sites that are more properly considered to be spot reefs. Generally, the Southside will have fewer soft and more hard corals and because they're generally to windward, greater day-to-day chance of being turbid & green. If the weather allows, I generally prefer southside, mostly because they're dived less frequently.
Wrecks -
356 Destroyer is the well known one. Good penetration front, middle, & rear. Local Jewfish can sometimes be found. Some areas dark; take a good light. If you see a huge moray eel here, stay away from him.
Cayman Mariner - old workboat; now ripped up pretty bad; no penetration anymore.
Kissammee - old tug; now mostly off-limits due to local attempts to build a cruise ship dock. Only ever had one very small penetration that wasn't worth it.
Barbara Ann - old landing craft in 25fsw; unpeeled like a banana into a pile
Prince Frederick Wreck - a genuine 19th century wreck on the Brac's southside, very close to shore (near the "bubble house"). Water conditions can be moderately challenging (green; some surge). Remains of chain piles, masts, ribs, boilers spread out over the site. I've only done it 3x, so I want to go back a few more times. Lots of nice looking small (<1ft diameter) brain corals on the west side of the site...kind of a 'brain nursery'
Little Cayman - a couple of diveboat wrecks in the SW corner - virtually nothing left but engine blocks.
Little Cayman - Soto Trader - near South Hole Sound inlet; somewhat interesting. used to have a friendly Moral Eel years ago.
Dive operators - Reef Divers is pretty much the only game in town, and is a good operation. There's a former Divi Tiara DM (Craig) who's setting up a 6pack. I'm thinking about taking Craig up this next September on a proposal to run out to Pickle's Bank, which is essentially a bluewater pinnacle that's 40-50 miles offshore (ie, nearly halfway to Cuba). I'm guessing that it would probably be a long day (12+ hours).
Shore dives - are possible, but generally require a rental car (I use DDDD's) and tanks from Reef Divers ($$).
Here's my webpage on the subject, although it is getting out of date and needs to be updated. The two easy spots are Radar Reef and Bucaneer.
Luggage limits for puddle jumper prop planes - - - suck. IIRC, its 50lbs/person for *TOTAL* baggage, and they'll try to include your carry-on in this weighing. Cost is $.50/lb that you're over, plus possible BS about delayed bags.
My recommendation is to look at Cayman Airway's schedule - - including the Saturday MIA-CYB direct flight - - and find those flights to the Brac that are on the 737 Jet and only book on those. You'll have twice the baggage weight limit allowance.
Currency - yes, US Dollars accepted everywhere, at the usual $1.25 = $1CI exchange rate. Simple rule of thumb is that each $5US = $4CI, so a $20 bill is a "16 dollar bill" in CI. Visa credit card very commonly accepted; probably MC too. Less so for AmEx or Discover.
-hh
