Just finishing up on a 5 day 4 night dive trip to GC. Flew down Thursday and heading back today. Great airfare - $279 R/T from JFK. Came down on Cayman Airways which gets us in early - 11:30 AM so we can hit the water and start diving in the early afternoon. Arriving with Cayman Airways also works well timing wise in the airport. There were no flights ahead of us and we were out of the airport in about 15 mins. Rental from Avis took another 10 mins and we were on our way.
We stayed this trip at Coconut Bay Condos just past Macabuca in West Bay. We had a three bdrm poolside unit for $250/night. There was just three of us this time but the unit easily could accommodate 6 divers. Kitchen well equipped and we ate all breakfasts and either a lunch or dinner in everyday eating out once a day. We brought some food and stopped at Fosters in West Bay on the way out for the rest of what we needed. I thought the food prices in Fosters were relatively reasonable. A liquor store just opened next door which is convenient and made for one stop shopping before getting to the condo. Beer prices are high. The condo had a nice drying rack on the porch with very nice gear hangers. Nice touch. There is no beach but there is a sand beach area above the ironshore.
Shore diving at Coconut Bay was the draw. Duncan Heard/Stingray Watersports has a nice set up of tanks, weights, set up benches, rinse tanks and showers close to the water. Rates were reasonable and Duncan was a pleasure to work with. Tanks $12.50 US and Nitrox $18.00 US. We dove the house reef, Hepps Pipeline everyday. The mini wall was wonderful. For those who know Turtle Reef I think it is safe to say as much as I love Turtle Reef that Hepps is better. More dramatic wall and reef structure. Hepps is right next to Turtle Reef and you could dive from one to the other (although we did not). Mini wall may be a bit mis leading as the bottom directly below the mini wall can hit 70' and a short swim to coral formations out away from the mini wall put you out to 80'.
Reef extremely healthy, beautiful corals, fans, sponges and very fishy. Turtles on every dive. A wide variety of groupers including two goliath groupers. Watched an eagle ray feeding in the sand beyond the mini wall at about 75' for a good 5 mins. Saw an octopus capture and kill another octopus and take it away. Lobsters were plentiful and at one spot saw 4 in holes all close together.
We also dove Turtle Reef which was fun and Lighthouse Pt. Sundivers runs a great dive shop and we always enjoy diving with them. We managed to eat at Macabuca three times. At Lighthouse we swam all the way out to the deep wall. It is quite a swim but worth doing (at least once). Having done the swim I can now appreciate the draw of renting scooters. We were thinking of hitting Eden Rock on Sunday but everyone wanted to dive Hepps again. It was that interesting. 11 dives with 9 at Hepps and could have done more. From where you enter the water at Coconut Bay you can see Turtle reef/Macabuca to your left and Lighthouse Pt further down.
Our weather was mostly sunny each day with rain only once briefly one morning while diving and overnight. Wind was coming out of the North variably from NW and NE which stirred things up a bit. Vis was still at 100ft at the mini wall but varying amount of haze at times. You could find blue water diving to the North (right) when a current was running. When the current was noticeable it was coming from the N. The wind changed to coming out of the East the last two days.
Water temps were consistently reading 84 even at depth. Never bothered with any layers or suits. A rash guard and bathing suit was fine, even with three dives a day. Temps hit 86 in the shallows on the swim back from the mini wall.
I will try to post some pics later in the week. Overall I would have to rate our stay at Coconut Condo and staying up in West Bay and shore diving only was one of our best trips to GC yet. I still love staying at Oceanfrontiers and boat diving their sites but when diving with family who prefer shore diving CC will be our go to site on GC.
We stayed this trip at Coconut Bay Condos just past Macabuca in West Bay. We had a three bdrm poolside unit for $250/night. There was just three of us this time but the unit easily could accommodate 6 divers. Kitchen well equipped and we ate all breakfasts and either a lunch or dinner in everyday eating out once a day. We brought some food and stopped at Fosters in West Bay on the way out for the rest of what we needed. I thought the food prices in Fosters were relatively reasonable. A liquor store just opened next door which is convenient and made for one stop shopping before getting to the condo. Beer prices are high. The condo had a nice drying rack on the porch with very nice gear hangers. Nice touch. There is no beach but there is a sand beach area above the ironshore.
Shore diving at Coconut Bay was the draw. Duncan Heard/Stingray Watersports has a nice set up of tanks, weights, set up benches, rinse tanks and showers close to the water. Rates were reasonable and Duncan was a pleasure to work with. Tanks $12.50 US and Nitrox $18.00 US. We dove the house reef, Hepps Pipeline everyday. The mini wall was wonderful. For those who know Turtle Reef I think it is safe to say as much as I love Turtle Reef that Hepps is better. More dramatic wall and reef structure. Hepps is right next to Turtle Reef and you could dive from one to the other (although we did not). Mini wall may be a bit mis leading as the bottom directly below the mini wall can hit 70' and a short swim to coral formations out away from the mini wall put you out to 80'.
Reef extremely healthy, beautiful corals, fans, sponges and very fishy. Turtles on every dive. A wide variety of groupers including two goliath groupers. Watched an eagle ray feeding in the sand beyond the mini wall at about 75' for a good 5 mins. Saw an octopus capture and kill another octopus and take it away. Lobsters were plentiful and at one spot saw 4 in holes all close together.
We also dove Turtle Reef which was fun and Lighthouse Pt. Sundivers runs a great dive shop and we always enjoy diving with them. We managed to eat at Macabuca three times. At Lighthouse we swam all the way out to the deep wall. It is quite a swim but worth doing (at least once). Having done the swim I can now appreciate the draw of renting scooters. We were thinking of hitting Eden Rock on Sunday but everyone wanted to dive Hepps again. It was that interesting. 11 dives with 9 at Hepps and could have done more. From where you enter the water at Coconut Bay you can see Turtle reef/Macabuca to your left and Lighthouse Pt further down.
Our weather was mostly sunny each day with rain only once briefly one morning while diving and overnight. Wind was coming out of the North variably from NW and NE which stirred things up a bit. Vis was still at 100ft at the mini wall but varying amount of haze at times. You could find blue water diving to the North (right) when a current was running. When the current was noticeable it was coming from the N. The wind changed to coming out of the East the last two days.
Water temps were consistently reading 84 even at depth. Never bothered with any layers or suits. A rash guard and bathing suit was fine, even with three dives a day. Temps hit 86 in the shallows on the swim back from the mini wall.
I will try to post some pics later in the week. Overall I would have to rate our stay at Coconut Condo and staying up in West Bay and shore diving only was one of our best trips to GC yet. I still love staying at Oceanfrontiers and boat diving their sites but when diving with family who prefer shore diving CC will be our go to site on GC.
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