Willar
Contributor
Just back from Grand Cayman for a trip with my kids (age 18, 21). We stayed at Morritt's on the East End but were very disappointed with the poor condition of our room, though the facilities and pools are quite nice. I would not stay there again due to the poor maintenance on the room and condition of the beds. As my daughter is not a diver we didn't go as a dive vacation but a family vacation.
For our first dive to double check our gear and weighting we did the shore dive at Sunset House. As always, the mermaid was beautiful and we had a great dive. One thing that stood out was the large number of garden eels in the sand between the mermaid and the barge wreck. It was amazing!
Later in the week we did a 2-tank deep wall & Kittiwake dive with Lobster Pot Dive Center who were great. We had contacted them ahead of the trip to arrange our date, their communications were prompt and comprehensive. Upon arrival they were expecting us and had everything ready to go. All the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. The boat was a nice six-pack with 4 divers on board. The dive guide gave us an excellent tour of a deep wall with many swim-throughs. We did a 45 minute surface interval on the boat and then dropped in on the Kittiwake. Our guide had given us a thorough briefing and he did just as he said, gave us a great tour of all decks inside the boat. There are plenty of access/exit holes and the ship is easy to navigate through. The Kittiwake is a wonderful easy dive because it is so easy to enter/exit and the shallow nature allows long dive times. It was a wonderful dive experience. I will definitely use LPDC again in the future as their staff was wonderful.
We did the Stingray City glass-bottom boat tour out of Rum Point with Red Sail Sports. We timed the outing to avoid cruise ships and were happy to have only 1 other boat on the sandbar when we arrived. The wind was strong out of the south for several days and the sandbar was unusually wave swept, but it didn't dampen our fun. We were swarmed with rays, got to feed and hug several including an amazingly large, friendly female. (If only human females were so accommodating!) We were all thrilled with the experience. We made a second stop at a nearby reef for a bit of snorkeling which was an nice side trip.
For meals we ate three times at Tukka on the East End because the food was excellent! The first time they had grilled Lionfish as the feature of the evening and it was outstanding! The creamy conch chowder was excellent and served with warm fresh rolls. We returned twice more and enjoyed Lionfish tacos, burgers, gnocchi, and other fine food. It's not cheap but Tukka has excellent food!
We also dined at the Italian Kitchen near Morritt's for handmade pizzas which were very good. The service was indifferent, but brick-oven-style the pizzas were very good. We made a stop one day at Heritage Kitchen, a small roadside diner, and found the menu was 5 Grouper dishes and Curried chicken. Cayman-style Grouper, Pineapple Grouper, and Curried Chicken were all very tasty dishes and served with a side of rice and beans. This was the cheapest meal we ate out and was well worth the effort to find the place. We also ate at Macabucha and My Bar at Sunset House and very much enjoyed the food. I always love eating out and trying the fresh seafood, conch fritters and chowder while on the island and seldom am I disappointed. On departure day we ate at Lobster Pot Restaurant which is more of a fine-dining establishment. The prices were higher than we anticipated but since we just wanted lunch we went with Fish and Chips and the Pulled Pork Sandwich. Both were excellent. I will return here for a fine dining experience some evening in the future.
We rented our car very cheaply from Apex thru Expedia. Somehow Expedia had not sent thru our reservation but it was no problem as they had a small SUV for us. I'm glad I brought a printed reservation confirmation and they happily honored the price. Apex operates out of the Budget Rentals building with the same staff and our SUV had a Budget decal on the back.
Grand Cayman was great fun once again and I'll always have it on my list to return, but from now on I'll stay at Sunset House or another West Side location.
For our first dive to double check our gear and weighting we did the shore dive at Sunset House. As always, the mermaid was beautiful and we had a great dive. One thing that stood out was the large number of garden eels in the sand between the mermaid and the barge wreck. It was amazing!
Later in the week we did a 2-tank deep wall & Kittiwake dive with Lobster Pot Dive Center who were great. We had contacted them ahead of the trip to arrange our date, their communications were prompt and comprehensive. Upon arrival they were expecting us and had everything ready to go. All the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. The boat was a nice six-pack with 4 divers on board. The dive guide gave us an excellent tour of a deep wall with many swim-throughs. We did a 45 minute surface interval on the boat and then dropped in on the Kittiwake. Our guide had given us a thorough briefing and he did just as he said, gave us a great tour of all decks inside the boat. There are plenty of access/exit holes and the ship is easy to navigate through. The Kittiwake is a wonderful easy dive because it is so easy to enter/exit and the shallow nature allows long dive times. It was a wonderful dive experience. I will definitely use LPDC again in the future as their staff was wonderful.
We did the Stingray City glass-bottom boat tour out of Rum Point with Red Sail Sports. We timed the outing to avoid cruise ships and were happy to have only 1 other boat on the sandbar when we arrived. The wind was strong out of the south for several days and the sandbar was unusually wave swept, but it didn't dampen our fun. We were swarmed with rays, got to feed and hug several including an amazingly large, friendly female. (If only human females were so accommodating!) We were all thrilled with the experience. We made a second stop at a nearby reef for a bit of snorkeling which was an nice side trip.
For meals we ate three times at Tukka on the East End because the food was excellent! The first time they had grilled Lionfish as the feature of the evening and it was outstanding! The creamy conch chowder was excellent and served with warm fresh rolls. We returned twice more and enjoyed Lionfish tacos, burgers, gnocchi, and other fine food. It's not cheap but Tukka has excellent food!
We also dined at the Italian Kitchen near Morritt's for handmade pizzas which were very good. The service was indifferent, but brick-oven-style the pizzas were very good. We made a stop one day at Heritage Kitchen, a small roadside diner, and found the menu was 5 Grouper dishes and Curried chicken. Cayman-style Grouper, Pineapple Grouper, and Curried Chicken were all very tasty dishes and served with a side of rice and beans. This was the cheapest meal we ate out and was well worth the effort to find the place. We also ate at Macabucha and My Bar at Sunset House and very much enjoyed the food. I always love eating out and trying the fresh seafood, conch fritters and chowder while on the island and seldom am I disappointed. On departure day we ate at Lobster Pot Restaurant which is more of a fine-dining establishment. The prices were higher than we anticipated but since we just wanted lunch we went with Fish and Chips and the Pulled Pork Sandwich. Both were excellent. I will return here for a fine dining experience some evening in the future.
We rented our car very cheaply from Apex thru Expedia. Somehow Expedia had not sent thru our reservation but it was no problem as they had a small SUV for us. I'm glad I brought a printed reservation confirmation and they happily honored the price. Apex operates out of the Budget Rentals building with the same staff and our SUV had a Budget decal on the back.
Grand Cayman was great fun once again and I'll always have it on my list to return, but from now on I'll stay at Sunset House or another West Side location.
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