Planning June, 2018 Trip to GC - Suggestions?
- Thread starter 1000RR
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While these are great dives, my recollection is the swim throughs are deeper than your 14 yr old on a jr. cert may be allowed or is otherwise comfortable diving.
Divetech Cayman
Contributor
howswedeofme
Contributor
Ironshore Gardens is a good dive site on the East End with a lot of swim-throughts and really interesting topography aside from the swim-throughs. It's not a very deep dive so it should be OK for your 14 yr old.
OP
1000RR
Contributor
Yes, we are limited with my 14 yo. She'd be more than comfortable (I'm sure) going below her Jr OW 60' limitation (70' for a Jr. AOW) but we'll save that for when she's 15 and around that time we'll probably do the AOW together. By that time we'll also have a bit more dives under our belt as well. Just in the short time we've been diving, she's doing awesome both from a buoyancy standpoint, but also as being a good buddy. Our last dive, I stayed about 5-8' above her off her flank so I could match bottom time with her mini-mouse breathing style (she's ~0.3-0.45, I seem to be about 0.35-0.55 depending on type of dive). I noted her doing a number of buddy checks and wondering where the heck I was till she found me peering down on her... good to see her attentiveness.
Doctorfish
Contributor
If you are staying at East End, you should do your boat diving at East End rather than driving all the way across the island. The boat dives at East End are better than West anyway. Don't get caught up in potential sites now. Ocean Frontiers will take you out to the best sites on the days you go diving with them based on the conditions. Most of the walls start at 40-50 feet so there is no need to go deeper than 60 with a junior diver. Neither of you will miss anything at that depth limit.
OP
1000RR
Contributor
We definitely are planning most of our diving on the East side. Will do a couple shore dives on days we decide to go into town. The family will likely want to do Stingray City, so we'll work that in too. We've never done a wreck dive so the Kittawake was a possibility?! We'll see. I may try and take her on a livaboard this coming Spring for a 4 day one in the Dry Tortugas, maybe we can get a wreck dive in then?!
That's a very subjective statement. As a boat captain/dive guide in Cayman, I hear this sort of thing all the time, especially when it comes to north wall vs west bay diving. I can tell you that one man's trash is another man's treasure. People have different tastes, and very regularly we have folks come here who are insistent on diving one particular area because they read about it on SB or elsewhere, and many times they form their own opinions that end up being quite different from that which they've read.
This is good advice. Trust the dive ops to use their best judgement and to take you to the best sites.
OP
1000RR
Contributor
@Tienuts, good points and very much how I approach things as well. I like to gather as much data and opinions as possible, but in the end I'll form my personal opinion which, like you said, will vary from some. Since we're staying on the East side, most of our diving will be over there. But we do intend to venture to the West side to see that side of the Island (land-wise) and do some shore dives over there. Just trying to figure out schedule on if we can sneak in a boat dive over there or not too. What boat/dive outfit do you captain?
500 PSI
Contributor
Just returned from a 9 day stay at Morritts Resort first week of April. Really nice property and we loved the three pools and many nice people we met. It may have been very lucky to book a unit as a guest in April since the property is actually operated as a "floating timeshare" with apartment-style units and not a typical motel.
The Tortuga Divers / Red Sail operates an excellent dive shop right on the property and offers daily 2 tank AM dives along the east shore, which I really did enjoy. They are a well-run dive op and they offer a 3-day dive package, which is flexible for any day during your stay, assuming the winds are low and permits diving. I believe Ocean Quest is run out of the Compass resort, about 5 miles to the west, with similar large dive boat, pricing, and same east shore diving.
Unfortunately, the shore diving you are looking for is on the West and Northwest Shores and you will quickly find the availability of on-site shore dive ops (offering tanks an weights) is very limited. Get an early start and enjoy the shore dives, but do depart by about 3:30 PM to miss the heavy PM local traffic. The automobile drive to the West Shore is a minimum of 45 minutes, each way, along one, narrow, curvey, 2 lane road. However, I do prefer the East Shore, its a quiet, beautiful location, as such I plan only a few trips to George Town and the West Shore. I personally hate to waste my time in a car, since travel to/from Morritts is slow going.
I do enjoy all of the Caymans, and there are also many other beaches all around GC to swim and snorkel; bring your own beach towel and cooler. I recommend include Spots Reef beach in Savana near Pedro St. James and Smiths Cove on the southwest shore near Sunset House. Another is Water Cay, located just south of Rum Point (along the same road) with a small parking area and a short walk to the end of the point, with a large sandy beach and nice views, great for the kids.
That's my 2 cents worth, as an avid diver and sun worshiper.
The Tortuga Divers / Red Sail operates an excellent dive shop right on the property and offers daily 2 tank AM dives along the east shore, which I really did enjoy. They are a well-run dive op and they offer a 3-day dive package, which is flexible for any day during your stay, assuming the winds are low and permits diving. I believe Ocean Quest is run out of the Compass resort, about 5 miles to the west, with similar large dive boat, pricing, and same east shore diving.
Unfortunately, the shore diving you are looking for is on the West and Northwest Shores and you will quickly find the availability of on-site shore dive ops (offering tanks an weights) is very limited. Get an early start and enjoy the shore dives, but do depart by about 3:30 PM to miss the heavy PM local traffic. The automobile drive to the West Shore is a minimum of 45 minutes, each way, along one, narrow, curvey, 2 lane road. However, I do prefer the East Shore, its a quiet, beautiful location, as such I plan only a few trips to George Town and the West Shore. I personally hate to waste my time in a car, since travel to/from Morritts is slow going.
I do enjoy all of the Caymans, and there are also many other beaches all around GC to swim and snorkel; bring your own beach towel and cooler. I recommend include Spots Reef beach in Savana near Pedro St. James and Smiths Cove on the southwest shore near Sunset House. Another is Water Cay, located just south of Rum Point (along the same road) with a small parking area and a short walk to the end of the point, with a large sandy beach and nice views, great for the kids.
That's my 2 cents worth, as an avid diver and sun worshiper.
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