Shore Diving for Jr. OWD

[aoshell]

My husband and I were certified in the 90s on the Florida east coast. Since then we have moved to North Carolina and have not done much diving. Our 14 yr old son is newly certified last summer and we are looking to diving again as a family. We want to take our first big trip this summer. This will be his first salt water/coral reef diving.

Our son is not allowed to go deeper than 60 feet so I'm looking for shore diving and/or shallow diving, advice on lodging and which island would be best.

Thanks all!

 

[Papa_Bear]

Bonaire would be perfect and there is no SCUBA police so he can go with you and a lot of great stuff to see! The boat dives don't go any deeper than you want! Cayman also has some great shore diving along the West side that is real easy as well! Boat diving would still be okay for him!

 

[greylion]

I agree with papa bear, and if you choose Caymans, try going with Indigo Divers, my guess is you'd be with just the 3 of you and Chris and Kate Alpers who would treat you like royalty and dive just what you want.

Cayman Islands diving, Cayman divers, Indigo Divers

 

[Drew Sailbum]

The original post is specifically asking about shore diving in the Cayman forum so here is the basic run down:

Grand Cayman is really the only choice of the three Cayman Islands for a trip focused on shore diving. There are several shore diving locations with dive operators on site to provide tanks and gear. All of these are located along Grand Cayman's west shore.

The general underwater structure is a quick drop to about 10-12ft right by shore to [lace you on the hard pan. The hard pan, composed of compressed sand, is lightly dotted with a few sea fans and bits of hard coral.

As you swim out away from shore the hard pan slowly slopes down until you reach the top of the inner reef at about 25ft. The inner reef is dotted with numerous varierties of hard and soft corals and well populated with a variety of reef fish.

The inner reef slopes down (on some sites it is a sudden cliff-like drop) to a sort of shelf at about 45-60ft deep. This shelf includes sand patches alternating with fingers of coral which run out towards the main wall. You may see stingrays resting in the sand patches and can see the trails left by the queen conch as they drag themselves across the flats.

The top of the main wall is generally about 50-70ft deep. The bottom is.... WAY deeper. Out along the main wall is where you are more liekly to see sponges, turtles and occasional bigger fish.

You'll find shore diving operations at Sunset House and Don Fosters on South Church Street in George Town. Diver's Down offers shore diving on North Church Street in George Town.

DiveTech at Lighthouse Point or Cobalt Coast and Sun Divers at Turtle Reef offer shore diving options in West Bay.

 

[idocsteve]

I dove Sunset House in Grand Cayman 2 weeks ago. The guy warned us that there was a current...and that we should check it out first. I had been waiting for this trip for months and I wasn't going to let a bit of current stop me.

Sunset House has a nice sloping shore dive that includes a mermaid statue and a small wreck, which marks where the sloping wall really drops off.

Somehow I missed the statue and the wreck and my dive computer registered a maximum depth of 91 feet. I didn't feel much current going out but I sure did on the way back. I ran low on gas and had to surface swim back, as did my buddy. She got kind of freaked out because it's the first time she was in a low gas, high current situation but all ended well.

Turns out there was a government warning in effect and most dive ops hadn't been out in several days and all water sports were canceled through the cruise ship on that day.

We probably shouldn't have been in the water.

So watch your depth and watch those currents. No matter where you dive.

 

[Papa_Bear]

Smith Cove is a really cool dive! Easy entry and beautiful outside reef! It is just a little south of George Town in the residential area!