Redfoot
Contributor
Just returned yesterday from a great week of diving and sunshine at CBBR.
First, thanks to everyone else here for posting reviews, pictures and updates on their experiences, it helps tremendously!
I booked direct with Clearly Cayman when they ran a special back in July. Saturday to Saturday all inclusive, with 17 Nitrox boat dives, airport transfers and a nominal single supplement. Total cost was just over $2,000.
I flew Delta Detroit-Atlanta-Grand on Dec 28, with a 0545 am departure out of Detroit. (~$900 RT) ATL-GCM left around 1050, and we had to circle GCM 2 times before being cleared to land around 1300. GCM arrivals was empty, and I walked right up to a waiting customs officer. I did the bag shuffle and got checked in for Cayman Airways 1445 flight, and went through departure security, which had a line but it moved very quick. I was at my departure gate by 1400. Our flight from GCM to Brac was about 25 minutes late departing, due to the holiday influx of private jets landing. Once on Brac, check in was a breeze, I had my toes in the sand by around 1600.
There were 2 large dive groups onsite, and another 2-3 large families traveling together. The balance of guests were mostly couples and a few other single travelers like myself. Everyone was very kind and we all got to know each other quickly.
I dove on the Coral Sister with CC and Natalie, both of whom are relatively new to the operation. Both were friendly and knowledgeable. They were also adept with the lionfish spear!
I loved the ease of diving, and the size of groups. Our boat was only full the first few dives, and it never seemed crowded. I dove with a mix of buddies, depending on who was on the boat, and we always followed the guide, then finished our time limits under the boat looking for small critters.
Weather was absolutely perfect Sunday-Thursday, with sun, light clouds and a gentle 5-8 MPH breeze. Air temps hovered right around 83 F. and the water was always above 80 as well. Thursday, the winds picked up and we still had a great time, but the boat rides were bumpy and we had to choose sites accordingly.
Visibility was 80 to 100+ feet at every site.
We made the crossing to Little Cayman on Tuesday 12/31, and did two morning dives before heading back to Brac for lunch. The Cayman Aggressor was on Little, which was the first time in almost 2 months it has made the crossing over from Grand according to one of the Reef Divers staff. The diving on Little was incredible, I got a nice turtle encounter and really enjoyed Bloody Bay Wall. Kevin, who runs the RD shop on Brac, brought his rebreather over on our boat and he dove both sites using that, which was very cool to see.
The shop decided not to do a night dive on New Years Eve, as they thought there may be an increase in drunken boaters, and the staff deserved the night off. Some folks did rent tanks from Reef Divers and did a shore dive at midnight off of Scotts Dock, but I was asleep by 2000 haha
NYE was a lot of fun, the food was very good and the atmosphere was great. Many locals and resident travelers cam to the resort for the evening. They had fireworks at midnight, but I could barely keep my eyes open!
We did a night dive on Tarpon Reef Wednesday night, it was a lot of fun. It seems that they only really want to do about 1 night dive a week and schedule it accordingly.
Here are the sites we visited over the week:
Tibbets Wreck
Fishery
Pillars
Atlantis
Plymouth Rock
Snapper Point
(Little Cayman)
Marilyns Cut
Sarah’s Set
Seargeant Major
Bert Brothers Boulders
Preachers Barge
Tarpon Reef
(Night Dive)
Tarpon Reef
Tombstone
West Chute
End of the Island
Cemetery
Grunt Valley
My favorite site was Tarpon Reef, we did it back to back on Wednesday for the afternoon/night dive and it had the most abundance of critters. We saw a school of tarpon, grouper, barracuda, a turtle, octopus, stingray, squid, eel, lobster and crab, as well as the usual array of fish!
My least favorite was Atlantis.
One of the divemasters mentioned that they think turtles are being poached, as there has been a significant decline in sightings, and they turtles seem much more skittish/afraid of humans. Not sure how true this is, but we only saw 2 turtles on Brac and one on Little.
No sharks or eagle rays, but I felt that we saw a lot of other animals that made up for it.
I think this a perfect trip/destination for relaxed, easy diving with no current, great visibility, wonderful resort, good food and relaxation in between.
Another note of interest was that on Wednesday, a small cruise ship (mostly Europeans on a 21 day Caribbean route!) was docked off of Scotts Dock and some of the guests ended up at CBBR. The staff was not too happy, and there were some rumors going around that it got denied entry in Havana and had to reroute, with Grand Cayman being full it ended up on Brac. They were shuttling to people to shore in the dinghys, and the boat just kept doing circles,it never anchored.
I did not do any of the rock climbing or island tours, but did take several long bike rides and enjoyed the island.
I lucked out coming home with a direct flight from GCM to Detroit, the GCM airport was CRAZY, but it seems the updates are serving them well. I did speak to a few people who had GCM as a stop on their itineraries from other Caribbean destinations, which I thought was interesting?
San Juan, PR and Montego, JA. Has the GCM airport always served as a "hub"?
I had a quick sandwich from the local food stand, and bought some gifts at Duty Free. We departed on time and arrived to Detroit almost 30 mins early!
Thanks!
First, thanks to everyone else here for posting reviews, pictures and updates on their experiences, it helps tremendously!
I booked direct with Clearly Cayman when they ran a special back in July. Saturday to Saturday all inclusive, with 17 Nitrox boat dives, airport transfers and a nominal single supplement. Total cost was just over $2,000.
I flew Delta Detroit-Atlanta-Grand on Dec 28, with a 0545 am departure out of Detroit. (~$900 RT) ATL-GCM left around 1050, and we had to circle GCM 2 times before being cleared to land around 1300. GCM arrivals was empty, and I walked right up to a waiting customs officer. I did the bag shuffle and got checked in for Cayman Airways 1445 flight, and went through departure security, which had a line but it moved very quick. I was at my departure gate by 1400. Our flight from GCM to Brac was about 25 minutes late departing, due to the holiday influx of private jets landing. Once on Brac, check in was a breeze, I had my toes in the sand by around 1600.
There were 2 large dive groups onsite, and another 2-3 large families traveling together. The balance of guests were mostly couples and a few other single travelers like myself. Everyone was very kind and we all got to know each other quickly.
I dove on the Coral Sister with CC and Natalie, both of whom are relatively new to the operation. Both were friendly and knowledgeable. They were also adept with the lionfish spear!
I loved the ease of diving, and the size of groups. Our boat was only full the first few dives, and it never seemed crowded. I dove with a mix of buddies, depending on who was on the boat, and we always followed the guide, then finished our time limits under the boat looking for small critters.
Weather was absolutely perfect Sunday-Thursday, with sun, light clouds and a gentle 5-8 MPH breeze. Air temps hovered right around 83 F. and the water was always above 80 as well. Thursday, the winds picked up and we still had a great time, but the boat rides were bumpy and we had to choose sites accordingly.
Visibility was 80 to 100+ feet at every site.
We made the crossing to Little Cayman on Tuesday 12/31, and did two morning dives before heading back to Brac for lunch. The Cayman Aggressor was on Little, which was the first time in almost 2 months it has made the crossing over from Grand according to one of the Reef Divers staff. The diving on Little was incredible, I got a nice turtle encounter and really enjoyed Bloody Bay Wall. Kevin, who runs the RD shop on Brac, brought his rebreather over on our boat and he dove both sites using that, which was very cool to see.
The shop decided not to do a night dive on New Years Eve, as they thought there may be an increase in drunken boaters, and the staff deserved the night off. Some folks did rent tanks from Reef Divers and did a shore dive at midnight off of Scotts Dock, but I was asleep by 2000 haha
NYE was a lot of fun, the food was very good and the atmosphere was great. Many locals and resident travelers cam to the resort for the evening. They had fireworks at midnight, but I could barely keep my eyes open!
We did a night dive on Tarpon Reef Wednesday night, it was a lot of fun. It seems that they only really want to do about 1 night dive a week and schedule it accordingly.
Here are the sites we visited over the week:
Tibbets Wreck
Fishery
Pillars
Atlantis
Plymouth Rock
Snapper Point
(Little Cayman)
Marilyns Cut
Sarah’s Set
Seargeant Major
Bert Brothers Boulders
Preachers Barge
Tarpon Reef
(Night Dive)
Tarpon Reef
Tombstone
West Chute
End of the Island
Cemetery
Grunt Valley
My favorite site was Tarpon Reef, we did it back to back on Wednesday for the afternoon/night dive and it had the most abundance of critters. We saw a school of tarpon, grouper, barracuda, a turtle, octopus, stingray, squid, eel, lobster and crab, as well as the usual array of fish!
My least favorite was Atlantis.
One of the divemasters mentioned that they think turtles are being poached, as there has been a significant decline in sightings, and they turtles seem much more skittish/afraid of humans. Not sure how true this is, but we only saw 2 turtles on Brac and one on Little.
No sharks or eagle rays, but I felt that we saw a lot of other animals that made up for it.
I think this a perfect trip/destination for relaxed, easy diving with no current, great visibility, wonderful resort, good food and relaxation in between.
Another note of interest was that on Wednesday, a small cruise ship (mostly Europeans on a 21 day Caribbean route!) was docked off of Scotts Dock and some of the guests ended up at CBBR. The staff was not too happy, and there were some rumors going around that it got denied entry in Havana and had to reroute, with Grand Cayman being full it ended up on Brac. They were shuttling to people to shore in the dinghys, and the boat just kept doing circles,it never anchored.
I did not do any of the rock climbing or island tours, but did take several long bike rides and enjoyed the island.
I lucked out coming home with a direct flight from GCM to Detroit, the GCM airport was CRAZY, but it seems the updates are serving them well. I did speak to a few people who had GCM as a stop on their itineraries from other Caribbean destinations, which I thought was interesting?
San Juan, PR and Montego, JA. Has the GCM airport always served as a "hub"?
I had a quick sandwich from the local food stand, and bought some gifts at Duty Free. We departed on time and arrived to Detroit almost 30 mins early!
Thanks!
