Advice on staying in a rental and shore diving Cayman Brac

[tkaelin]

Planning a 2018 family dive trip and thinking of CB. We would like to stay in a rental on the water with shore diving available right from the rental. Would love to hear from others who have stayed in a rental and did mostly shore diving. We have been to GC many times, LC one, Bon and Cur many times and are experienced divers. Trip would likely be June

How does the shore diving compare to say Bon, Cur or Hepps and Turtle Reef on GC? How are the swims, are there mini walls, can you reach a wall, is there a preferred areas, what are the shallows like etc. Would likely work with Scubashack and would likely do only one boat dive if we did any.

Any recommendations on places to stay or what parts of the island might be better. Saw some rentals on the north side on the beach near the airport that looked nice. There will be four of us. Assuming airport noise a nonissue as not any closer than CBBR and I don't recall people remarking about airport noise.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and advice. TK

 

[divezonescuba]

Find a place on the north west end of the island. There is a beach, but... The south side can be rougher and even have a lot of debris. No airport noise.

The secluded sunsets property is where we stayed and will stay again later this year.
However, don't expect to dive directly off of the back of a house unless you are willing to destroy a lot off sea fans, etc. That end of the island is shallow.

If there are only four of you, you might try the copper turtle, it is a bit further up the north shore.

The really good sites have established entry and exit points with steps or ladders like buccaneer reef, scotts dock, radar reef, and handcuff reef a bit further down the road. These are minutes down the road from the northwest end.

Scott's dock is the single best dive I have ever done, wall, swim thru, reef, wreck.

I did 24 dives last year, only 4 from the boat. Way better than Bonaire for shore diving.

 

[KathyV]

I've been to Brac several times and loved it, but I have stayed at the CBBR and only did boat dives; but here is a thread about shore dives:

Roll call - Cayman Brac -Shore diving anyone?

 

[tkaelin]

Thanks for the replies so far. Keep them coming.

 

[Sue/Dave]

We always stay at Brac Caribbean Beach Village -- a small condo complex on the south side. (Unit 13 is where we stay and has plenty of room for 4 adults.) There is a reef protected lagoon right out front for snorkeling or very shallow dives. Small but nice beach as well. Scuba Shack picks up from the dock that is on the property. Yes, you can hear the planes, but the island is soooo quiet, the few take-offs and landings a day don't bother us at all.

I'm the non-diving spouse; hubby is the diver (but I post here, and he usually doesn't). You do need a car no matter where you stay, unless you find a rental with good shore diving and only want to dive that one spot, but even then would need to get to the south side to rent your tanks. Buccaneer is the easiest entry for shore-diving; other shore-diving spots as described above are all good, too. If I can get my hubby to compare CB diving to other places he's been that you mentioned, I'll post again, to try to answer that part of your question.

We just returned earlier this month from our 4th trip to CB; hubby saw several sharks, lots of turtles including a couple of juveniles, grouper and tons of colorful smaller fish. He mentioned to me several times how healthy the coral was. If you have other questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them. We love the Brac!

 

[Fathom044]

I stayed a month at the Cayman Breakers. Nina is the leasing person and she gave us a great deal on two condos. There is shore diving (it can be challenging depending on the weather) straight out from the Breakers with a small entry pool. Getting to the wall from there was not difficult. Nina can also give you details on all the shore diving spots on both sides and there are MANY. You will definitely need a car and you can rent shore cylinders from Reef Divers for $12 a piece.

We could make the swim to the wall pretty much from anywhere. We dove the 356 from the Buccaneer and the wall as well. Enjoy! I wish I was joining you.

 

[Ray and Pam]

Great stuff, keep it coming, I'm copying and pasting where to stay and where to shore dive in my Brac shorediving notes.
This November will be our first time to Cayman Brac or even Little Cayman if we make it to Bloody Bay Wall. We had already booked a dive package with Cayman Brac Reef Resort when I started researching the island. Didn't realize there was shore diving, and so much of it. Like hearing that because normally we would be going to Bonaire for the shore diving this time of year.
So if we like the island and (boat diving only this trip) we'll be checking out the shore entries and places to stay for a return visit.

 

[tkaelin]

The shore diving is what is attracting our interest. The shore diving in Bon has been great but we are now finding other very good shore diving destinations. Curacao was wonderful and significantly less expensive than Bon. We have also now found a place on GC with great shore diving on site that we can also do significantly less than Bon. Not knocking Bon as no island so far is so set up for shore diving but it does has a few negatives. Brac looks like it might be another great shore diving destination for us. Would love to see a map or directions to some of the sites mentioned on Brac. Would also like to know what is available for car rentals for 4 divers, gear and tanks. The pickups in Bon and Cur are perfect for shore diving with 4 divers. Haven't seen pick up rentals yet. Saw some minivans, vans and small suvs.

 

[Fathom044]

Nina at Breakers has a map of just about every shore spot and how to get there. Car rentals in Brac are quite simple. I rented a van for the the month with plenty of room for cylinders and gear.

 

[tkaelin]

How is shore diving the sunken frigate? I understand there is a ladder/improved shore entry to dive this wreck.