Another shore diving question-Grand, Little or Brac?

[nipi]

Hey Bruce - the walk up the beach from the Cumber's Caves to do Cascades is def worth it - drift all the way back down. We also use the cut almost opp Randys & then another in the Lea Leas Lookout area - the lot is semicleared nr the beach. Not sure if they're the ones you're referring to. Then just before the house opp the dirt cross island road there's access to the first numbered sites. Going past Sam's we have been off the next house (on stilts) - entry urchin city & not a great site. Next a good one is Paradise Plunge - park on the side of the rd about 2-300 yards before Salt Dock - cross ironshore to enter - out to wall drift down & exit at Dock ledge & walk back to car. Then off the Dock - Fisheye Fantasea though mooring wasnt there in mid Oct. Then enter off Splash house - both wall & shallow sites good there. Then there's a cleared lot south of Paradise Point just before start of runway you can access - wall is nice there - dont go off nearer Pirates Point - wall is miles out & not great. Next can access lots of Preston Bay sites in right weather at the cut they cut from the rd to the shore when that tug got beached a few years ago. Excellent dive is off Paradise Villas - wall sites are great & can visit Soto Trader on return - can be current here.

Also on south have been of house a few miles E of Kingston Bight - think it's blue w a gazebo - lots of rubble around it from Gustav - wall is miles out & average. On north have been off Rockbottom just past CCMI - long swim but wall good. I hear there's a good dive right on the NE Point - about the farthest point from any resort for a boat trip - have looked out from the corner where the barge wreck is but can't see a marker & it's miles just to the fringing reef.

Favourite site - Randys.

Good luck in Jan.

 

[anzac65]

I agree with all that. I can confirm that Cheeseburger Reef is pretty beaten up. Lighthouse Point is interesting if you go out to the main wall, but the mini-wall there is not worth visiting.

I can't concurr with this, although I appreciate that you live there..... I dove Cheeseburger reef about 3 or 4 weeks ago (from a boat, Don Fosters) and I rank the dive (the Mushroom formation and so on.....) as one of the most outstanding things I've seen in my entire life. Really. And then at the end of the dive the coral garden in the shallower part.... wow. I don't think I'm that easily pleased.

 

[Damselfish]

People's perception of dive sites is much different after they have done many dives in many places, than when they are new.

 

[anzac65]

People's perception of dive sites is much different after they have done many dives in many places, than when they are new.

Oh, okay. I guess I need to realign my distorted perspectives then. So let me get it right, Cayman diving must be pretty lousy in general, and the other dozen or so sites I've dived there amongst the worst of the bunch. :shocked2:

 

[Damselfish]

well, what other sites did you dive on Cayman? If you dove only the popular west side sites, it is very possible you only saw the worst (or least good, if you prefer) of Cayman diving. Certainly way better than a day at the office, but there is much better to be had there.

 

[-hh]

Oh, okay. I guess I need to realign my distorted perspectives then. So let me get it right, Cayman diving must be pretty lousy in general, and the other dozen or so sites I've dived there amongst the worst of the bunch. :shocked2:

The generic problem is that all reefs have been under a lot of stress, and "it ain't as good as it used to be" applies.

For example, from the Oct 2008 issue of _Undercurrent_, page 5:

"While Pirate's Point has remained the same since my visit 15 years ago, the diving has changed. Scientists have found that Little Cayman has a coral cover loss of nearly 40% in 5 years (declining from 26.3% total coverage in 1999 to 15.8% in 2004), though it seems to have stabilized...So while Little Cayman may still rank among the best diving in the Caribbean, it's not what it once was - and may never be."

My admittedly anecdotal recollections of "the old days" are that the reefs were clearly healthier. I do recall that the Cayman Government had funded a reef survey that was done in 1992, because I happened to have dived with one of the research surveyors on the Brac that year. It would be interesting to add that data to this report so as to quantitatively compare just how much coral loss there was between 1992-1999, and complete more of this story.


-hh

 

[anzac65]

well, what other sites did you dive on Cayman? If you dove only the popular west side sites, it is very possible you only saw the worst (or least good, if you prefer) of Cayman diving. Certainly way better than a day at the office, but there is much better to be had there.

So, I just looked at my log. Hammerhead Hole, Cemetery Reef, Trinity Caves, Paradise Reef, Aquarium North, Sea Fan Reef, Cobalt Coast to Schoolhouse, Red Bay Cave, Bullwinkle East, Big Table Rock, Cheeseburger Reef, and Royal Palms Ledge.

And now that I have the log to read (instead of thinking about work) I realise that I was thinking of Royal Palms with the mushroom overhang. However, Cheeseburger still has some amazing swim-throughs with lurking Tarpon and when I was there Silversides being encircled by speeding Snapper, backlit by the Sun.....

I rated that experience 9/10. Outstanding. Not beaten up. Not remotely so-so. But then I'm not old enough to have walked on the Moon, seen Hailwood and Agostini at the 1967 IOM TT, or made it to a Beatles concert.....

As you say, I guess everything's relative........

 

[Draq]

Thanks for the information. I am disappointed at what seems to be a general lack of enthusiasm for the dives there, or at least the shore dives. I guess maybe I will keep looking for a good deal on airfare to Curacao or Bonaire. The diving was fine there, it is mostly a question of getting good airfare and my natural curiosity about new places.

I had forgotten about the hurricane. It's unfortunate and I am sure that has changed things for the worse. Maybe the Caymans will have to wait a few years for me to get there.

If only boat diving wasn't so expensive for a family of four... I can get to Cozumel easily and fairly cheaply, but then have to factor in about $250.00-350.00 a day for all of us to do 2 morning dives. If we were to do the 3-4 dives per day we like to do, plus at least a couple night dives, I would have to rob a bank first.

 

[diversteve]

So, I just looked at my log. Hammerhead Hole, Cemetery Reef, Trinity Caves, Paradise Reef, Aquarium North...

Those were two of my favorite boat dives. So could you (or Nipi) or anyone else tell me exactly where you enter to shoredive those two sites? That's something I'd like to do next trip. We're thinking about the Aggressor next spring and may spend a couple of days on the island also.

thx,

 

[-hh]

Thanks for the information. I am disappointed at what seems to be a general lack of enthusiasm for the dives there, or at least the shore dives....If only boat diving wasn't so expensive for a family of four... I can get to Cozumel easily and fairly cheaply, but then have to factor in about $250.00-350.00 a day for all of us to do 2 morning dives. If we were to do the 3-4 dives per day we like to do, plus at least a couple night dives, I would have to rob a bank first.

I think that the general "problem" in the Cayman Sister Islands (Little & Brac) is a combination of "easy" diving off the boats with dive packages, to which then the question of adding a rental car for shore diving gets compared to the incremental cost of a PM diveboat and/or occasional night dive...when its only 1 or 2 people, there's not that much cost difference to be an incentive, particularly on Little Cayman where I recall that a car rental runs fairly close to $100/day.

On the Brac, one can get a car from DDDD's for around $250/week, which changes the math for shore diving...for a group of 3 or more who doesn't mind not swiming all the way out to the drop-off, it is a viable option.

I had forgotten about the hurricane. It's unfortunate and I am sure that has changed things for the worse. Maybe the Caymans will have to wait a few years for me to get there.

Linton Tibbets was just quoted this week in the CaymanNetNews in that he is hoping that he can get Brac Reef Beach Resort (BRBR) back up and operational before the Christmas Season...but the official word on their website is "Early 2009". Knowing the family, BRBR won't be closed for much longer.

On Little Cayman, Pirate's Point has re-opened after Paloma, as is also LCBR and Peter Hillenbrand's Southern Cross Club. I'm not sure about Sam McCoy's, but that's at least 3 out of 4 resorts back open, and ~90% of the rooms.


-hh