Back from the Caymans

[Hintermann]

Just got back from a superb dive trip to the Cayman Islands plus a stopover at the Everglades on the way back. Will post a proper review once I get my pictures organised.

The paradox of the trip was the Little Cayman crossover on the Cayman Aggressor liveaboard. I was booked on the January 11th to 18th cruise and since a crossing over to Little Cayman was uncertain at this time of the year, I had booked a supplementary 4-day holiday in Little Cayman island itself, staying at the Beach Resort.

As it was, we were blessed with superb sunny weather and calm seas on the first 4 days of the liveaboard cruise. Taking advantage of this, the captain did the crossover on the second night and we did 8 dives on the Bloody Bay Wall, including Randy' Gazebo, The Great Wall and Jackson's Reef. We crossed back to Grand Cayman on the 4th night and while Thursday was a bit cloudy, it did not affect the diving. The skies cleared again on the following day and remained so.

But by the time I disembarked from the boat, caught the local flight and arrived in Little Cayman Beach resort, the winds had picked-up with rough seas even though the sky remained clear and sunny for the most part. Therefore, even though I was actually on the island, the local day boats were restricted to the southern shore for the first 2 days. On the third (and my last diving day at the Caymans), the seas settled enough for the day boat to make the 'turn' and reach BBW. This time we dived Marilyn's Cut and Mixing Bowl.

Therefore, I got my money's worth.

 

[tajkd]

Great - thanks for posting. Cayman Aggressor was one of my favorite boats.

 

[Hintermann]

The Captain was fairly certain that the guests who were following us for the January 18th to 25th cruise would not make it to Little Cayman because of the changed conditions. I do not know whether they made it or not but up until Tuesday 21st January (by which time I was on Little Cayman for the land based diving) the boat had not come across. By then the weather had improved again and so they might have just made it later that week.

By the way, when we did the crossing, we also went to Cayman Brac and did 2 dives on the Russian Destroyer, including a night dive. The night dive especially was excellent and there is now quite a bit of colourful coral growth and fish life on and around the wreck. After getting back to GC, we did 2 dives on the Kittywake too.

 

[AggieDiver]

I am glad to hear that you got to make it over there after all the planning you put in to make sure. I hope it lived up to your expectations. I was just posting on another thread here how much better the Russian destroyer is as a night dive. I am glad somebody else will back me up on that opinion.

 

[Hintermann]

I am glad to hear that you got to make it over there after all the planning you put in to make sure. I hope it lived up to your expectations.

Oh yes, it did! ALL dives over the BBW were excellent but The Great Wall was something more. The sky was clear and sunny with a calm sea when we dived there. Quite apart from the excellent marine life, there sere feeling one gets while admiring the sheer wall is incomparable to any other dive site in the world - at least those that I have seen.

As I went over the wall's edge looking down at the abyss, I opened my arms out wide and pretended I was flying off a cliff's edge. Once over, the best thing to do is swim for about 25 metres out into the blue and then turn around to look at the wall. From around 8 feet or so, the reef wall drops off into the depths with nothing to interrupt it. It was magnificent.