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There are sharks off Cayman but no shark dive. Most that I've seen are deep off the north wall. My buddy dove sites closer to the East End last year and the sharks there sometimes approach looking for a lionfish handout - they're culling them there. He said one reef shark followed them about 20mins. before it lost interest.
There is Stingray City also. You can dive there while the GF snorkels above with some of the dive operators. Or both go to Sandbar nearby on a snorkel trip and stand.
Be aware that sometimes there's as many as 4-5 cruise ships in Georgetown during the day also - good time to be elsewhere IMO. After they leave - 4-5ish, downtown is worth a look - some shops, good restaurants, the Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritaiville etc.
Most of the dive operators pick up along Seven Mile Beach and there's a lot of hotel/condo options there. Some have on-site operators also. A few pick you up off the beach on a flat-bottom boat, the rest run a fleet of vans every daily. Most things Cayman are at: www.caymanislands.ky
There can be rougher weather on the north side in winter so base your resort selection partially on that also. And if you stay anywhere along the North side - from Rum Point to the East End - your dive options are limited to driving to Ocean Frontiers or Tortuga Divers. Unless of course you stay at Compass Point or Morritts... The East End is much quieter if you prefer that. Almost all the shore diving is on the west though if you plan to do that to save money - boat dives on Cayman run 2/$100-125 typically.
Add 20% to the number crunching. The CI$ is fixed at .80US$. Everything is expensive - food almost shockingly so anywhere nicer.
Look at Turks/Caicos - Providenciales (Provo) also. Provo has shopping, some nightlife, a casino. Grace Bay beach is one of the best in the world - and priced like it. Excellent deep wall diving, crystal clear water. Except the boat rides to the best dives (French Cay, West Caicos wall) - including some where you're almost guaranteed to see sharks - are 45mins.+. If you stay on Provo add shuttle time to the marina of 20-30mins for those dives. There's also local diving off Provo's NW Point that's decent - even the liveaboards spend a a day or two there first. Just a little too far to swim to though - about 500yds
Grand Turk is the other option with dive operators on-island but land activities are limited there. Much smaller island - even though it's the capital, the population is a lot less. And the cruise ships moor there. One plus about it is that the wall is fairly close offshore so local wall dives are short. In the winter months the Humpbacks cruise by on their way to the Silver Banks. http://turksandcaicostourism.com/
I've been to both, the diving is equally good at either. Clear, deep wall diving off both. T/C reefs probably don't see 1/2 the traffic some of the Cayman sites do. At the farther out islands you notice the difference. We dove with sharks, rays, cuda, turtles - most were indiffferent. Except for the two liveaboards, the day boats from Provo don't always go out that far. Even if they all did, that's a tenth of what Grand Cayman sees daily.
One advantage to Cayman is to save money there are some easy shore dives. All have ladders over the ironshore if needed and are usually pretty calm. IMO one of the best is Turtle Reef on the north side, it bottoms out around 50' one way, 70' the other. Straight out it's closer to 1000' though...
There is Stingray City also. You can dive there while the GF snorkels above with some of the dive operators. Or both go to Sandbar nearby on a snorkel trip and stand.
Be aware that sometimes there's as many as 4-5 cruise ships in Georgetown during the day also - good time to be elsewhere IMO. After they leave - 4-5ish, downtown is worth a look - some shops, good restaurants, the Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritaiville etc.
Most of the dive operators pick up along Seven Mile Beach and there's a lot of hotel/condo options there. Some have on-site operators also. A few pick you up off the beach on a flat-bottom boat, the rest run a fleet of vans every daily. Most things Cayman are at: www.caymanislands.ky
There can be rougher weather on the north side in winter so base your resort selection partially on that also. And if you stay anywhere along the North side - from Rum Point to the East End - your dive options are limited to driving to Ocean Frontiers or Tortuga Divers. Unless of course you stay at Compass Point or Morritts... The East End is much quieter if you prefer that. Almost all the shore diving is on the west though if you plan to do that to save money - boat dives on Cayman run 2/$100-125 typically.
Add 20% to the number crunching. The CI$ is fixed at .80US$. Everything is expensive - food almost shockingly so anywhere nicer.
Look at Turks/Caicos - Providenciales (Provo) also. Provo has shopping, some nightlife, a casino. Grace Bay beach is one of the best in the world - and priced like it. Excellent deep wall diving, crystal clear water. Except the boat rides to the best dives (French Cay, West Caicos wall) - including some where you're almost guaranteed to see sharks - are 45mins.+. If you stay on Provo add shuttle time to the marina of 20-30mins for those dives. There's also local diving off Provo's NW Point that's decent - even the liveaboards spend a a day or two there first. Just a little too far to swim to though - about 500yds
Grand Turk is the other option with dive operators on-island but land activities are limited there. Much smaller island - even though it's the capital, the population is a lot less. And the cruise ships moor there. One plus about it is that the wall is fairly close offshore so local wall dives are short. In the winter months the Humpbacks cruise by on their way to the Silver Banks. http://turksandcaicostourism.com/
I've been to both, the diving is equally good at either. Clear, deep wall diving off both. T/C reefs probably don't see 1/2 the traffic some of the Cayman sites do. At the farther out islands you notice the difference. We dove with sharks, rays, cuda, turtles - most were indiffferent. Except for the two liveaboards, the day boats from Provo don't always go out that far. Even if they all did, that's a tenth of what Grand Cayman sees daily.
One advantage to Cayman is to save money there are some easy shore dives. All have ladders over the ironshore if needed and are usually pretty calm. IMO one of the best is Turtle Reef on the north side, it bottoms out around 50' one way, 70' the other. Straight out it's closer to 1000' though...
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