Bloody bay wall from cayman brac

[AggieDiver]

I am not entirely sure it is that much cheaper to stay on Brac anymore. Ever since they upgraded the resort after Paloma, they seem prouder of the rooms on Brac. That is why we haven't been to Brac in a while. When it was cheaper to go to Brac, we would take the trip to whichever island was running the better special when we wanted to go. Now that it is almost the same price to go to LC, we have been going to LC instead of Brac. Given the choice between the two at roughly the same price, I would go to LC every year. But the diving is great on Brac too, so I wouldn't spend a lot of extra money to go to LC over Brac.

 

[mikeycanuk]

We did the ride over to LC when we were diving with the Brac Scuba Shack. I liked it and seeing the Goliath's was cool. What I was surprised about (rather dumbly I might add) was that the dive sites were crowded with boats. Mainly LOB's. On the Brac we never got anywhere near reef divers boats. Inevitably good spots were being taken by the LOB's who show up and moor nice and early! I like to rent a house and shop and cook for ourselves, not all the time mind you. This is easy on the Brac with 3 supermarkets.

 

[AggieDiver]

For clarity's sake, "crowded with boats" on Little Cayman has a different meaning than it would someplace like Cozumel. Coming from Brac where there are two dive operators running a grand total of about 4-5 boats on a 12 mile long island, seeing 6-7 boats along a 4-5 mile stretch of reef looks like a "crowd". When you get there and actually dive it, you realize that it isn't an issue at all. I believe what Mikey was referring to as LOBs was the Cayman Aggressor's habit of showing up and tying up on Marilyn's Cut or Randy's Gazebo or one of the other better sites and staying moored all day. If there is another liveaboard routinely diving LC, I have never heard about it or seen it. The Aggressor is usually there on the better sites for one day max and maybe 2-3 on LC as a whole in any given week. If you go during August or September, you will rarely see more than about 3-4 boats on LC.

 

[Doctorfish]

Aggie is right; LC sites certainly are not crowded and over the course of a week at a place like LCBR or Southern Cross, one has the opportunity to dive almost all of the iconic sites. The aggressor does tend to stay on a mooring all day, but so what. You can dive that site tomorrow if you are staying on LC.
If you are coming over from the Brac for the day, I can understand the comment but would not make this an issue. If Marilyn's Cut is in use, you can dive Jackson's or Randy's or Bus stop, Mixing Bowl or Cumbers, or Great Wall East, or Great Wall West etc.
There are far more moorings on Bloody Bay and Jackson's Bight then there are dive boats. There are always good open dive sites.

The Brac does have less diving pressure then LC but IMO, the diving isn't quite as good.
Many people who stay on the Brac and come over to LC for the day end up booking their next holiday in the Caymans on LC.

The Nekton used to dive at LC in the old days but I think they are out of business. Have not seen that scow in years.

 

[AggieDiver]

I got to thinking that perhaps another one of the factors that may have affected Mikey's visit to LC was what conditions had been like earlier in the week. I know we were on LC one year when we had a pretty persistent moderate wind blowing from slightly north of east. It was just enough to blow a bunch of detritus down the longshore and around the bight and cloud up the viz on all the Jackson's Bight sites east of Mixing Bowl. So for about 4 days, we kept coming down and checking the viz and current on sites like Nancy's Cup of Tea and Jackson's Wall and Mike's Mount that are favorites among most of the returning divers, and then turning around and motoring back to some other site in the BBW section of the reef. So on Thursday and Friday, when the wind finally laid down, all three boats from LCBR went immediately to the Jackson's Bight section of the reef and did most of our dives for those two days along that section, because it was different and we hadn't been able to dive it all week. Additionally, the Brac boats hadn't been able to come over all week, so they all showed up as well. So for that 1-2 day period, there were a bunch of boats in one section of the reef, and it mostly had to do with what had been happening all week, and was certainly not "normal" for LC. So if somebody came over from Brac on a day like that, I can see where they might be a bit surprised.

 

[Doctorfish]

Even so,aren't there about 10 moorings along the bight?

 

[mikeycanuk]

Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but I do remember being surprised by the number of dive boats. In the Brac it was like diving alone, and for a week (of the 2) it was a private charter. The three of us and Martin and Liesel. We might go to LC one day but it would be over Christmas and I'm sure one of the resorts has a group book it up solid year after year over the holidays. Lot's of time to research that one and our son will be 15 by then. Bill at Conch club suddenly stopped answering my email when I mentioned my son was 12 several years back. Won't be going there.

Our summer trips will probably be in the Pacific.

 

[-hh]

There were a good number of boats on Bloody Bay today - I didn't count, but I'd estimate 2 + 3 + 2 +Aggressor ... Eight easily.

For or the OP, the easiest answer is Brac Reef package, plus the LC surcharge. I was with Brac Scuba Shack last week and they're a solid OP ... I'd use them again.

For LC, the only "problem" is that because they're a small operation, they typically don't have all that many divers onboard - at the standard +$40 per, they're losing money if they have fewer than six customers...but on the other hand, if you're willing to pay the $200 for the extra fuel, they'll go with no minimum. Ditto for Bluff Runs - we had 3 onboard and we split the $120 fuel cost three ways (worth it!). I also found that they're much more game for doing nonstandard stuff - - we dived on the Prince Eugen wreck, for example (and fortunately had the favorable weather to do it)...that's a pretty small site that I'd not want to put ten divers on...

-hh

 

[BUDMANOK]

I contacted Brac Scuba Shack and they seem to be a very good op.

 

[Doctorfish]

I guess boat numbers and crowding are subjective and relative concepts. No question that the Brac is less busy than LC, but Grand Cayman is far busier than either of the sister islands. Some of the GC operators leave port at 7.15-7.30 to beat the rush and grab a desirable mooring. Even worse if the weather precludes diving north and everyone is bunched up on the west.