Cayman Brac and Grand Cayman

[billinwilliamston]

<snip>Grand Cayman:
We are staying at the Reef Resort on the East side. Last time I was there we did a mix of diving on both the East and West side, but we stayed on 7MB. We think we want to do a mix of both again.
Does anyone know which is the most accessible west side dive shop from the east? Is it Sunset House? I would like to try to avoid driving through town since there is a cruise ship in almost every day we are there.<snip>:cool2:

One thing I forgot to mention. When you're staying on the SMB side of the island and heading out East to dive, you're going against morning rush hour. When you're staying on the East End of the island and heading West to dive you are knee deep in it. If you're catching a morning dive boat, you'll want to add at least 15 or 20 minutes to your drive time.

 

[knotical]

...FWIW, I'm not sure if this will work (feedback please)...but here's my set of Cayman Brac landmarks on Google Maps...

Neat idea Hugh, and nicely done. But I did run into a hiccup. When I zoom in to better see the crowded West end, the landmarks zoom, but the underlying island doesn't. Thus I no longer see where those landmarks are on the island. Might just be my system. but...

edit: I found the trick. Zoom first, then pan - not the other way around.

Lots of other good info in your post, too.

 

[scuba kbell]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and info! I know my trip is over 2 months away, but I'm really excited about planning everything out.

Sunset House has a Kittiwake dive on Monday and Wednesday afternoon for $55, much cheaper than the $90+ that a lot of places are charging.

This is pretty reasonable compared to a few others I have seen. I'll probably decide once I am there. I have done a lot of wreck diving but it might actually be interesting/different to see something that hasn't been covered yet. Then, maybe in the future to see it again when it is...

We stayed at Brac Reef Beach Resort and loved it. The dive op is very nice. Every day we had people diving with us who were not staying on site. The weather was pretty windy and most days we had 4 ft waves. The boats go out in almost all weather conditions so be prepared for some rough rides

Seattitude - Did they take you to Bloody Bay Wall while you were there? I see on their website that it is listed as a place they visit even though it is at Little Cayman.

FWIW, I'm not sure if this will work (feedback please)...but here's my set of Cayman Brac landmarks on Google Maps.

-hh - This is great! It really puts things into persective. Also, Thank you for your extensive list of restaurants. I know we are definitely going out one of our nights there since we will be there for our anniversary.

One thing I forgot to mention. When you're staying on the SMB side of the island and heading out East to dive, you're going against morning rush hour. When you're staying on the East End of the island and heading West to dive you are knee deep in it. If you're catching a morning dive boat, you'll want to add at least 15 or 20 minutes to your drive time.

Thanks, good to know! I remember last time I didn't think the drive was too bad, but I guess it was because I was going opposite traffic.

 

[-hh]

Seattitude - Did they take you to Bloody Bay Wall while you were there? I see on their website that it is listed as a place they visit even though it is at Little Cayman.

The basic rule of thumb for Brac dive operations has been that there will be at least one trip per week to Little Cayman, weather permitting.

IIRC, it is still included in the weekly dive packages at BRBR/Reef Divers. If customers want more LC trips, there's an additional fee. If the dive operation is running multiple diveboats/day, a customer can often ask to "hop between boats" to get in an extra trip, or if an entire diveboat group asks to go.

FWIW, if the weather permits and Mitch is letting the staff offer a "Bluff Run", I'll pass up Little Cayman trips to go on one of these. Its a circumnavigation of the Brac and you'll motor along the bottom of the bluff ... take your land camera.

-hh - This is great! It really puts things into persective. Also, Thank you for your extensive list of restaurants. I know we are definitely going out one of our nights there since we will be there for our anniversary.

My pleasure. I'll keep on plugging away at it to add more stuff.



-hh

 

[caymaniac]

Nice work on the landmarks, there's quite a few more shore dive sites. I haven't done any shore dives there since 2000 though, like Radar reef, graveyard and others. I'm not sure anyone will let you get tanks anymore.
The sunsets over Little Cayman at the end of the Brac

A massive lobster off Radar reef on a shore dive, this lobster with antennae as long as my wife with her fins

Anchor wall on the south side, at 110ft., a spanish/english? anchor rest embedded in the coral

sunset near the Brac Reef Resort

On Grand Cayman near Bodden town

I hope you have a blast ScubaK-bell

 

[KathyV]

We will be going to BRBR in October (also for our anniversary!) and I am still deciding between paying for the 3 dives per day or renting a car for the week and exploring the island - since it is our first time there.

I was wondering if most of the boat dives are escorted dives (i.e., everybody follows the divemaster and you all turn back at the same time) or if you have any opportunities to dive by yourselves?

If we skip the afternoon dives and want to try any of the shore dives, about how much does it cost to rent tanks and weights from the reef divers? It's only $150 each to add on 5 afternoon dives.

I know that the resort offers some night dives, are they an extra charge?

If we decide to go exploring, how bad are the mosquitos? I am very sensitive (allergic, I think) to mosquito bites so it is always something I have to think about on our tropical vacations.

Thanks for your help!

 

[knotical]

We will be going to BRBR in October (also for our anniversary!) and I am still deciding between paying for the 3 dives per day or renting a car for the week and exploring the island - since it is our first time there.

I was wondering if most of the boat dives are escorted dives (i.e., everybody follows the divemaster and you all turn back at the same time) or if you have any opportunities to dive by yourselves?

If we skip the afternoon dives and want to try any of the shore dives, about how much does it cost to rent tanks and weights from the reef divers? It's only $150 each to add on 5 afternoon dives.

I know that the resort offers some night dives, are they an extra charge?

If we decide to go exploring, how bad are the mosquitos? I am very sensitive (allergic, I think) to mosquito bites so it is always something I have to think about on our tropical vacations.

Thanks for your help!

Last time I dived with Reef Divers was a couple of years ago, so I hope these answers are still good:

2- or 3-tank dive days? One option is to opt for 2-tank, then add a third dive a la carte on certain days if you wish. I don't know the cost, but it was reasonable.

Escorted or free to roam? Both. A DM was in the water for all dives, for those who wanted to follow. Others were free to dive as buddy teams, with reasonable time limits.

Shore diving: Don't know actual costs, but cylinder/weight rental was reasonable.

Night dives were extra, similar cost to third tank a la carte.

Mosquitoes: Most years we've had no problem, but every now and then they get rather bad. I think it depends on how aggressive they've been recently with their abatement programs. Probably best to bring, or buy repellents.

 

[KathyV]

knotical, thanks so much for the information!

I have been told that adding on a third dive at BRBR for 5 days in advance costs $150 per diver, but that buying extra dives ala carte after you get to the island costs $65 each. So it sounds like a "no brainer" to go for the extra dives in advance.

But we signed up for all the extra dives in advance on our last 2 dive vacations and then ran into problems. On one trip the weather was bad and we didn't want to use all of the dives. On the other trip the weather was great but my husband developed an ear infection, and so we lost those dives. But 3 years ago on the Cayman Aggressor the weather was perfect and so was our health so we did 5 dives a day with no problems!

We plan to spend the second week of our trip on GC and hope to do some shore dives and perhaps boat dives while we are there. I am still trying to decide if I should invest in a car or extra dives on CB. Thanks again for your info, I really apprectiate it!

 

[scuba kbell]

My trip is finally getting closer! When I was making arrangements with Reef Divers on Brac they also mentioned shore diving (only $10/tank so very reasonable). Has anyone done much shore diving on Brac? If so, what is the difficulty level? My only experience shore diving was Bonaire last year in which I was very spolied because I had that book that described all the dive sites and buoys to mark the sites.