- Messages
- 21,016
- Reaction score
- 20,821
- Location
- Philadelphia and Boynton Beach
- # of dives
- 1000 - 2499
Here is the Undercurrent narrative for my recent trip to Cayman Brac, along with a few photos
Reservations: I made my reservations though Cayman Brac Beach Resort’s US reservations office, Reef Fanta-Seas. The execution was perfect and communication was excellent. I opted for a week with 17 boat dives, 3 meals per day, and 3 drinks per night. Drinks at the bar were relatively expensive, the included drinks seem like a good idea. The only expenses not included were dive gratuities, nitrox, and the night dive. I travelled by myself and was able to get my reservation with only a 20% single supplement.
Travel: I flew American Airlines Philadelphia to Charlotte to Grand Cayman and Cayman Airways to Cayman Brac. My 6 flights went flawlessly, exceeded my expectations. I traveled Monday to Monday, this made an incredible difference in my experience at the airport in Grand Cayman, where I have flown many times before, but always Saturday to Saturday. The airport was virtually deserted when I arrived both days, making reclaiming luggage, check in, and security quick and effortless. The usual standing room only waiting area was uncrowded. I borrowed one of CBBR’s bicycles twice to see some of the island. You would need to rent a car if you wanted to do shore diving or be able to make longer excursions on your own.
Accommodations/food: I had a second floor room with a balcony that overlooked the pool and the ocean. The room was quite comfortable, 2 double beds, good air conditioner, nice bathroom with roomy shower, and a small refrigerator. The Wi-Fi worked very well in the room, the bar, and the dining room. The room was serviced every morning while I was out diving. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all served buffet style and you could eat in the air conditioned dining room or in a screened outdoor area. The food was generally quite good, better than I expected, and with a good variety at every meal. The bar was very nice and comfortable. They had activities like trivia, bingo, a craft market and crab races on various nights. All the employees, front desk, housekeeping, dining room, and bar were uniformly friendly and hard working.
Boats and crew: Reef Divers was using 3 of their large Newtons while I was there. The boats are quite comfortable and handle larger swells quite well. I spent most of my time on Big Sister and did one afternoon dive and the night dive on the Coral Sister. Water, fruit, and snacks are suppled, as are towels. The boats have heads, a good size camera table, and a rinse hose. Entry is made by putting on your mask and fins at one of the stern seats, where the crew brings you your BC/reg/tank to don. All you do is stand and stride in. The boats each have two sturdy ladders. On the first day of diving you simply put your equipment in the supplied mesh bag and leave it outside your room to be picked up and taken to the boat. At the end of each day the crew takes care of your BC and regs, you take care of the rest. There are several large rinse tubs and a good drying room. On my first morning of diving the boat was full with 19 or 20 divers. On all other mornings there were less divers, 10-14. There were always fewer divers in the afternoon, as few as 4. I did most of my diving with Brett and Lorelyn. Brett drove and they took turns guiding the dives. Both were very friendly and hardworking, assisting in whatever was needed by the divers on the boat. Wall dives were said to be limited to 50 minutes and reef dives to 60 minutes. If you are one of the first divers in and one of the last out, it was easy to get in a little additional time. My wall dives averaged 54 minutes (52-57) and reef dives averaged 67 minutes (59-70). I never came out much behind others. I did not dive with a buddy during my visit. I generally hung loosely with the group for the guided portion of the dive, generally about half the dive, and then finished the dive by myself. Nobody ever said anything about the duration of my dives or lack of a buddy. I would suggest simply using good judgement.
Diving: I got in 15 dives during my visit, including one night dive. Everyone missed one day of diving due to Tropical Storm Philippe. Seas were generally pretty big during my stay, the one night dive was on Wednesday, they usually offer night dives on Tuesday and Thursday, conditions allowing and a minimum of 8 divers. The first dive each morning was a wall dive. Of my 5 wall dives, 3 were on the North coast and 2 were on the South coast. There was a Reef Shark on both of the South coast wall dives, Crab Alley and Orange Canyon. I did 6 of the shallower reef dives on the North coast and 4 on the South. The corals were generally in pretty good shape and I was happy to see some Staghorn, Elkhorn, and Pillar corals. The reefs were well populated by all the usual Caribbean reef fish as well as Green and Spotted Morays, Southern Stingrays, and lobster. There were numerous friendly Nassau Grouper on almost every dive. I saw no turtles, though some others did, and saw no Eagle Rays. There were many Yellowhead Jawfish in several of the rubble areas. I saw several more unusual things such as a Flying Gurnard at Grunt Valley, a Viper Moray at Preacher’s Barge, and I had a beautiful Queen Triggerfish swim with me for quite a while at Angel Reef. The diving was generally very easy and relaxing with little current and good visibility. One exception was the wall dive at Orange Canyon, where a very brisk mid-water to surface current came up during the dive and surprised everyone while ascending. One woman missed the boat and had to be picked up a good distance away after everyone else had boarded.
I had a wonderful time during my week stay at Cayman Brac Beach Resort, marked by nice accommodations, good food, friendly people, a superb dive operator, and excellent diving. I would love to return someday and would probably take advantage of the shore diving available off Cayman Brac in addition to the boat diving.
Reservations: I made my reservations though Cayman Brac Beach Resort’s US reservations office, Reef Fanta-Seas. The execution was perfect and communication was excellent. I opted for a week with 17 boat dives, 3 meals per day, and 3 drinks per night. Drinks at the bar were relatively expensive, the included drinks seem like a good idea. The only expenses not included were dive gratuities, nitrox, and the night dive. I travelled by myself and was able to get my reservation with only a 20% single supplement.
Travel: I flew American Airlines Philadelphia to Charlotte to Grand Cayman and Cayman Airways to Cayman Brac. My 6 flights went flawlessly, exceeded my expectations. I traveled Monday to Monday, this made an incredible difference in my experience at the airport in Grand Cayman, where I have flown many times before, but always Saturday to Saturday. The airport was virtually deserted when I arrived both days, making reclaiming luggage, check in, and security quick and effortless. The usual standing room only waiting area was uncrowded. I borrowed one of CBBR’s bicycles twice to see some of the island. You would need to rent a car if you wanted to do shore diving or be able to make longer excursions on your own.
Accommodations/food: I had a second floor room with a balcony that overlooked the pool and the ocean. The room was quite comfortable, 2 double beds, good air conditioner, nice bathroom with roomy shower, and a small refrigerator. The Wi-Fi worked very well in the room, the bar, and the dining room. The room was serviced every morning while I was out diving. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all served buffet style and you could eat in the air conditioned dining room or in a screened outdoor area. The food was generally quite good, better than I expected, and with a good variety at every meal. The bar was very nice and comfortable. They had activities like trivia, bingo, a craft market and crab races on various nights. All the employees, front desk, housekeeping, dining room, and bar were uniformly friendly and hard working.
Boats and crew: Reef Divers was using 3 of their large Newtons while I was there. The boats are quite comfortable and handle larger swells quite well. I spent most of my time on Big Sister and did one afternoon dive and the night dive on the Coral Sister. Water, fruit, and snacks are suppled, as are towels. The boats have heads, a good size camera table, and a rinse hose. Entry is made by putting on your mask and fins at one of the stern seats, where the crew brings you your BC/reg/tank to don. All you do is stand and stride in. The boats each have two sturdy ladders. On the first day of diving you simply put your equipment in the supplied mesh bag and leave it outside your room to be picked up and taken to the boat. At the end of each day the crew takes care of your BC and regs, you take care of the rest. There are several large rinse tubs and a good drying room. On my first morning of diving the boat was full with 19 or 20 divers. On all other mornings there were less divers, 10-14. There were always fewer divers in the afternoon, as few as 4. I did most of my diving with Brett and Lorelyn. Brett drove and they took turns guiding the dives. Both were very friendly and hardworking, assisting in whatever was needed by the divers on the boat. Wall dives were said to be limited to 50 minutes and reef dives to 60 minutes. If you are one of the first divers in and one of the last out, it was easy to get in a little additional time. My wall dives averaged 54 minutes (52-57) and reef dives averaged 67 minutes (59-70). I never came out much behind others. I did not dive with a buddy during my visit. I generally hung loosely with the group for the guided portion of the dive, generally about half the dive, and then finished the dive by myself. Nobody ever said anything about the duration of my dives or lack of a buddy. I would suggest simply using good judgement.
Diving: I got in 15 dives during my visit, including one night dive. Everyone missed one day of diving due to Tropical Storm Philippe. Seas were generally pretty big during my stay, the one night dive was on Wednesday, they usually offer night dives on Tuesday and Thursday, conditions allowing and a minimum of 8 divers. The first dive each morning was a wall dive. Of my 5 wall dives, 3 were on the North coast and 2 were on the South coast. There was a Reef Shark on both of the South coast wall dives, Crab Alley and Orange Canyon. I did 6 of the shallower reef dives on the North coast and 4 on the South. The corals were generally in pretty good shape and I was happy to see some Staghorn, Elkhorn, and Pillar corals. The reefs were well populated by all the usual Caribbean reef fish as well as Green and Spotted Morays, Southern Stingrays, and lobster. There were numerous friendly Nassau Grouper on almost every dive. I saw no turtles, though some others did, and saw no Eagle Rays. There were many Yellowhead Jawfish in several of the rubble areas. I saw several more unusual things such as a Flying Gurnard at Grunt Valley, a Viper Moray at Preacher’s Barge, and I had a beautiful Queen Triggerfish swim with me for quite a while at Angel Reef. The diving was generally very easy and relaxing with little current and good visibility. One exception was the wall dive at Orange Canyon, where a very brisk mid-water to surface current came up during the dive and surprised everyone while ascending. One woman missed the boat and had to be picked up a good distance away after everyone else had boarded.
I had a wonderful time during my week stay at Cayman Brac Beach Resort, marked by nice accommodations, good food, friendly people, a superb dive operator, and excellent diving. I would love to return someday and would probably take advantage of the shore diving available off Cayman Brac in addition to the boat diving.
