jhelmuth:
(off to Cayman Brac)...We have the morning 2 tank dive reserved - shore dives later as desired.
If anyone has been there recently...
Some background:
We are into digital video and photography.
We like reefs the most, but I also really dig wrecks as well (the Tibbets will be dived).
I like wall dives.
We've never done any beach diving (but plan to).
Wife likes shopping for bric-a-braq (I hate it).
Its been ~6 months since my last visit, but I've been there many times...
First, shore diving.
Here's a quick/dirty map with basic descriptions. What you'll generally find is that the drop-off is too far out for practicality sake to do a shore wall dive. Even the Tibbets is a pretty healthy swim (by the time you get there, you're probably nearly at your turn-around psi).
Next, night diving:
For doing a night shore dive on your own, Radar is the place, as it has a decent streetlight. Watch out for sea wasps who sometimes collect in the lee behind the rock jetty which can make this a not-so-fun event...if they are present is a seasonal-tides-weather-wind dependant. Do make it a point to do this dive during the day first, to get a feel for the layout...you'll find that you can navigate out & back on the "pipe" that's the old telephone cable. Once out to the reefs, continue to use the pipe as a navigational reference.
Its Spring!
I caught word last week that the Thimble Jellyfish were "in" at Cozumel. This probably means that they're probably also "in" on the Brac. Wear at least a dive skin and cover your hands/face with suntan lotion until you already know if you're insensitive.
Where to dive:
Be careful out in front of the BRBR resort. Some areas are OK, but what you need to be aware of is that water coming in over the fringing reef can't go back out the same way, so it runs longitudinally down to the inlet by the dock and then out through the cut in the reef - - the closer you get, the stronger this current is, and if you're caught in it, you will be swept out to sea with the only reallly viable self-rescue being a reef-crawl that will clearly scratch you up but good.
For reefs, you'll find the Brac has some pretty high relief in its topology (the walls, even more so). On the southside, there's "Lighthouse" right off of the BRBR inlet that has some nice narrow canyons that can be like 5ft wide and 20ft deep on a 40fsw dive.
Supposedly, one of the BRBR dive staff knows how to find "The Hobbit" (reef) on the South side - - its an unmarked site since 1988 and supposedly very nice (I'm still trying to get there!).
Also on the southside near the resort is "Tarpon Reef". Its often a bit green and current/surge, but has a decent resident population of 4-5ft long Tarpon hanging out. There are also some sometimes hanging out up at Public Beach, which has also been a spot over the years for Eagle Rays.
On the northside, snapper reef is popular, and fairly typical. Again, a pretty rugged and "tall" reef topology, including swim-throughs on some sites. For shallow reef wrecks, there's the Kissamee, an inverted tug; penetration is possible, but its so filled with sand that its more of a "stick head in door" type.
For walls, expect your first day's diving to be at East Chute or nearby (Middle or West Chutes). The wreck of the Cayman Mariner is at East Chute and is a nice photo subject. Listen to the dive briefing for how to get there (from the wall, go up the Chute on the left side, keep to the left along the coral/sand line as it curves in). Also look for the big barrel sponges up on top in the coral on your left "on the way" to the wreck. If you get back to this spot a second time, ask one of the staffmembers to point out the anchor that's buried in the sand along the inside edge just to the east of the wreck. If they don't know about the anchor at all, feel free to chastise them
Further east, there's several northside walls that are pretty nice, but deeper than the 'Chutes. I forget if its Strawberry sponge wall or Cemetary wall (I think its the latter), but one of the northside walls is known for a resident population of flying grunards. Ask the staff for the latest, and they'll probably also give you a hand in finding one. The females are the big ones; the males the small ones.
Double wall at the end of the island is pretty nice.
Flipping around to the nominally windward southside, Anchor wall has a 17th? Century anchor lodged in it at ~95fsw in a swim-through.
Tiara Tunnels nearby has a memorial plaque at 95-100fsw to a dead diver on the far side of the pinnicle that the mooring is bolted into, and has some nice swim-thru canyons.
A good distance to the east is Wilderness Wall, a personal favorite. It has a canyon that leads out into an ampetheater that has a deepwater pinnicle within that often has a school of circling horse eye jacks. Do be cognizant and aware of your navigation this site...its easy to misplace where the boat is, partly because the wall has a huge notch in it that messes up natural navigation. Ditto for "Rock Monster".
In general, try to get some wall & reef dives on both sides of the island...its intereting how much variation there is, both in the general topology as well as critter life. For example, there's a Southside reef that features an unusual blue-colored lettuce leaf slug...worth asking about which one it is.
You'll probably also get a trip over to Little Cayman. Be ready for the ~50 minute duration boat rides.
Mixing Bowl is a nice spot, sometimes done as a wall dive (and called 3 Fathom wall). Its at the disembarkation between Bloody Bay and Jackson's Bight, so in addition to the main wall drop-off, there's a miniwall dropoff to the east (into Jackson's) that's a nice place to finish off a dive...there's at least one very nice canyon that goes out to the wall from Jackson's right in this area that someone can probably show you...there's also a lot of nooks & crannies that often have some pretty nice lobster in them.
If you get to Randy's Gazebo, be aware that after you come out of the chimney, you can duck back down and to the "right" (um...east!) and go under a horizontal ledge/crack where the mooring line is, and runs back through a nice cavern complex...you can ascend up & out in the one room with daylight (its tight, but not as tight as the chimney).
Ah, what the heck...there's just too much to describe. Send me an airline ticket and I'll be your guide
For bric-a-braq:
There's one overpriced shop over in Stake Bay, near the Museum. Go to the museum instead.
There's also NIM Things all the way up in Spot Bay, near the road to Peter's Cave...stop in and say "Hi" to Starry & Tennison for me, and ask Starry if she's still enjoying her retirement. Tehre's also a small place on White Church Road (not too far up the Northside from the western cross-over), which is run by Cliff's wife. Please stop in and ask her for me how Cliff is doing, and if he did get back to the Doctor in Miami like he was supposed to follow-up from his heart attack.
Finally, there's two tiny shops over at the Divi Tiara. One has cuban cigars is run by Raymond, who you should recognize from the Airport's Customs office. Please give him my greetings as well. Finally, while you're at Divi, please take a peek at their two 3-story tall timeshare buildings over on the west (BRBR-side) of their compound and please let me know if there's anything going on...Divi shut them down for rennovations last fall and information on their progress hasn't been particularly forthcoming.
Anything else you can think of, drop me a line ASAP, and I'll try to give you the scoop.
-Hugh
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