jhelmuth once bubbled...
Background Info:
I'm thinking of reservations for 3 (wife, son, and I) to Cayman Brac in early April.
The Brac is a location enjoyed by many. If you liked the Bahamas, Belize, and Keys, you'll probably also like the Brac. The biggest single difference will be the deepwater drop-offs (walls), and vs the Keys, nicer people, because the Brac meets the "One More Flight" rule of thumb for tourism clientele demographics.
Questions:
Would you recomend other destinations over Cayman Brac (BRBR) for the money (~$1300/person inclues transportation, all taxes and port charges and all meals for 8 days - 6 days of diving with daily 2-tank trip and unlimited shore diving)?
Its hard to gage transporation costs without knowing where you're flying in from, but this price looks pretty good IMO.
Generally speaking, the top 3 Caribbean dive destinations in terms of their popularity are the Caymans, Bonaire and Cozumel. The latter two are generally less expensive, although where you live will factor into airfare costs. Cozumel generally is favored by those who enjoy the town's nightlife/drinking. Bonaire's generally favored by those who are driven by cost per dive and are willing (or prefer) to slug around tanks for DIY shore diving.
If you've done this (got the t-shirt) - what advice do you have to make the trip the best?
First off, be aware that there's only two hotels: Brac Reef Beach Resort ("BRBR") and the Divi Tiara Beach Resort ("Divi"). There are some not-so-obvious differences between the two, but...
(BTW, don't let "Diver Lori" read this =-) )
...for the most part, first-timers and novice/intermediates shouldn't worry about these differences: either flip a coin to decide, or pick one based on whoever's running the better package at present.
FWIW, I say this despite being a Timeshare Owner at the Divi.
Things to keep in mind:
First, you're going to an Island with limited resources, and to small hotels. No matter how hard they try, there will be places where their best does not match up to "New York City" standards. As such, it will be closer to your Belize visit than your FL Keys visit.
Second, you're going to a place that doesn't have a lot of development or tourist attractions. For example, there's no Jet Ski's for rent anywhere on this island, so if that's what you're looking for, this is not the island for you. Plan on keeping yourself entertained.
For food, the best restaurant on the Island is generally considered to be the "Captain's Table"; expect Dinner for 2 to run you US$80. Aunt Sha's is good (and inexpensive) for local food, and La Esperanza's has good Jerk Chicken 2x/week.
However, a basic problem is that going off-site for meals eats up time, so it generally isn't all that compatible with the diveboat schedules. As such, I generally recommend first-time visitors to pick up one of the available meal plans from the hotel they're staying at. This also obviates the immediate need for a rental car (neither hotel is in close proximity to any of the restaurants).
The food at the hotels generally operate off of fixed menu's (~2 main dishes at dinner, etc). For a representative look, here's a listing of the Divi's menu from three years ago: as of earlier this month, it is still around 80% the same:
http://tinyurl.com/sotv
Now you will hear some divers calling it wonderful food and giving it high marks but the reality is that this is not "Culinary Institute of America" fine dining: its an all-U-can eat buffet. Yes, its a good buffet, but its still food being maintained on steam tables. For the best meal, be at Dinner early...before it has sat for a few hours.
For lots of other information, I'm going to have to cut this off and give you a tailored Google Search that nevertheless still covers a lot of ground; start here:
http://tinyurl.com/sots
Hope this helps.
BTW, the "unlimited shore diving" stuff in both the Divi's and BRBR's packages is somewhat marketing hype: you can't really dive anywhere within walking distance of the hotels, so you'll need to rent a car to take advantage of this "free" feature. For car rental, I've been using DDDD's for the past ten years or so...their phone# is 1-345-948-1599. Figure $210/week for a car, plus gas at CI$2.50/gallon, plus $3/minute for making that phone call from the USA. If you do go that route, here's a basic map of some shore diving access points I put together awhile back:
http://tinyurl.com/soyw
Skip Harper's guidebook is also quite good: its $27 on Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/soz6
Finally, if you want my personal take on the more subtle differences between the dive operations, you can PM me.
-hh