Cayman possible border reopening without quarantine by April or May!

[scubadada]

Compass Point/Ocean Frontiers appears to be open. The day 2 and 5 antigen tests are included in the trip cost, done at Compass Point. I would assume day 10 is included in a 2 week stay. You could prepare all your meals in the kitchen after a single grocery stop on the way. Eagle Ray's is open, breakfast is still included. I would consider going there. I assume they completely handle your gear, as usual.

 

[cgills]

Traveling in from the states be aware, if needed, Cayman does accept testing done through www.azova.com which offers kits and video testing, eliminating some stress for appointments and lines.
We made it through our day 10 testing today, each one went smoothly and quick. You are issued card on arrival at airport, bring it with you along with your passport and $25CI to testing site. Fill out the necessary form. Wait to be called ,get swabbed, wait 5minutes for results, get card stamped, your on your way. Do yourself a favor gather extra forms first visit to have readily filled out for future visits!
Traveling through Tampa to Grand Cayman much nicer & easier than through Miami, with our normal gateway of Charlotte being unavailable.
Masks are prevalent in grocery stores, havent been out anywhere much else other then DQ.
Cruise crowds are not missed by many.
Covid numbers remain high at present., with some services being affected..restaurant,banking,etc.
Have only hit the water twice so far due to wicked cold fronts the states keep sending down. TR/Macabuca over the weekend busy as ever despite less than stellar conditions Saturday, Sunday improved greatly. Sightings included seahorses ,Dwarf frogfishes, Two Spot octopus, nudibranchs, Flame Box Crab, Squat Lobster, Bumblebee Shrimp, Flying Gurnards, and pipefish. Water temps 80.

 

[tkaelin]

I am cautiously optimistic that by spring most travel restriction testing will go away for most travel to the Caribbean and Europe and be replaced with an attestation form where you confirm whether vaccinated, that you are not sick and have no symptoms and perhaps that you tested negative which would include use of all types of home test kit.

 

[Joneill]

Traveling in from the states be aware, if needed, Cayman does accept testing done through www.azova.com which offers kits and video testing, eliminating some stress for appointments and lines.
We made it through our day 10 testing today, each one went smoothly and quick. You are issued card on arrival at airport, bring it with you along with your passport and $25CI to testing site. Fill out the necessary form. Wait to be called ,get swabbed, wait 5minutes for results, get card stamped, your on your way. Do yourself a favor gather extra forms first visit to have readily filled out for future visits!
Traveling through Tampa to Grand Cayman much nicer & easier than through Miami, with our normal gateway of Charlotte being unavailable.
Masks are prevalent in grocery stores, havent been out anywhere much else other then DQ.
Cruise crowds are not missed by many.
Covid numbers remain high at present., with some services being affected..restaurant,banking,etc.
Have only hit the water twice so far due to wicked cold fronts the states keep sending down. TR/Macabuca over the weekend busy as ever despite less than stellar conditions Saturday, Sunday improved greatly. Sightings included seahorses ,Dwarf frogfishes, Two Spot octopus, nudibranchs, Flame Box Crab, Squat Lobster, Bumblebee Shrimp, Flying Gurnards, and pipefish. Water temps 80.

My concern is the risk of testing positive on a day 2 or 5 test (not really a low risk at present) and then the rest of your week (and possibly longer) is screwed. I’d rather go someplace that does not have the 2 day post arrival test. Hopefully, Omicron has run it’s course in most places by April and the risk is back to low again.

Be sure to let us know what you see in terms of impacts from the stony coral tissue loss disease - last I saw was that it had spread around the entire island. Are there any requirements and provisions to disinfect your gear each day?

 

[Divetech Cayman]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the radio silence. We actually had a very busy holiday season. While the total number of guests was of course down from 2019, the fact that we have 1/3rd of the staff we had then made us quite busy.

It seems we are all waiting for someone else to go through the process before committing ourselves-

We've had a number of travelers in from the states, and a few staff members also make the trip, returning from trips to the US.

I wrote about my own experiences applying to travel Cayman here: Navigating "Travel Cayman"

and flying back to Cayman here: Flying to Cayman in a COVID world

I will be writing an update on the Lateral Flow Testing shortly, which is quite easy. Many hotels are offering it in-house now.

From other conversations on SB, it looks like the Cayman Aggressor is no longer going to ply the islands. I have not heard one report of a non-property owner visiting Cayman since the new restrictions.

The Aggressor V left to Honduras for a refit in September, and has not returned. Rumor is that boat is operating in the BVI now.

Would be interested to hear more from those on island. I see a few of the dive shops I know are planning trips for 2022 to the islands. Hopefully they don't get their hearts broken.

I find, aside from masks, it's business as normal. Stores, restaurants and dive shops are open for business. Many dive boats are running set schedules like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, sort of thing. Divetech will run the boats for 2 paying guests presently.

Are the resorts open? LCBR, etc.

OF is. Sunset House is. Cobalt Coast just announced on FB they are now open. We never closed.

@Divetech Cayman As others have indicated, it's surprising that this thread, so active before, has been silent for weeks, given the great deal of news and change as Omicron has swept through multiple nations. I've been expecting notice of a shut down. The silence is deafening.

What's been going on in the Caymans lately?

As said above, it's been very busy for us due to the Christmas rush. Most of our staff went 2 weeks without a day off.

I’m on a rescheduled (from 2021) Dive shop trip to Sunset House on GCM from 4/2-4/9. Not sure we’ll actually go if they still have the 2 & 5 day post/arrival testing requirements in place.

The testing is pretty quick and easy, and most accommodations are offering it in-house to save you the trip to a doctor.

My concern is the risk of testing positive on a day 2 or 5 test (not really a low risk at present) and then the rest of your week (and possibly longer) is screwed. I’d rather go someplace that does not have the 2 day post arrival test. Hopefully, Omicron has run it’s course in most places by April and the risk is back to low again.

Omicron is very prevalent on the island right now, and if you do have a positive test, your vacation is ruined. However numbers don't tell the full story, and with a modicum of common sense, it's easy to protect yourself, and avoid catching it,

Many of the community transmissions are due to 2 reasons: 1) There are many "party boats" and party events that end up being superspreader incidents. 2) There are many service personal who, due to the high cost of living here, live in quite close confinement with many others. It's not uncommon for workers to live in an apartment with 8 others.

With distancing, sanitization, vaccination, and common sense, you can have a reasonable degree of confidence you will not catch COVID here. So don't go on a party boat or event where 100 others are sweating, bumping and grinding to dance music. Eat at open air restaurants who don't pack their tables together.

None of our staff have had it, nor any of the staff at our competitors, or any of our customers. That's not to say you couldn't get it, but it's pretty reasonable you can avoid it.

Be sure to let us know what you see in terms of impacts from the stony coral tissue loss disease - last I saw was that it had spread around the entire island. Are there any requirements and provisions to disinfect your gear each day?

SCTLD has made it around the island completely. Some of our staff work for or volunteer for the DOE SCTLD task force. We still have our disinfecting tank set up. So does SunDivers.

 

[Redfoot]

Thanks! That is good information. Really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

I hope you and all the other businesses are able to bounce back as best as possible. From what I understand, staffing is your biggest issue, as so many of the non-residents left and are not planning on returning.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Annnnnnnd this is why I'll be going to Mexico. Too much hassle in the Caymans.

 

[staggsSevin]

Thanks for the info! It's a shame about the Aggressor, I never got around to trying it and always opted to fly into the sister islands as I was afraid of it not making the trip over....maybe it'll be back some day.

I decided to roll the dice on Fiji this spring, but I'll be targeting a GC/LC trip this fall come November....

 

[Damselfish]

Marinetraffic.com still shows CA V in Roatan. Aggressor website shows charters starting in Cayman in July. (awhile back I think it showed March.). Perhaps they are still trying to work it out with Cayman, and neither side is budging. Perhaps they are trying to figure out what to do next while waiting for everything to settle? All the permissions and arrangements to start service in a new location can take time (especially now I imagine), they can't necessarily just show up. Would be interesting to be a fly on the wall someplace.

 

[mi000ke]

We arrived the same day as @cgills and got tested at the same location. Very quick and easy. Took only 10 minutes from arrival to getting our results all three days.

The condo where we stay has many of the units in rental by people from the US, many who have been coming every year and we have come to know. We were surprised (and pleased) to see so many people, all who said it was worth the minor hassle of day 2/5/10 testing to return to Cayman. (Our biggest hassle was driving through 8" of snow to get our antigen test the day before we left.)

We are all hanging out together on the beach, have gone out to eat together at outside or covered patio restaurants, and really are not too worried about covid. We mask up when going shopping, although it is easy to shop online for groceries or get take out from a restaurant and have it delivered. We do not know of anyone who has tested positive during their vacation. That said, everyone we know here would be able to handle additional days of quarantine if testing positive.

I'm not able to dive this trip (getting a new hip in a few weeks) but I see the dive boats out on the reef, and have been contacted by a few of the dive ops I normally go with and who know I get back here every January. So the dive business seems to be picking up, thankfully.

We know a lot of the locals, and most of the covid cases that I am aware of are in the local community, not short-term visitors who really don't interact with locals that intensely especially in closed spaces. 80% of the locals are fully vaccinated, so the risk is not too great - and less that where we live in the US.