Cayman shore diving?

[DiverDebbie]

It looks like my fiance will be working on Grand Cayman this Nov/Dec, and I'll be joining him for 3 weeks. Since he'll be working during the days, the majority of our dives together will be night dives. We're both instructors, and almost all of our diving here at home is shore diving. So he's thinking of mostly shore diving there. Plus he's dove Bonaire, so he knows the joy of easy shore diving.
However, we shore dove Maui. There, even with a guide book/map, many sites weren't well marked and hard to find. We spent a lot of time driving around. Then often the entries were off rocks into massive surge, or off a beach through huge crashing waves... which also churned up the viz. quite a bit. I found the boat diving in Maui SOOO much better than shore diving.
So, what's the honest deal in the Caymans? I personally want to do some boat diving, with or with out him (hey, I can't help it if he's working! haha.. and I can't very well shore dive on my own).
Is shore diving worth it? If so, where are the best sites? Can we find them on our own, or are we going to need a guide? Looking at a dive site map, it doesn't look like very many sites are accessible from shore?

 

[The Chad]

Try DiveTech, you can dive whenever you want or go out on boats in the day. The shore dives are okay and you can kick out to the wall. I think they are on the northside (I always lose my bareing when traveling) Talk to Nancy

 

[DiverDebbie]

Thanks It's good to have a referral too, as it seems like there are a lot of dive shops there!
I don't know where we'll be staying... a condo. somewhere. All I know is that going to the Caymans = opportunity for great diving!

 

[The Chad]

You are right about that! We just got back from there at the end of August. You can stay at divetech, its actually called cobalt coast. but they have about everything you need or wanna try for that matter

 

[pir8]

Sunset House has the Mermaid.
Just up the road is one of my favorite photo ops Eden Rock/Devils Grotto

 

[DiverDebbie]

Yes... the Mermaid. He wants to dive that. It's fairly close to shore, isn't it? And Eden Rock/Devils Grotto is another shore dive, right?

 

[diversteve]

The Mermaid is located at Sunset House. It's a dive resort just south of downtown along one of the main roads. You won't have any trouble finding it. The mermaid herself is marked by a ball and is in 50'. Couldn't be more than 150 yds. out, probably closer. A little farther out is the Nicholson wreck, it's also marked with a ball.

My Bar at Sunset House is the diver's bar. And the Cathy Church Photo School/Gallery is in the basement of the office house. Worth a look if you have time.

Eden Rock/Devils Grotto is a blue building on the water along the main road just north of the cruise dock in downtown Georgetown. Simple to find. Good facilities also.

There's also a shoredive about 200 yds. south of the cruise dock at Don Fosters but I don't know the details. Go there late afternoon when the cruisers have to head back to their ships.

There's no shorediving along Seven Mile Beach since it's such a nice beach. On the north end of it is the Cemetary Beach dive site, never been there but as I recall the cemetary is marked by a sign along SMB road.

Farther up the road to the North is Turtle Reef, imho the best shoredive on Cayman. It used to be run by Divetech but they've recently turned it over to Sun Divers. It's a small diveshop located in the lower level of a building that houses the Cracked Conch restaurant.

Easy entry down stairs/ladder to a protected cove that leads out to the reef. There's both a mini-wall there and access to the big wall if you want to swim out. Divetech used to rent Apollo scooters for the trip out, not sure what SD is doing.

As you drive north along the main SMB road, there's only one turnoff left that you have to find to go right past it. You'll see the Cracked Conch sign slightly farther down. We did all our navigating from the rental car company map.

1/4 mi. farther up from there is Divetech's new shore dive site, Lighthouse Reef. Don't know anything about it as they just opened last month.

Slightly farther past that - I think back along the main road - is Cobalt Coast, the main Divetech site. They will take you out to the North Wall via dinghy so you can drift back in. It's a healthy swim out otherwise.

Two other considerations: There's a lot of ironshore fronting the ocean both north and south. So areas that look good on the map are often inaccessible. Or one way

The other point is that every diveop owns the property right up to the waterline. And most have improved the facilities - ladders/steps etc. So you're expected to rent tanks from them.

And there's not too many places that rent tanks that you can take off property. I've heard Divetech does/doesn't depending on if you're local or a tourist. I'm pretty sure Sunset House doesn't allow tanks off property - at least when we asked they said no. So we rented tanks at every site we dove.

There is a diveshop up in the West Bay area that does rent tanks. I can't describe it exactly except that it was in a strip mall. Maybe one of the locals knows what it's called?

 

[Alex777]

Some additional info:

The Mermaid is at a bearing of 0 degrees from the ladder closest to the rinse tank.

The Don Foster's dive is a decent site - a straight out and in route will work here.

Ollin Miller's Sun Divers has made a lot of nice improvements at Turtle Reef. A new ladder & buoys. Everything is resurfaced around the rinse tank area. Etc. This dive is more pleasant than ever. I don't think he will be renting scooters though.

DiveTech's new location is not open yet - no power or water.

You can rent tanks at Divers Supply at West Shore Centre until 830 PM and return them the next day.

If you have more questions, PM me.

 

[nipi]

If you are experienced shore divers and don't mind some longish surface swims, there are hundreds of shore diving sites in Cayman. The only areas that are not accessible are the North Wall and East Coast. Bring thick soled booties.

A couple of recommended sites - Moon Bay Wall off Moon Bay condos in Pease Bay; Anchor Point off the north coast.

 

[nipi]

Have a look at this link for some ideas although it is well out of date - Grand Cayman Islands Scuba Diving, the Cayman Islands offshore scuba diving guide,Shore Diving,Grand Cayman dive site locations