Cayman Travel Questions

[VTWarrenG]

Hey guys,

I'm currently planning my first trip to an exotic dive destination -- we've selected the Caymans. I'm new to this kind of travel, but I'm a pretty experienced diver. My girlfriend and I are planning on making it a four-day trip sometime this month (February). I have some q's and would love to hear how other people handle the trip.

1) What travel agencies are recommended for air/hotel? We're on a budget (but I guess everyone is) -- I'm sure some of you have already shopped around and know of some good agencies that offer low package prices.

2) Is there any good shore diving off Grand Cayman? We enjoy being able to do four or five shore dives a day, and may want to opt out of boats for the sake of keeping the costs down.

3) As I understand it, you can walk up to most of the dive operators and jump on the boat most of the time without a reservation. Is this correct?

4) We'd love some ballpark prices: Two-tank day trips? Air/nitrox fills? Night dive boat trips?

5) I understand the Cayman Islands have pretty strict control of the dive industry -- how will their restrictions affect our dives? I'm a relatively experienced mixed-gas and cavern diver, and a divemaster-in-training. My girlfriend is a relatively new diver with just OW, but she's in good hands, I think.

Thanks for your help!

- Warren

 

[caymancase]

I'll try to answer some of your questions for ya.
I can't help you with travel agencies...
There is some good shore diving here. Many of the better places to shore dive have a dive op on shore that you can rent your tanks and weights from them. Eden Rock, Sunset House and the Turtle Farm are 3 of them.
You should have no problem finding space on a boat on any given day but that does depend on what type of operation you want to dive with. There are a few smaller operations here that limit the number of divers that they will take out on a trip. So if you want to dive in a smaller group it might be prudent to pre book your dives.
2 tank boat trips run from $70 US per trip to $85 US per trip depending on what operation you dive with. Air, tanks and weights are included. Nitrox is usually an additional $10 US per 2 tank trip. Night boat dives are generally $50 US.
Some of the smaller, independent operations will be a bit more lenient and let you dive your computer.. to a certain extent.
Hope this helps! Casey