Caymans visibility?

[Barry G. Goode]

Hi All,

I'm a PADI advanced open water diver from Michigan. I have done a lot of diving in the Caribbean and a little off California.

I'm interested in diving all the best sites in Caribbean & would welcome any suggestions of really top-notch places to dive that I have not experienced yet.
Here's where I've gone so far:

Bonaire, Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, Turks & Caicos, Grand Bahama, & the Florida Keys.

I'm thinking about the Caymans for Spring Break, but I'm concerned about the quality of diving since the hurricanes. Has anyone been diving the Caymans since the hurricanes? If so, how was the visibility? Are reefs/coral damaged?

Has anyone done a trip where they spent a few days on Grand Cayman & a few days on Little Cayman? If so, I'm interested in how best to work this out.
Thanks!

P.S. Has anyone been diving in Costa Rica? I'd like to know how the diving compares to the places I've already been.

 

[Damselfish]

I've done Grand Cayman and Little Cayman on the same trip a couple times. If you're only going for a week I think you should pick one or the other. Too much time lost to moving around, plus you might find it very hard to leave LC after just a few days. If you're going for maybe at least 10 nights, I'd do 6/4 or 7/3, LC first. Cayman is worth multiple trips.

Curacao diving is nice, similar to Bonaire in many ways, but the island is different. I like St. Vincent diving, though it's a bit of a pain to get there.

 

[sharkdiver00]

check out Dr. Guy Harvey's short report on the Grand Cayman reefs...
http://oceanfrontiers.com/

 

[B.Goodwill]

I have done alot of diving on Grand Cayman both before and after Ivan.

There is evidence of damage to soft corals on some of the shallower dive sites around Grand Cayman, and a little damage to some of the deeper sites. However, i would not suggest it has affected the quality of diving in any way, on some sites it has actually made them alot better. I always thought Big Sandchute was a good dive site, but now it is awesome. There has been alot of san movement, even around the 120ft mark. And when i talk about alot of movement we're talking about eight feet of sand that has been shifted. Big Sand Chute is now my favourate dive site on Grand Cayman, it is much more dramatic, and because alot of sand has gone in some areas it has revealed tunnels and swim throughs on the sites that were "underground" before. Another pro of comming to Cayman in the spring is that because of what has happened over here there will hardly be anyone on your boat, your own private charter!

 

[caymaniac]

Hi All,

I'm a PADI advanced open water diver from Michigan. I have done a lot of diving in the Caribbean and a little off California.

I'm interested in diving all the best sites in Caribbean & would welcome any suggestions of really top-notch places to dive that I have not experienced yet.
Here's where I've gone so far:

Bonaire, Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, Turks & Caicos, Grand Bahama, & the Florida Keys.

I'm thinking about the Caymans for Spring Break, but I'm concerned about the quality of diving since the hurricanes. Has anyone been diving the Caymans since the hurricanes? If so, how was the visibility? Are reefs/coral damaged?

Has anyone done a trip where they spent a few days on Grand Cayman & a few days on Little Cayman? If so, I'm interested in how best to work this out.
Thanks!

P.S. Has anyone been diving in Costa Rica? I'd like to know how the diving compares to the places I've already been.

Hi Barry, I'm from Mich. too. We have traveled to both GC & LC as well as the Brac on a number of occasions. What I would suggest is to book your time lets say on LC then book 3 or 4 days on GC before or after your trip to LC. We prefer 'before' but have done 'after'. What you should do is go to GC first while you are there dive the North Wall and Sting Ray City, then spend a week at LC. LC is tops for the Carribean. We have been all the places you have but not Belize or Roatan, but we also have been to Nassau Bahamas, Aruba, in T&C Provo, St. John & Thomas USVI. And Sodwanna off South Africa, Red Sea in Egypt, Coral Sea off Australia. Mich. - Straits, Alpena, various local Lake Mich. sites as well as off to Tobemorey then Bonne Terre and Gilboa too. In the Carib. Little Cayman is tops. In the last few years we had 60 - 80 ft. range of viz. but once at LC we had 200, it was in 1996. From those that I've heard from viz the is back. It seems that the hurricane has washed allot of algae away. There can be bouts of North Easterlys that roll in to LC. but it doesn't usually last a week. I've never been there went you couldn't dive the north side (Jackson's Bight and Bloody Bay).

Dive Safe,
Caymanaic

 

[Barry Goode]

I've done Grand Cayman and Little Cayman on the same trip a couple times. If you're only going for a week I think you should pick one or the other. Too much time lost to moving around, plus you might find it very hard to leave LC after just a few days. If you're going for maybe at least 10 nights, I'd do 6/4 or 7/3, LC first. Cayman is worth multiple trips.

Curacao diving is nice, similar to Bonaire in many ways, but the island is different. I like St. Vincent diving, though it's a bit of a pain to get there.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll try to do Grand Cayman first for 3 days & then Little Cayman for 5 days. Do they have boats to take divers between islands so they don't have to fly?

Where would you suggest staying on each island? (I'm no frills, bachelor who doesn't need a posh resort).

 

[Barry Goode]

Hi Barry, I'm from Mich. too. We have traveled to both GC & LC as well as the Brac on a number of occasions. What I would suggest is to book your time lets say on LC then book 3 or 4 days on GC before or after your trip to LC. We prefer 'before' but have done 'after'. What you should do is go to GC first while you are there dive the North Wall and Sting Ray City, then spend a week at LC. LC is tops for the Carribean. We have been all the places you have but not Belize or Roatan, but we also have been to Nassau Bahamas, Aruba, in T&C Provo, St. John & Thomas USVI. And Sodwanna off South Africa, Red Sea in Egypt, Coral Sea off Australia. Mich. - Straits, Alpena, various local Lake Mich. sites as well as off to Tobemorey then Bonne Terre and Gilboa too. In the Carib. Little Cayman is tops. In the last few years we had 60 - 80 ft. range of viz. but once at LC we had 200, it was in 1996. From those that I've heard from viz the is back. It seems that the hurricane has washed allot of algae away. There can be bouts of North Easterlys that roll in to LC. but it doesn't usually last a week. I've never been there went you couldn't dive the north side (Jackson's Bight and Bloody Bay).


Dive Safe,
Caymanaic

Wow! That's quite a resume of diving. Which places were the best? I've heard great things about the Red Sea & the Great Barrier Reef.

I'm thinking of doing 3 days on Grand Cayman & then going to Little Cayman for 5 days. Any advice on where to stay, how to get between islands, & any 'must see' dives as well as topside things?

 

[TrainerAW]

I would suggest Little Cayman too. We went 2 years ago and stayed at Southern Cross Club. Really terrific dive ops, but they lost some of their cabins in the hurricane. I know they have reopened and heard they are rebuilding the lost cabins. The diving is unbelievable. I have been to Grand Cayman, Turks and Provo. I am not the most experienced diver, but my buddy is. He has been a lot of places in south Pacific, Caribbean and all of Florida. We are going to go to Roatan in spring and then want to go to Bonaire, Belize and Cozumel, but have a feeling that it may be Little Cayman from then on. We went in May and had vis of over 100' every dive. Saw tons of life.

 

[diversteve]

I'm thinking of doing 3 days on Grand Cayman & then going to Little Cayman for 5 days. Any advice on where to stay, how to get between islands, & any 'must see' dives as well as topside things?

Dives on GC I'd recommend would be Big Tunnels, anything on the North Wall, and Aquarium for a shallower dive. Trinity Caves is supposed to be great also, but when we got there all the moorings nearby were being used. Stingray City is a must. We rented scooters from DiveTech and cruised the Mini-wall/North Wall. They also used to have an escorted scooter tour between their two locations, don't know if they do that anymore.

You fly between GC and LC.

 

[caymaniac]

Wow! That's quite a resume of diving. Which places were the best? I've heard great things about the Red Sea & the Great Barrier Reef.

I'm thinking of doing 3 days on Grand Cayman & then going to Little Cayman for 5 days. Any advice on where to stay, how to get between islands, & any 'must see' dives as well as topside things?

I think the Red Sea has an edge over the Coral Sea but it's very close. We are headed to Papau New Guinea this summer and from what I've heard it's one of the best, I'll let you know.
Where to stay in Grand Caymon...anywhere is good. We've usually chosen a condo on 7 mile beach but we also have stayed at some of the hotels and they all are nice, it's just that some are more expensive than others. You can only fly inbetween the islands unless you take the Cayman Aggressor and then it depends on the weather. So, your choices are to Little Cayman.. Island Air, and watch out for extra baggage charges.
Must see Sting Ray City at Grand Cayman, other than that it's a beautiful island topside. Not much to see on Little Cayman either, the boobies and some very large iguanas and the grass run way you land on. Topside on the Brac... the Bluff is nice. Bothe the Brac & LC are very quiet, the stars are great and so is the diving.

Dive Safe,
Caymanaic