Caymans vs. Cozumel

[geokr]

I took my first trip to Cozumel this month and was pretty impressed with the reefs and walls, the sea life, pretty much everything. My bro, who hasn't been to Coz but has done both Grand and Little Cayman says they're better. I don't know if he's just being the same competitive little s#it I grew up with and is just trying to one-up me or if Caymans really is better. I don't know either way so I guess I'll just have to find out for myself. I'm sure that there are differences that make each pretty good but I just don't know what they'd be. Besides the great diving, Coz was also pretty cheap to get to and the hotels weren't too bad for what you paid. And the real Mexican food - well, what can I say? Anybody done both and want to offer an objective comparison? Going to head to one or the other before the year is up.

 

[caymaniac]

Coz is great but Little Cayman takes the win for the Caribbean, in my view T&C takes #2.

 

[under water]

Coz is cheap and friendly.
If you like drift diving it can be great. The swimthroughs are awesome (comparable to Caymans) and there are sharks there and lots of critters near the shore Real Mexican food and very cheap beer at the supermarket.
I have only been to Grand Cayman, not Little Cayman. It is more expensive. The reef is closer to the shore, so shore diving is reef diving, which is nice. Boat diving in GC is much less "follow the DM" which is the norm in Coz due to the constant current. To be honest, we are not crazy about having to keep a DM in sight and that was a negative to the Coz diving.
Cozumel was great, but for the kind of diving we like to do, Grand Cayman was better. Now that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy the heck out of Cozumel .. we did and we may go back again, but it would be a value decision, not a preference decision.
Other people will have different opinions.
If GC was as cheap as Cozumel, I would be there a lot more.
That is also true of Roatan & Bonaire by the way.

 

[geokr]

If GC was as cheap as Cozumel, I would be there a lot more.
That is also true of Roatan & Bonaire by the way.

Two votes for the Caymans so far. You bring up a good point about "follow the DM" which put a crimp on my style as well and made it difficult to do the kind of photography in one area that I like to do. It was the same in Oz, too, but it was more like "chase the DM" there. What is it about the Caymans that makes it more expensive?

 

[Drew Sailbum]

What is it about the Caymans that makes it more expensive?

Cayman has the highest standard of living in the Caribbean. With more advanced infrastructure and health care facilities the corrosponding costs are higher.

Also essentially everything is imported. You must add on the cost of freight transport by ship or air for everything from apples to zucchini.

 

[under water]

What is it about the Caymans that makes it more expensive?

Also, It is also a world class center of banking and financial markets. That can create higher paying jobs and drive up the overall cost of living.
It also has a British legacy which I believe historically has produced more affluent colonies.

 

[Rhone Man]

I have never been, but many of my friends lived in Cayman for a while. The general view that I hear is that Little Cayman and Cayman Brac are outstanding, but Grand Cayman is just better than average. Hopefully one day I will find out.

 

[ianr33]

I have never been, but many of my friends lived in Cayman for a while. The general view that I hear is that Little Cayman and Cayman Brac are outstanding, but Grand Cayman is just better than average. Hopefully one day I will find out.

You can do 300 foot (or deeper) Trimix shore dives in Grand Cayman. Thats pretty special.

 

[Rhone Man]

You can do 300 foot (or deeper) Trimix shore dives in Grand Cayman. Thats pretty special.

So they tell me. One day....

 

[BDSC]

I have dove both several times and here is my take.

The diving in Cozumel is very good and one might say if you really like drift diving, then it's great. You don't have to worry about making your way back to the boat. In my experiences the vis has been very good as well as the marine life. All in all the diving is really really good. And of course you have lots of places to stay at all different price ranges as well as all kinds of eating options. Really a lot of variety topside for just about everything. I've always enjoyed Cozumel.

I have dove all three Cayman Islands. Grand Cayman was good, Cayman Brac was very good to excellent, but Little Cayman outshines them all including Cozumel. We were there in May and I have no doubt the vis on most dives exceeded 100 ft easily. The reefs were very healthy with all kinds of sponges, corals, and covered with fish. I was able to get great video of sharks, turtles, eagle rays, southern stingrays, big free-swimming green morays, tarpon, all kinds of schooling fish, etc. You just can't name them all. But I know you can see that lots of places.

What I think makes Little Cayman different is the fish almost seem tame. They don't shy away easily. If I approached pretty much anything slowly, I could get right up to it, film it, and whatever it was didn't seem to mind at all. There are even grouper there that will swim after you and want you to pet them. If you don't pet them they will follow you until you do.

Now getting to Little Cayman takes a few layovers but it's worth it. It is more expensive to stay there as many places are AI. But as in many things, you get what you pay for. We stayed at the Little Cayman Beach Resort. It cost twice as much to stay there for a week as say Scuba Club Cozumel which I like. But it's like comparing apples to oranges. The rooms are Scuba Club are clean and comfortable and that's really all I need. But the rooms at LCBR will blow you away. And the food at LCBR is almost worth the price of going. Unbelievable! And of course you get 17 dives for the week at LCBR while many operations on Cozumel are 5 days of 2 tanks diving or 10 dives for the week.

I would say you need to give Cayman Brac or Little Cayman a go and see what you think. Going there won't ever make you not want to go back to Cozumel but it will make you want to keep going back to the Caymans!