Caymans vs. Dominica

[tangfish]

Hi folks, I'm trying to put together a last minute dive trip for the end of this month (July). I'm considering Cayman Islands or Dominica. I'm wondering if any of you can provide some advice on which one is better/easier to get to or if they are affected differently by the weather pattern this time of year (and currents). I know we're getting into hurricane season and the last thing I want to do is to sit indoors the whole time.

Other options welcome too, I'm considering Curacao or Bonaire (but travel times/cost seem worse).

Advice appreciated.

Calvin

 

[diversteve]

Bonaire/Curacao are out of the hurricane belt so you might do better there. Travel times are longer though, they were from Phoenix. The only way we could get there without killing an extra day was the red-eye out of LAX with a long layover in San Juan. Or if you can get to Houston early enough to catch the Air Jamaica Sat. flight.

Grand Cayman's pricey though, so what you save in airfare you'll pay in other costs. And then some. IMO costs on Bonaire were 2/3rds of what they were on Cayman. We generally budget about the same amount, on Cayman by the end of the week it was getting really tight, not so on Bonaire. More big stuff to see on Cayman than Bonaire though.

 

[tangfish]

Thanks for the heads up. Also, about Cayman, would you recommend staying/diving off of Cayman Brac, Little Cayman or Grand Cayman? I'm interested in a lot of macro photography, seeing the more pristine sites and generally avoiding the touristy 'must-sees'.

I've always wanted to get down to the ABC islands but you're right that the travel time ends up eating into the vacation quite a bit. Any other options I'm missing?
Also, what about the weather and vis in the Caribbean this time of year? I heard it wasn't that bad till after August (but who knows nowadays).

 

[diversteve]

I've only been to Grand Cayman, which is the "touristy must-see" although it's not too bad when the cruiseships leave - or don't arrive which happened one day during the week.

I thought the diving improved the farther north you went. Trinity Caves, Big Tunnels, the North wall itself can be awesome dives with great viz. Coincidentally(or not) that's the farther away you get from the harbor. I've heard the East End is more pristine but I've never dove there. Afaik, the best/most pristine diving in the Cayman's is Bloody Bay Wall off Little Cayman.

We schedule our Caribbean trips in May/June to avoid the weather problems so I can't answer your other question. Except for the ABC's I can't think of any other Caribbean destinations that don't run the risk of weather/hurricane problems later into summer.

hth,

 

[ianr33]

Cayman is going to be easier to get to. Nonstop flights out of Houston ,Miami and Atlanta

If you want pristine on Grand Cayman go to the East End . Dive with Oceanfrontiers

Cayman Brac is very quiet. (which I like). The one day of diving I did on Little Cayman was awesome.

Cayman is probably less likely to be affected by Hurricanes than Dominica,or at least thats what I am hoping,going to be there late July myself.

 

[tangfish]

How does the diving in Caymans compare to that of the Florida Keys?

 

[ianr33]

Well I have only been to the keys once. Cayman maybe 5 times.

IMHO Cayman is several orders of magnitude better.

Wreckdivers will probably disagree

 

[tangfish]

Hmmmm.... I'm not so into wrecks. Well, that doesn't bode well for a quick jaunt to FL. I'll keep looking into Caymans. Is it pretty easy to get a puddle hopper to Brac? I'm more interested in Brac (and Little Cayman) than Grand Cayman, but all the flights seem to have very long/inefficient flight paths and layovers from Seattle.

 

[ianr33]

Hmmmm.... I'm not so into wrecks. Well, that doesn't bode well for a quick jaunt to FL. I'll keep looking into Caymans. Is it pretty easy to get a puddle hopper to Brac? I'm more interested in Brac (and Little Cayman) than Grand Cayman, but all the flights seem to have very long/inefficient flight paths and layovers from Seattle.

Looks pretty easy
http://www.caymanairways.com/trip/schedules3.html

I believe American flies directly from Miami to the Brac as well

 

[Damselfish]

Cayman Air flies small planes from GC to the Brac and Little Cayman several times a day. It's the only way to Little Cayman which has a small landing strip. They also have some direct jet flights Miami to the Brac, if you can work it that way you don't have to deal with the smaller weight limits. The inter-island flights do book up especially at more popular times (like leaving GC Saturday afternoon after most international flights have arrived) so you might have to plan around when you can get seats.

If you like to get away from it all I definitely recommend little Cayman.