Diving on the banks?

[Alex777]

I just returned from a great 2-day fishing trip on 60 Mile Bank with some Caymanian fishing buddies. I got to wondering - the banks (5 Mile Bank, 12 Mile Bank, 60 Mile Bank, Pickle Bank) are shallow enough for recreational diving in places. None of my fishing buddies dive (but Oh, can they fish!) so they could not tell me anything about the possibility of diving the banks. Has anyone dived any of these offshore locations? Any hints or recommendations?

 

[knotical]

Athough it's not mentioned on their website, this operation:
Indepth Watersports - Home
used to dive Pickle Bank, and presumably still do.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Alex i just spoke to Peter Milburn and asked him about 12 mile bank or any of the other banks for diving his answer was that the cayman Aggresor has done it and reported currents from 2-4 knots and that it was impracticle .He would not advise it because of the current.Thats his opinion.

 

[nipi]

Alex - try Steve at OF for 12 Mile Bank trips. They used to do them in Sept. when they bring their boats round to the west for maintenance. They are around 100 ft I think so best done on nitrox - can be lots of current - there's a broken up wreck on them.

 

[Alex777]

thanks, nipi!

 

[Maladryne]

Dove 12 Mile banks several years back. Not a bad dive at all, lots of life & everything was in great shape. Deeper dive (I think the shallowest we hit was around 90 feet), with a stiff current. Anyone I've ever spoken with that has been there has mentioned the current. Given the opportunity, I'd probably dive it again, but I much prefer wall diving.
I was working on the island as an Instructor/Boat Captain for a diveshop at the time; a few of us that had a day off rounded up some of our colleagues from other diveshops, hopped on a boat that wasn't running a trip that day, and headed out. I'd been working there for a few years by that time; the strongest recollection I have from the dive was how weird it felt to have a horizontal surface under me at 90+ feet. By that time, I was pretty well accustomed to "flat bottom means shallow dive"; it felt strange to be rolling past 100 feet and still have a floor.

 

[CJ's]

As already mentioned 12 Mile banks has it's share of logistical problems for diving!
Probably the biggest factor however is the current which has never been less than 1 knot whenever I have been there (doesn't sound like much until you try to set an anchor at 100ft or swim down and tie off to the wreck!)
Also with that depth your dive times are extremely limited even on Nitrox.
In my experience it simply hasn't been worth the effort involved!
Save yourself a lot of gas and dive Northwest Point instead!

CJ

 

[chickmama]

You would need to do a drift dive in current like that. Thats what they do in Cozumel where the boat follows you and that way you do not need to fight the current back to the boat. I dont know if any of the dive ops in GC will do that.

 

[chickmama]

I just returned from a great 2-day fishing trip on 60 Mile Bank with some Caymanian fishing buddies. I got to wondering - the banks (5 Mile Bank, 12 Mile Bank, 60 Mile Bank, Pickle Bank) are shallow enough for recreational diving in places. None of my fishing buddies dive (but Oh, can they fish!) so they could not tell me anything about the possibility of diving the banks. Has anyone dived any of these offshore locations? Any hints or recommendations?

Since you went fishing can you give me some information on who to fish with and how much did they cost. My husband and son want to do some fishing one day while we are there but sure do not want to rent the whole boat.

 

[Alex777]

I don't really know the answer to your questions. I fish from my friends' boats. Sorry about that.