Feedback on Grand Cayman dive sites for new guidebook

[KathyV]

Ian, I don't suppose you know for the answer as to whether access to Hepps through Coconut Bay is restricted only to the owners do you? Thanks.

Ahhh...should have read all the posts before replying earlier. Thanks for posting this. We dived both Hepp's and Turtle Reef on our return to Cayman last month and found both to be great dive. We focused on mapping Hepp's for the guidebook, which was the better of the two sites in our opinion. We stuck to the miniwall, rather than the drop-off. Definitely would be great to get clarity before we publish and would be happy to mention whatever instructions residents would like to pass on...even if that means visiting the site by entering and exiting elsewhere or by boat. Thanks

We have shore dived Hepps Pipeline at Coconut Bay Condos. We don't do it often and we've always made arrangements in advance with Stingray or the Condo management. They've clearly told us where we could (and couldn't) park and showed us the path that we could walk along avoiding the condos to put on tanks and access the ladder. And they politely made it clear that we were not allowed to use any of the condo's amenities, like the pool. It may have helped that we tend to travel in the low season when there are few people around, it might be a different situation in the high season.

I can understand that the Condo owners would not want large, noisy crowds of visitors invading their property, but it would be nice if a compromise could be arranged that would work for all and also bring some extra business to the dive op.

I agree that Hepps is the better site but we shore dive Turtle Reef much more frequently. It's just easier and it's fun to chill out at Macabuca between/after dives. It's a nice dive and Sundivers is a quality outfit, like most Cayman dive ops we've encountered. I think it would serve more people better to include Turtle Reef in your guide rather than Hepps because it is by far the more common shore dive site - but maybe not - because you can boat dive Hepps and it is a great site.

I remember the first time we shore dived Hepps in the 1990s. It wasn't called Hepp's back then. The Turtle Farm was originally on the shore side of the road and that whole area was pretty open and just generally refered to as The Turtle Farm Reef.

There were no dive ops onsite and not much development, although the area was just starting to build up a bit. A divemaster at Bob Soto's would just draw X's on a map to indicate the "good spots" and tell us about the site and the entries and exits. It was an amazing dive site and we did a night dive there once that we still talk about as one of our best dives ever; it was truly a wonderland! We also did a night dive on Eden Rock during that trip and it was so pristine and lovely back then.

I like the convenience of having a dive op on site with easy access and comfortable facilities, but we were a lot younger back then and we really had some fun and good times!

 

[Joneill]

Ahhh...should have read all the posts before replying earlier. Thanks for posting this. We dived both Hepp's and Turtle Reef on our return to Cayman last month and found both to be great dive. We focused on mapping Hepp's for the guidebook, which was the better of the two sites in our opinion. We stuck to the miniwall, rather than the drop-off. Definitely would be great to get clarity before we publish and would be happy to mention whatever instructions residents would like to pass on...even if that means visiting the site by entering and exiting elsewhere or by boat. Thanks

I would advise against listing Hepp’s Pipeline as a shore dive site accessible through Coconut Bay Condos (it is dived by boat by some of the dive Ops)..

I’m sure the last thing the Condo owners want is a steady stream of divers coming through their site and depleting the relatively small stock of tanks kept there (which are primarily intended for the condo residents).

When we dived there, we were asked by a few resident divers not to publicize it. At the very least you need to check with both Stingray Watersports and Coconunt Bay.

 

[KathyV]

Thank you Kathy. A single guide for the three islands might be a little too large unless we leave out some of the sites. Large books are more expensive in terms of printing and shipping, which of course increases the retail price. Two books would allow us to fit more in but then the sites for the sister islands would be in the separate book from Grand Cayman. Would love feedback from the board about this. Thanks

I think that 2 dive guides for the Caymans (GC and the Sister Islands) is a great idea. There's really a lot of dive sites in the Caymans and one book probably couldn't do them justice.

Besides a lot of people just come to dive GC, while others don't stop and pass right through GCM on their way to dive either Brac or Little (or both!) so 2 separate guides makes sense.

We like to dive GC and then head over to either CB or LC so I am looking forward to buying both editions!

 

[Alucard]

We dived both Hepp's and Turtle Reef on our return to Cayman last month and found both to be great dive. We focused on mapping Hepp's for the guidebook, which was the better of the two sites in our opinion. We stuck to the miniwall, rather than the drop-off. Definitely would be great to get clarity before we publish and would be happy to mention whatever instructions residents would like to pass on...even if that means visiting the site by entering and exiting elsewhere or by boat.

As the Hepps Pipeline dive site is accessible by boat (there is a public mooring there) there is no problem with mapping it as boat site. I just would err on the side of caution and not flag it as a shore diving site.

About contacting Stingray Watersports for permission - they do not own the dive station and as such, cannot give permission for people not staying in the condos to dive there. I will talk to the STRATA board and will get a definitive answer but for now I would assume that it is not a publicly-available shore diving site.

 

[mi000ke]

About contacting Stingray Watersports for permission - they do not own the dive station and as such, cannot give permission for people not staying in the condos to dive there. I will talk to the STRATA board and will get a definitive answer but for now I would assume that it is not a publicly-available shore diving site.

I messaged Stingray 2 days ago (through their facebook page, as they have no email listed on their website) with the same question and have not heard back.

 

[KathyV]

Thank you Kathy. A single guide for the three islands might be a little too large unless we leave out some of the sites. Large books are more expensive in terms of printing and shipping, which of course increases the retail price. Two books would allow us to fit more in but then the sites for the sister islands would be in the separate book from Grand Cayman. Would love feedback from the board about this. Thanks

FYI, below is information about the new "no-dive" zones in Cayman.

What dive sites are affected by enhanced marine areas?
What dive sites are affected by enhanced marine areas?
Cayman News | 08/04/2019 | 2 Comments

It’s great that the Cayman government and the Department of the Environment plan to significantly expand and enforce the protected marine areas and increase the no-fishing and no-diving zones. I am a diver and will be sorry to lose access to some sites, but it is vitally important to protect this precious natural resource – and there will still by many beautiful spots to dive around the Cayman Islands! But I am finding it difficult to read and interpret the maps released by the DoE with the overlapping protected zones. Cayman 27 News recently reported that ten Cayman dive sites will close and a couple of site names were mentioned, but as far as I can tell there has been no complete list of dive site closures published. Most divers seem to support the new protected areas but there’s a lot of speculation going on about which sites will actually be closing. Can you provide a list of the names of dive sites that are proposed for closure under the new plan?

Auntie’s answer: As you note, the DoE has included a map and an explanation of the enhanced marine protected areas but the names of the ten affected dive sites were not included.

However, they have now published additional maps with the names of the dive sites affected, which we have added to the CNS Library. See here.

For now, though, the sites remain open as Cabinet has approved the changes but it will be a few more months before they take effect.

The nine dive sites affected on Grand Cayman are:

• 13 Trees
• Victoria’s Secret
• Darvin’s Theory
• Lost Treasure Reef*
• Cayman Crossing
• Ned’s Tunnels
• Lost Wall
• Max’s Garden
• Christopher’s Wall

*Note that Lost Treasure Reef is hard to see on the DoE map (in the CNS Library) because it is written in yellow, where all the others are written clearly in red. This site is closed to diving but is open for line-fishing.

The single dive site affected on Little Cayman Cayman is:

• Blacktip Tunnels

The new protected areas do any affect any publicly moored named dive sites off Cayman Brac.

Send questions to auntie@caymannewsservice.com