Trip Report First trip to Grand Cayman - December '24

[emileyparker]

I often lurk on scuba boards, getting tips and ideas for my scuba trips, so giving back with a report on my recent visit to Grand Cayman.

For background, my husband and I were certified ~9 years ago. For the first seven to eight years, we only went to Cozumel since it just made sense flight-wise coming out of Austin. We have easily been there 10-15+ times but decided to switch it up this past year. Earlier this year, we went to Roatan (loved it) and decided to visit Grand Cayman as our next stop the first week of December.

Travel to the island was as easy as can be. Just a short layover in Houston and the first plane to de-board in GC, we were through the airport in 10-15 minutes. We picked up a car at Hertz and were on our way to Ocean Cabanas Dive Resort, owned by our dive outfit, Living the Dream. The condo is lovely - completely equipped with a full kitchen, washer/dryer, walk-in shower, comfy furniture and more. We had a large balcony with a great view, and the team was top-notch. Location-wise, it's not too far to drive down to 7MB and easily walk next door to VIVO for a quick bite.

On to the main event - diving. Honestly..... it was slightly disappointing. With the caveat that the weather had screaming winds coming from the North/Northeast, which made for some choppy boat rides and entry/exits, I was still surprised by the lack of life below. For 3 days of diving, we visited:

1. Kittiwake Wreck—This was my first wreck dive and a great experience. I was a touch nervous, but since it is a clean wreck, an enjoyable dive through the ship, with plenty of light to explore. Ocean life was minimal, though I heard a group the next day saw an eagle ray at the same site.
2. Oro Verde—Our shallow dive following Kittiwake. It's a smaller wreck with pieces lying about and some adjacent coral. I did see a turtle swimming in the distance, and then 5-10 minutes later, we found a turtle eating coral off the shipwreck. The highlight of the day!
3. In Between— Kicking off day 2, our deep dive of the day, nothing too noteworthy. Saw a moray eel and fish, but that's about it.
4. Killer Puffer—Killer Puffer definitely has potential - this was an easy, shallow dive with lots of coral formations to explore. A bit more life with some lobsters and fish, but nothing big.
5. Big Dipper—This one was a doozy. The currents were far stronger than the past few days - I could see particles racing by my mask. My main memory of this dive is swimming like hell to get back to the anchor line, dropping from 800 PSI to 500 in a few minutes
6. Angelfish Reef—After the currents in the morning, this was a much more easygoing dive. Saw (part of) an octopus in its home, an eel, and lots of angelfish

Overall, I have to say it was a bit disappointing because of

1. No major life - I may have been spoiled in Cozumel and Roatan, where on every dive there are multiple nurse sharks, southern rays, eagle rays (if the right time of year), turtles, squid, lobsters, eels, barracudas, etc. In GC, during our 6 dives only seeing 2 turtles, a couple of eels and a lobster was a bit of a bummer.
2. Coral—I'm limited to what I've seen in Cozumel and Roatan, but the coral formations weren't what I was hoping for. Cozumel has its towering pinnacles, walls, and swim-throughs, while on our trip to Roatan, there was healthy, vibrant coral—much more than we saw in GC.
3. Diving Style—It seemed that for all our dives, the process was the same: come down the line, swim out in a big circle, come back to the line within ~:30-40 minutes or so, and then be free to explore on your own until you're low on air or hit the 60-minute mark. Maybe the dive sites are smaller than what I'm used to, so you're more contained? I would have enjoyed exploring more of the reef than looking at the same spot the last 10-15 minutes of the dive.
4. Overall Value—I knew going into it GC was going to be more expensive, but dang, it def puts a hole in your wallet. I'm all about paying for a top-tier experience, but since the weather/diving wasn't on our side, it hurts a bit more knowing you paid 2x what you would have in Cozumel.

With all that above, I acknowledge the weather likely impacted my experience and the dive site locations. But sometimes, you have to give it up to the dive gods on whether or not it's a killer trip!

For snorkeling, we tried Spott's, Smith's Cove, and Eden Rock - all were too choppy to enjoy. The only spot we returned to a few times was Cemetery Beach. Funny enough -it's where we saw the most life! A sleeping nurse shark, a green turtle, a moray eel, a crab and plenty of lobsters. I really wanted to do shore diving off Macabuca, but with the weather, that was a no-go.

I hope I don't sound too negative—LTD across the dive shop and the resort was truly top-notch. Any questions I had or anything I needed was answered immediately. If we do come back, I'll be sure to avoid those Christmas winds!

 

[rmorgan]

Thanks for the report. Grand Cayman is an interesting island with great nature, at least one terrific museum, and impressive dive operators. Others will disagree, and I've done no more than 10 dives there (all while heading to or returning from Little Cayman), but I found the Grand Cayman reefs to be tired even before the island was completely surrounded by SCTLD and bad bleaching events occurred. It's hard to imagine significant improvement anytime soon. Don't give up--Little is a quick flight away, and quite different; fewer divers, healthier reefs, quiet vibe, No SCTLD (!!), great places to stay right on the water. It's logistically more challenging, but a great place to visit and dive.

 

[Wants2divemore]

Ocean Cabanas Dive Resort, owned by our dive outfit, Living the Dream. The condo is lovely - completely equipped with a full kitchen, washer/dryer, walk-in shower, comfy furniture and more. We had a large balcony with a great view, and the team was top-notch. Location-wise, it's not too far to drive down to 7MB and easily walk next door to VIVO for a quick bite.

How would Ocean Cabanas Dive Resort and the surrounding area be for a non-diver? My wife doesn't dive but does snorkel, so I'm always looking for a place to stay that works for her too. Is there a pool / beach nearby to relax on?

 

[jonhall]

With all that above, I acknowledge the weather likely impacted my experience and the dive site locations. But sometimes, you have to give it up to the dive gods on whether or not it's a killer trip!

Nice report.

Good attitude. Sometimes a lot of luck is involved in what one sees. Different from Cozumel, where most dive sites are located in the Marine Park, Grand Cayman has 365 (so they say) dive sites around the island. Only because I've been able to visit some islands more than once, I found that one side might be better than the other, IMO, of course. Although I like sites that are out from 7 MB in GC, I think I like sites on the north side and on East End a little better - but would happily dive any side!!.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @emileyparker

It's been a while since I dived the west side of Grand Cayman. I see that you did not dive any of my favorite sites, Orange Canyon, Trinity Caves, Big Tunnels... The wall dive next to the Kittiwake is nice, Sand Chute.

I've heard good things about Living the Dream and Ocean Cabanas.

 

[emileyparker]

How would Ocean Cabanas Dive Resort and the surrounding area be for a non-diver? My wife doesn't dive but does snorkel, so I'm always looking for a place to stay that works for her too. Is there a pool / beach nearby to relax on?

Hi there! There is a small pool at the resort, but no beach and not an easy entry for snorkeling. There is a walkway out, but with the winds, the waves were crazy while we were there and there's ton of rocks/urchin right at the water entry. However, less than a 2 minute walk next door, you're at Vivo and they normally have a platform out for divers and snorkelers to jump in. I hear that area is great to snorkel, but the weather kept us out

Cemetary Beach was the closest spot for us to go—it was just a 5-10 minute drive down the road.

 

[emileyparker]

Hi @emileyparker

It's been a while since I dived the west side of Grand Cayman. I see that you did not dive any of my favorite sites, Orange Canyon, Trinity Caves, Big Tunnels... The wall dive next to the Kittiwake is nice, Sand Chute.

I've heard good things about Living the Dream and Ocean Cabanas.

That was another part of my disappointment - I heard a group try to go to Orange Canyon, but the waves were too much and got rerouted. I suspect I didn't get to see the best of the best dive sites, so a bit bummed we got mid-tier locations. Of course, it's all relative; some people are happy just to splash in the water, period, but I was hoping to see one of the more famous sites GC has to offer.

 

[Alucard]

You definitely got some horrible weather - the past couple of months haven't been great for divers, for sure. It's only been the in the past couple of days that I have seen ops heading north.

Honestly if you didn't see walls and swim-throughs, then you weren't going to the right sites (which could have been because of conditions, of course). There are many of both, and quite a few on the west side. I find the more impressive walls to be north side, though, but conditions have to be right for that.

I didn't get a chance to dive the past few months, but have snorkeled - large schools of fish a juveniles certainly make the place look healthy to me. I didn't see as much SCTLD as I have seen in the past, either.

Re Diving Style - I'm sure ops vary, but the ones I go out with will head down the line, go out in a direction until someone in the group signals half tank, then head shallower back to the boat. They usually make the route flexible based on that. You can then explore in your dive buddy pairs until you need to go up for the safety stop. I'm not sure if LtD is more rigid in that one than others, but it certainly hasn't been my experience. Is it possible that someone in your group was using a lot of air and forced an early turn-round?

 

[Snoweman]

Thank you for writing the report. Your experience mimicked what I saw when I was there seven years ago. The one thing I did do was the stingray city dive. I had done the sandbar feeding back in 2008. I thoroughly enjoyed the very shallow dive with all of those wonderful creatures. I probably won't go back to GCM, but recommend either the dive or the sandbar feeding as a fun excursion while there.