First Trip to Grand Cayman

[Skeptic14]

My wife and I just returned from our fist trip to the Caribbean, we spent a week at the Beachcomber on 7MB in Grand Cayman and it was great.

We received our OW certifications in late August and only had a dozen dives prior to the trip so we are new divers and not sure what to expect, but everything went great with Living The Dream Diving, from valet, to rental equipment, the layout of the boats and great personalities of the DMs.

Thanks to info from these boards and especially Testudo, we didn't run out of things to do and ended up running out of time instead...

We dove/snorkeled the following:

North Wall/Tarpon Tunnels
Kittiwake
Stingray City
Eden Rock/Devil's Grotto
Wreck of the Gamma
Rum Point Barrier Reef
Governor's Reef

We also did a bioluminescence kayak tour and of course tried to spend some time just relaxing and enjoying the tranquil seven mile beach.

The only disappointment from the trip is probably that I was not careful and improperly prepped my camera case for our deep dives so the case lens fogged which really made getting any good pictures at depth difficult. That and I had to turn and head to my safety stop right before a 6' reef shark showed up at the North Wall... I did get to listen to the other divers (including my wife) talk excitedly about it the rest of the day though

A few pictures:

 

[howswedeofme]

We are heading to GC in three weeks and staying up in the West Bay area. How was your north wall dive? We are hoping the weather cooperates and we can get one in, but I know it's hit or miss this time of year.

 

[Skeptic14]

The North Wall dive was great. We were very lucky with our timing, two weeks prior there was a decent amount of wind and rain but it stopped raining and the wind dropped down to under 5mph for most of the week we were there.

Visibility was good, I'd say it was every bit of 60 feet and probably more vertically. If there hadn't been all the wind/rain ahead of our trip it might have been even better but it was still excellent compared to the 25ish feet we get excited about back home.

As new divers with only a dozen dives under our belts, it was an incredible week!

 

[howswedeofme]

That's fantastic! We were there in March two years ago and the weather didn't cooperate for us then, hopefully it will this year. The couple we are traveling with just got certified in September (in a quarry in Ohio, so no ocean dives yet), so I'm really looking forward to seeing how much they like warm diving with good vis

 

[drrich2]

Pics of the tiger grouper and rainbow parrot fish are standouts. Glad you had a good trip.

 

[Skeptic14]

Thanks, it was a great trip. Already thinking about the next dive trip/vacation and how it's probably too far away

 

[caymaniac]

Glad you had a great trip, if you are new to diving as I was when I first visited GC I was blown away with all the life underwater....that was back in 1982. (And look what that trip started)My wife and I have traveled many places since then and continue to do so. We take the minimum of one dive trip per year and have been to some unique places like South Africa and Egypt, Australia and New Britain, as well as Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. We've been through a good bit of the Caribbean too. If you think the Caribbean has a lot of sea life wait until you check out the Pacific. There are about four species of angel fish in the Caribbean with about 400 in the Pacific. I hope you enjoy all the places we've been to and more, it's a big world. There's just not enough time or money to see all the great places to dive.











The forth one up from the bottom is the skin of sea cucumber off Papua.

 

[Skeptic14]

caymaniac,

Those are some incredible pictures! We are beginners when it comes to exploring and photographing the UW world as we've only been snorkeling for a year and diving for 4 months!

That's interesting regarding the species in the Pacific, what would you recommend as the best spots?

We only have a trip to Maui and where we live on the GoM as comparisons to GC, and GC had from what we could tell way more color and variety of fish/reefs than the other two.

The FL Keys might be our next trip as it is fairly close and appears pretty incredible too, but all suggestions are appreciated

 

[howswedeofme]

Wow caymaniac - incredible pictures! Thanks for sharing. We started diving about five years ago and started doing one dive trip a year then, as well. Now I can't imagine doing any other type of vacation. We haven't been to the Pacific yet - just the Caribbean/Florida due to closer proximity and better flight prices. We are really looking forward to it when our plans finally do come together, though.

 

[caymaniac]

caymaniac,

Those are some incredible pictures! We are beginners when it comes to exploring and photographing the UW world as we've only been snorkeling for a year and diving for 4 months!

That's interesting regarding the species in the Pacific, what would you recommend as the best spots?

We only have a trip to Maui and where we live on the GoM as comparisons to GC, and GC had from what we could tell way more color and variety of fish/reefs than the other two.

The FL Keys might be our next trip as it is fairly close and appears pretty incredible too, but all suggestions are appreciated

We used to always ski out west ( Utah, Colorado and Wyoming) but after my wife broke her thumb one year she said "I would like to do a warm vacation" so we snorkeled in Grand Cayman and stayed at the Cayman Islander. After snorkeling I was so impressed with the animal life I became certified and have always done dive dedicated vacations or non-dedicated with some diving. I was a beginner too. Maui's best diving is found on the Molokini crater area, actually we will be there in the Spring.

We started the Pacific off by going to Australia in 2003. Previously we had been to the Caribbean a number of times as we went to the Red Sea in Egypt. We dove on a liveboard out of Port Douglas. After that trip we went to the Caribbean for a couple years and then to Papua New Guinea which for us has been the pinnacle of diving places we've been. We went to Walindi in New Britain and also did Star Dancer for a week out of Walindi. We did Hawaii after that. We went to South Africa to see the game parks and do some dives in the Indian Ocean. We went back to the Caribbean after that. For the Caribbean I would say Little Cayman is tops, 2nd is Turks and Caicos and third Cayman Brac.

Off South Africa at 3 mile reef


Off Cayman Brac


Off Turks and Caicos


In the Red Sea out of Hurgada


---------- Post added December 15th, 2015 at 11:43 AM ----------

Wow caymaniac - incredible pictures! Thanks for sharing. We started diving about five years ago and started doing one dive trip a year then, as well. Now I can't imagine doing any other type of vacation. We haven't been to the Pacific yet - just the Caribbean/Florida due to closer proximity and better flight prices. We are really looking forward to it when our plans finally do come together, though.

I can relate. I know how you feel about diving. In the beginning my wife really didn't want to dive but she came around after a couple of years and now she likes it as much as I do.
Seeing the mantas off the Big Island is really worth the trip. I've dove in the Keys a number of times and it's really good when the blue water moves in, plenty of fish and interesting coral formations.

Off Turks and Caicos.


Off Little Cayman





Off the Bahamas (Grand)


Off Bonaire