We just returned from a week of diving in GC. Received much good advice from SB before the trip. First trip back since the early 80s. In sum, we had a great week. Stayed at Discovery Point on 7MB. Nice accomodations, 2 bdrm, full kitchen, waterfront. I thought it was reasonably priced for the quality, especially when the off season rates kicked in. Dove with Divetech the first three days. Nice professional operation. Enjoyed the crew, the boat and the dives. Weather limited us to the west side and the diving was fine. Went shore diving at the Cracked Conch, Lighthouse Point and Eden Rock. We enjoyed the diving at all three sites. We planned our dive at Eden Rock on a Sunday when there were no cruise ships in town and when GT would be less busy. We thought DT's Lighthouse Point and Sundivers at the Cracked Conch ran very professional operations with quality rental equipment. Eden Rock's staff was friendly but their rental gear was noticably well worn and selection/sizes were limited. We did a two tank PM dive with Seasports one day and they provided good service as well. Smaller boat and crew and more personal service. Beach pick up near DP was a plus. Also, they took photos of our dives which they upload and you can copy without add'l charge. Water temps consistently 81 degrees. Visibilitiy varied but was 100 plus every day. Reefs looked healthy to us and the marine life varied and interesting. Saw turtles on every deep boat dive. Saw southern sting rays on just about every shallow and shore dive. Saw a hugh green moray in a small cave just off Lighthouse Pt. Lobster were seen on just about every shallow and shore dive. The Tarpon hanging out in Eden Rock tunnels and at Turtle Reef at the CC were amazing. We saw at times 40 plus at Turtle Reef. Especially enjoyed all the juvenille fish found at TR. Garden eels found on every shallow dive. We did not get in a night dive this trip but we will definitely nite dive TR on the next trip.
We ate in all breakfasts and most lunch and dinners. Had a great lunch at Al Frescos which is a local restaurant with a nice local menu. Food was good but don't go if you are in a rush or expect stateside table service. The service was much more relaxed. Another nice lunch at Macabuca at the Cracked Conch after a dive. Nice Mahi Mahi sandwich on coconut bread and a couple Red stripes. Perfect. Two dinners out - one at Karma, asian cuisine and very good. They made our ice cream deserts at the table using liquid nitrogen, a novelty for us. The other dinner was outside at sunset at the Cracked Conch. Food and service excellent with this being the most expensive meal out. Dining out is expensive but once you expect it in advance I can't really say it was a shock. We stopped in Fosters once and picked up some groceries and we did not find the prices outrageous. They had a nice hot and cold food bar which seemed reasonably priced. If you stay at a place with a kitchen and bring food down with you the food costs can be kept very reasonable. We flew Cayman Air which allows two bags each with no charge. We had one bag full of food basics plus meat and that was a big help. Someone said they allow meats if it is in the original packaging which usually has an inspection seal. Others said you need to have the receipts. At the airport they asked if we had food, we said yes and they did ask to see the meat we had inside a softside cooler inside one of the bags. They looked at it for about 2 seconds and okayed us. They did not ask for receipts.
We rented a compact car for the three of us plus six bags which included dive gear. A little cramped getting to and from the airport with everyone but during the week it was not a problem. Rental from Andys for a compact was under $200 a week (before the full collision we added) which I thought was reasonable. A big plus with the compact was gas consumption. We topped off the tank before the retun and we used only 1.6 gallons for about $10.00, not bad for a week of use. There really were no negatives on the trip. We lost a Sealife Mini II camera midweek (another SB post) and not sure if lost or walked away when we had all our gear out drying but can't really say which. I suspect we lost it. We found people very friendly everywhere we went and although 7MB is much more built up from when we were last in GC we still enjoyed the island and were able to find spots that reminded us and still had the feeling of Cayman of old. Would definitely return. Thanks to all on SB for their advice and responses to our posts and questions over the past year.
We ate in all breakfasts and most lunch and dinners. Had a great lunch at Al Frescos which is a local restaurant with a nice local menu. Food was good but don't go if you are in a rush or expect stateside table service. The service was much more relaxed. Another nice lunch at Macabuca at the Cracked Conch after a dive. Nice Mahi Mahi sandwich on coconut bread and a couple Red stripes. Perfect. Two dinners out - one at Karma, asian cuisine and very good. They made our ice cream deserts at the table using liquid nitrogen, a novelty for us. The other dinner was outside at sunset at the Cracked Conch. Food and service excellent with this being the most expensive meal out. Dining out is expensive but once you expect it in advance I can't really say it was a shock. We stopped in Fosters once and picked up some groceries and we did not find the prices outrageous. They had a nice hot and cold food bar which seemed reasonably priced. If you stay at a place with a kitchen and bring food down with you the food costs can be kept very reasonable. We flew Cayman Air which allows two bags each with no charge. We had one bag full of food basics plus meat and that was a big help. Someone said they allow meats if it is in the original packaging which usually has an inspection seal. Others said you need to have the receipts. At the airport they asked if we had food, we said yes and they did ask to see the meat we had inside a softside cooler inside one of the bags. They looked at it for about 2 seconds and okayed us. They did not ask for receipts.
We rented a compact car for the three of us plus six bags which included dive gear. A little cramped getting to and from the airport with everyone but during the week it was not a problem. Rental from Andys for a compact was under $200 a week (before the full collision we added) which I thought was reasonable. A big plus with the compact was gas consumption. We topped off the tank before the retun and we used only 1.6 gallons for about $10.00, not bad for a week of use. There really were no negatives on the trip. We lost a Sealife Mini II camera midweek (another SB post) and not sure if lost or walked away when we had all our gear out drying but can't really say which. I suspect we lost it. We found people very friendly everywhere we went and although 7MB is much more built up from when we were last in GC we still enjoyed the island and were able to find spots that reminded us and still had the feeling of Cayman of old. Would definitely return. Thanks to all on SB for their advice and responses to our posts and questions over the past year.
