Trip Report GCM Trip Report June 2- June 9

[swimbody]

We were first timers to GCM with our good friends who have been 7 times. My wife and I are divers as is our 16 year old and we've enjoyed COZ and Roatan several times. GCM was going to be a hopeful Roatan-like place as far as the quality of diving is concerned.

We took the trip because our friends are lifetime Holiday Inn folks and stay for free every year. We shared a two bedroom villa and I would not stay there again. Maintenance was so shoddy as one of our units was in terrible condition and their poor solo maintenance guy, an Indian fellow, just didn't have the skills to be in his position at a hotel of that size. If you want to stay on the bay and play golf for a little less money then I guess that location would be perfect for you. I'm a golfer and should have played on two of the windiest days but didn't. Alas.

We arrived in GCM and immediately suited up and headed to Turtle Reef/Macabuca to do an early evening shore dive and saw the huge school of tarpon, a few curious enough to see if we had food. Went to sleep that night unable to really rest because of the pending excitement of the next day. We dove with Cayman University Divers, Brad and Graham have a ton of experience...Brad was a DM and Boat Captain for Bob Soto for 20 plus years in GCM so he knows every square foot of water surrounding the island. You cannot beat his knowledge of the area and the weather and he knew just where to take us despite some windy conditions. Two of the folks with us were knocking out their Advanced so Graham worked with them one on one. He is a very sharp and studious DM that has a lot of tips about buoyancy, trimming, consumption, etc, that our newbie friends learned from while listening to his brief to his students. We dove Main Street on day one and I was the one to spot the 6 foot Black Tip shark near the ledge moving from 100 to 60 feet. The main wall on the North is not to be missed, viz was 100' plus. We hit a shallow 7mb spot on the second dive and it was meh compared to the wall dive. Second day was Trinity Caves followed by another shallower dive, don't remember the name because it was meh. Trinity is not to be missed as it can be a fun little athletic endeavor of cave/racetrack diving. We finished our time with them on a night dive the next day at Macabuca. In total with 3 people, 9 total dives for the family. It is quite expensive to boat dive so my budget only gave us 4 dives per person plus the night dive.

The rest was shore diving. Wind prevented us from hitting everywhere I wanted to go so I hit Lighthouse, saw the guardian, Macabuca again left and right and further right. I wouldn't get bored of that place if I lived there. The right side reef structure is really fabulous at the mini wall depth. We went to Cobalt and swam out to the mini wall area and hunted around looking for anything interesting. The fish populations there were the most abundant but GCM really needs to enforce a 5 mile minimum to boost the fish populations back up. The grouper have obviously taken a huge hit. In 10 years you'd have a nice population but that's just my opinion. We finished shore diving at Sunset for two dives and it was time to pack up the gear. All in all, got 10 dives over a 7 day trip, not bad.

We visited Rum Point and the White House, Tiki Beach, walked the grounds of the Kimpton, picked my jaw off the floor when I asked what the going price was for a 4 bedroom there...$8m!!!! We went to the Cayman Rum Distillers tour and enjoyed that immensely. We visited Pedro St. James Castle...go see that, and learn about how the island came to be...I suggest do it on day one or two...it was really lovely and interesting. Ate at Sunshine Inn, fabulous, Ragazzi for Italian, amazing, Peppers for Jerk Chicken, not to be missed, Chicken Chicken was a total dud. I know a lot of divers here rave for their food and prices, I found the meal to be dry and over flavored. Sorry for that news. Peppers is the place to go since they are so close. We had some bites at Rum Point, food was meh, drinks were awesome. We ate at Macabuca for ceviche and fritters, at their again for all you can eat BBQ - great meal and deal in a wonderful romantic setting, we grabbed food all around the island, I drank an entire bottle of Seven Fathoms Rum and brought home some Havana Club 7 anos in my plastic wine boat bag, sorry customs, I drank it last night with pineapple and a splash of grenadine...I'm still at Rum Point in my head.

My wife and her friend ate breakfast out one morning...I think Cimboco, eggs and the like, nothing to rave about but $5.99. We finally ate our last meal at Sunset House...indian food, my favorite. I had the Malabar Spiced Snapper, it was incredible. Their menu is predominantly Indian so head there to change things up. Every meal for 3 people was over $100usd. Needless to say, I spent some coin on food and drinks.

We drank a few times at the Sunset House and will return to stay there after looking at a room. That place is pleasant as heck for divers; just wished they didn't rinse out their trash cans down the ramp where you are staging your shore dives, alas.

All in all I will return. I want to see GCM in calm winds. I cannot imagine how crowded it will be in the winter but I want to dive all the sites I couldn't see on this trip. We watched Southwest fly in its inaugural flight on June 4; hopefully they give United, Delta and American a jolt to lower prices. I think the wife wants some better luxury so we are looking at a few condo rentals for a trip with friends another time if Sunset House doesn't appeal to her like it does me...I just want to dive dive dive, she wants a beach and a pool and to dive half the time. She bitches all the time about my obsession.

Cayman University Divers- A+
Holiday Inn B-
Budget Car Rental for the Van and sedan A+...we put in some miles

 

[Doctorfish]

Thanks for the detailed review. Looks like you were able to experience much of the island in a short time.
We tend to stay in a condo at the north end of 7MB ( quiet end ) and dive north and west with one of the local operators. Also easy access to shore diving at Turtle Reef and Lighthouse.

Sorry you did not like your second dives on the west. Many operators will give clients the option of a top of the wall for second dive which IMO, is often more interesting. If you really want to experience light winds and great north wall diving, try summer, not mid winter.

 

[KathyV]

Thanks for the great trip report! The best way to visit Grand Cayman is to stay in a condo or apartment IMO because eating out 3 times a day is so expensive and it takes up a lot of vacation time. I don't want to spend my vacation time cooking but it's easy to fix simple breakfast and lunch type meals and then go out for a nice dinner either at mid-day or in the evening, or order a pizza. And the bar bill can really add up as well so fixing some of your own drinks and enjoying them on your balcony or patio is a nice experience.

How did you like the White House? We were planning to go there last time but didn't get the chance. Since your wife likes the beach and a pool, the Seven Mile Beach is the most popular area - but it is very expensive and highly developed.

Since you are willing to do some driving, there are several of us here on Scuba Board that like the Turtle Nest Inn or Turtle Nest Condos in Bodden Town - very near to the White House. It's a quieter, more residential area and about 20 or 25 minutes from George Town and West Bay and the Seven Mile Beach. It is not luxurious but it is clean and pleasant and the staff are lovely and it sounds much nicer than your Holiday Inn villa!

Since there are only 2 of us we like to stay in an Ocean Front apartment at TNI, with a full kitchen and daily maid service (except Sunday) and access to an onsite coin-op laundry. If you have a larger group (or want more space) take a look at the TNI condos next door. I believe that they have an ensuite washer and dryer and a dishwasher but I don't think that you get the daily maid service.

Other nice things about TNI is that the price includes a rental car and there are no resort fees - just the 13% tax that is required by the government for all hotels and condos. There are 2 small pools on the property and there is a nice little beach out front but it is not the endless, powdery white sands of 7MB. There is very good snorkeling right off the beach, you have to traverse some turtle grass but it's not bad and the reef is very close and shallow. You can still arrange to dive with Cayman University Divers if you stay at TNI and of course you can hit the shore dives too, since you will have a car. If you decide to stay at TNI, I suggest beach front or ocean front because you may get some noise from the street if you stay in a room that backs onto the parking lot. See the link below:
Cayman Hotels :: Turtle Nest Inn, Grand Cayman - Exotic, Affordable Beachfront holiday

But you might prefer a condo that is closer to Macabuca and Turtle Reef than TNI. Northern 7MB is less expensive than the central area but it can still be quite pricey and you may get hit with add-on resort fees. The area above 7MB near Macabuca is usually less expensive but it is often ironshore not beach.

There are lots of options and I hope that you get a chance to visit GC when it isn't so windy, late spring and early summer are usually nice times to visit and not at the peak prices of the high season.

Another thought, if your wife likes to relax and enjoy the beach and a pool while you are diving, you might take a look at the Cayman Brac Beach Resort, a small-diver dedicated resort on Cayman Brac - very nice diving - better than GC in my opinion and they have a beautiful, large infinity pool and shaded hammocks on the beach. The food is buffet style but very good. The dive op provides valet dive services. It's a nice place to relax but there's not much to do on the island besides enjoy the natural beauty so it may not be the best choice for a non-diver. It's a half-hour flight from GC for about $110 round trip and you can fly either a jet or propeller planes, Cayman Air offers daily flights on several types of aircraft. See the link below:
Cayman Island Dive Packages |Brac Reef Beach Resort

 

[howswedeofme]

As I have recommended before on a few threads - if you're looking for a townhouse and like shore diving, I highly recommend Coconuts Bay condos mainly because of the shore dive off the property. It's right next to Macabuca so we ate there 2-3 times but mostly cooked in the house. There isn't a beach entry into the water, but there is a man-made "beach" area. Beautiful sunsets. For our beach days we just went to the public beach at the far north end of SMB and never found it very crowded, even on cruise days. We aren't big beach people, though, so we went twice for around an hour (and luckily for both my husband and I we are dive dive dive, nap, dive dive dive so there isn't any animosity about not going to the beach). We found that it was an easy drive nearly everywhere except a bit of a haul to the East End. My only caution/downside is that it is too far into West Bay for the dive ops to come pick you up. I've also heard many people say great things about Christopher Columbus Condos. If we do a split of SMB/West Bay and East End diving another time, though, I agree with KathyV that Turtle's Nest would be an excellent choice for that. We thought the diving out on the East End was amazing, so it is an enticing option! I have also found that most dive ops are receptive to what kinds of dives you want. I've started speaking up to avoid the "meh" dives. It's not cheap to do, and I don't get to dive year round, so I don't want to waste my time underwater on something not that spectacular when I'm surrounded by many spectacular options.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

We went to Cobalt and swam out to the mini wall area and hunted around looking for anything interesting. The fish populations there were the most abundant but GCM really needs to enforce a 5 mile minimum to boost the fish populations back up. The grouper have obviously taken a huge hit. In 10 years you'd have a nice population but that's just my opinion.

I'm afraid the abundance of fish life in general has taken a hit from the lionfish invasion during the last ten years.

And specifically, as to grouper, there is a closed season to support their breeding as well as a year round ban on taking within a certain distance from known mating sites. Grouper migrate to just a few specific locations in order to spawn, and are slow growing reaching sexual maturity at around 7 years of age, so it takes a while to rebound.

Sadly nearly 20 years ago a rather unscrupulous fisherman targeted the grouper spawning sites in Cayman taking so much that he was unable to sell his catch having flooded the market. He was left with a rotting hold of grouper and we were left with a severely decimated grouper population. We are still feeling this impact due to the slow growth rate of the grouper.

From Cayman DOE press release (pdf at link) of Thursday, 17 November 2016

...The rules for Nassau grouper have also undergone significant changes with the take of Nassau Grouper anywhere in Cayman waters now prohibited between 1 December and 30 April. As the weather cools, Nassau grouper begin to aggregate in preparation for spawning early in the New Year. These annual aggregations have made the species susceptible to overfishing in Cayman and around the Caribbean.

While we still have one of the largest Nassau grouper populations among the known spawning aggregations remaining in the Caribbean, we have effectively lost over half of our traditional spawning aggregations in the Cayman Islands,' said DoE Research Officer Bradley Johnson. 'Fishing on a spawning aggregation is not and never has been sustainable for any level of take as shown by DoE’s research, as well as the decline of spawning aggregations across the region

...

NASSAU GROUPER (Epinephelus striatus)

○ Closed season: 1 December through 30 April
○ Open season catch limit: Five per person or five per boat per day, whichever is less.
○ Size limit: Only Nassau grouper between 16 inches and 24 inches (inclusive) may be taken from Cayman waters.
○ No one may take, purchase, receive, permit or possess Nassau grouper from Cayman waters taken in contravention of the above rules.​

OTHER FISH

○ Protected fish: Jew fish (goliath grouper), tilefish (whities), filefish (pipers) and angelfish, including Grey, French and Queen angels (old monks), may not be taken from Cayman waters at any time.​

...

We take Marine regulations violations seriously. If you see an incident in progress dial 9-1-1 directly.

Once grouper pass 24 inches in size they cannot be taken legally in Cayman at any time or location.

 

[KathyV]

Lots of groupers in the Cayman sister islands, they follow you around like puppies.

 

[KathyV]

I'm afraid the abundance of fish life in general has taken a hit from the lionfish invasion during the last ten years. And specifically, as to grouper, there is a closed season to support their breeding as well as a year round ban on taking within a certain distance from known mating sites. Grouper migrate to just a few specific locations in order to spawn, and are slow growing reaching sexual maturity at around 7 years of age, so it takes a while to rebound. Sadly nearly 20 years ago a rather unscrupulous fisherman targeted the grouper spawning sites in Cayman taking so much that he was unable to sell his catch having flooded the market. He was left with a rotting hold of grouper and we were left with a severely decimated grouper population. We are still feeling this impact due to the slow growth rate of the grouper....

I think that your theory about the impact of the grouper population on the numbers of lionfish is probably correct. The sister islands of Little Cayman and Cayman Brac have healthy grouper populations and low numbers of lionfish. The messages below come from a tech diving thread on SB and a knowledgeable rebreather diver reported seeing few lionfish around Brac, even at deeper depths. He also felt that it was the groupers (and possibly sharks) that were keeping down the numbers of lionfish.

Cayman Brac Invasion

...I am curious as to whether you saw a lot of lionfish at the deeper depths [around Brac]? The Cayman Islands and the local dive ops have been trying to control the lionfish population around all 3 islands, but I am sure that most of their efforts are concentrated on popular dive sites that have permanent moorings and within recreational dive depths. I wondered if the lionfish are taking over the reefs in other locations?

That's a great question, and one I was curious about myself. A friend of mine finished his masters here at UF studying lionfish at CCMI [Central Caribbean Marine Institute] in Little, and we had previously had a number of conversations hypothesizing about the distribution, population, and size of lionfish below 150', so it was something I was looking for. Based on my personal experiences on Grand, I expected to see a large population at depth and I expected them to be fairly large.

I saw eight lionfish during the 5 dives I did [off Brac]. Only one of them was below 200' (at a depth of 250'), and it was small. I have video of it that I'll try to edit and clean up and post later. The rest of them were in the shallows, I saw the majority in the 40-70' depth ranges. Compared to Grand, which on any given day I've seen dozens at places like Ghost Mountain, the lionfish are well under control in Brac. I kind of wonder if the grouper and shark population in the Brac helps keep them under control.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

The one grouper spawning site that was not wiped out by that fishing vessel was in the Sister Islands thus they have a healthier grouper population.

If the Brac and LC are having few lionfish than GC that is likely down to luck and/or the vigorous response the dive community has had to spear the lionfish. The Sister Islands probably have a greater divers to miles of reef ratio than GC has.

 

[swimbody]

Why not have a quarterly lion fish hunting and lion fish taco making contest? He would definitely help out in decimating this beautiful but highly invasive piece of crap fish that tastes delicious.

 

[KathyV]

The one grouper spawning site that was not wiped out by that fishing vessel was in the Sister Islands thus they have a healthier grouper population. If the Brac and LC are having few lionfish than GC that is likely down to luck and/or the vigorous response the dive community has had to spear the lionfish. The Sister Islands probably have a greater divers to miles of reef ratio than GC has.

Perhaps, but there are many more dive ops on Grand Cayman than on the sister islands.