Grand Cayman 7 Mile Beach

[gobylvr]

We are getting ready to go too Grand Cayman in early May and would like to know what kind of diving we will encounter there. Will there be strong and unexpected currents on the wall dives like there is in Cozumel or will it be more like Curacao with little or no current ?
I am kinda gunshy of wall diving due to a bad experience in Cozumel but would love to try and get my confidence built back up. Will there be drift diving ?
We are leaning towards diving with Don Foster because we are staying at the Comfort Suites and will also have unlimited shore diving. From what I understand is they pick you up by boat from Comfort Suites and take you to the reefs from there.
Are the reefs offshore from Comfort Suites pretty nice ? I love shore diving almost as much as a good boat dive.

Thanks
Liz

 

[H2Andy]

nope, no currents at all, really, except for the seldom visited easter part of the island

the reefs off Nine Mile Beach aren't anything to write home about, but there
are some very nice spots (basically, they have been over-dived).

i like the North and South dives a lot better.

 

[diversteve]

Most dive operators on GC will pick you up anywhere along SMB. I have no experience with Fosters so no recommendation either way. I think the reef off Comfort Suites is too far out to shoredive. Good shoredives nearby are Cemetary Beach and Turtle Reef just to the north. There really is not much shorediving off Seven Mile Beach - why it's such a good "beach" Although you will see the diveboats just offshore daily.

Turtle Reef might be a good dive for some wall experience. There's a Mini-wall 40yds offshore that goes to about 65' then if you want you can either swim (or scooter) out to the North Wall. Watch your depth, the water is so clear you can get deeper than you realize quickly since you can see reference points like the boat as clearly from 100' as from 50'

I agree with Andy, the north is better. Big Tunnels and Trinity Caves are two exceptional sites.

Also do Stingray City. Most fun you'll have diving in 15' of water guaranteed.

I've never heard of any drift diving there - except maybe on the East End. Check with Ocean Frontiers if you want to go out there, but it's probably 45mins. to an hour out there from your location.

 

[Damselfish]

Usually mild currents if anything, of the "start your dive into the current variety" not "fly along and the boat follows." Even East End I don't remember doing any real drift dives.

I might pick lodgings on Grand Cayman to be convienient to my dive op or shore diving of choice, but I wouldn't pick a dive op only because it seemed convienient to my hotel unless perhaps the diving was actually AT my hotel. And there's very few places on Grand Cayman that actually have shore diving or the boat dock a walk from your room. If you're not staying at one of those and have to travel anyway (and any op around there will pick you up for their boats) you may not gain much by using the "in-house" op.

Comfort Suites does not have shore diving on site and the boat does not pick you up there. I'm sure Don Foster's makes an effort to make it convienient and it looks like they have a pretty nice shore setup, it's just not at the hotel. They just have some kind of shop/office there, and a shuttle that takes you to their dock and shore dive facility elsewhere. So read reviews of DFs and if it sounds like you would like the op and the arrangements great, it may be the right choice for you - just don't choose them expecting to stroll from your room to the boat or a shore dive.

I haven't shore dove at their facility but it's near Eden Rock which is a long time shore diving facility at a famous site. I'm sure it's an ok dive but it is a pretty busy and well dove area. From what I've heard isn't as good as the shore diving at Turtle Reef (which is very nice.) Do try to get to the North Wall, much better than most of the common dives on the West Wall.

 

[CJ's]

Be careful! As Damselfish points out there is no shore diving in front of Comfort suites nor will you be picked up by boat from this location by anyone.
Unlimited shore diving sounds great but in this instance it means unlimited shore diving at a location 5 miles down the road which may be a great dive maybe twice in a week but diving the same spot every day may get a little boring for you. There are many superb shore dives to be done here which will only cost you around US$10 for a tank and will give you much more variety. Turtle Reef, Cobalt Coast and Eden Rock will start you off nicely!

Dives such as Trinity caves and Big Tunnel on the West wall are spectacular but in May you should try to get with an operator that will dive the North wall as the weather is normally excellent at that time of year.

As far as getting your confidence back goes, Cayman should take care of that for you! We very rarely have any currents except in some easily avoidable areas and conditions are mostly close to perfect unless you dive the East End where they can get some high seas on occasion.

In my opinion in Grand Cayman you should choose a dive operator based on level of service, number of divers they take at one time and which areas they dive. Shore dives are cheap and variety is important so the "unlimited" line is somewhat limiting in my opinion.

Whatever you choose, happy diving.
CJ

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Indeed, I tend to concur with most of what is said.

Grand Cayman does not have the routine predictable current of Cozumel. In 4 years I have guided precisely 3 dives which we conducted as a one-way drift with the boat following behind.

But, rarely, currents can crop up. Locations are reasonably predictable, but not always. Use your common sense and training to deal with currents shoudl they arise.

The wall drops are steep and sharp. The shallows can harbor real gems for those with a patient eye. And the topside offeres a variety of activities for the offgassing hours. Come on down and have fun.

 

[Joelzee]

we stayed at Comfort Suites 3/12/06 -3/15/06 nice place and there is NO diving out on the beach here, Don Fosters is the OP here and will take you north or south to dive
I dove with 7 mile divers next door 2 person operation large boat can handle 12 divers my last dive we only had 6 of us and it was great.
Steve and Lisa are very helpful and they usually dive the north side 10 minute van ride to the marina but remember everyone is picking you up, I just like walking next door with my stuff.
Food go across the street to Coconut Joe's the ribs and burgers were great!

 

[Damselfish]

Unlimited shore diving sounds great but in this instance it means unlimited shore diving at a location 5 miles down the road which may be a great dive maybe twice in a week but diving the same spot every day may get a little boring for you. There are many superb shore dives to be done here which will only cost you around US$10 for a tank and will give you much more variety. Turtle Reef, Cobalt Coast and Eden Rock will start you off nicely!

This is a very good point. Most shore diving you would probably do on Cayman is at developed access points where you need to rent their tanks to dive there. (Which is perfectly reasonable in return for using their facilities.) So having access to unlimited tanks at one place is pretty much just that - one place. Not sure, but they may not even allow you to take their tanks off site even if you could figure out someplace else to take them. It's very different from places like Bonaire or Curacao, where you would throw those unlimited tanks in your vehicle and go whereever.

 

[gobylvr]

Thank you all for your help. If anyone else has a dive operater recommendation I am more than willing to check them out as we have not purchased a dive package yet.
It sounds like we can just go and rent tanks from anyone to shore dive even though we might not be boat diving with them, and if this is the case then I am a happy camper.
I am sooooo excited I just cant wait. Thats right, I am having withdraws and need to get back into the clear blue waters.

 

[diversteve]

Though they're too polite to mention it, both Drew and CJ work for diveops on Cayman. So you might contact them.