Grand Cayman Dive Charters

[segundo3000gt]

Anyone have a company to suggest using or not using? I'm going there on a cruise in February and booking through the cruise we can either dive stingray city or a reef but not both. We're looking to be able to do a dive or two on a reef and then check out stingray city.

 

[nipi]

Try jason@ambassadordivers.com

 

[CJ's]

The problem you are going to have is that Stingray city is located in the North Sound, an area of shallow water with a protecting reef. The only other dives that are close by are on the North wall, just outside the reef.
During the month of February the winds typically blow quite hard out of the Northeast and therefore it gets too rough to dive outside the reef.
For this reason you will not find any sensible operator who will offer you a North wall dive followed by a Stingray city dive. Most will offer you a choice of either a 2-tank dive wherever the conditions are best on the day or a 1-tank Stingray city dive. If you are on a cruiseship I doubt very much if you will have enough time to do both.
You may get lucky and have some abnormally calm weather but only being here for one day the chances are slim and no-one would bet on it here!
Hope this helps,

CJ

 

[segundo3000gt]

that's pretty much what i'm running into. it seems like some dive shops have a boat on the west side of the island for west reef dives and then they have one in the bay that can head out to stingray city and/or the north wall so they say that we can do one or the other. kind of a bummer. i've heard that stingray city is something you should do once but i don't want to have to miss some good reef diving at the expense of a different experience

 

[Damselfish]

Not an easy call. It's hard to fight geography and weather. If you are doing some diving in other ports, maybe do the stingrays for something difference. I agree it's something you should do once. If you think you will get back to Cayman for a land based visit, which I would recommend, maybe save Stingray City for that trip.

Possibly you could do Stingray City and also do a shore dive at one of the shops with on site shore diving, depending on the schedules. It wouldn't be the same as doing a couple boat dives on one of the walls, but sort of gets you both. Eden Rock is often suggested as it's close to the cruise pier, but it's also often described as well worn. The shore dive at Turtle Reef is very good, used to have the Divetech shop there and is now Sun Divers which gets good reviews too. That would be a longish taxi ride and there can be traffic, so that would take longer, possibly too long. A compromise would be Sunset House, a short taxi south of town (you could walk, but I wouldn't with gear.) Some decent shore diving and a great outdoor restaurant/bar if you have some extra time.

Or you could just go to Sunset House or Turtle Reef and spend your whole time there. Sunset House is a good dive hangout, you could dive, eat, look at the pictures at Cathy Church's shop, even walk to town for a bit. From Turtle Reef, you could walk to the actual Turtle Farm or get a bite at the Cracked Conch.

 

[worlddiver]

Not an easy call. It's hard to fight geography and weather. If you are doing some diving in other ports, maybe do the stingrays for something difference. I agree it's something you should do once. If you think you will get back to Cayman for a land based visit, which I would recommend, maybe save Stingray City for that trip.

Possibly you could do Stingray City and also do a shore dive at one of the shops with on site shore diving, depending on the schedules. It wouldn't be the same as doing a couple boat dives on one of the walls, but sort of gets you both. Eden Rock is often suggested as it's close to the cruise pier, but it's also often described as well worn. The shore dive at Turtle Reef is very good, used to have the Divetech shop there and is now Sun Divers which gets good reviews too. That would be a longish taxi ride and there can be traffic, so that would take longer, possibly too long. A compromise would be Sunset House, a short taxi south of town (you could walk, but I wouldn't with gear.) Some decent shore diving and a great outdoor restaurant/bar if you have some extra time.

Or you could just go to Sunset House or Turtle Reef and spend your whole time there. Sunset House is a good dive hangout, you could dive, eat, look at the pictures at Cathy Church's shop, even walk to town for a bit. From Turtle Reef, you could walk to the actual Turtle Farm or get a bite at the Cracked Conch.

Divetech has replaced it's old Turtle Reef shore dive with a new site 1/2 mile south of the Turtle Farm on the same coast line. This new shore dive site is called Lighthouse Point . It has the same close mini-wall but the Deep wall is very close to the mini-wall for easy navigation. The Deep wall features a double pinnacle with huge barrel sponges and ton of marine life because it is located on the Northwest Point and away from the Turtle Farms discharge pipes. During the 1st month of it being opened for exploration there has been a Historical Wreck found (Cayman Gov't Site #33) from the early 1800's on top of the mini-wall making it great for snorkelers and divers to see historical artifacts. Divetech also features the #1 shore dive, Sea Fan Reef at their shop at Cobalt Coast Resort which is open to all outside guest to explore.

 

[Damselfish]

Yeah, I know about Lighthouse Point and would definitely dive there if I were staying on island. Coming off a cruise ship the other locations (Cobalt Coast or Turtle Reef) I was thinking have the advantage of having a bit more available for facilities and things nearby. I wasn't under the impression DiveTech had much for facilities yet and I wasn't sure if there was a restaurant or anything else close by to walk to, is there? Just something to be aware of, maybe.

Who rates the shore dive at CC #1? I've never heard that and disagree. Actually never heard it named - does Sea Fan refer to the area close in (which isn't much) or the wall (which is a long way away)? I think Turtle Reef is better and it sounds like Lighthouse Point is better too. Cool about the wreck.

 

[worlddiver]

Yeah, I know about Lighthouse Point and would definitely dive there if I were staying on island. Coming off a cruise ship the other locations (Cobalt Coast or Turtle Reef) I was thinking have the advantage of having a bit more available for facilities and things nearby. I wasn't under the impression DiveTech had much for facilities yet and I wasn't sure if there was a restaurant or anything else close by to walk to, is there? Just something to be aware of, maybe.

Who rates the shore dive at CC #1? I've never heard that and disagree. Actually never heard it named - does Sea Fan refer to the area close in (which isn't much) or the wall (which is a long way away)? I think Turtle Reef is better and it sounds like Lighthouse Point is better too. Cool about the wreck.

I would guess you have never been to Cobalt Coast Dive Resort since Sea Fan Reef is the mini wall at the Resort and has thousands of Sea Fans and soft corals from the dock all the way to the mini wall and in the 25' area there is about 2,000 Grunts, snapper and schoolmaster that have been there since they opened. I heard the #1 rating from David at Sport Diver magazine when we were diving together. I have photos of David with all the sea fans and marine life. He said that this is the most pristine dive site from shore he has seen in years. Where can I send or post some photo's of Sea Fan reef since you have not been there. A picture is a thousand words.

Divetech at their new dive site at Lighthouse Point is a full service dive operation. They do not have the restaurant open, but offer the $20 dive and lunch with the lunch at Cobalt Coast Resort. Divetech runs a free shuttle from Lighthouse Point to Cobalt Coast Dive Resort.

 

[Damselfish]

you would be guessing wrong, as we've stayed there several times and dove from there. Not what we saw at all. We saw a sand plain with scattered coral and not many fish. And personally, I have little faith in what Sport Diver rates as #1.

nearly all your posts pump Divetech and/or Cobalt Coast - I agree it's a great place and great op and will probably go back sometime soon - but have you dove anyplace else?

 

[Alex777]

The best shore dives on Grand Cayman, at least in the opinion of many locals, include Babylon, Anchor Point, and the Main Wall (not mini-wall) at Turtle Reef. I don't know many people who would include Cobalt Coast on this list.