Grand Cayman Dive Locations

[Wolfie]

With sunset house, You'll likely be stuck with what you get on the west wall. You haven't seen it before so you'll love it. I personally prefer the north wall yet the west wall has never disappointed me. If you get weather you may go south which is less deep and more aquarium like.
Shore dives at the sunset house reef are great as well.

Quite frankly may favorite site on the island is the shore dive at turtle reef in the afternoon when the sun lights up the reef. If you can find transportation do it.

And Make sure to have conch fritters and a mud slide at the tiki bar.

 

[tkaelin]

I second Wolfie's suggestion. Turtle Reef in the afternoon with conch fritters and a cold drink afterwards.

 

[Ab]

Boat dives from Sunset House tend to stay along the west/south sides due to the distance. What's kind of odd about their site list is that North and East sites are listed first, I'd be very surprised if they do any of those on a regular 2-tank. Almost nobody does the East side except on special excursions.

The Kittiwake as mentioned might be a good option, anyone OW can dive the 1st three decks. Stingray City can also be a lot of fun one afternoon, from SH they'll van shuttle you over to their boat on the sound. They keep one at the north pier for that.

If they still do it, once everyone is on the boat they'll ask for suggestions. Some off that list you could ask about:

south
Japanese Gardens
Blackie's Hole - we liked this dive.
Eagle Ray Rock (not Pass)

west
Killer Puffer
Aquarium
Knife
Trinity Caves (IIRC deeper than they list)
Orange Canyon (IIRC deeper than they list)
Bonnie's Arch
Big Tunnels (listed at 55' but the Tunnel is 90+) Staying above it you're mostly in blue water.

I think their listing is showing mooring depth and not dive depth. Most of the sites could be up to 100' for the 1st dive. Many have a shallower option but some don't.

Turtle Reef would be a good 1st shore dive. It's a bit of a drive from SH but it's shallow, has an easy entry and the mini-wall is 40yds. offshore. And bottoms out at around 50-70'. The wall is just covered with stuff, as the name indicates there's always turtles there and if you go south there'll be a hundred+ Tarpon hovering in the shadows pretty shallow. Nearby both Lighthouse Point and Cobalt Coast are also shore options. If you don't have a car, Andy's Rental will pick you up. SH probably has arrangements also.

If the Silversides are still in at Devil's Grotto in town (maybe another month) that's an excellent interesting shallow dive. Not so much if they're not - it's pretty featureless with a few wistful Tarpon still hoping. It's also 100 yds from the cruise port so plan accordingly. You'll see the ships from Sunset House. it's a cheap cab ride. You can also dive Eden Rock at the same location. Eden Rock Dive has tanks on-site - Sunset actually won't let you remove them from their property.

We also had a very pleasant afternoon at Sunset House. Surface swam out to the Nicholson ball then dropped and drifted back over the Mermaid and ended up in the shallows to the north of the Saltwater Pool. We must've been near the photo school practice area because the fish were super friendly. My Bar is great after.

Thank you this helped a lot!

 

[shineysideup]

Steve is right, from SH you will mainly be diving West. Favourites on the wall: North West Point (can be prone to current), Orange Canyon, Trinity Caves and at the south end there is Blackies and Eagle Ray Rock. Shallow sites: Kittiwake (251' Wreck), Doc Poulson (65' Wreck with nice formations), Aquarium South, La Mesa. If the weather is bad on the West SH will head to the south side, personally don't like most of the wall site down that way, start and stay deep. Shallow sites are great with lots of swim throughs: Kents Caves, Bullwinkle and Cayman Crossing are my best. SH should still run the occasional boat north, if not plenty of dive ops who do, look for: Ghost Mountain, Princess Pennys, Round-a-bout, Andys Wall for the deep. Most ops will do a top of the wall dive for the second, then you can swim in if you prefer the shallow. Best shallow site for me is Penny Arch. East end there are only two ops; Tortuga Divers and Ocean Frontiers. My favourite wall sites are on the south east corner, or if teh boat is heading north east then Babylon or Anchor Point. Shallow; Snapper Hole, grouper Grotto or Fish Tank.

Travel around, there are 365 sites between the three islands!