Grand Cayman Diving

[Cave Diver]

Anyone with recent experience diving in Grand Cayman interested in sharing some info? I am leaving Aug 29 to spend almost two weeks there with three other very experienced divers.

We are looking to do mostly shore dives as we are conducting some training dives while there and dont want to spend a bunch of $$$ on boat dives.

I know that 'cheap' and Grand Cayman dont belong in the same sentence, but any little bit helps. The way I figure it, tank rentals alone are going to cost us around $350, so we want to save some $$$ anywhere we can.

Currently plan to do diving from Dive Tech at the Turtle Farm as well as Sunset House and Eden Rock, as I have all of these once before. Any other info that anyone can provide regarding good shore diving, especially with depth potential (our Advanced EANx class will take place at 100-130') will be appreciated. Also looking for recommendations on shore dives from the east and north ends of the island as well.

Also, current tank rental rates, nitrox rates and any recommendations on good food at decent price (my current fav is Champion House).

I am very familiar with the Island, (my parents are from there originally) but only one of my visits was a dive trip and that was two years ago. I would especially like to hear from any of those that live there that can tell me who might have good specials or deals for a group of 4 divers doing 3-4 dives a day.

Also, does anyone know of anyplace where we could rent a small boat to do a few dives from and pricing on that? We will be staying at a private home in Bodden Town and have a 4WD Jeep Cherokee at my disposal so getting around is not a problem.

Any advice and recent experience is greatly appreciated.

 

[blawler1]

We were just down on GC at the end of June and were getting 32% EAN tanks from Eden Rock for about $10 US which I thought was pretty reasonable for GC.

You pretty much named all of the shore dive sites that I have done, so I can't help you there

 

[carlislere]

You might try diving off Coconut Harbor and at Smith cove. Here is a web site for some more info.
http://caymanislandsdiscounts.com/offshore_diving.htm

Have a great trip! I have been there many times, but not able to get there this year.

 

[Ladydiver]

Cave Diver,

You should get in touch with Caymancase. She and her husband have a great operation down there and I know quite a few people who have gone out with them. I am sure she can help you out with whatever you need.

http://www.neptunesdivers.com/

 

[caymancase]

Thanks, Ladydiver! Just saw your post Cave Diver, so I'll try to give you some info. You've already hit on the shore dive sites on the West Side and North West as well as Carlislere's reccomendations of Smith Cove and Coconut Harbor. There's a great shore dive out East End called Babylon which is a must shore dive if the weather is cooperating... can be a little rough out there but August is generally good for East End diving. There's really no shore diving North as you need to get past the fringing reef by boat.
Air tank rentals run around $5. Nitrox $10.
If you like Champion House (good choice!) another good restaurant is called Breadfruit Tree Cafe located almost directly across the street from Champion House. Also "The Edge" located in Bodden Town has great food at a reasonable rate. "Reef Point" is another "local" place located in Breakers right next to the LightHouse. And don't forget to grab some jerk from the "Barrel Guy" in Bodden Town. I believe he gets his grill cooking on Friday and Saturday nights... best jerk chicken and pork around!
I don't know of anyone that rents out small boats, sorry...
Thanks for the link to our web site, Ladydiver. Cave Diver, you can find all of our info, including package pricing, on our web site. You can also email me directly from our site with any questions you might have! Casey

 

[Cave Diver]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Casey, a few more questions for you. Are the tank rental prices you gave standard for the island, or is that just for your operation?

Part of the reasons for my question is in regard to our class. The three people that are traveling with me are former instructors of mine. I invited them to come stay at our family home there (I really just wanted to make sure I had competent dive buddies). One of them is a NAUI course director as well as an IANTD instructor and he has been teaching two of us Deep Air and Advanced Nitrox. We are going to do the required dive and skills portion of our class the first several day while we are there, thus the need for good shore diving where we can hit the required depth. I think most of that will be done from either Eden Rock or Dive Tech. The fourth person is joining us a few days later, at which point we are going to try to get in 3-4 dives a day and would rather be able to try a diversity of spots without really be stuck to a schedule. Not to mention shore diving is substantially cheaper and some of us have just made a considerable investment in equipment etc. so we gotta kinda watch the cash flow as much as possible.

I am not familiar with Coconut Harbor nor Babylon. Could you tell me locations/access points for these two sites?

I have also looked at doing a shore dive off of Pedro Castle. My last trip there I identified an access point that should be challenging, but still doable weather permitting. Does anyone have experience with this location?

A little background on the 4 of us:

One is a NAUI Course director, IANTD instructer and a certifed Tech and Cave diver
One is a former PADI instructor who now does mostly commercial diving.
One is an active PADI instructor with numerous additional certs.
I am a PADI Rescue Diver who also holds an NACD Full Cave Cert.

All of us are in good physical shape and we are frequent divers with most of our dives being in low (2' - 20') visibility. So challenging dives are not a problem, nor are dives that require some exertion.

Of course we still like shallow reef dives where we can just hang out for an hour or so, but we are also able/willing to make dives that a lot of others may not have an interest in.

We will also be interested in making a few boat dives and I will certainly keep your operation in mind for that Casey, but for right now I am just kind of gathering information/suggestions to pass along to the rest of the group.

Keep all of the good information coming!

Thanks!

 

[Cave Diver]

carlislere once bubbled...
You might try diving off Coconut Harbor and at Smith cove. Here is a web site for some more info.
http://caymanislandsdiscounts.com/offshore_diving.htm

Have a great trip! I have been there many times, but not able to get there this year.

Carlislere

That web site looks like just what I wanted! Thanks!

BTW, does anyone know of anyone other than Dive Tech that offers a CCR course? They are unable to accomodate us during the dates we are visiting. ;-0

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Caymancase gave you a nice rundown... especially the jerk from the Bodden Town barrell man. Yumm!!

Out on the East End, Babylon and Anchor Point are two popular shore dives. A little bit of a swim is required, but the wall is within 200 yards of shore. Not bad so long as the wind and waves are cooperating.

I know the routine entry points for East End shore dives fairly well and could join you for a couple dives September 5 or 6.
Unless my work schedule changes, I should have every Thursday and alternate Fridays off.

Babylon is accessed from a small dirt track a short distance west of the Northern Lights condos on the Queen's Highway in the Old Man Bay area. There is a Coldwell Banker realtor's sign just east of your turn. You can see four mooring balls out there. The second from the left marks the Babylon Pinnacle, and the next one to the right (quite nearby) marks McCurley's Wall. McCurley's Wall is commonly called Babylon as well.

Anchor Point is much easier to find. From the Babylon site, continue east along Queen Highway for about 3 miles. Turn left into the Barefoot Beach Gardens development. Park by the small shack that is humorously called the sales office. Gear up and walk about 100 yards west down the beach. Swim out toward the lone mooring ball. Just west from the mooring, there is a very small and tight swim-through on the edge of the wall that leads out to the abyss. Similarly, there is a slightly larger swim-through just east of the mooring line. It is a bit longer, and also leads out as a nice entry onto the wall.

If the winds die down a bunch, it is possible to shore dive a few sites out front of Morritt's Tortuga Club. The surface swim requires climbing up and over the shoal reef. The four dive sites in that area are Chub Hole, Cinderella's Castle, Snapper Hole, and Dragon's Lair. All are shallow sites (60ft) riddled with canyonways and swim-throughs.


For the rebreather work, drop an email to the dive shop at the Seaview Hotel. Dan and Tara (formerly of Dive Tech fame, if I recall their previous post) have recently taken over. They offer tech training. The other place to try is at Sunset House. I know they offer Semi-closed, and they may offer full CCR.

 

[Cave Diver]

Drew Sailbum once bubbled...
I know the routine entry points for East End shore dives fairly well and could join you for a couple dives September 5 or 6.
Unless my work schedule changes, I should have every Thursday and alternate Fridays off.

Drew

I certainly have no objection to you joining us and I am sure the rest of the group wouldnt either. We will be staying at a private residence just before the turnoff to the primary school in Boddentown by the CUC substation there. My plan (subject to change) is for us to get up and get some breakfast while we wait for the morning traffic to die down. Then do dive, take an SI and get some lunch, do another dive, take an SI, and get some dinner then do night dive (and of course come home for a midnight snack) Gotta keep the energy up! The first several days we are there will probably be focused mainly on the West/South side of the Island and then will start working toward the East/North side later in the week, weather permitting of course.

As I said, my parents are from the Island and I have visited numerous times, but only recently started diving. I am pretty familiar with most locations and landmarks, tho Cayman does have a tendency to change quickly.

If you (or anyone else for that matter) want to meet up with us for any of our dives feel free to let me know and I will give you contact information. The more the merrier, and any excuse to go diving.

Thanks for all the great information everyone and please keep it coming!

 

[caymancase]

Glad you popped in, Drew! If anyone knows East End diving, Cave Diver, it's Drew Sailbum. I've done Babylon but I'm gonna have to check out Anchor Point on a day off!(What's that??)
The tank rental prices that I gave you are pretty standard for the island. You will find that most shore dive areas on the West Side of the island do not allow "outside tanks" so you will need to rent your tanks from the on site operation. Eden Rock, Turtle Farm, etc. Instead of diving Coconut Harbor, I would just go with Drew's suggestion of Seaview and Sunset House and dive from there. Same great reef and you won't have to transport tanks. Plus, you can grab some chow at both places at a reasonable rate.