Grand Cayman for unimpressed newbies?

[Catito]

Why wouldn’t you consider a shore diving destination such as Bonaire and

 

[tynanpatrick]

I had a great experience in Isla Mujeres last year. similar dive quality to coz, but just less of it and less current/drift diving. The island is also pretty great. I stayed with Seahawk Divers, you roll out of bed and walk right into the shop and onto the boat, couldnt be easier. It is probably a little late, but the whale sharks might still be hanging around too. Its not the best diving in the world, dont get me wrong, but its a really solid spot for dives, a great, very chill surrounding above water, some really good night dives, lots of turtles, street food, super easy access from anywhere in the US (fly into cancun and take a taxi and a ferry). I can't recommend it highly enough. I hadn't done much diving in years, it was something I used to do with my dad and he had passed away and I lost my passion for it. but Isla mujeres re-ignited that fire. I was supposed to do 1 day of diving and i was mainly there to see the whale sharks, but ended up doing 4 days of diving and changing my trip plans after the first dive. I love that place.

 

[scubadada]

I had a great experience in Isla Mujeres last year. similar dive quality to coz, but just less of it and less current/drift diving. The island is also pretty great. I stayed with Seahawk Divers, you roll out of bed and walk right into the shop and onto the boat, couldnt be easier. It is probably a little late, but the whale sharks might still be hanging around too. Its not the best diving in the world, dont get me wrong, but its a really solid spot for dives, a great, very chill surrounding above water, some really good night dives, lots of turtles, street food, super easy access from anywhere in the US (fly into cancun and take a taxi and a ferry). I can't recommend it highly enough. I hadn't done much diving in years, it was something I used to do with my dad and he had passed away and I lost my passion for it. but Isla mujeres re-ignited that fire. I was supposed to do 1 day of diving and i was mainly there to see the whale sharks, but ended up doing 4 days of diving and changing my trip plans after the first dive. I love that place.

You should have seen it in 1980, when my wife and I had our honeymoon there

 

[scubadada]

You should have seen it in 1980, when my wife and I had our honeymoon there

So, getting to Isla Mujeres in January 1980. We flew from Los Angeles to Cancun and had a ticket for a puddle hopper to Isla Mujeres. We get to Cancun and go to the counter for our connection to Isla Mujeres. They laugh at us and tell us the airport on Isla Mujeres had been closed for some time and we would have to take the ferry. This was the old days, my mother had bought us the airline tickets from a travel agent in LA. We hustle to the ferry and get there just before the last one of the day. I go to the counter, and they tell me they can only accept cash, Mexican pesos. We had not had the chance to change any money. Explaining our predicament on our honeymoon did not help. The only others in the terminal were a group of about a half dozen men dressed in fatigues and carrying serious looking rifles. One of them walks over, buys us our tickets, congratulates us on our wedding and wishes us a good visit

It really was a great visit, a beautiful island, delicious food, wonderful snorkeling. We rented a scooter to explore the island and found the airport. The concrete runway was full of large cracks with grass and weeds growing prolifically. We have our 44th anniversary at the end of the year. Maybe we'll have a chance to get back to Isla Mujeres one of these days.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It would be interesting to hear what you think about Isla Mujeres nowadays, @scubadada. I was last there a mere 20 years ago, and I was not that impressed. A lot of American yachties, it seemed to me, though I did achieve the goal I had in going there and got to snorkel with whale sharks.

 

[scubadada]

It would be interesting to hear what you think about Isla Mujeres nowadays, @scubadada. I was last there a mere 20 years ago, and I was not that impressed. A lot of American yachties, it seemed to me, though I did achieve the goal I had in going there and got to snorkel with whale sharks.

I've heard from more recent visitors that the island is extremely developed and that I would not even recognize it. With so many places to visit while we can, I doubt we will ever get back to Isla Mujeres. The current whale shark expeditions do not sound like my kind of activity. I would love to see sailfish and bait balls, but may try that at Magdalena Bay.

 

[tynanpatrick]

It would be interesting to hear what you think about Isla Mujeres nowadays, @scubadada. I was last there a mere 20 years ago, and I was not that impressed. A lot of American yachties, it seemed to me, though I did achieve the goal I had in going there and got to snorkel with whale sharks.

In dont know about american yachties. Maybe I just caught it on a good week or something, but I think I saw about 10 americans the whole time I was there. a little bit of an assumption because I wasnt going around asking people. to be fair though, there was a fair amount of tourist type infrastructure (restaurants, street vendors that clearly had a tourist catered menu, etc.) which seemed like a lot given how few people were there. I've seen some pictures of Playa Norte pretty packed, but I never saw it with more than 20-30 people while I was there. American schools would have just been starting when I was there, so maybe tourism was way down. My experience could be an abberation, but It was super quiet, very chill and the diving was solid.

 

[gregtaffet]

just got back from Grand Cayman. Great place. stay on west side

 

[wordizbon]

My wife and I have been diving all around the world for 20 years. We convinced a friend and her son to try diving, so they completed PADI OW in Nassau.

As we began preparing for our first dive trip together as a group, she confided to me: "I'm not impressed. I don't get this 'diving" thing." To be sure, their diving to date has been pathetic; first some quarry diving and then OW in Nassau. Pretty lame, and not very pretty.

So I am hoping to take them somewhere with great, warm, and easy diving in Early December. We want somewhere that's easy for travel, too. Our friend is older (50s) and not athletic, so we need to be gentle with her.

Little Cayman would be magnificent, but I've been there three times and I HATE CAYMAN AIRWAYS.

I'd love to take them to Coz but I think they'd be in over their heads for their first trip.

We haven't been to Grand Cayman yet. Is that a good choice?

If Grand Cayman is a good choice, which side of the island would be great for newbies?

Thank you

Caribbean destinations we have already visited
Cozumel
Tulum
Roatan
Belize
Little Cayman
Providenciales & Grand Turk
Bonaire
Andros & Nassau

I did my first dive docking out of Long Bay. The dive shop is Dive Provo and it was awesome. Saw shark, turtles, lion fish. Was a nice reef and the wall was an awe experience. If you look at my photos you can see a bit of it. I loved it so much I'm doing it again in 2 days.