Grand Cayman (hotel, dining, dive op recommendations, etc)

[Scubatooth]

My parents and I

will be coming to grand cayman this summer (mid august)
we are looking at to stay at either the Westin or the marriott and what are the dive operations onsite (any opinons ).

next would be places to eat on or around 7 mile beach (decent prices, because what we saw for prices at the hotel i could eat for a week for one meal) holes in the wall would be good(mix of local and american style cooking)

Also is renting a car for the time we are going to be there or would foot power be ok ?

dive op recommedations(1intermidiate-advanced diver, and 1 intermidiate level diver). i have heard some bad things about bob soto and TI divers, but did i hear some bad info? so we need a good recomendation for a dive op, also how about some dive site recomendations(wrecks and walls would be nice, but all in the less then 130 range, also please dont say stingray city, i dont have any intrest in diving in 15 ft of water on a sandy bottom with ray flying around, just not worth the tank)

how much shore diving is there off 7 mile beach ?

but what we prefer is fast boats (ie non cattle boat) for two tank trips, and also is nitrox available on grand and if so what mixes

if i can think of any more questions i will post them


Also Drew you say you are a instructor(from the info i have gathered from the board), but which operation do you work for ?

 

[gem1]

To Scubatooth:

Just got back from a week at Grand Cayman. Dove the East End area and actually spoke with DrewSailBum while I was there. Kinda neat to actually put faces on the posts.

I can tell you now, EVERYTHING is expensive in the Caymans. It's because they don't have taxes. Instead there is a duty on everything brought into the island. You can add 25% to the price of whatever you are buying, as the U.S. dollar is less valuable than the Caymanian dollar. This is the only drawback to the island that I could find.

If you stay at seven mile beach area (very busy and touristy), you can get there from a taxi at the airport and walk or taxi to several eateries, but beware, even a hot dog will cost $5.50 to $6.00 U.S.

There are lots of hidden charges for things that no one discusses beforehand. E.G. on our rental car, $140 for the whole week, (sounds good), but insurance, Cayman fees, temp. license, etc. brought the cost to $330 for the week (not so good!). Also, departure tax of $14 per day was added to our room rate. That was $98 I did not expect to spend.

If you look on the web, you can find the location of several shore dives as well as dive ops near the 7 mile beach area. Drew can also fill you in. Be prepared to spend more for fast boats with low occupancy. IMHO, fast is not so important at Grand Cayman as there are so many dive sites located nearby. For example, all of our dives were within a quarter mile of the dock we sailed from, and they were wonderful areas.

If you rent a car, I will heartily recommend at least one day of driving over to the East End and diving with Tortuga Divers. They were helpful, informative, very friendly, and run a great dive op. I would not recommend Ocean Divers (who are rated so highly by Rodales). They were an absolute bust! But then that is another story.

:deal:

 

[Scubatooth]

Gem 1

thanks for the info.

well i will have to pass that on to my dad, as for the hotel that is because of my mother shes a non diver and prefers a nicer hotel. if you have any other reccomendations for hotels please make a recomendation.(nicer hotels on the east end ?)

as for the car i hadnt thought of that but will keep it in mind.

as for the reason behind the fast boat is from my thinking of coz abd how many people they try to stack on a site, not fun but it seems like there are alot of sites on GC( im manly intrested in wrecks and walls, and deep, would like to get in some 100' plus dives in.) but thats good to know that diving is just off the door step.

also anything about the nitrox availabilty ?


another question is

from looking at bob sotos site it has packages for dive trips that include shore diving, is that only for places they are at ? also how is red sail sports for looking at there site they looked a little pricey compared to some others. because i would like to do some shore diving if possible during downtime( do other places have these packages ?)

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Bits and pieces...

I am an instructor and I work out of Tortuga Divers at the Morritt's Tortuga Club on East End. Tortuga Divers is a part of Red Sail Sports. Any dive packages through Red Sail or Tortuga can be split amongst their various locations around the island.

The dive operator at both the Marriott and the Westin is Red Sail Sports.

My best tip: check out www.caymanport.com for the cruise ship schedule for the duration of your stay. Try to avoid downtown Georgetown on the days that have the most cruise ships in port.

Nitrox is widely available. Most shops buy nitrox fills from the local commercial gas products supplier, Pure Air. Usually only 32% is stocked. Custom mixes can be hard to come by.

Lots of shore diving on the west side (Seven Mile Beach) of the island, though not exactly along 7MB. If you are staying along 7MB but planning a bit of shore diving, then you need a rental car.

Rental cars come with lots of surcharges. Each driver must obtain a temporary Cayman license (easily arranged at any car rental agency). Limit the number of drivers to save money. Insurance is mandatory, though your insurance from home (or insurance provided by a credit card) may be sufficient. Bring your insurance card from home.

Lots of good operators along the west side. Free shore diving is usually only onsite or from other public sites without a shop. It is not o.k. to bring tanks from shop #1 to the shore dive site where shop #2 is located. No problem if there is no shop at the second site.

Hotels are nice, but you can save some serious $$$ by choosing a condo and buying a few groceries. You can cover most breakfasts that way and perhaps a lunch or two.

Good eats can be had at reasonable prices. Try PD's Pub, Durty Reid's, Chicken! Chicken!, The Naked Fish, and/or The Edge/Over The Edge.

 

[jhspb]

Check out the small operators! We dove Red Baron who were outstanding. Will dive a big operator on GC only under the rarest of circumstances. Nick goes North West and South. He and his partner are great fun and have excellent local knowledge.

Westin is a great resort

The sushi and the diner across the street from the Westin are good and decent prices for GC. The Naked Fish and The Lone Star are well worth it and Chicken Chicken is an awesome lunch.

 

[Scubatooth]

drew

ok does tortuga divers (also RSS) have dive pakages similar to sotos that include shore diving ? also for diving out were you are do we have to drive to the east side or does the op pick up from the hotel ?

thanks for the info on the nitrox, my dad with appriciate that.

also drew how much of the dives are structured (strict time and depth limits or is it plan your dive and dive your plan?)

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Scubatooth once bubbled...
drew

ok does tortuga divers (also RSS) have dive pakages similar to sotos that include shore diving ? also for diving out were you are do we have to drive to the east side or does the op pick up from the hotel ?

thanks for the info on the nitrox, my dad with appriciate that.

also drew how much of the dives are structured (strict time and depth limits or is it plan your dive and dive your plan?)

Nope. No shore diving at any of the RSS/Tortuga locations, ergo no shore diving packages. Tortuga does not pick up at all, you'd have to drive out to East End. It's worth the drive

Tortuga guides all wall dives and you must have a dive computer to exceed table limits for a square profile. Our typical surface interval is 45 minutes to one hour. Second dive is shallow and can be buddy team or guided. A lot of the shallow dives on East End are riddled with swim-thrus, and having a guide can be nice to see the best of certain sites.

 

[Scubatooth]

whats the typical profile for the wall you are talking about (dont work about the computers i have one and so does my father.) is it taking it pretty close to the ndl

also are the tank you use a alum 80 or a steel ?

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Scubatooth once bubbled...
whats the typical profile for the wall you are talking about (dont work about the computers i have one and so does my father.) is it taking it pretty close to the ndl

also are the tank you use a alum 80 or a steel ?

We use Al72's. Wall dives are 100ft. Top of wall varies from 40 to about 70ft.

Most often the return to the boat is done along the top of the wall, so you add some conservatism there. The NDL for 100ft is 20min if no computer. Those diving computers are given more time in the vicinity of the boat.

 

[Scubatooth]

drew

sorry for so many questions but a couple of others have come up

any wrecks on GC


also besides tortuga divers are there any good ops you could recommend for 7mb, also are there any ways to get to the east side without renting a car (because i would like to make a day trip out to east side to dive and maybe meet you(if schedules allow))


thats all i can think of for now its almost 2:30 in the morning in texas and i need to go to bed.

later