Grand Cayman Question

[BamaAce]

I am going to be traveling to the Caymans for the first time and need some recommendations for a good, private operator on Grand Cayman. There will only be around 6 of us, but I want someone private who does the more obscure, less touristy dives.

Also, I was interested in trying to dive the MV Capt. Keith Tibbetts off Cayman Brac. Is there any type of day trip to dive in Cayman Brac?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I am going to be traveling to the Caymans for the first time and need some recommendations for a good, private operator on Grand Cayman. There will only be around 6 of us, but I want someone private who does the more obscure, less touristy dives. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Ollen Miller is a native Caymanian. I worked with him for a few years before he started his own dive business 10 years ago or so. He has been teaching divers in Cayman for about 20 years.

His boat is small..I guess 10 divers maximum. He knows Cayman waters far better than any of the expats.

I have 2 numbers for him: 345-916-0862 and 345-947-6606

 

[ronrosa]

I am going to be traveling to the Caymans for the first time and need some recommendations for a good, private operator on Grand Cayman. There will only be around 6 of us, but I want someone private who does the more obscure, less touristy dives.

Also, I was interested in trying to dive the MV Capt. Keith Tibbetts off Cayman Brac. Is there any type of day trip to dive in Cayman Brac?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Nick Buckley, Red Baron Divers.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Also, I was interested in trying to dive the MV Capt. Keith Tibbetts off Cayman Brac. Is there any type of day trip to dive in Cayman Brac?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Welcome to Scubaboard. I am not aware of any day trips to the Brac unless you are on a liveaboard. I think its like 65 miles away.

 

[Zippsy]

On the east side of Grand Cayman, I recommend Drew Sailbum at Tortuga Divers - Morritt's Tortuga Club (http://www.tortugadivers.com/td_index.html).
On the west side, I recommend Camancase at Neptune Divers (http://www.neptunesdivers.com/). They are both active members on these boards, provide great information to everyone and happen to be darn good DM's too.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

The MV Keith Tibbets lies in the waters of Cayman Brac, some 90 miles from Grand Cayman. AFAIK, only the Cayman Aggressor liveaboard makes the trip by boat and only if the seas are calm enough. Some weeks in the winter months it never manages to make the crossing.

Air service to Cayman Brac is available on both Cayman Airways and Island Air. For a round trip in a single day, you'll have better luck on Island Air. Flying after diving is a bit of an issue with that plan, obviously. I do not know the normal altitude for the flight.

"(M)ore obscure, less touristy dives" is a bit of an issue. The least travelled path is in East End. The entire East End is well served by three dive operators, none of them are what I would call small. The west side is served by many more (30ish?) operators, some of which are small operators. The west side operators serve an area that includes the North Wall, the west side, and South Sound.

There is one stretch of shoreline that none of the dive operators regularly service. The south shore of Grand Cayman between about Frank Sound on the east to South Sound on the west is a bit too far for most operators to travel regularly. If you can find someone with a small boat on a trailer, they could probably launch at the Frank Sound boat ramp and cover quite a bit of that territory.

 

[RSoper]

Hi There :

I heard something about the Cayman Islands Department of tourism buying a whole load of wrecks to sink as artificial reefs, do you know if this is the case, and whether or not it is going to happen?

I am also curious as to whay they decided to sink the Keith Tibbets off Cayman Brac, when i am led to believe the vast bulk of dive tourists dive from Grand Cayman itself (especially if it is so far away.)

Cheers,

Bob

 

[jhspb]

I agree with Ronrosa about Nick and Red Baron. They are outstanding.

As to flight altitudes, I'm pretty certain that they are under 3000 feet, maybe 2000 feet, on Island Air. I can't recall whether or not those are acceptable for same day flying.

Brac is an outstanding dive location, but you might also want to think about Little Cayman as an alternate day trip if the flight altitudes are ok.

Joe

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Hi There :

I heard something about the Cayman Islands Department of tourism buying a whole load of wrecks to sink as artificial reefs, do you know if this is the case, and whether or not it is going to happen?

I am also curious as to whay they decided to sink the Keith Tibbets off Cayman Brac, when i am led to believe the vast bulk of dive tourists dive from Grand Cayman itself (especially if it is so far away.)

Cheers,

Bob

The Cayman Islands have instituted a program dubbed Shipwreck City. Bids have been placed on ships suitable for sinking, though we were outbid on at least one occasion. The grand plan is to place several more wrecks around the islands in an effort to diversify the diving available in Cayman. One of the ships may go on the south shore of Grand Cayman's East End, becoming the first substantial diveable wreck on East End.

The MV Keith Tibbets was a renamed Russian destroyer sank off Cayman Brac. Perhaps because most visitors do come to Grand Cayman, the Brac location may have been a choice intended to draw visitors out to the Sister Islands.

 

[worlddiver]

We have been diving in the Cayman for many years and find Divetech as our number one choose and for the East End, Cayman Diving Lodge. They both provide the best service and do not cater to the Cruise Ships. Divetech has unmlimited shore diving with their boat packages. The night dive at their Turtle reef shop was the best ever and their other diveshop was also great, but a little exposed to the weather. Make sure you check out their scooter dive from shop to shop, awesome adventure!!!

There is no day trips to the Brac, but there are about 5 wrecks in Grand Cayman that are grand.