Grand Cayman recommendations

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Sunshine suites is nice they have a great little restaurant there the sunshine grill…it’s reasonable and the food is great. I don’t like the idea of having to take a covid test every few days while on vacation so I am keeping gc on the back burner for now. I have used Don Fosters for diving in the past and had good experiences with them as long as you are not on a boat with cruise ship divers…that said…I believe they are no longer in the cruise ship business given everything that happened and have a couple of boats left and have returned to thier roots as an operator for on island divers.
 
depends on what you want. Me and my wife Eldemire's Tropical Island Inn and shore dives This place is just on the other side of the main rd from Sunset House at a fraction of the cost. Smith Barcadare for snorkeling and a shore night dive. All your shore dives are just what you rent. Chicken Chicken for some lunch and dinners done this way not to much more then Coz. You can do a diff shore dive every day you are there and never dive the same site twice. And shore dives can be 30 to 75 ft. Turtle reef is a mini wall dive. Macabucas dive and order your cevici on the way to take gear off and wash. By the time you are done you food is at the table.
 
It all depends on what you want out of the holiday
Dive trip vs beach trip with diving.
If dedicated dive trip, then Ocean Frontiers, Cobalt are great choices. both are way off the beaten track.

If you want beach and diving, then IMO, rent a condo along Seven Mile Beach strip and go out boat diving daily with one of the west/north side operators. They all pick up and drop off. There are good options for shore diving not too far away at Lighthouse and Sundivers as well.
Our usual routine is morning boat diving then afternoon and or night shore diving at Sundivers.

I personally like the condos at Christopher Columbus and Anchorage as they are at the north (quiet) end of the beach and are priced better than many of the others in shoulder and low seasons. I don't like Sunshine Suites particularly as not on the water. Being in a condo allows you to make your own meals if you want as well as having much more space than a hotel room. Both of the condos I have mentioned above are relatively small developments with spacious beach and pool areas. You would need a car if staying there as not much in the way of restaurants in walking distance.

If you are OK with iron shore, then Bonnies Arch condos is a good option as they have their own dive site off shore. I've never stayed at Lighthouse Point but they also have a dive shop and dive site.

My personal preference for operators on GC is DNS Diving, Big boats, small groups. Everyone has their own bias and favorite op. Other people seem to like Dive Tech, Living The Dream, Wall to Wall, Divers Down and Deep Blue among others. All the operators are good or they wouldn't stay in business in a very competitive environment.

Lots of choices on Grand and hard to go wrong.
Thank you. Great info.
 
Sunshine grille is excellent! Chicken chicken is probably my 2nd favorite.

We're headed back in Dec and staying at Plantana again. GC finally entered whatever phase where testing while there isn't necessary, kids < 12 take parent vaccination status etc. So we're finally able to go back without too much additional hassle/worry.

The shore dives on the NW side mini-walls (light house point as ex) are very good. I've used LTD on previous trips and that works well, I'm usually dropped back off after morning dives around 11:30 so that the afternoon on the beach with family/kids is wide open.

I think if I didn't have non-divers in tow, I'd either do OF on east side or stay in one of the resorts on the ironshore on NW side that offer unlimited shore diving and alternate shore with boat diving.
 
I went with Living The Dream Divers several years ago, good experience. Good DM's and boats
 
I have 3 new divers (my kids) and looking for a dive shop recommendations to do advanced open water while in Grand Cayman in mid March 2023. Planning to stay near West Bay.
 
I have 3 new divers (my kids) and looking for a dive shop recommendations to do advanced open water while in Grand Cayman in mid March 2023. Planning to stay near West Bay.

West Bay happens to have a very good dive shop - Divetech. Their main shop also has shore diving.

 
Sunset House
 
We just got back from a 5 day trip. We dove and stayed with Living the Dream Divers. They have a new lovely lodging option called Ocean Cabanas. No regrets.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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