Grand Cayman (the first time) vs Cozumel (the second time) on a cruise

[clipgoal234]

Thank you for all of the responses! It looks like we're doing Cozumel again. GC sounds nice, but with my constraints it doesn't seem to get a tie-breaker for my girlfriend's/my interests. Hopefully some day I can go back to Little Cayman or Cayman Brac, but it doesn't seem worth it for GC right now and I'd love to do Maracaibo or even the Palancars again in Coz.

Odd regarding intolerance in GC. Would have thought the British influence (I believe it is still British territory) wouldn't have allowed that.

 

[craracer]

I see that you've made your choice, but I'll chime in if it helps to solidify your decision. I stayed at Sunset House last year and wasn't particularly impressed with the shore dive, or any of the diving if I'm honest. I understand I'm simply offering an opinion, and much of that is based upon previous experiences. I've dove in: Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Belize, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Aruba, Palau, and Roatan.

Sunset uses 72cf tanks. The "best" diving I did there was across the street from the Turtle Farm. The entry point was at the back of a bar/restaurant. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the place. The only reason I dove there was because I met a DM that was diving at Sunset with a friend on their day off. They graciously invited me to tag along with them.

Needless to say, I wouldn't go back.

Here's a link to some garbage photos I took while there:
https://picasaweb.google.com/yellod...&authkey=Gv1sRgCKDO2PiW0p_LSw&feat=directlink

 

[Mark Derail]

I totally agree with you! Just came back from last week's stay in GC.

The nicest dives were way up North, far away from the busy centers. Kittiwake was "nice" and the Doctor's wreck, but the Turtle Nest area has the nicest rock formations, gulleys and reef systems.
The place 'you forgot about' is named the Cracked Conch (restaurant) and Macabuca Grill & Bar (where you dive from). Reasonable pricing for shore diving.
I did a night dive here, bio-luminescent critters abound in the deep under the gulleys.

From others there - retirees and divers - all have told me the diving at the far North, the wall there, North Sound, around the Rum Point area, and at the far East (where Ocean Divers are) to be the best diving, "pristine" because of the lack of cattle boat diving & snorkeling.

Your pics aren't garbage! Unless you're being sarcastic.

To me the best - vibrant - diving was in the Cozumel area. Diving around Maui, Hawaii a close contender.

The economic recession has hit these places hard too.

I see that you've made your choice, but I'll chime in if it helps to solidify your decision. I stayed at Sunset House last year and wasn't particularly impressed with the shore dive, or any of the diving if I'm honest. I understand I'm simply offering an opinion, and much of that is based upon previous experiences. I've dove in: Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Belize, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Aruba, Palau, and Roatan.

Sunset uses 72cf tanks. The "best" diving I did there was across the street from the Turtle Farm. The entry point was at the back of a bar/restaurant. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the place. The only reason I dove there was because I met a DM that was diving at Sunset with a friend on their day off. They graciously invited me to tag along with them.

Needless to say, I wouldn't go back.

Here's a link to some garbage photos I took while there:
https://picasaweb.google.com/yellod...&authkey=Gv1sRgCKDO2PiW0p_LSw&feat=directlink

 

[craracer]

Thanks Mark! I've got to write the name of that place down. I should mention that I did get 80cf tanks at Macabuca. Sunset house also required that we surface with at least 500psi in the tank (boat dives). When you are using 72's, that seriously limits your BT. Especially when the person who uses the most air determines the dive time. Solo shore dives were not allowed.

My dive at Macabuca was at night, and as you said, the gully system is pretty neat. We saw a ton of octopus and other critters.

Thanks for the kind compliment. I call the shots garbage when compared to what I now shoot. That's not to say that I don't have a LONG way to go, but I've improved quite a lot. I liken U/W photography to golfing. Both are equally frustrating, but being that one can go golfing all summer long, mastering photography might be a slightly slower process. It's a poor analogy, and I don't golf, so "Easy there golfers.....I know not of what I speak, and mean no disrespect".

 

[Mark Derail]

My UW photography in GC was just my second attempt, and I got to practice about 4 times.

Frustrating is the fish being so camera shy, having to get "in range" of my dual strobes. Using the zoom on my Oly SP-350 resulted in serious under exposure.

Got lots of great pics of corals "sans poissons". As a land-shark "pro" photographer, UW has been quite the challenge so far. So many things go wrong...

Now I want to spend thousands on better housing and strobes !!!

 

[Damselfish]

The thing about GC (or many places for that matter) is you can't lump the whole island into one bucket. So it depends some how much time and trouble you want to go to to get better dives.

 

[clipgoal234]

Trip report eventually to come, but here are some pics: Flickr: dscantli's Photostream

Nutshell: Roatan was absolutely beautiful (above and below the water), cheap and exotic. I hope it never gets any more built up. Costa Maya (Mahahual) was surprisingly decent diving with amazing visibility. Cozumel had been subjected to especially poor conditions. Would have been nice to dive GC, but we ultimately didn't.

Conditions were largely poor and not too conducive to pics in most areas, unfortunately.I'll take what I can get, though.

 

[craracer]

Very nice shots you took.

 

[clipgoal234]

Thanks! A lot of work to do...that requires a lot of equipment I can't currently pay for.

 

[Wolfie]

I'm late to the party here so its all been said before. It really is about the cruise ship traffic and related cattle boats. The ships can't stay overnight therefore there is a very brief window. That window is used by large operations to take tons of divers to sites nearby. Those sites have been quite abused by inexperienced divers because of this practice. There are a lot of great sites on the grand cayman. It is just unlikely you can get to them from a cruise ship. Although kinda beat up, I do enjoy Eden rock and sunset house. As shore dives they are minutes to walk to from the launch dock and you would still have time to see town and shop.. All in all I would prefer that over a drive around the island or spending time on the beach. If you have your own gear it's only like 10. Bucks for the tank. Also, not many sharks on the island, yet is the only place I've seen a hammerhead and there was recently a whale shark passing through. So it does happen.