reddog
Registered
Myself, my non-diving wife and my 13 yr-old, recently certified son went to the Grand Caymans for a week in February this year. As this is a combination dive/family trip, I will include more than just the dive in this trip report (but will start with the dive!).
Also, I would like to thank all those members who so graciously helped me plan this trip. Go Scubaboard!
Diving
I dove with Wall to Wall Diving out of 7 Mile Beach on the West End of the Island. http://www.walltowalldiving.com/ Giles, the owner, was professional, accommodating and easy to deal with. W2W is a dive service no shop involved.. He picked us up at our hotel everyday and dropped us off on the return. His DMs Dusty and Gary were knowledgeable, extremely helpful and fun to hang with. This was one of the higher service dives I have been on. They set up the gear and carried everything around. We took our suits with us but they kept everything else and it was rinsed and set-up for us when we got back the next day.
The boats were small but spacious. The most there was on any one dive was seven of us and we were comfortable. I had all my own gear and my son rented everything. You should know that shorties are the norm down there and my son ended up a bit cold on one of the cooler days. Also they only carried full-foot fins, if that makes a difference to you...
There had been a severe front moving through for a few days and the West and Northern areas were not diveable. (Waves were washing over the sea walls on the walk to town).. The first day was overcast and cool and we went to the South where conditions were very calm but the dives were not as exciting, i.e. shallow reefs. Still, plenty good to get wet on and a good place for my son to get comfortable again.
The next two days were clear weather and they moved the dives to the West side where each dive got better and better. As a general comment I would say that the reefs are suffering as much of the Caribbean is, i.e. some bleaching from the heat and algae growth from the urchin blight. There is also the residual impact in the Caymans of Ivan, from which the reefs are still coming back.
That said, the reefs are coming back and you can see it. Also, once the walls offered some of the best structures to swim around I have seen. Chutes and chimneys, tunnels and pass-throughs. With the increasing sunlight from the nice weather, some of these had a downright cathedral feel to them.. While we were out of season for the large schools fo fish, we saw a goodly number of turtles and eels and of course hit Stingray City.
In the order which I dove them, heres the specific site comments:
Chinese Garden (60) OK reef dive. Good place to start. Interesting to see the new growth on the reefs and some cool sponges forming.
Oriental Garden (50) Reef dive. Beautiful long pass through/tunnel with skylights opening along the way. White sand bottom surrounded by reef with the occasional school of Chromis
Orange Canyon (92) Wall dive. Descended along the mooring line to 70, passing through a school of barracuda that was hovering motionless into the current. Below me to my left was a reef and to my right nothing. Very surreal and beautiful. Reefs looked good.
Worked our way down the wall through a series of passages to 90 and then back up a twisty chute to 70. Several turtles and a ray. One of the more beautiful dives I have done.
Bolero (65) Reef dive. Healthy reefs, much more fauna. Turtles, lobster, scorpionfish, spotted moray. some current but not if you stay down in the fingers of the reef
Stingray City (14) Could you go to NY and not see Times Square? The basic deal is that the DM sits you in a circle, gives everyone some squid and the rays come over to suck it out of your hand. You can lead them around before relenting.
The reality was that due to the weather no one had fed them for a while and they were hungry, numerous and aggressive. A ray can give you a hickey through your suit. It was very cool but a little overwhelming till we settled in. Several of our party opted out of direct participation, choosing instead to hover a distance away and watch the rest of us be ray-handled.
A goodly current made it a bit more difficult.. You need to really overweight yourself and sink right into the bottom. Definitely bring a camera.
Travel
We flew Spirit Air out of Laguardia via Fort Lauderdale and then into GCM. 12 hours of travel each way for only 5 hours of actual travel, including our hour each way to the airport. The rest was taken up by long lines at the airports Spirit check-in, security and boarding. Spirit check-in staff are possibly the slowest I have ever experienced. NY ran smoothly but the Caymans was a disaster, with over two hour waits at the front desk. Bring your own food for the flights but leave the liquids behind. Tickets were expensive as this was school break week in our area.
We rented Hertz, as I have points with them. Ended up going through three cars, each one pretty run down. Never had a rental car with 60,000 miles on it! My mistake, I should have used one of the smaller island guys. Most of them had better cars and certainly would have been cheaper. Paid $450USD for 5 days, as I needed something big enough for the three of us and our bags. Staff was extremely helpful and friendly
Note: The currency is fixed at about 1USD to .82 CI$, i.e. the CI $ is stronger. If you pay by credit card, they will charge you in USD, so dont be surprised
Hotel
Being as my wife was going to be hanging all day, I sported for the Marriott resort on Seven Mile Beach. Definitely not my typical dive flop-house. Ran about $500/night for an ocean-front room.
The hotel was the low-point of the trip and we should have saved our money. We arrived late, after 12 hours of travel to be told that not only didnt they have our room, they didnt have a room with more than one bed. We resolved this by refusing to move till they fixed the situation. I do think they could have figured this one out before we showed up at the desk.
Also, they gouge you for everything. $10 for a bottle of water lef tin the room. $4 for coffee in the lobby, $4 for half an hour of internet time, etc. Thought that by spending so much on the room Id get past this stuff, but I was wrong and it was constantly in your face. Kicked us out of the pool one day so they could host a corporate event. Couldnt wait to leave each day.
That said, my wife was happy hanging on the beach and at the pool.
Restaurants
We celebrated one night at the Eric Ripard restaurant at the Ritz (he has Le Bernadine in NY for you foodies). It was exquisite. Tried sushi at the Westin and it was mediocre. Plenty of other restaurants to choose from.
Our big find was a shack called the Heritage House. Go up 7 mile beach to the 4 way stop sign. Take a right at the sign and then another right at the water and youre there. Order whatever they are cooking that night from the window and sit at their picnic tables looking out over the water. Good food at a low price in the best possible atmosphere.
Things to do on the Island
The island is bigger than it looks and it takes a while to drive from one end to the other. We didnt quite make it but did drive around a bit.
One little known fact is that the Caymans is home to the worlds largest concrete skateboard park (think LA viaducts and swimming pools). My son dug this immensely and ended up there everyday after three, which is when school gets out..
My wife enjoyed walking to town everyday. On the days when the ships are in it can get very crowded and we think the prices go up.
Bottom line its a dive island. Bring a book and relax!
Definitely a place Id go back to. Please email me if you want any particulars about these points.
Also, I would like to thank all those members who so graciously helped me plan this trip. Go Scubaboard!
Diving
I dove with Wall to Wall Diving out of 7 Mile Beach on the West End of the Island. http://www.walltowalldiving.com/ Giles, the owner, was professional, accommodating and easy to deal with. W2W is a dive service no shop involved.. He picked us up at our hotel everyday and dropped us off on the return. His DMs Dusty and Gary were knowledgeable, extremely helpful and fun to hang with. This was one of the higher service dives I have been on. They set up the gear and carried everything around. We took our suits with us but they kept everything else and it was rinsed and set-up for us when we got back the next day.
The boats were small but spacious. The most there was on any one dive was seven of us and we were comfortable. I had all my own gear and my son rented everything. You should know that shorties are the norm down there and my son ended up a bit cold on one of the cooler days. Also they only carried full-foot fins, if that makes a difference to you...
There had been a severe front moving through for a few days and the West and Northern areas were not diveable. (Waves were washing over the sea walls on the walk to town).. The first day was overcast and cool and we went to the South where conditions were very calm but the dives were not as exciting, i.e. shallow reefs. Still, plenty good to get wet on and a good place for my son to get comfortable again.
The next two days were clear weather and they moved the dives to the West side where each dive got better and better. As a general comment I would say that the reefs are suffering as much of the Caribbean is, i.e. some bleaching from the heat and algae growth from the urchin blight. There is also the residual impact in the Caymans of Ivan, from which the reefs are still coming back.
That said, the reefs are coming back and you can see it. Also, once the walls offered some of the best structures to swim around I have seen. Chutes and chimneys, tunnels and pass-throughs. With the increasing sunlight from the nice weather, some of these had a downright cathedral feel to them.. While we were out of season for the large schools fo fish, we saw a goodly number of turtles and eels and of course hit Stingray City.
In the order which I dove them, heres the specific site comments:
Chinese Garden (60) OK reef dive. Good place to start. Interesting to see the new growth on the reefs and some cool sponges forming.
Oriental Garden (50) Reef dive. Beautiful long pass through/tunnel with skylights opening along the way. White sand bottom surrounded by reef with the occasional school of Chromis
Orange Canyon (92) Wall dive. Descended along the mooring line to 70, passing through a school of barracuda that was hovering motionless into the current. Below me to my left was a reef and to my right nothing. Very surreal and beautiful. Reefs looked good.
Worked our way down the wall through a series of passages to 90 and then back up a twisty chute to 70. Several turtles and a ray. One of the more beautiful dives I have done.
Bolero (65) Reef dive. Healthy reefs, much more fauna. Turtles, lobster, scorpionfish, spotted moray. some current but not if you stay down in the fingers of the reef
Stingray City (14) Could you go to NY and not see Times Square? The basic deal is that the DM sits you in a circle, gives everyone some squid and the rays come over to suck it out of your hand. You can lead them around before relenting.
The reality was that due to the weather no one had fed them for a while and they were hungry, numerous and aggressive. A ray can give you a hickey through your suit. It was very cool but a little overwhelming till we settled in. Several of our party opted out of direct participation, choosing instead to hover a distance away and watch the rest of us be ray-handled.
A goodly current made it a bit more difficult.. You need to really overweight yourself and sink right into the bottom. Definitely bring a camera.
Travel
We flew Spirit Air out of Laguardia via Fort Lauderdale and then into GCM. 12 hours of travel each way for only 5 hours of actual travel, including our hour each way to the airport. The rest was taken up by long lines at the airports Spirit check-in, security and boarding. Spirit check-in staff are possibly the slowest I have ever experienced. NY ran smoothly but the Caymans was a disaster, with over two hour waits at the front desk. Bring your own food for the flights but leave the liquids behind. Tickets were expensive as this was school break week in our area.
We rented Hertz, as I have points with them. Ended up going through three cars, each one pretty run down. Never had a rental car with 60,000 miles on it! My mistake, I should have used one of the smaller island guys. Most of them had better cars and certainly would have been cheaper. Paid $450USD for 5 days, as I needed something big enough for the three of us and our bags. Staff was extremely helpful and friendly
Note: The currency is fixed at about 1USD to .82 CI$, i.e. the CI $ is stronger. If you pay by credit card, they will charge you in USD, so dont be surprised
Hotel
Being as my wife was going to be hanging all day, I sported for the Marriott resort on Seven Mile Beach. Definitely not my typical dive flop-house. Ran about $500/night for an ocean-front room.
The hotel was the low-point of the trip and we should have saved our money. We arrived late, after 12 hours of travel to be told that not only didnt they have our room, they didnt have a room with more than one bed. We resolved this by refusing to move till they fixed the situation. I do think they could have figured this one out before we showed up at the desk.
Also, they gouge you for everything. $10 for a bottle of water lef tin the room. $4 for coffee in the lobby, $4 for half an hour of internet time, etc. Thought that by spending so much on the room Id get past this stuff, but I was wrong and it was constantly in your face. Kicked us out of the pool one day so they could host a corporate event. Couldnt wait to leave each day.
That said, my wife was happy hanging on the beach and at the pool.
Restaurants
We celebrated one night at the Eric Ripard restaurant at the Ritz (he has Le Bernadine in NY for you foodies). It was exquisite. Tried sushi at the Westin and it was mediocre. Plenty of other restaurants to choose from.
Our big find was a shack called the Heritage House. Go up 7 mile beach to the 4 way stop sign. Take a right at the sign and then another right at the water and youre there. Order whatever they are cooking that night from the window and sit at their picnic tables looking out over the water. Good food at a low price in the best possible atmosphere.
Things to do on the Island
The island is bigger than it looks and it takes a while to drive from one end to the other. We didnt quite make it but did drive around a bit.
One little known fact is that the Caymans is home to the worlds largest concrete skateboard park (think LA viaducts and swimming pools). My son dug this immensely and ended up there everyday after three, which is when school gets out..
My wife enjoyed walking to town everyday. On the days when the ships are in it can get very crowded and we think the prices go up.
Bottom line its a dive island. Bring a book and relax!
Definitely a place Id go back to. Please email me if you want any particulars about these points.
