GreggM
Registered
I just returned from a week (Dec 10-17th) on Grand Cayman and wanted to post before the memories fade. I stayed at Beach Club Colony an all inclusive on 7 mile beach, a nice overall experience the place is getting a bit rough around the edges but the staff more than made up for the facility. Good food, great location right on 7 mile beach. It was a great base of operations for the week, I didn't rent a car and got around just fine using the island buses ($2.50 into town).
Diving- I decided not to dive with Resort Sports (The onsite shop at Beach Club) prior to my arrival since they seem to cater to beginning divers and may be a bit more of a cattle car operation, same conclusion for Red Sail sports who are right next door at the Hyatt. My observations upon arrival reconfirmed my suspicions...
Based on scubaboard reports, I contacted Jason with Ambassador Divers and it turned out to be a great choice for me. Jason and Larry are top notch!
First a bit of background...
Tropical storm Olga was in the neighborhood during my stay and brought reports of bad weather and sea conditions, most of the resorts and shops on the West side of the island ran for the marina on the North side of the island effectively putting them out of operation for 2-3 days. Jason elected to keep his boat in place on the west side and we got out on Wednesday and had the entire northwest side of the island all to ourselves! Jason and Larry were fantastic and it felt like you were going out on a friends boat. I met some frustrated divers staying at the hotel who had been unable to get on a boat, we all dove together on Wednesday and it was great!
Favorite sites - Trinity Caves was definitely my favorite boat dive, the site is mostly coral grottoes and huge swim thrus at 80 -100 feet. It really feels like your swimming in someone's salt water aquarium. Viz 80+ feet, water temp 82f
2nd dive - Doc Poulson wreck, and artificial reef of a motorized barge sitting in 50ft, very intact, upright and picturesque.
Shore dive - Cracked Konch, Larry recommended it to me as a shore dive and boy is it awesome! On the North end of the island right by the turtle farm the dive shop is sundivers. The shop is under new ownership and is very nice. Coming from Monterey California and our sometimes not so fun shore dives I was totally blown away at ease of the shore dives on Grand Cayman. The shop is right there on the cliff/beach and it has benches and nice new gear, fresh water rinse tanks and a shower. You rent your tank from the shop ($12 us) and they give you a briefing, you walk right thru the patio of the restaurant to the stairs and out thru a channel in the rocks to the dive site! Once your dive is over you walk back and rinse your gear, have a drink and lunch, easy peasy! The site is a "mini" wall about 50 yards off shore. It's a marine preserve and the fish are plentiful including some huge tarpon. I think it was by far my best dive!
After 6 days of two tank dives my computer was about to go into deco so I had to quit diving for the flight home! :no
General thoughts about GC - Well it's expensive! The food is very expensive and I ended up being very grateful for the all inclusive at the hotel. One day I was hankering for a burger and ventured downtown, ending up at the Paradise Cafe which overlooks the Eden rock snorkle site and the harbor. Cheeseburger, fries and a coke was $17ci (Thats $20us) yikes!!
You may not need a rental car. I managed to have a great time riding the bus the few times I went to town and Jason picked me up for the diving. The bus is a bit hard to catch on Sunday as most of the drivers take it off. Being on 7 mile beach made it easy to walk to shopping and heck I was already at the best beach.
Stingray City was a hoot! I was all jaded on the boat ride out, hanging with all the first time snorkelers just confirmed that this was a tourist trap. And me Mr. Divemaster, heck rookies, I had even seen a stingray the day before!
Once I hit the water with those stingrays I was SIX YEARS OLD! It was so cool to interact with those huge rays, we petted them, kissed em for good luck and even got to hold one. I know I hear the PETA people choking on their lattes. Not sorry... I loved it.
Next time I will plan a couple of extra days to make the side trip to Cuba. There are 2 day excursions out of Grand Cayman for around $400. Yes it's legal to go. And they stamp a separate tourist card, not your passport, so you don't get grilled by customs when returning to the US. We flew right over Cuba on the way down and it looked great! Especially the southern end with it's fringing reef that looked like great diving!
Notice I said next time? I absolutely loved the diving, it was some of the best I have seen... If your a diver looking to dive Grand Cayman will make you very happy. Non-divers probably not so much, there doesn't seem to be much for the non-diver to do on the Island besides sunbathe and beach walk, but hey maybe that's what they want to do, no? Don't forget to take em to Stingray City!
Diving- I decided not to dive with Resort Sports (The onsite shop at Beach Club) prior to my arrival since they seem to cater to beginning divers and may be a bit more of a cattle car operation, same conclusion for Red Sail sports who are right next door at the Hyatt. My observations upon arrival reconfirmed my suspicions...
Based on scubaboard reports, I contacted Jason with Ambassador Divers and it turned out to be a great choice for me. Jason and Larry are top notch!
First a bit of background...
Tropical storm Olga was in the neighborhood during my stay and brought reports of bad weather and sea conditions, most of the resorts and shops on the West side of the island ran for the marina on the North side of the island effectively putting them out of operation for 2-3 days. Jason elected to keep his boat in place on the west side and we got out on Wednesday and had the entire northwest side of the island all to ourselves! Jason and Larry were fantastic and it felt like you were going out on a friends boat. I met some frustrated divers staying at the hotel who had been unable to get on a boat, we all dove together on Wednesday and it was great!
Favorite sites - Trinity Caves was definitely my favorite boat dive, the site is mostly coral grottoes and huge swim thrus at 80 -100 feet. It really feels like your swimming in someone's salt water aquarium. Viz 80+ feet, water temp 82f
2nd dive - Doc Poulson wreck, and artificial reef of a motorized barge sitting in 50ft, very intact, upright and picturesque.
Shore dive - Cracked Konch, Larry recommended it to me as a shore dive and boy is it awesome! On the North end of the island right by the turtle farm the dive shop is sundivers. The shop is under new ownership and is very nice. Coming from Monterey California and our sometimes not so fun shore dives I was totally blown away at ease of the shore dives on Grand Cayman. The shop is right there on the cliff/beach and it has benches and nice new gear, fresh water rinse tanks and a shower. You rent your tank from the shop ($12 us) and they give you a briefing, you walk right thru the patio of the restaurant to the stairs and out thru a channel in the rocks to the dive site! Once your dive is over you walk back and rinse your gear, have a drink and lunch, easy peasy! The site is a "mini" wall about 50 yards off shore. It's a marine preserve and the fish are plentiful including some huge tarpon. I think it was by far my best dive!
After 6 days of two tank dives my computer was about to go into deco so I had to quit diving for the flight home! :no
General thoughts about GC - Well it's expensive! The food is very expensive and I ended up being very grateful for the all inclusive at the hotel. One day I was hankering for a burger and ventured downtown, ending up at the Paradise Cafe which overlooks the Eden rock snorkle site and the harbor. Cheeseburger, fries and a coke was $17ci (Thats $20us) yikes!!
You may not need a rental car. I managed to have a great time riding the bus the few times I went to town and Jason picked me up for the diving. The bus is a bit hard to catch on Sunday as most of the drivers take it off. Being on 7 mile beach made it easy to walk to shopping and heck I was already at the best beach.
Stingray City was a hoot! I was all jaded on the boat ride out, hanging with all the first time snorkelers just confirmed that this was a tourist trap. And me Mr. Divemaster, heck rookies, I had even seen a stingray the day before!
Once I hit the water with those stingrays I was SIX YEARS OLD! It was so cool to interact with those huge rays, we petted them, kissed em for good luck and even got to hold one. I know I hear the PETA people choking on their lattes. Not sorry... I loved it.
Next time I will plan a couple of extra days to make the side trip to Cuba. There are 2 day excursions out of Grand Cayman for around $400. Yes it's legal to go. And they stamp a separate tourist card, not your passport, so you don't get grilled by customs when returning to the US. We flew right over Cuba on the way down and it looked great! Especially the southern end with it's fringing reef that looked like great diving!
Notice I said next time? I absolutely loved the diving, it was some of the best I have seen... If your a diver looking to dive Grand Cayman will make you very happy. Non-divers probably not so much, there doesn't seem to be much for the non-diver to do on the Island besides sunbathe and beach walk, but hey maybe that's what they want to do, no? Don't forget to take em to Stingray City!
