Grand Cayman trip report

[mattengstrom]

I was on Grand Cayman for 6 days a couple of weeks ago, got certified, logged eleven dives, and then found this site after I got back. Here's to sharing experiences!

I stayed at the Cayman Dive Lodge for the first half of my trip at the recommendation of some friends who had been there before. This is a VERY nice place. Instruction is handled one-on-one, the staff is extremely friendly, and the food is fabulous. It's an all-inclusive (except for booze) place if you stay there - room, meals, and diving all included in one price. Check out their website. They've got some nice pictures of the place, and they put a daily dive report online every day. I've actually got a picture on this one - second one down in the left column.

I spent the second half of the trip at the Hyatt on 7-mile beach. A concession to my wife who is a non-diver, but still had a good time relaxing at the Dive Lodge. Dove through here. Tip for other travellers - if you book a dive package through Red Sail Sports, you'll get the whole package for LESS than what you'd pay for just the room if you book through Hyatt. Another tip - don't go out on Red Sail's regular boats unless you like to moo and follow the herd. Ask to go out on their Rum Point boat instead.

All told, a very nice trip, and I've already got my flights booked for next year. Now I just need to find someone to dive with here in Minnesota. And get a drysuit...

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Sounds like you had a good time. Have you considered Little Cayman? Bloody Bay Wall is pretty impressive. Not much for the spouse to do though.

 

[scubawife]

Congrats on completing your certification. Also glad you enjoyed CDL. We love it and this was our 3rd year back. My husband did his OW check out dives and AOW there, and I did my AOW there in March. (Hubby did a videography course this year) The one-on-one instruction and the personalized attention really makes doing courses there a great experience.

We've enjoyed all our trips because we love diving, but, we keep going back to CDL for one of our trips each year. Vacation time & money are limited things and with CDL we know we'll have a week of great dives, great staff, great food and we've always made new friends.

Happy Diving!

 

[mattengstrom]

We'll probably try Little Cayman or Brac for a few days one of these trips - I've heard good things about Bloody Bay wall, and I want to see the Tibbets wreck too. And since we both like the quieter side of life, that shouldn't be an issue.

We both enjoyed the sheltered lagoon at CDL for snorkeling. Is there anyplace on Little Cayman or Brac that has anything similar?

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Would not know. Dive in morning. Drink in afternoon. Sleep at night. Repeat.

 

[mattengstrom]

Sounds good. Now if we could just get them to export stingray beer....

 

[Drew Sailbum]

mattengstrom once bubbled...
Sounds good. Now if we could just get them to export stingray beer....

But a lot of the locals won't touch the stuff.

Departing guests often drop off unopened remnants of six packs in the dive shop. Quite often it is 5 bottles of Stingray. Other the other hand, not much of the local Tortuga Rum Company Rum gets left behind.

 

[whiteshark]

How about posting some specifics on your dives? What you saw? Water temp? Depths? Current? Visibility etc... Thanks.

 

[mattengstrom]

whiteshark once bubbled...
How about posting some specifics on your dives? What you saw? Water temp? Depths? Current? Visibility etc... Thanks.

OK, since my wife is sick of hearing me talk about it

Days one and two were my open-water referral dives, done through the Cayman Dive Lodge on the east end of the island. I hoppped off of the boat with my instructor (Rich, for those of you who have been there before) on Dive #1 and we saw a Carribbean reef shark as we were descending. I didn't get a good look because it was down on the bottom and little ways away from us, and moving farther away, but it was still a thrill to see that my first time in the water.

I did two "real" dives with the Dive Lodge after certifiication. One was at a wall site called Lost Walley, and the second was a shallower reef site called Ironshore Gardens. The Dive Lodge puts up a daily dive report every day, complete with pictures. Take a look here and then click the link for Previous Day to see the other days.

We then moved to the Hyatt on 7-mile beach and I dove with Red Sail sports for two more days. The wall dive on day 1 was at a site called "in-between" on the north end of the west wall, in-between Trinity Caves and Orange Canyon. Red Sail operates a little bit differently from the Dive Lodge. 100-foot max depth instead of 110 for example. Things were busier topside too - many more people on the boat, boats at just about every mooring buoy, etc. The scenery underwater didn't seem quite as nice as East End either.

On my last day, I went out with Red Sail's Rum Point boat instead of their regular west wall boats, and this was probably the best time that I had on the entire trip. There were only 4 divers on the boat, and we went out to the north wall. A weather system had been going through north of the Caymans for the past few days, and this was the first day in the last 4 that the north side was diveable. We did a wall dive at a site called Hammerhead Hill, that's frequented by the Cayman Agressor. It didn't quite live up to its name, but we were greeted by a 6-7 foor Carribbean reef shark when we came back up over the wall. It was much closer than my shark from earlier in the week - maybe 15 feet away, and it didn't turn tail immediately either, but hung around for a while.

We went back in to the North Sound and snorkeled inside the reef during our surface interval. We were just a little ways away from the ZOO at stingray city, and a couple of rays did come over to see if we had any handouts. Our second dive was back outside of the reef. We did a drift dive along the top of the north wall. It was a slow drift - more of an "assisted swim" - but it was still a great experience because I had never done that before. We saw a good-sized green sea turtle feeding on sponges, and two spotted eagle rays cruising off the wall.

Visibility was down a little bit at times because of that weather system. 80-100 feet all week, instead of the 100+ that's normal. Water temps were around 80 degrees. No major currents, which I believe are pretty rare in that area. There were some surge problems at some of the shallow sites because of that weather again.

Overall, a very good trip. I've already got my flights booked for next year. March 25th through April 3rd. Anyone else going? Let me know, maybe we can hook up. I don't have a regular dive buddy...