Grand Cayman

[Scubagirlmaui]

We will be going to Grand Cayman in October, and staying at the Morritt's Tortuga Resort. We want to do shore and boat diving along with getting our Advanced rating. Can anyone recommend a dive operation and special shore dives? We will have a car, so that won't be a problem. Any other 'must do's" would be appreciated. Thanks,

Rhonda

 

[DiverDave76]

Dove with Treasure Island Divers 2 years ago. They have the only dock space on Seven Mile Beach. Good Group.

Eden Rock Dive shop has some terrific shore diving. One of the nicest reef structures I've ever been on.


Dave

 

[Northeastwrecks]

I've been extremely pleased with Dive Tech. However, I'm not sure where they are in relation to your hotel.

 

[Zagnut]

..you're stayin on the East End (Tortuga). Drew Sailbum works at the dive op right next to the resort. He is a member of this board and a pretty nice guy as well. I'm sure he will be along shortly to fill you in on the details. Also, do a search. There's already alot of good info that has been posted in the recent past about GC in general and the East End in particular.

Caymancasey, also a member of this board, is a DM for a dive op on the west end. I've heard good things about the dive op where she works as well as Drew's.

BTW, You gotta dive Snapper Hole! ..also right near your resort.

 

[TedJ]

I've been diving with Ocean Frontiers in East End for a number of years. Always been pleased. Shore diving is not so available although there are a couple of spots. The diving along the East End area is much superior to that on the West side of Grand Cayman.
TedJ

 

[Drew Sailbum]

I'm sure you'll like Morritt's so long as you can kick back and relax. Morritt's is on the very quiet East End of Grand Cayman.

There are only three dive ops actually in East End as opposed to 30+ or so scattered around Georgetown, Seven Mile Beach, and West Bay on the west side of the island. East End dive sites are a bit healthier as a result.

In East End you can choose from Cayman Dive Lodge, Ocean Frontiers, or Tortuga Divers. As others have pointed out, I work at Tortuga Divers which is located at Morritt's Tortuga Club where you'll be staying.

AFAIK, all the East End ops can teach an Advanced Course. I believe that all would teach a PADI course. Such a course would require a deep dive, a navigation dive, and three additional dives chosen from a selection of topics.

Shore diving is very popular on Grand Cayman. In fact I went on a shore dive up at Divetech today (Yes, that's what this dive instructor does on his day off.) and saw a great variety of Tarpon. It is a lovely dive, but about as far as you can possibly be from Morritt's. I got stuck in bad rush hour traffic and it took 1 hour and 45 minutes to make the 20 mile drive home.

There are a few spots for shore diving East End, all along the north shore. By October we may be seeing ENE winds which might make entries and exits dicey. Ask in any of the EE dive shops about suitable sites for a given day.

There are many more shore diving sites on the west side that will be sheltered. Sunset House, Seaview, Eden Rock and Devil's Grotto are popular sites just south of Georgetown. Turtle Reef and Cobalt Coast in West Bay (both are Divetech shops) are very popular too. All of these sites have a dive shop on site where you can rent tanks and weights.

 

[Scubagirlmaui]

Thanks guys for all the help. That gives me a place to start. Drew, can you tell me how much for the advanced and what the process would be? I don't I'll be going for my Advanced this time, so it will just be my husband.

Thanks,

Rhonda

 

[worlddiver]

We were staying on the East End (Time Share) in April and was training and shore diving with DiveTech on the West End. It is worth the 45-60 minute scenic drive. My wife and son was taking their advanced open water and Nitrox courses with DiveTech and I was tagging along on all the dives. All their staff are instructors and freindly as they get. They gave us each, overnight drying lockers for our equipment. They have great restaurants at both their dive shops and at their small, new resort they made us feel right at home. The night diving at their Turtle Reef shop was so easy and there was so much to see. Nat was our instructor and he made our training a great family experience. He went out of his way to shows us where all the creators hide. One more thing, if you get a free afternoon, experience their "One Way" scooter adventure. They say it is a 1.2 miles trip but it looks about 3 miles, it took us 72 minutes. My son, still can not stop talking about the scooter trip and all the turtles and Nurse sharks.
We are going back in November and this time staying at their resort.

 

[Cave Diver]

I went with several very advanced divers last September and we had one of the best trips of our life. We did several dives from both Dive Tech locations and really liked dealing with them.

We also did their scooter excursion dive from the Cobalt Coast to the Turtle Reef location. Our run time for it was just over an hour, but we had some air to spare so we spent some time playing along the mini wall after the dive. It's one of those dives that I would recommend for anyone to try at least once.