Help! First time to Grand Cayman

[Rhone Man]

Depending on how comfortable you are with stuff, you can do Cayman pretty cheaply if you are willing to shore dive and do it on your own without a dive op. Quick thumbnail guide:
* Book accommodation on Air BnB.
* Rent car.
* Bring own dive gear.
* Rent tanks and weights from dive op daily.
* Buy groceries and cook rather than eating out.

It 'aint exactly Bonaire, but you can certainly do it pretty economically if you are confident enough. Helps if you have been before of course.

Disclosure: I have never done Cayman that way. I have certainly vacationed cheaply, but I usually end up diving with an operator because no one else in my family dives, and I am not quite brave enough to go diving solo on sites that I am not familiar with. Although it must be said, Cayman diving is pretty damn civilised in terms of diving conditions for the most part.

 

[scubadada]

We have been diving consistently since 1985 and usually do liveaboards but are finding ourselves financially constrained. So, we want 4 dives a day nitrox. Remote and away from any cruise ship or new divers. We are ok in an apartment if that will save us money. I hear the east end is best. We dont care about beaches but want a view of water. We are both rescue divers. Any ideas for places to check out and times of year?

Carol

I love Compass Point/Ocean Frontiers, but it is hardly inexpensive, even if you cook most of your own meals. Car rental and the morning dives are part of their package but afternoon and night dives, as well as nitrox, would be extra. It is pretty easy and not too expensive to get there.

If I had to dive the Caribbean with financial constraints, I would probably go to Bonaire and do all shore diving. The problem is getting there. There are United or United/Delta flights from BWI or Reagan that are not too bad.

---------- Post added March 13th, 2015 at 09:40 AM ----------

Cozumel is probably another good choice for a destination that would be less expensive than GC, and not too tough to get to

 

[Kharon]

Was there at a condo on the north end of 7 Mile last September. I would certainly not do that again. Part of the problem was the group I was tied to (diving the same dead stretch of rock almost every time). However, given the currency exchange rate ($1.25 US to $1 GC), the inflated prices ($16 for a tank plus they charge for lead), and the diving being certainly no better and perhaps not as good as Bonaire or Dominica, I find the (mis)nomer "diving capital of the world" to be a joke. Don't know about LC or CB, and won't. Way to many other supurb dives available elsewhere.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Part of the problem was the group I was tied to (diving the same dead stretch of rock almost every time). and the diving being certainly no better and perhaps not as good as Bonaire or Dominica, I find the (mis)nomer "diving capital of the world" to be a joke. Don't know about LC or CB, and won't. Way to many other supurb dives available elsewhere.

By your own admission it was the group you were with who continued to dive what you describe as a "dead stretch of rock" yet you go on to say that the diving on GC is certainly no better and perhaps NOT as good as Bonaire or Dominica how can you make such a claim when you never experienced the North Wall or the East End or the seldom dove South Side or any of the amazing West Side sites which your group failed to dive? I think you might be trying to blame GC for your groups failure to show what GC really has to offer.

 

[KathyV]

Was there at a condo on the north end of 7 Mile last September. I would certainly not do that again. Part of the problem was the group I was tied to (diving the same dead stretch of rock almost every time). However, given the currency exchange rate ($1.25 US to $1 GC), the inflated prices ($16 for a tank plus they charge for lead), and the diving being certainly no better and perhaps not as good as Bonaire or Dominica, I find the (mis)nomer "diving capital of the world" to be a joke. Don't know about LC or CB, and won't. Way to many other supurb dives available elsewhere.

By your own admission it was the group you were with who continued to dive what you describe as a "dead stretch of rock" yet you go on to say that the diving on GC is certainly no better and perhaps NOT as good as Bonaire or Dominica how can you make such a claim when you never experienced the North Wall or the East End or the seldom dove South Side or any of the amazing West Side sites which your group failed to dive? I think you might be trying to blame GC for your groups failure to show what GC really has to offer.

Kharon, I realize that you had a bad trip to GC primarily due to the poor planning and odd practices of your dive club leaders (see link below) but you continue to blame the Cayman Islands because it was an expensive and disappointing trip. I had a bad trip the first time we went to Bonaire because my husband got sick, and it cost us a lot of money, but I don't blame it on Bonaire and it didn't stop us from going back.

Yes, the Cayman Islands are expensive (no surprise) but there are ways to keep the costs down. And it is a first world country with a strong economy (unlike many Caribbean destinations, did you see all those banks and high-end shops and restaurants on GC?) So you get what you pay for, it's clean, it's safe, you can eat the food and drink the water without worry, the people are friendly, it has many amenities and attractions for those that appreciate them, and it has excellent diving whether you believe that or not.

If your bad experience soured you so that you don't ever want to return, that's fine and it's your decision, but to make statements like "...the diving being certainly no better and perhaps not as good as Bonaire or Dominica, I find the (mis)nomer 'diving capital of the world' to be a joke. Don't know about LC or CB, and won't. Way to many other supurb dives available elsewhere." is rather unfair IMO.

If you had actually had the opportunity to give Cayman diving a fair trial and then came to that decision - well that's fine, it's your opinion; but to make that statement after "diving the same dead stretch of rock almost every time" does not reflect the actual situation.

I've been to Dominica and it was great, I saw lots of unusual critters (frogfish, seahorses, flying gunards) but it wasn't Bloody Bay Wall and it was hard to get there - we had to fly to Puerto Rico and pay for an extra night in a San Juan hotel just to get to Dominica, where the accommodations and food were rather mediocre IMO. It is a beautiful island, though!

We love Bonaire and have been there several times. The diving is cheap but dining and lodging can be expensive, and last time we went the flights were few, expensive, and inconvenient. We had to book an extra night at the hotel because we arrived in the wee hours of the morning and that added to the cost, and you have to pay an annual park fee to dive there. And we have to take extra care against thievery when we are on Bonaire, I feel comfortable about locking the car on GC but not on Bonaire. We love the diving freedom and culture of Bonaire and always have a great time - but the diving isn't spectacular, there are no dramatic walls and few large creatures, but there's lots of healthy corals and sea life. The water is warm and clear and the island is interesting and fun and lies below the Hurricane Belt and that is all fine with me.

There are negatives and positives about every dive vacation location I've visited. I will return to some places but not to others, it's my decision, but I will try to make a fair evaluation based on realistic information and experience.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ca...impression-one-definite-skip.html#post7224630

 

[redacted]

Yes, the Caymans are expensive but there are ways to keep the costs down. And it is a first world country, with a strong economy (did you see all those banks and high-end shops and restaurants on GC?) so you get what you pay for, it's clean, it's safe, you can eat the food and drink the water without worry, the people are friendly, it has many amenities and attractions for those that appreciate them, and it has excellent diving whether you believe that or not.

Yes, Cayman is a 1st world destination. It has good diving. Perhaps excellent if you are willing to pay more or dive less. That said, we will be going back in Oct. All in all, it is a worthwhile trip. But expensive compared to other options.

 

[Doctorfish]

I agree with KathyV.
Kharon's comments are flavored by his bad trip and not the Cayman Islands. I have dived many other spots in the Caribbean, including Bonaire, Roatan, Grand Turk, Utila, Cozumel, and still often come back to the Cayman islands because of the excellent wall diving, first world amenities, safety and high end accommodations. In the end you get what you pay for.

 

[caymaniac]

The Keys has great diving but if the bluewater doesn't roll in on some of the reefs, if you get rough water, you can't always see the the good diving. I've dove on Turks & Caicos, Cozumel, Aruba, Bonaire (twice), the Virgin Islands (twice), St. Maartin, the Bahamas (Nassau, New Providence, Eluthera and Freeport(twice) ). You can have good diving at all of these, but you could also say I went over the same piece of dead rock on "one" trip.

Get real, one trip with some off-beat group diving the west side of Grand Cayman does not warrant giving a black eye to the Cayman Islands. My first trip to the Grand Cayman was 1981, it caused me to get certified, we went back a couple of times. In 1988 my first trip to the Brac, we've stayed there more than a dozen times. In 1990 we spent more than a week diving off Little Cayman. I've been back many times.

Stay at Little Cayman Beach resort and tell me that the diving was over the same piece of dead rock and you'll never go back because the diving sucked and I'll call you a liar. I guess if you want you can find something bad with every vacation. By the way, I've never gone with a dive group to any of the places I've listed.

 

[AggieDiver]

Yeah, there is a difference between diving a crappy destination and diving with a crappy group. The Caymans are an excellent place to dive. They are more expensive than most other Caribbean islands, but you get something for that, namely infrastructure, security, and a more first world feel to the place. If you go anywhere, you can find the one dive that is a "must do" dive. Most of the time, by the time a site has earned that moniker, it is so overdived and abused, it no longer deserves it. I remember diving Mary's Place on Roatan back in the late 90s. The dive op hyped it as a big deal and we were going to make a "special trip" around to the south side specifically to dive the site. I ended up completely underwhelmed. The site had been badly overdived and was in terrible shape. It certainly was a geomorphologic novelty, but it was pretty barren as a dive site. If I had dove that site for 5 days straight, I would have gone home with the idea that Roatan diving was terrible, because I had seen "the best site on the island" and it was bad. Good thing I didn't. Roatan has good diving. So does Cozumel and Belize and the Florida Keys. But in my opinion none of them are as good as Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.

It really is unfair to dive one bad site over and over, then go home and badmouth an entire destination. But then, that seems to be Kharon's M.O. I guess we should all be grateful...if he turns people off to the destination we all love, it just makes it easier to book when we want to go.

 

[Kharon]

No point in argueing this. I choose not to pay top shelf for a trip to GC. I simply do not think it's worth the cost and effort to get there. I did see a reef that was alive on one of two boat dives. It was certainly comparable to any I dive on Bonaire. Those of you with a lot of money to burn that want all the luxeries of home have far different diving priorities than I.

BTW the OP stated financial constraint. As many have noted in this thread the Caymans don't really fit that.