Last Minute to Grand Cayman, Sunset House??...Need Advice Quickly

[carlislere]

Go!! Great beach diving and boat diving there. My Bar is a great place for drinks and eats.

 

[padiscubapro]

Been going to Cayman for about 20 years now.. My first choice these ast few years has been sunset house.. The shore diving is always good.. Depending on how many people are booked they have up to 5 boats running...

Most of the boats depart right from the property.. departure times are usually staggered... they depart anywhere from 8am to 8:45 am..

Breakfast is usually included with your stay, unless you book through an agent), the restuarant opens promptly at 7am (sometimes a bit earlier).. So eat up..

The dept at the top of the wall depends on what part of the Island is being dived, but firgure anywhere from 50 to 80 fsw..

Shorediving at sunset house

Mermaid in about 50fsw, Nicholson about 63fsw, sand shute to wall 70-90 fsw, drop off around 100 fsw..

The wall is a bit more than 100yards offshore (straight out)... The mermaid about 50 or so, the mermaid to nichoson is maybe 50 yards (probably less), then maybe 50 yards to the wall...

The closest resturant you can walk to from sunset house is the hard rock cafe, there are a few decent others withing a few more blocks..


Sunset also has an all inclusinve package..

 

[zf2nt]

One report in the Chapbook said inadequate SI were allowed for. That concerns me, is it true? Please any input would greatly help. Thanks and give some thoughts to the folks in Cozumel and Cancun.

Many of the operators will only give you a 45 minute surface interval on a two tank boat trip. If you run some simple simulations on your computer, or with the tables (preferably the wheel version), you will see that you can quickly run out of bottom time on the second dive if you haven't budgeted for it during the first dive. The trick is go get down deep on that first dive, see what you want to see at that depth, then get back up above 50 feet or so before you start getting too loaded. People rarely have trouble budgeting bottom time for the first dive itself, but then if the boat goes to a site for the second dive where the bottom is at 50'-60' they sometimes discover their dive is effectively over after only 25 minutes or so.

If you don't want to have to constrain yourself quite so much on the first dive, there is a very simple solution: use Nitrox. And you can save money by only getting Nitrox for the second dive. Again, I suggest running some simulations where you use air on both dives, Nitrox on both dives, and Nitrox on only the second dive. You'll quickly discover you get 75% or so of the benefit of having Nitrox on both dives if you only use it on the second dive.

Bruce

 

[sdwho]

In terms of food, there are various "fast food" joints in Georgetown (Burger King, Subway, etc.). Remember that $1 Cayman = $1.25 US, so if you see a burger for $7.50 CI, its really going to cost you over $9 bucks. In addition to the US fast food type restaurants, there are a growing number of "pub" style restaurants, such as Coconut Joes, where you can get burgers, salads, "wraps" etc. for a decent price (although more than you're used to at home).

Have a great time...

sdwho

 

[2JAX]

Thanks for all the input we have a new dive plan! Based on all the great input here and my desire for variety here is what we have:

Depart tomorrow for GC. Delta allowed a flight swap since we are travelling on FF miles.

Stay 4 nights at Sunset House with 3 days of diving and breakfast included.

Pick up a rental car on the second day and keep it for the duration of our trip.

Move to Coconut Bay condos on the northwest end and stay for 5 nights. I guess it is up by the turtle farm. I also think it is really near divetech so we could dive with them some. There is also shore diving right there. Oh yeah, there is a full kitchen so we can buy our own food.

What do ya think, sounds pretty good, eh? Are there any must do shore dives other than at the Sunset House and up by the turtle farm? Any other good ops on the NW corner of the island? Where is ocean frontiers in relation to the NW end?

We were scheduled to take our EAN in Cozumel so we might try with divetech or someone else. I'm going do a search on divetech and see what folks say..

Thanks so much love all the input from the SB!!!

 

[Damselfish]

Sounds good.

Where is ocean frontiers in relation to the NW end?

About as far away as you can get and still be on the island.

 

[blawler1]

In addition to your prepaid package, you could slip in some good shore diving during the trip. Besides the shore dive in from of the Sunset, try the Eden Rock/Devils Grotto, just up the road in downtown Georgetown. Tanks are cheap and there are tons of swimthroughs and plenty to see for multiple dives and a good night dive.

For the portion of the trip that you are up by the turtle farm, go to DiveTech and do the mini wall at Turtle reef. Its a pretty cool shore dive and I think they still rent DPVs. Once again, shore diving on Grand Cayman is pretty good and cheap relative to everything else ($6 per tank rather than a $55 one tank boat dive)

Also, while you may go for the rental car (I have trouble keeping on the left side after a few drinks myself) there is also a regularly running bus service which is cheap and convienient. They run all the way from downtown up West Bay road to around the turtle farm They're white mini vans with a reen dot or other colored dot on them. At around $2 a head, they're a pretty good way to get around and they let you carry your dive bags onboard.

 

[CaptainNemo]

We had a 2 week trip planned to Cozumel and were set to leave this Tuesday. What the people there have gone through there is truly heartbreaking. Since we do have trip insurance and time off work we're trying to salvage a week of diving. We're coming form Montana so it isn't easy to get anywhere without a lot of planning or $$$. It looks like we could get ourselves to Grand Cayman and maybe stay at the Sunset House. I've read countless posts aboout the Sunset House here, but still have some questions since we have never been to Grand Cayman. I read a lot about diving on the northeast side, but we really don't want to be isolated. We want to be able to walk places such as restaurants and shops. What types of restaurants and more importantly are there reasonable ($) ones within walking distance from the SH? How much are the meals at SH or other restaruants? The accomodations look very basic which is OK as long as it is very clean. Is it? How do they compare to say Scuba Club or CoCo View if anyone knows? Are the types of businessess in Georgetown similar to say staying near the cener of Cozumel? Is there somewhere else we should stay on seven mile beach and dive with? The problem is trying to arrange something on such short notice and still be cost effective. Also a lot of posts mentioned that first dives are to 100', why so deep, is that true? One report in the Chapbook said inadequate SI were allowed for. That concerns me, is it true? Please any input would greatly help. Thanks and give some thoughts to the folks in Cozumel and Cancun.

I am supposed to be in Cozumel this week also until Wilma screwed that up. I haven't stayed at Sunset House but I have been to GCI a couple of times. There is shore diving in the 30 foot plus range. There is some great wall diving on the east end of the island weather permitting. I will never dive with any other operation as long as Ocean Frontiers is still in business. They are the best all around group I have ever dived with. www.oceanfrontiers.com . On the northwest end, Turtle Farm Reef is a spectacular shore dive. Rent an underwater scooter and enjoy the sites. As stated before, GCI is very expensive when it comes to eating out and drinking. I will go back again especially for the diving. Good luck, wish I was going. If you get a chance, pick up The Dive Sites of The Cayman Islands by Lawson Wood. It will make your mouth water.

 

[CaptainNemo]

Thanks for all the input we have a new dive plan! Based on all the great input here and my desire for variety here is what we have:

Depart tomorrow for GC. Delta allowed a flight swap since we are travelling on FF miles.

Stay 4 nights at Sunset House with 3 days of diving and breakfast included.

Pick up a rental car on the second day and keep it for the duration of our trip.

Move to Coconut Bay condos on the northwest end and stay for 5 nights. I guess it is up by the turtle farm. I also think it is really near divetech so we could dive with them some. There is also shore diving right there. Oh yeah, there is a full kitchen so we can buy our own food.

What do ya think, sounds pretty good, eh? Are there any must do shore dives other than at the Sunset House and up by the turtle farm? Any other good ops on the NW corner of the island? Where is ocean frontiers in relation to the NW end?

We were scheduled to take our EAN in Cozumel so we might try with divetech or someone else. I'm going do a search on divetech and see what folks say..

Thanks so much love all the input from the SB!!!

Ocean Frontiers is on the east end just south of The Tortuga Club but well worth the drive.

 

[Sea View]

2Jax,
I'd really be interested in your experience at SH, I was just there for 10 days ...had the last week of sun, & got out as scheduled the day before Wilma became a TS ...that was timing! I was not so impressed, I felt like I stayed at a low rate mexican motel-6, How was it for you?