Little/Big Caymen in late March?

[rockiesdiver]

Greetings, fellow divers
My buddy (aka my husband and I plan to head either to Little or Grand Cayman island from March 22-30. If we do Grand Cayman, we'll spend time at both ends of the island (east and west). I've read all the posts here but have a few lingering questions and am hoping for some clarification:
1) Is there a good chance that shore diving from the Cobalt Coast area (or any area of the islands, for that matter) will be limited at that time of year? (I've read the reviews/comments etc about Sunset house and I am not sure this is for us...a bit concerned about comments that the dive masters treat people like children and that it is cruise ship central.) We're thinking of doing a package with CC/Divetech.
2) Any recommendations for places to stay/operators that are reliable yet laid-back for the East Coast of GC? Has anyone done the package with Oceanfrontiers (condo, car, boat dives)? if so, how long are the boat rides?

Any info would be so appreciated.

Happy diving!

 

[bracdiver]

Can't comment about Sunset House specifically, but I do know that the west end of Grand Cayman is basically 'cruise ship central'. I have not personally been there but I highly reccommend 'Ocean Frontiers' on East End. Fraser Purdon and his staff run a great operation from everything I've heard about them.

 

[Barry Goode]

I went to both Grand Cayman & Little Cayman a few years ago. I stayed at Sunset House & thought it was fine. The diving on Grand Cayman was great, but the diving off Bloody Bay Wall (Little Cayman) was the best I've ever done. On my first dive I saw: spotted eagle ray, 2 turtles, a nurse shark, an octopus, a moray, etc. My last dive there I saw a 7 foot hammerhead. I've never seen coral in such great condition w/ such variety. There's lots of large marine life because it doesn't get as much dive traffic as Grand Cayman. Visibility was 150 feet.

However, there is NOTHING to do topside on Little Cayman. Whereas Grand Cayman has quite a lot to do when you're not diving. Little Cayman is great if you just want to dive & relax at your hotel.

 

[caymaniac]

Greetings, fellow divers
My buddy (aka my husband and I plan to head either to Little or Grand Cayman island from March 22-30. If we do Grand Cayman, we'll spend time at both ends of the island (east and west). I've read all the posts here but have a few lingering questions and am hoping for some clarification:
1) Is there a good chance that shore diving from the Cobalt Coast area (or any area of the islands, for that matter) will be limited at that time of year? (I've read the reviews/comments etc about Sunset house and I am not sure this is for us...a bit concerned about comments that the dive masters treat people like children and that it is cruise ship central.) We're thinking of doing a package with CC/Divetech.
2) Any recommendations for places to stay/operators that are reliable yet laid-back for the East Coast of GC? Has anyone done the package with Oceanfrontiers (condo, car, boat dives)? if so, how long are the boat rides?

Any info would be so appreciated.

Happy diving!

We've been to the Caymans in late Mar. plenty of times.
There is little to no chance that the shore diving will be limited.
Sunset house is in a protected area south from where the cruise ships come in, if you want to shore dive there it's no problem.
Cobalt coast would be a great place for a pkg.
I have dove with OF and it was very good diving.

When it comes down to it for me and my buddy(aka my wife), we prefer Cayman Brac or Little Cayman. The reason we prefer the sisiters is because we have dove plenty on GC and we love the quiet of Brac & LC. Once on the Brac (in late March) on a Sunday afternoon after diving in the morning, we took a scooter rental ride and we saw ONE car on the road that afternoon........you can't compare that to Grand Cayman.

Little Cayman

Cayman Brac

Grand Cayman

Smith's cove Grand Cayman a great place to snorkel

 

[under water]

We are also thinking of heading to LC in March. I looked at all of the LC resorts web sites, but no mention of shore diving.
Is this supported. ie. can you grab a tank, walk to the end of the dock and step off at any of the resorts like you can on Bonaire?
Thanks!

 

[Damselfish]

There is some chance you would get blown out of shore diving at Cobalt Coast in March. We even got blown out in April. But Divetech's other location where shore diving is also included is around the shoulder of the island, so even though it's not very far away conditions can be much different. If you got blown out of diving at Cobalt Coast it's not the end of the world, as the diving there, while certainly convenient if you're staying there, is just ok IMO. We much preffered diving at Turtle Reef when Divetech had the shop there, and if we stayed there now I suspect we'd spend more time at their new spot Lighthouse Point.

You're much less likely to get blown out of shore diving at Sunset House, though it's not impossible (we've gotten blown out there too, in the summer though.) While it's a great dive hangout and clearly suits many folks, we have no plans to go back. The shore diving is somewhat convienient but seemed pretty beat. The rooms were basically a motel, and at the time we were last there not even a nice motel (and we were in the in the nicer rooms.) I haven't seem them in awhile but haven't heard that's really changed. We weren't crazy about the dive op or boats, again it's been awhile so I don't have a first hand opinion on the dive op any more but AFAIK they've still got the same crappy and slow boats diving mostly the West end. It was nice when they dove the South side which was better and less crowded.

I think East End diving is the best on GC. Ocean Frontiers is the op to go with (there's only one other Tortuga Divers.) I think we did a dive/car/room package with OF last time only it was staying at the Reef, as Compass Point where OF is located just barely opened and we weren't sure it would be when we reserved. Length of boat rides can vary a lot, depending on the prevailing winds and where they're diving.

 

[Damselfish]

We are also thinking of heading to LC in March. I looked at all of the LC resorts web sites, but no mention of shore diving.
Is this supported. ie. can you grab a tank, walk to the end of the dock and step off at any of the resorts like you can on Bonaire?
Thanks!

nope, there's no shore diving at the resorts. Most of the resorts are along a shallow lagoon, opposite side of the island from Bloody Bay and all the famous stuff. There is diving on the resort side of the island too, but too far out to shore dive not to mention a nasty fringing reef in the way. There is one place Sam McCoy's (not what you'd call a resort though) on the Bloody Bay side that might have shore diving, but I've never heard anything good about the place.

It's possible to shore dive some sites on Little Cayman, away from the resorts, but this tends to be done by people who live there or are very familiar with the place, not by the average visitor. For one thing you'd need transportation, renting a vehicle on LC is not typical and is expensive. You'd also need to confirm if your resort (or which shop) will even let you take tanks for shore diving, which has varied over time.

 

[chickmama]

I went to both Grand Cayman & Little Cayman a few years ago. I stayed at Sunset House & thought it was fine. The diving on Grand Cayman was great, but the diving off Bloody Bay Wall (Little Cayman) was the best I've ever done. On my first dive I saw: spotted eagle ray, 2 turtles, a nurse shark, an octopus, a moray, etc. My last dive there I saw a 7 foot hammerhead. I've never seen coral in such great condition w/ such variety. There's lots of large marine life because it doesn't get as much dive traffic as Grand Cayman. Visibility was 150 feet.

However, there is NOTHING to do topside on Little Cayman. Whereas Grand Cayman has quite a lot to do when you're not diving. Little Cayman is great if you just want to dive & relax at your hotel.

I am curious was this before or after the Hurricane that did all the damage?

 

[Damselfish]

Ivan didn't seem to have a long term negative impact on diving GC or LC.

 

[zf2nt]

We are also thinking of heading to LC in March. I looked at all of the LC resorts web sites, but no mention of shore diving.
Is this supported. ie. can you grab a tank, walk to the end of the dock and step off at any of the resorts like you can on Bonaire?
Thanks!

A few years ago I started a project to put some info on Little Cayman shore diving on the web, then got distracted and dropped the project about half completed. What I did complete is still sitting there, though. You can access it at Shore Diver.