Little Cayman as a new diver - what to expect?

[scubadada]

No ones fears are ever unwarranted! Yes it may in your mind and the minds of others diving in the Cayman's may be easy and relaxing but you are missing the overall point here. No ones fears should ever be cast aside and since the OP expressed her concern about encountering sharks and rays as well as diving to depths where she may not feel safe or comfortable it really has little to do with how easy the diving in the Cayman's may be. Since there is a high probability of encountering sharks or finding yourself on a dive (or being pressured into a dive) that exceeds a depth in which she feels comfortable with her concern and ultimate decision to not go are quite understandable.

My wife had several irrational fears regarding diving. Intellect was not able to easily overcome these fears, but experience and expertise was.

 

[Rapid Star]

My wife had several irrational fears regarding diving. Intellect was not able to easily overcome these fears, but experience and expertise was.

And perhaps when she has enough experience some of those fears will be overcome, but until that time comes is is always better to error to the side of caution and stay well within our limits.

 

[drrich2]

Something worth mentioning, irrespective of whether anyone goes to Little Cayman, dives over 60 feet deep, etc...

The complexity/challenge/whatever-you-care-to-call-it of a dive is impacted by depth in the context of other concerns. Let me clarify by example:

1.) At the local quarry, with no concerns about current, drifting away from a boat, etc..., a dive to 80 feet will likely put me in water in the mid. 40's (water cold enough to be a little scary to be in at 1st), limited viz. (Maybe 20 feet? Bit more?), somewhat low light levels (not dark), with fairly heavy exposure protection (5 mm full wetsuit, 7 mm hood & boots, 7 mm gloves - some people would be in a 7 mm wet suit or dry suit). Got extra lead on to compensate for exposure protection buoyancy.

2.) In Bonaire, I've been to 130 feet at the Oil Slick Leap dive sites; warm water, no wet suit on, excellent viz., good light levels...

Either dive can entail nitrogen narcosis, a careless diver running out of gas at depth, and regardless of other conditions a dive to 130 feet rates respect by the diver. That said, the former dive was more 'challenging' than the latter.

I suspect the original poster will find that Great Lakes divers to, say, 50 - 60 feet, will in overall experience of challenge compare against substantially deeper dives in 'tropical aquarium' conditions elsewhere.

I'm not pushing anybody to go anywhere/do any dive they're not comfortable with, and swim throughs are another issue. I suspect some of the planned 'shallow' Great Lakes dives might be potentially more dangerous than the 'deeper' dives at Little Cayman, but your mileage may vary.

Richard.

 

[scubadada]

I would imagine that diving off Little Cayman would be easier than any diving in the Great Lakes

 

[hroark2112]

I know some will disagree with this thought....

Anyone can call any dive, at any time, for any reason.

If anyone ever has a problem with me calling a dive, they can feel free to tell me all about it after we get out of the water. Then they can kiss my fat white rear end.

If you're not comfortable with the dive, don't go. Same goes for a trip.

LC is a very safe dive location and very easy diving. There is nothing to be afraid of. That being said, it is ultimately up to each diver whether they are comfortable with going or not.

 

[diver0008]

I would imagine that diving off Little Cayman would be easier than any diving in the Great Lakes

It is. Post after post of encouragment from experienced divers, and yet...

Curious thread.

 

[Neilwood]

I know some will disagree with this thought....

Anyone can call any dive, at any time, for any reason.

If anyone ever has a problem with me calling a dive, they can feel free to tell me all about it after we get out of the water. Then they can kiss my fat white rear end.

If you're not comfortable with the dive, don't go. Same goes for a trip.

LC is a very safe dive location and very easy diving. There is nothing to be afraid of. That being said, it is ultimately up to each diver whether they are comfortable with going or not.

Very good post.

Every diver should know their own limits and be strong enough to stick to them - they shouldn't be forced to fight to stick to them.

A lot of the posts seem to ignore the very real fears of sharks & swimthroughs - they seem to simply focus on how easy the diving is in general. Having done the Red Sea recently, I would agree about warm, blue water diving in general - it is very easy compared to home waters where vis is normally sub 10m. That still does not overcome the fears that people might have. Better to avoid the source of the fear than to have to confront it at 30m.

@Marie13 stick to diving within your personal limits - expand them when you are comfortable doing so.

 

[KathyV]

This has nothing to do with whether the OP should or shouldn't go on the trip - she has made her decision - but it is in regards to swimthroughs around LC and elsewhere. I don't care for swimthroughs because I have concerns about sudden changes in depth. Sometimes it takes time for me to clear my ears and I can't really hold up the line while I stop and adjust, and I am usually in a horizontal position in a swimthrough and that can make clearing my ears more difficult.

Also, no matter what the divemaster says during the briefing, there is often someone in the group that kicks up the sand and makes the water murky. Over the years I have done plenty of swimthroughs but I am not a fan and usually choose to avoid them.

There are a lot of swimthroughs around Little Cayman and during our trip last year there were some divers on our boat that really, really loved them and the DMs tried to accommodate them with lots of dive sites that included swimthroughs. We just went over the top and it was no big deal, nobody cared, and it is easy to follow the group because their bubbles come up through the coral.

We just got back from Cayman Brac last week and there are some swimthroughs but not as many as LC but again it was no problem to bypass them. The most popular is Anchor Wall and it was easy to go over and we could still see the anchor and we were joined by another diver that also didn't like swimthroughs.

So most of the time you don't have to do swimthroughs if you don't want to, I'm just saying.

 

[Marie13]

Something worth mentioning, irrespective of whether anyone goes to Little Cayman, dives over 60 feet deep, etc...

The complexity/challenge/whatever-you-care-to-call-it of a dive is impacted by depth in the context of other concerns. Let me clarify by example:

1.) At the local quarry, with no concerns about current, drifting away from a boat, etc..., a dive to 80 feet will likely put me in water in the mid. 40's (water cold enough to be a little scary to be in at 1st), limited viz. (Maybe 20 feet? Bit more?), somewhat low light levels (not dark), with fairly heavy exposure protection (5 mm full wetsuit, 7 mm hood & boots, 7 mm gloves - some people would be in a 7 mm wet suit or dry suit). Got extra lead on to compensate for exposure protection buoyancy.

2.) In Bonaire, I've been to 130 feet at the Oil Slick Leap dive sites; warm water, no wet suit on, excellent viz., good light levels...

Either dive can entail nitrogen narcosis, a careless diver running out of gas at depth, and regardless of other conditions a dive to 130 feet rates respect by the diver. That said, the former dive was more 'challenging' than the latter.

I suspect the original poster will find that Great Lakes divers to, say, 50 - 60 feet, will in overall experience of challenge compare against substantially deeper dives in 'tropical aquarium' conditions elsewhere.

I'm not pushing anybody to go anywhere/do any dive they're not comfortable with, and swim throughs are another issue. I suspect some of the planned 'shallow' Great Lakes dives might be potentially more dangerous than the 'deeper' dives at Little Cayman, but your mileage may vary.

Richard.

Maybe...however, I've always been in a drysuit with approximately 20 lbs of lead. I don't know anything different. I've never been in a wetsuit. I'm used to cold, low viz quarries. In fact the Lakes will probably have better viz than the quarries. I'll be diving Lake Michigan multiple times before my Lake Huron trip. The Lakes will not be an unknown quantity.

And then there's a bottom at 60 ft (or 18 or 40) on the Great Lakes dives. The wrecks are buoyed.

But, most importantly, I'll have a dive buddy who will not be attempting to force me to do something I'm not comfortable with (buddy will be 1 of 2 people I've dove with before).

 

[BDSC]

So-called friend had more issues than I realized with my cancelling the LC trip. She's kept at me about the trip, multiple times, and is apparently very upset I'm planning a Lake Huron trip instead.

I'm not sure how this trip is being organized and how all the roommate situations were going to play out but one reason your friend may have had issues with you backing out is that if you were going to room together, and now you are not going, she may be without a roomie. If they can find her another roomie then no problem but if not and she still wants to go, she may be looking at paying hundreds more to be in her own room. Don't know if she has already paid a non-refundable deposit thinking you were going.