Little Cayman Beach Resort & Grand Cayman

[Qnape]

Keyshunter,

Talking with the DM's at the bar I learned that you are correct, and what we did is far from rare (but I still felt embarrassed, lol). In fact, they told me of one day when an entire boat full of divers - everyone! - came up on the wrong boat at a great distance so they had to return to the dock to make the transfer. In our case, we all had sufficient air remaining and our boat was close by so we simply swam across to transfer. I did not mention that another diver from our boat also wound up on the same wrong boat on the same dive, by herself, after completely losing her buddy.

It was nice to do a lot of different dive sites this trip, with 6 sites on the south side I had never dove before. They were lush with healthy coral just as you mentioned. Beautiful sites! I also had a chance to dive a site on the North side one afternoon I had never seen before - Mixing Bowl. Lots of juvenile tangs, parrotfish, and others, two scorpionfish, and a really cool overhung chamber in the ironshore with enormous surge. When in the bowl, the incoming waves pound the chamber creating a deep rythmic booming sound you could feel throughout your body. Nice big soapfish was hiding against the back wall of the chamber. A 200 year old highly encrusted anchor chain is draped across the entire site, dating back to the days of ore extraction on the island. A very interesting site!

 

[keyshunter]

Qnape,
The site you are describing is Busch Gardens. Besides the "washing machine" you experienced, it is famous for myriads of small critters. Mixing Bowl is at the top of the wall where Bloody Bay (hardpan on top of sheer walls), and Jackson's (sand boulevard above less sheer but still very dramatic walls) meet. You may have heard it called 3 fathom wall, as the depth at the Mixing Bowl mooring is ~18 feet.

 

[Qnape]

Busch Gardens it is. That's what I get for writing from memory instead of checking my notes. The DM's mentioned that they only visit Busch Gardens when they have a small group; they can only lead a small group into the washing machine area becaue of the surge. I also found several flamingo tongues at the site; we did not see very many elsewhere on this particular trip.

On a different note, it was gratifying to see that the stand of pillar coral at Coconut Walk seemed a bit healthier / robust than last time I saw it. It's something I always look forward to seeing, like the chimneys at Randy's Gazebo. Safe diving!