Looking for Cayman Brac Shore Diving Trip Advice

[tkaelin]

Looking to plan an 8-10 day trip May ‘26 split between CB and LC. The LC part I can plan. Never been to CB and thinking I would like to plan maybe 4 nights with 3 days shore diving before heading over to LC staying at the SCC for 4 or 5 nights.

I know a bunch of folks here know CB and shore diving well so looking for some advice.

Places to stay: any recommendations on where to stay. Looking for a kitchen, preferably on a beach and conveniently located. Don’t need luxury but do need clean, quiet and functional.

Dive shop: I believe there is only one . Any recommendations or tips on renting tanks and weight.

Shore diving: looking for recommendations for sites and parking/ entry advice. Will probably dive 3 days twice a day.

Grocery and dining: where do you get groceries beer and wine? We like the eat breakfast and most meals in. Will do a lunch or dinner out. Any suggestions.

Car rental: who do you use and what type of vehicle do you recommend? There will be two of us. I know some island car rental companies are very particular about which cars they allow to use for diving, dive gear and tanks. We have used pick ups on some islands and compact hatchbacks on others.

Travel: The plan is to fly from NYC to CB then to LC and back. I think I can figure it out but welcome any suggestions or advice. I am familiar with travel to GC and LC. Wonder if there are any things to know about travel between CB and LC.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Thereefiscalling2612]

We did one week LC and one week CB a couple years ago. Brac Scuba Shack is the only place that rents tanks on the island. They have a printout with all ~20 shore dive site descriptions and locations. We weren't able to dive the south side due to weather, but the north side was great. Tibbetts is a must-do at least once. We found some of the sites on the northeast end to be nice with interesting topo. Another group who was able to dive the south said the further southeast site on Brac Scuba Shack's shore diving guide was their favorite. We had possibly the best night dive of our life off the pier at Stake Bay on Kirkconnell Street (easy boat ramp entry, go east, use the pipe just west of the entry point that's 90 degrees with the shore for easy navigation back). Note they only allow one tank at a time so consider the logistics of where on the island you stay vs. the shop so you're not constantly driving back and forth across the island. Also, they "require" dive flags, and we found it to be a good idea given the locals do fish a lot in little boats. We stayed in AirBnB and rented from Four D's.

 

[divezonescuba]

We just got back from our fifth mostly shore diving trip. This trip, because of the weather, we only did shore diving which is fine with me.

The Brac shack opens at 0830 and closes at 4 pm, but will leave tanks out after they close with your name on them. You can use those tanks for an evening or night dive or for any early morning dive.

We use 4D for vehicles who we are very happy with. I once got stuck and they were very responsive in getting us unstuck. They have mini vans and mini mini vans. You can get to many dive sites by car that no one will take you to on a boat.

We have taken to staying at the Alexander, but that facility does not meet your requirement as they are not on the beach. They have kitchens, but we use the meal plan that they offer. The head chef Errol is great, but this last trip he was off island due to a family emergency.


There are three or four grocery stores. They get bigger as you go north, but the one at the cross road at Tibbets square has everything that you need.

If Barry’s golden jerk is not open, he will come in if you call him.

Bring your own inflatable dive down flag. We got stopped by the police once. They would not let us dive until we got a flag. We got asked about ours again this last trip but he did not demand to see it.

My favorite sites are scott’s dock /cemetery wall, handcuff reef, Tibbets, radar reef / Atlantis, and to a lesser extent Sylvia’s reef. Mr. Troy, a local likes the Greenhouse, but we could not figure how to get in the water there.

I would fly into the Brac first on the Saturday 737 from Miami, at least you get there. Since the Saturday 737 has to stop in GC, you might as well fly back from there instead of going back thru Miami. You are going to LC which requires a puddle jumper, but you should try to minimize that to between CB and LC.

Try to do Randy’s gazebo and the bus stop on LC.

 

[tkaelin]

They have kitchens, but we use the meal plan that they offer.

I did not see anything on their website about meal plans. Can you tell me more about what they offer?

Also how did you find the rinse and drying facilities at the Alexander?

 

[divezonescuba]

You would have to ask them about that.

When we began the discussion with them the subject came up and they agreed to create a meal plan. Since food for tourists can be expensive in the Caymans, it was probably about the same price, but much more convenient than getting your own food at the grocery and fixing it yourself. They scheduled the meals anytime we wanted to eat. Dinner time varies according to whether we were doing a twilight, night, or no dive.

We once rented a large house and somehow some of the divers thought that we were to prepare meals for them. So, this works out better.

They gave us a slightly restricted menu each day for breakfast and dinner. If we didn’t like something they allowed us to substitute. But generally, there were several choices. It was like a event menu. On the last day we had steak and lobster.

The first year we were there, they set up a rinse and drying facility for us at the back of the resort. They have two rinse tanks and several racks and clothes lines. You can pull your vehicle up in the back and park and unload. It is only a short distance to the setup.