Night Diving Little Cayman

[Sharksighter]

Anyone have an opinion on night diving operators in LC. I am going to be staying at Pirates Point and thought I might try Reef Divers, McCoys or Southern Cross. TIA for any feedback!

 

[diveIIcaribbean]

LCBR is the best. They will give you tanks for a night dive. Go to the pubilc dock about 1/2 mile down the road and enter right off the side of the dock. It's the big cement parking lot, they will give you exact directions. There are thousands of nudibrancs and a lot of very cool creatures there. We saw a lot of things we never even heard of there - an octopus too! It's only 20-30 feet, with an easy in/out. We did a couple of boat night dives while we were there, but that dock was by far the most interesting.

 

[zf2nt]

Anyone have an opinion on night diving operators in LC. I am going to be staying at Pirates Point and thought I might try Reef Divers, McCoys or Southern Cross. TIA for any feedback!

This is rather a delicate subject, I'm afraid. The bottom line is that nobody on the dive staff at any of the resorts really likes to do night dives. Thus there always seems to be a good reason why we can't do a night dive "tonight". Everybody advertises them, everybody offers them, but then the night dives always seem to get cancelled at the last minute.

Your best bet is to become self-sufficient and not have to rely on anybody's dive staff. If you can find a buddy who is as dedicated to the idea of doing night dives as you are, then the two of you can strike out from shore on your own. Any of the resorts will let you use their tanks, so the only extra equipment you will need is a strobe. Yes, take a strobe! Tie it up to a tree near your shore entry point and you will be very glad you did. Even if you don't get a rental jeep from Perry, you should be able to arrange delivery and pick-up with your resort. I really cannot imagine that any of them would refuse this request, though they might charge for it.

The easiest shore entry is at Cumber's Caves. In fact, Pirate's Point sometimes operates their "regular" night dive by piling people into the van and driving them over there, then going out from shore. It's a short swim out to the inner wall, and you don't even need to go off the main wall in order to have a spectacular night dive there. Just swim the big rectangle that bounds the sand flats.

FWIW, Vinney (at Paradise Villas) has told me it's easy to thread your way out to the Soto Trader from shore. I've never tried it myself, since I've always gone there on the boat. (That's where Little Cayman Beach Resort goes for its night dives.) You might want to go down some afternoon and swim out to the buoy, just to mark the way, then come back at night if it looks reasonable to you. For this one, you wouldn't even need to arrange transportation. The kick-off point is from the middle duplex unit at Paradise Villas. But beware of currents here. When the tide is coming in or going out, you get some good flows there.

The one I really want to do at night, though, is Joy's Joy. It's a very long swim out from shore, so I've never done it. But I think threading my way around through the maze at night would be an incredible experience. It's easy enough to get lost in there during the daytime, so at night you would really have to be paying attention to your compass in order not to become disoriented. Needless to say, none of the resorts would ever consider taking their guests out there at night. It would be total chaos!

Bruce

 

[nipi]

Take care when doing the Trader from shore - there's often a strong left to right current both in- and outside the fringing reef.

 

[caymaniac]

Anyone have an opinion on night diving operators in LC. I am going to be staying at Pirates Point and thought I might try Reef Divers, McCoys or Southern Cross. TIA for any feedback!

The most stars I think I ever saw was while night diving off LC. Of course the diving too was spectacular! LCBR a few years ago.

 

[kathy miller]

We will be heading to Pirate's Point in a few weeks, and were told that no one on the island rents tanks for shore night dives. we love night dives from shore in Bonaire, and were hoping for the same opportunity for shallow shore dives during the full moon in LC. Will LCBR rent tanks to folks not diving with them? any restrictions on diving the dock because of boat traffic at night? Thanks!

 

[nipi]

Sam (McCoy) will rent you a tank any time of day or night.