Planning June, 2018 Trip to GC - Suggestions?

[tkaelin]

Doctorfish nailed it. We dive a week in GCM for about the same as BON and CUR, although CUR turns out to be the least expensive of the three. Family of four diving everyday for a week, three bdrm condo with excellent shore diving on site, mostly shore diving the week, will likely get in 60-70 dives total, rental car. most meals in, some dining out. Even flying someone in from MT we should be under $6k. Another plus is we arrive by noon and start diving that afternoon. And yes all you can eat BBQ Mon at Macabuca on the list! XDive at OF east end, Tukkas and Rum Point also on the list. And May and June is a great time to go.

 

[Doctorfish]

If the OP is still planning stingray City and wants to snorkel, my suggestion would be Friday PM when the last cruise ship is leaving and to use a small independent operator like Dexter, Fantasea Tours. He has a catamaran that he does not overload and runs the trips himself. Retired police officer, very nice guy.

 

[KathyV]

We will be in GC the 2nd week of June, 2018 staying at Morritts. We have a family of 5, 3 teenage girls. Only 2 divers... me (Dad) and my youngest (will be 14 by that time). To balance overall family time with some dive time for me and my youngest, I think we'll do 3 2-tank AM dives (leaves the afternoon/evening to enjoy as a full family). I've been in contact with Ocean Frontiers and they've been quite helpful so at this point I'm thinking we'll go w/them for those dives.

I think as a family we'll do Stingray City and try and find a boat that will let 2 of us dive it and the other 3 snorkel it (any suggestions on boat?). I think we will also try and do 2 shore dives at times when we get over to the West side of the Island (suggestions on top 2 spots to shore dive over there?). I was thinking of trying to fit in the Kittawake too, but not sure (suggestions on boat for that?). Other than that, we have no plans, just rest and relaxation. So any other suggestions are certainly welcome too... or if you have some considerations for the above.

Thanks in advance!

If the OP is still planning stingray City and wants to snorkel, my suggestion would be Friday PM when the last cruise ship is leaving and to use a small independent operator like Dexter, Fantasea Tours. He has a catamaran that he does not overload and runs the trips himself. Retired police officer, very nice guy.

Very true. There is no cruise pier in Grand Cayman and the cruise passengers have to be tendered to shore, so the peak times for cruise visitors are around 10 am to 3 pm - so plan your stingray sandbar snorkeling excursion early or late to avoid the crowds of cruisers.

Red Sail sports offers a Breakfast with the Rays excursion that includes onboard breakfast, early morning snorkel at Stingray Sandbar, and then snorkeling at a second snorkeling:

https://www.redsailcayman.com/daytime-sail-west#category/674

Ambassador Divers offers an afternoon snorkeling trip, after the cruisers leave, to Stingray Sandbar and other locations, see below; and there are other small group vendors as well:

STINGRAY CITY SNORKELING

 

[EastEndDiver]

Another possible option for doing StingRay city is if you are doing a 2 tank dive on the North Wall ask the OP to do the surface interval on the bar.... as I said possible not all OPs will do this and it also depends on their schedule and who is in charge that day.

 

[mi000ke]

If the OP is still planning stingray City and wants to snorkel, my suggestion would be Friday PM when the last cruise ship is leaving and to use a small independent operator like Dexter, Fantasea Tours. He has a catamaran that he does not overload and runs the trips himself. Retired police officer, very nice guy.

You can check the cruise ship schedule here

Ship Schedules - Port Authority of the Cayman Islands

 

[1000RR]

Our June tripped got overcome by my kid's travelball schedule, so we had to postpone to the beginning of August. But we're locked in now... got our reservations at Morritt's, Plane, Rental Car, and this week I went on and reserved a handful of dives with Ocean Frontiers. We're pretty jazzed about it. Just 2 of the 5 of us will be diving. We'll also do a couple shore dives hopefully or maybe work in something with the Rays if we can maybe get one of the smaller outfits mentioned above. I'll be rereading through this entire post, and probably taking a print out of it just to have on hand to maximize our enjoyment down there.

 

[mi000ke]

For some local and not too expensive (for Cayman) food, check out Vivine' s Kitchen, about 2 miles south of Morritts on the main road. It's Vivene's house, she cooks in her kitchen, you order at her back door, and eat at the tables in the back yard overlooking the ocean. Forget the menu and just get the fish of the day.

Have a great vacation!

 

[KathyV]

For some local and not too expensive (for Cayman) food, check out Vivine' s Kitchen, about 2 miles south of Morritts on the main road. It's Vivene's house, she cooks in her kitchen, you order at her back door, and eat at the tables in the back yard overlooking the ocean. Forget the menu and just get the fish of the day. Have a great vacation!

Here's some links for activities near (or at least not too far) from the East End and the North Side:

http://danilew.biz/blog/2014/03/03/grand-cayman-paradise-found/

Kaibo Beach Barbeque on Tuesdays:
KAIBO- Restaurant, Beach Bar, Marina, Cayman Islands | Kaibo

Tukka Frigate Birds:
http://www.tukka.ky/news-events/feed-the-frigate-birds.html

Over the Edge:
Over the Edge, Old Man Bay - Restaurant Reviews, Phone Number & Photos - TripAdvisor

Tsetudo’s Snorkeling Guide:
TESTUDO'S SNORKEL GUIDE Cayman Off the Beaten Path

Bioluminescence Bay tours:
http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/grand-cayman-activities.525583/page-5#post-7669237

Crystal Caves:
Cayman’s caves a North Side wonder | Cayman Compass

Starfish Point:
http://issuu.com/testudo/docs/starfishbeach/1?e=0

Davinoff’s Concrete Sculpture Garden:
Home

The Barefoot Man at the Reef:
Barefoot Man in the Cayman Islands Caribbean Music

 

[caydiver]

My favorite time to go to Stingray Sandbar is the early morning trip. It is surreal and if you are into photography the light is incredible. Afternoon trips are less likely to have as many cruise guests and as we approach hurricane season there is less cruise ship traffic. You don’t need to limit to a Friday afternoon. Right now we are experiencing unusally large influxes of Sargassum. This is particularly hitting the EE as duscussed by an EE boat captain yesterday at my house and an EE dive mgr at a bar Thursday. If it is said at a bar it must be true. There were comments by Steve B (OF) in paper this week too. We are better off than other destinations but there are huge mats that haven’t made landfall yet. Hopefully they will go elsewhere in the Sea. I agree with a lot of what has been said. Didn’t like the dani... blog link. Find it inaccurate and too over the top. That said was with a friend for dinner last week (she has been here for decades and her 20 something daughter is Caymanian). Her daughter writes a local food blog. Said she was struggling to say something positive about a venue but she had to be nice as they comped the meal/drinks for her and a friend. Really? Will never beleve a blog again. The Cayman Islands are expensive. They don’t have to blow your budget and you can find good options at a lower price point by checking around. However the cost of living is high and cost of goods figures into that but for a weeks holiday it is not going to blow a budget dramatically. For us it is true that we don’t pay sales tax, we pay duty which is more than the sales tax or vat we have paid living anywhere else.

 

[thadont]

Ocean Frontiers is the way to go. Did a week of diving there and the staff and operation is incredible. Highly recommend.