Possible Trip to Grand Cayman

[t-mac]

My wife and I are planning our first trip to the Caymans and I am looking for some thoughts. First, a couple of things about us to inform your responses:

1. We have very limited amounts of time and need to minimize travel time, so we are pretty set on just GC.
2. We prefer diving without a guide. I carry a camera and like going at my own pace. We definitely want some shore diving because of the flexibility.
3. We are not really interested in the all-inclusive scene and don't need anything fancy. We prefer to take care of our own meals and our own gear.

I've read a bunch of posts and I'm thinking about the following trip this May for a week (Sat to Sat):

1. Stay at London House. Do a combination of cook in and dine out.
2. Dive with Divetech. We'll probably do 5 days of boat diving and a few days of shore diving since they have a couple of locations for that.
3. In addition, we are thinking about Stingray City and the Kittiwake. SC looks a little hokey, but I can't resist.
4. Forgot to say, we're planning on getting a rental car -- seems pretty much a necessity.

Any comments on this? Suggestions on where to get groceries? Good options for dining out? Anything else we should consider doing or not doing?

Thanks!

 

[diversteve]

I'm pretty sure it's a requirement that the dive op puts a DM in the water with you. A lot of them are actually instructors. How much you follow them is...They do know where all the neat stuff is though. We would have missed a cleaner shrimp station w/o his pointing it out. We didn't dive with Divetech though.

When you're up in the NW/Divetech area you should do Turtle Reef also. It's located at the Cracked Conch/Macabuca restaurant - Sundivers is on-site. It's between the 2 Divetech locations. Head south during the day and there will be a large school of Tarpon resting in the shadows off the mini-wall. Moving slowly we swam right through them as they parted just enough to let us. Look up occasionally in that area, we've seen schools (flights?) of Eagle Rays flying overhead - more than once.

Divetech used to tow people out to the wall from Cobalt Coast - maybe they still do. IDK if Divetech lets tanks off their property if you plan to dive other sites - Cemetery Beach is nearby - if not Divers Supply in West Bay rents them. No website but they have a Facebook page.

If you get down to south Georgetown Sunset House is worth an afternoon. Decent shore dive, dive/film the Mermaid and the Cathy Church School/Photo Gallery is there. My Bar has good food also.

There's a Fosters Market in West Bay - that must be close to London House. We rented cars from Andy's, they're at the Airport and on Seven Mile Beach.

 

[nfarrar]

That sounds good to me. I have never stayed at the London House so I cant comment on that. We are going to dive with Divetech in June. We get groceries at Fosters. You wil have to see which one is closest to you. Also Fosters as some food and it can be a good fast lunch sometimes. As others have mentions if you see a Grill on a trailer on the side of the road and a long line STOP. It is likely to be pretty good jerk chicken. My wife and I LOVE Al la Kebab. Its never the Copper Falls Steakhouse. Also pretty good but expensive. On Tuesday night try the Kaibo Yachet clubs dinner buffet. Its $45 for all you can eat and includes a boat ride to Rum Point. The ride back under the moon light is rather romantic and fun. Remember to get a to go drink! One of the best dinners on the island is The Warf. I have had the BEST seafood of my life there. It too is $$$ but worth it to me. We avoid the big name places in downtown George Town. tourist trap.... I like The Cracked Conch on the North West side just north of 7 mile beach. We had our wedding reception dinner there.

Here are a few more places we like to eat.
Cimboco - Any time
Chicken Chicken - Lunch
Guy Harveys
Tukka
Lobster Pot
Prime

Car Rentals
Marshals.ky or Grand Cayman Car Rental - Andy's Car Rental Cayman Islands

Stingray city is a bit campy but my wife loves to go on the Red Sail kats. the sail out is peaceful and not over crowded. I dont mind it either. Also the turtle farm is so so. You might enjoy the basic (cheapest) ticket in to the park the first time you go. They have more expensive packages with access to inside pools(kiddy pee pools). Dont waste your money. Go pet the turtles and take some pictures and check the box. If you like flowers and the outdoors the botanical gardens are nice.

Hope that helps. Enjoy the island. Get used to island time and relax! Remember to look RIGHT when driving. They drive on the left hand side. Its not hard to adjust. The Caymans are a wonderful place. Try not to do EVERYTHING the first time. Slow down and enjoy what you get to this time around. You will want to go back. The Caymans are like a drug except the first hit isn't free and I haven't heard of any one O.D.'n on it yet!

Take care Mon,
Nick

 

[t-mac]

Thanks, diversteve!

 

[t-mac]

Thanks, Nick. More good suggestions! I'm with you on taking it slow. I'm sure we'll be back and it's important for us to have our ambience time and hopefully some good interactions with the locals -- that's one reason we shy away from resorts. We like to mingle and get the local experience. Tom

 

[nfarrar]

Thanks, Nick. More good suggestions! I'm with you on taking it slow. I'm sure we'll be back and it's important for us to have our ambience time and hopefully some good interactions with the locals -- that's one reason we shy away from resorts. We like to mingle and get the local experience. Tom

Hey Mon,

The Caymans people are VERY friendly. They are one of the treasures of the islands. I dont care how pretty the water and wildlife are if the locals are assholes its no fun. not the case in the Caymans. On the downside sea water is one of the only free things you will find but it is SO worth it. I have been lucky enough to go since I was a small child. We used to go to Sam McCoys Dive lodge on Little Cayman. I can't say it was 5 star but had GREAT diving all over. My grand father took us. He never dove but loved to fish and Sam took him Bone fishing. One of Sams sons came to stay with us when he went to flight scool. Sonce then we have had life long friends. I would never do it but if I called Chris from Owen Roberts airport and said Im here can I stay with you. He would pick us up in a second and open his house to anyone with me. Great people. Funny store about Chris. My grand father told him to come stay with us when he was ready to learn to fly, half joking. 6 months later we got a call. "Hey Mon. Bob its Chris. Im in Houston at the airport. Can you pick me up or do I need to get a cab?" The only problem is we lived in Oklahoma City! It all worked out. Sorry to gab on and on.

You will no doubt meet lots of locals and make some life long friends. Its easy to do there. There is a chance you will get hooked and start planning your next trip back. I cant tell you the number of people we know that go annually or more often if possiable. A lucky few have been able to retire there. My wife and I have 20 years to figure out how we will manage to retire in the good life there.

Later Mon,
Nick

Sorry again to blab on and on but I would talk about the Caymans all day.

FYI make sure you have room in your luggage to take home lots of Rum Cakes from the airport!

 

[Wolfie]

Another couple restaurants I absolutely love:
Morgan Harbor.
Michaels Genuine.

spot on with Turtle Reef and Sunset House for shore dives.
While driving around the island you could do a shore dive at Smith Cove. I think Divers Supply has tanks they let off site.
I here Dive Tech has a great shore dive at Lighthouse point.

 

[t-mac]

Thanks. Great story, Nick! I'll file away Sam McCoy's for next time. I'll check with you next time I'm in Houston and need a cab.

 

[Mark Derail]

Near identical to what my GF & I are doing next week in GC (March 4-10). We're staying at Turtle Nest Inn, recommended by another Scuba Board member.
It's condo units on the beach with a kitchen.

We'll make our our breakfasts / lunches and dine out.

We'll be doing a few boat dive ops, with Cayman Turtle Divers + string ray city for scuba divers. Planning on renting a couple of tanks later for some shallow shore dives within 20 feet. Perhaps one trip to see Sunset House, and do a guided shore dive with them, depends on how we feel.

We're going to relax, not rush as many dives as possible. We don't like the AI's, however, Sunset House is a nice in-between solution, if you want decent pricing, with a breakfast, some dives. No beach though at Sunset House.

Turtle Nest Inn is East of Boddentown, so quiet & out of the way, huge reefs up & down the beaches walking distance, lots of turtle activity. Another PLUS for Turtle Nest Inn, you can have an economy car included in your price. Cheaper than renting separately.

I'll be posting back my trip review, and also I use TripAdvisor, to help the next person.

My wife and I are planning our first trip to the Caymans and I am looking for some thoughts. First, a couple of things about us to inform your responses:

1. We have very limited amounts of time and need to minimize travel time, so we are pretty set on just GC.
2. We prefer diving without a guide. I carry a camera and like going at my own pace. We definitely want some shore diving because of the flexibility.
3. We are not really interested in the all-inclusive scene and don't need anything fancy. We prefer to take care of our own meals and our own gear.

I've read a bunch of posts and I'm thinking about the following trip this May for a week (Sat to Sat):

1. Stay at London House. Do a combination of cook in and dine out.
2. Dive with Divetech. We'll probably do 5 days of boat diving and a few days of shore diving since they have a couple of locations for that.
3. In addition, we are thinking about Stingray City and the Kittiwake. SC looks a little hokey, but I can't resist.
4. Forgot to say, we're planning on getting a rental car -- seems pretty much a necessity.

Any comments on this? Suggestions on where to get groceries? Good options for dining out? Anything else we should consider doing or not doing?

Thanks!

Edit: I also plan on using DiveTech to rent some tanks & weights for "beginner level" shore dives. There's a few places that are super-safe, no chance of being swept into the sea.

Thanks Diversteve for the comments.

 

[t-mac]

Thanks, Mark. I'll look at Turtle Nest. Sounds like a good option. Please come back and post a link to your tripadvisor review when you get back.