caymaniac
Contributor
Trip from: March 28 to April 7 - 2007
Our trip left the cold in Mich. to sunny warm Tampa. We were picked up by another member of Scuba Board. We were treated to a trip to the Sponge Docks and then we went to Scully's for dinner. A little walk through the shops and on to David and Colleens home for an overnight. We spent a morning of the next day rumaging through some of David's photos and enlargements of their previous trips to exotic places, such as Papau New Guinea and others. When your host has the same interests as you do, it is enjoyable to share your diving stories.
On to Grand Cayman, we had some wait for the next flight to the Brac so we stopped at SunSet House for a snack and a drink. Off the runway five hours latter we arrived at the Brac near 10pm.
We stayed at the Caribe Sands. We spent the first day organizing, stopped at the Brac Reef to sign in for our dive pkg. How come these days are going by really fast???
On to the diving!
The first day was windy and rough, the reef line had 10 footers with 3 to 4 ft. chop at the dive site. "Charlies Reef". We had a diver that was new, not only green at diving but became green with the rock and roll. He started vomitting so we headed back so we could put him ashore then head out for our second dive at "End of Island". We wanted more so we dove a third dive at "End of Island".
Day 2, we went to the dive site Atlantis. Remember the new diver? He jumped in first and headed for the bottom, meanwhile I started my dive and was about 20 feet down, the sand was at 55ft. As my buddies were also just starting the dive, the new diver became sick at the bottom and panicked, he shot like a rocket to the surface. On board the dive boat he began vomitting again but now there was blood. The divemasters thought it could be an air embolism so they sounded the panick button, we had been previously briefed that we were to ascend to the dive bouy if we heard the emergency siren. There were 9 of us in the water, the Dm's started the boat to begin emergency procedure, contacted DAN, ect. We (the 9 left behind) had a tag line along and had to hang on to the line and wait for a pick when it would be available. It was crap in the 3 ft. chop, we dropped our weight belts and waited for an hour before we were then picked up by another boat. Fortunately the diver ended up okay although he spent the night in the hospital. We had to skip the next dive because of the emergency.
Day 3, the ocean calmed down. Each day the air temp was inbetween 80 - 90, the water was 81F. The dive was "West Chute", then "Buccaneer", then "StingRay Tower". "Sting Ray Tower" was my favorite dive on the Brac this trip.
Day 4, off to Little Cayman, Bloody Bay Wall at "Great Wall East", then to "Blacktip BLVD" , then "SGT. Major", the Little Cayman sites are always awesome.
Day 5, off to a deep dive at "School House Wall", then to "Snapper Reef" then "the Preachers Barge"
Day 6, we went to "East Chute" and, "Atlantis"
Day 7 we kicked back and went exploring on the Brac, there are plenty of caves to see, the Bluff to explore and the south east side has deposits of caymanite that can be found along the rugged shore.
Most every night we enjoyed the sun going down over Little Cayman.
Restaurants visited = Aunt Shaw's, LaEsperanza, the deli at Tibbbets markt., and the Brac Reef buffet.
Day 8, pack up head for home. The plane took us from the Brac to Little Cayman to Grand Cayman, to Tampa, to Detroit, to Grand Rapids. There we deplaned to about 3 inches of snow, I had to scrape the windshield :shakehead ! I think I need to go somewhere soon!
I'll post some pictures when I get my film developed....yes you heard me FILM, I'm still using Velvia.
Our trip left the cold in Mich. to sunny warm Tampa. We were picked up by another member of Scuba Board. We were treated to a trip to the Sponge Docks and then we went to Scully's for dinner. A little walk through the shops and on to David and Colleens home for an overnight. We spent a morning of the next day rumaging through some of David's photos and enlargements of their previous trips to exotic places, such as Papau New Guinea and others. When your host has the same interests as you do, it is enjoyable to share your diving stories.
On to Grand Cayman, we had some wait for the next flight to the Brac so we stopped at SunSet House for a snack and a drink. Off the runway five hours latter we arrived at the Brac near 10pm.
We stayed at the Caribe Sands. We spent the first day organizing, stopped at the Brac Reef to sign in for our dive pkg. How come these days are going by really fast???
On to the diving!
The first day was windy and rough, the reef line had 10 footers with 3 to 4 ft. chop at the dive site. "Charlies Reef". We had a diver that was new, not only green at diving but became green with the rock and roll. He started vomitting so we headed back so we could put him ashore then head out for our second dive at "End of Island". We wanted more so we dove a third dive at "End of Island".
Day 2, we went to the dive site Atlantis. Remember the new diver? He jumped in first and headed for the bottom, meanwhile I started my dive and was about 20 feet down, the sand was at 55ft. As my buddies were also just starting the dive, the new diver became sick at the bottom and panicked, he shot like a rocket to the surface. On board the dive boat he began vomitting again but now there was blood. The divemasters thought it could be an air embolism so they sounded the panick button, we had been previously briefed that we were to ascend to the dive bouy if we heard the emergency siren. There were 9 of us in the water, the Dm's started the boat to begin emergency procedure, contacted DAN, ect. We (the 9 left behind) had a tag line along and had to hang on to the line and wait for a pick when it would be available. It was crap in the 3 ft. chop, we dropped our weight belts and waited for an hour before we were then picked up by another boat. Fortunately the diver ended up okay although he spent the night in the hospital. We had to skip the next dive because of the emergency.
Day 3, the ocean calmed down. Each day the air temp was inbetween 80 - 90, the water was 81F. The dive was "West Chute", then "Buccaneer", then "StingRay Tower". "Sting Ray Tower" was my favorite dive on the Brac this trip.
Day 4, off to Little Cayman, Bloody Bay Wall at "Great Wall East", then to "Blacktip BLVD" , then "SGT. Major", the Little Cayman sites are always awesome.
Day 5, off to a deep dive at "School House Wall", then to "Snapper Reef" then "the Preachers Barge"
Day 6, we went to "East Chute" and, "Atlantis"
Day 7 we kicked back and went exploring on the Brac, there are plenty of caves to see, the Bluff to explore and the south east side has deposits of caymanite that can be found along the rugged shore.
Most every night we enjoyed the sun going down over Little Cayman.
Restaurants visited = Aunt Shaw's, LaEsperanza, the deli at Tibbbets markt., and the Brac Reef buffet.
Day 8, pack up head for home. The plane took us from the Brac to Little Cayman to Grand Cayman, to Tampa, to Detroit, to Grand Rapids. There we deplaned to about 3 inches of snow, I had to scrape the windshield :shakehead ! I think I need to go somewhere soon!
I'll post some pictures when I get my film developed....yes you heard me FILM, I'm still using Velvia.