My name is Bob . I have been diving in the Grand Cayman since 1983.
For the past 7 years, I have spent 6 weeks or more in Grand Cayman each year.
This Summer, I spent 2 months diving in Grand Cayman. I have NO COMMERCIAL
INTERESTS in Grand Cayman or any other Caribbean Island. I only reply to these
discussions to help other divers better understand what they can expect at a diving location. I hope to receive the same type of honest, straightfoward comments to help plan my own dive vacations.
A few days ago I posted on SCUBABOARD, my experiences from my Summer 2009
trip to Grand Cayman. My comments were honest and based on several experiences,
but perhaps a bit too pointed. My comments were critiqued by a person named NIPI
Unfortunately, it is obvious that these message boards are being used by people with commercial interests ( either diving Inns or Lodges, or diving operations) to pass along misleading information to prospective new customers, to motivate them to come and give them new business. A sad state of affairs.
I come to Grand Cayman almost annually with my family because the 7 mile beach is great, the Caymanian People are very friendly, crime is not an issue on GCM, you can buy whatever you need in the supermarkets, condos are cheap in the Summer, and it is a very easy relaxed lifestyle on the island. Oh yes, the diving is good,.. in select locations. I do a lot of diving, 60 dives this Summer. I always stay in the quiet West Bay area.
Someone with an apparent commercial interest in GCM has challenged one of my reports on this website. I will attempt to clarify several points.
I said "Boddentown is a dump". Well, perhaps we all have different standards. I consider a little broken down impoverished town , with damaged abondaned buildings, and trash on the ground an undesirable place for a vacation. The owner of the Turtle Nest Inn and condos ( in Boddentown) didn't like to read that and challenged me. Their purely commercial self interest is obvious. 5 years after Ivan, Boddentown is still
recovering, while the rest of the island was near 100% 2 years ago.
I said East End diving is spotty, meaning inconsistent. Seems like half the time I go
out there I see something exciting, like sharks. Whereas the other half time the dives
are ordinary. My detractor NIPI states that the East End has some of the best diving
in GCM.....I agree with him on that, but the diving there is inconsistent.
I said "the North Wall is beautiful but you will see few fish." Sorry NIPI, I have done
too many disappointing dives on the North Wall this Summer where there were very few fish. Yes you will see an eagle ray or two on most N.W. dives, and turtles are
commonplace, but an eagle ray & a turtle doesn't make a great dive. The numbers
of other fish are generally down most of the time.I have spent many dives on the N. Wall shooting MACRO, looking for little fish when the big fish that were supposed to be there didn't show up.
BTW, NIPI , it seems obvious that you run a dive operation when you said " we are diving the North all the time at present, due to the winds from the South" those
are typical comments from a diveboat captain. Your commercial interest is obvious.
I said "forget about diving on the West side, too many dying reefs". Of course there
are a few good spots, N/W Point, Orange Canyon, and the O.V. Wreck, on the West
side. But after those, the vast majority of West Bay divesites feature dead coral,
coral covered with algae, and low fish counts. The West side diving has suffered from overdevelopment on the West plus just too many inexperienced divers damaging the coral,That is the truth. Don't forget, there are many,many boats diving on the West side, and those few good spots are taken quickly, leaving the others.
I may have overstated when I said GCM was wiped out in 2004. NIPI insists it was not wiped out. But things were so bad that there was no power for nearly a month, tourism was not allowed for 2 months, many roads were covered with sand, 2500+ cars were destroyed, and many homes wound up in the sea.There were lootings and home break-ins in an otherwise safe place. NIPI is nitpicking me. Is this the kind of environment you want to find yourself in, on your vacation ?
I said Cayman Brac was wiped out in 2008. Perhaps an overstatement, but several
properties were severely damaged and still have not reopened. Things were so bad
that food collections were made in GCM, to send much needed food to the Brac.
Is that an environment you want to be in, in your vacation ?
NIPI, Regarding diving in the Sep--Nov hurricane season, just look at the National Weather Service data, most of the hurricanes occur in Sep & Oct, that is the period of greatest risk.The further you get away from that period, the lower you risk of a hurricane.I suggested going in late Nov for lower risk. NIPI was kind enough to remind me that there was a hurricane in November. Thanks, I knew that.....there was also one in December a few years ago. The REAL POINT is risk management, going when you have the best chance of missing a hurricane.In late Nov, you will have a much lower chance of bring hit by a hurricane than in peak October. I spend June thru mid August in GCM, NIPI.....thats considered hurricane season too, but rather low risk.
For those of you who have never been in a big hurricane, don't take it lightly, this is
serious stuff.Winds from Ivan were measured at 170 mph in Gerrgetown. Even if a big hurricane misses the CI, the winds and storm surge will likely mess up the diving for a few days.
What I'm saying here is the diver to diver truth. It's sad that we have people with commercial interests in GCM distorting things in scubaboard to get your money
The REALLY GOOD NEWS about GCM diving is that there is VERY GOOD reef diving along the North Coast, From the Cracked Conch Restaurant all the way to the Great
Sound. Just follow the mini wall that runs along this coast. This is prime shore diving
(very economical). There are god shore diving entry points at Lighthouse point,
Turtle Reef (cracked Conch), and Cobalt Coast. I was very impressed with the quality of the reefs & quantity of fish life in this area. I dove it from the shore and from boats.
In my opinion, this is the best, most consistently rewarding area to dive in GCM.
This Summer I have seen just about everything here except eagle rays & sharks. .
I have seen many Turtles, Tarpon, big Parrotfish,a Goliath Grouper, and all the common schooling fish are availible.I have seen large Octopus, very large dog snappers(4ft), crabs, unusual shrimp,lobsters, you name it. Sorry NIPI, this won't help your diveboat business.
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