Trip Report Trip Report: Cayman Aggressor IV, April 28-May 5, 2018

[mi000ke]

Have you ever been to the Monday night Barbeque at the Cracked Conch? We haven't tried it yet.

We've gone a few times and it is usually quite good. The first time we went, the food was OK - but the last time we went the food was outstanding. So it can vary a bit, but either way it is never bad, the price is right, and the location is great. Macabuca/Cracked Conch is one of our regular go-to places, especially as we can take our dog along.

I forgot about the bird and tarpon feedings. I like the wild chickens at Tukka that walk up and down the deck while you eat. Part of the Cayman experience.

 

[AggieDiver]

That was not the explanation that we received from the captain. He said that Cayman Brac was deeper, and if we were going to have to dive deeper sites, we might as well go back to Grand Cayman. That did not make sense to me; while I certainly appreciate the advantages of shallower dive sites, I think most other guests and I would have preferred Cayman Brac to Grand Cayman. Another guest and I also had a special interest in diving the wreck there, and that one guest apparently had his heart set on Cayman Brac for some other reason and was disappointed to learn that it was off the table entirely - not just for this trip, but in general, if we understood the captain correctly.

I can't speak for what the captain was actually thinking, so I won't try to put words in his mouth. But do realize that you and I both are probably on the much more analytical end of the scale than most folks on any boat. For most people, an answer to the question is the answer and they just aren't that interested in the "why" behind the answer. So he may have given an "easy" answer that didn't get into all of the reasons that might have impacted his decision making.

I still suspect that it has to do with what buoys are available that are rated for the Aggressor's size (I think there are only 2 on the north side of LC and maybe 1 on the south side along with the barge mooring on the west end. I suspect Brac is similar or may even have fewer. The moorings are maintained by the DOE, so the Aggressor folks have very little control over what is available to them. I know there is one at the Tibbetts wreck, but as I said before that is a pretty exposed location and would not be somewhere you would want to moor and/or dive with any kind of north wind (northeast or northwest included). So given the options he might have had for moorings on CB, it is entirely possible that the better dive sites on CB were not available to him and he felt that going back to GC would give you better options for where to dive. Given that they are all working for tips and rely on customer satisfaction to drive future business, I don't think they would just blow off what is a somewhat iconic dive (the Tibbetts) just because it made life easier for them. But who really knows without asking right?

 

[FindingMenno]

Menno, since you're on Grand Cayman, and have a high dive count and work in the dive industry IIRC, it's interesting to me that you mention not yet having that personal experience. Are you talking about at a specific time of year or something, or have you just not done much east end diving?

If the latter, why not? Seems like even if your employer didn't operate out there, that curiosity to explore diving highly praised by some would eventually lure you out.

Richard.

Hi Richard,

happy to clarify! First of all you're correct in saying that I live on GC and do work for a dive operation. So a statement that may shock many here... in the 1,5 year that I've been here I have not been diving at the East End yet at all!

There are a few... err.... 'excuses' for this:

• I absolutely love diving, but like in most jobs if you spend 5 days a week working in diving and all related things, you tend to spend your days off on other stuff. As well as just needing to take care of chores and all the other thing in life that need attention.
• It's a classic situation that things that are available on your doorstep get the "yeah I can always do that, I'll get to it" approach and end up being postponed. For example I was living in Amsterdam for 4 years before I finally made to the Anne Frank Museum. I lived and worked in Bonaire for 6 months and it was 3 days or so before I left before I finally got around to do a East coast dive.
• If I do dive 'for fun' in my days off, I tend to focus on building experience in tech and rebreather diving. That is not something I can easily do at other operators/locations than at my employer on the west side, so my 'fun' dives are done there.
• It's an very early rise to get to the East End for the morning dives.... It's my weekend man!

But in good news, a few weeks ago me and a few friends on island decided that we should really try an East End dive. After putting our schedules together we're looking at getting out there in 3 weeks!

 

[AggieDiver]

I have a specific interest in and taste for macro, and I also prefer the "diving freedom" of Bonaire, so that might explain the differences in our respective preferences, and why I preferred Bonaire to Little Cayman.

My comments on Little Cayman were not intended as "sweeping statements," but rather aimed to contribute to and clarify the discussion of why many people think Little Cayman in particular is so great. I specifically used the term "my two cents" in my report in order to caveat the fact that my observations reflected admittedly limited experience.

When I was still considering terrestrial options in the Cayman Islands, I asked about the reasons for the widespread preference for Little Cayman in this post on Scubaboard and received a wide variety of answers, ranging from shallow dive sites to the punch at LCBR. When I reread that thread in retrospect, I noticed that few mentioned the differences in the marine life in Little Cayman, which - in my humble opinion and on the basis of my admittedly limited experience there - were or would be the chief selling point or distinguishing factor for Little Cayman, compared to Grand Cayman. I wanted to share that observation for future readers considering Little Cayman as a terrestrial destination and wondering, as I did, why it is so popular, for which there appear to be a wide variety of explanations.

Yeah, it is kind of like asking what is the best bourbon. Everybody has an opinion and you can't always explain exactly why you like what you like. I didn't take any offense in what you said about LC and your ranking of the diving there. I have certainly had some underwhelming dives in just about any location we have been, so it may have just been luck of the draw or it may have been it just wasn't your thing. I know I tend to like dive sites with sandy areas surrounding by large coral formations and I don't really enjoy swimthroughs. So the Jackson's Bight portion of the Bloody Bay Wall on Little Cayman is kind of my Nirvana. Unfortunately, it is also the first area to get blown out with bad visibility with a NE or North wind. So if we had gone to LC and only been able to dive the west end of the Bloody Bay Wall and the south side of LC, I would probably have a very different opinion of the diving there. The diving on CB is different in that it is more spur and groove coral formations instead of the outer wall and inner wall orientation on LC. In that regard CB is similar to GC and my understanding is that it is most similar to the East End of GC, although I have not been diving on GC to verify that for myself.

Regarding the land-based versus liveaboard options, I have always felt liveaboards were best for areas that were inconvenient or impossible to access from a single land-based resort. So places like the Galapagos or Bahamas where you can skip around and visit multiple places that would otherwise take multiple trips to get to. In that regard, I don't really feel like the CAIV is worth it for people trying to get the most out of Cayman diving, because they are so often forced to compromise the diving due to the weather. Most of the best dive sites the CAIV visits on LC could be done as shore dives from a rental house just as easily. With LC being seen by most as the best diving location, you would hope to always see at least half the CAIV trip there. But if the weather is wrong or the timing is not right, you may not get to dive there at all. Whereas it is actually pretty rare on LC to not get to spend most of your dives on the north side in the best dive spots if you stay on the island, except for a few months in late fall or early winter. And they can usually fit in a day trip over to CB to dive the wreck if the weather cooperates and they have enough interest. So I think you are actually better diving LC from land than a liveaboard just because you actually have more dive options if you do.

 

[KathyV]

...I still suspect that it has to do with what buoys are available that are rated for the Aggressor's size (I think there are only 2 on the north side of LC and maybe 1 on the south side along with the barge mooring on the west end. I suspect Brac is similar or may even have fewer. The moorings are maintained by the DOE, so the Aggressor folks have very little control over what is available to them...

Although I agree that a large boat like the Aggressor is limited by the available moorings, you are incorrect in stating that there are only a few moorings they can use in the sister islands. I checked my log book and we dived many different sites around LC from the Aggressor, including: Randy's Gazebo, Jackson's Wall, The Meadows, Sarah's Set, Marilyn's Cut, The Great Wall, 3 Fathom Wall, Nancy's Cup of Tea, Bus Stop, and Joy's Joy.

I also agree that LOBs are best for sites that are difficult to dive from land-based locations, and it is true that you can easily dive most Cayman sites from land-based locations, but the OP wanted to do a lot of diving - including night dives. You can often do 4-5 dives per day on the Aggressor, including night dives almost every night. If you get a good deal on the price, then the cost per dive may be much better on an LOB then for land-based.

You mostly get 3 dives per day if you stay on Little Cayman or Cayman Brac, with the chance of one or two night dives during the week. Plus the Aggressor will allow you to visit great sites around all 3 Cayman islands - but only if the weather cooperates - so it is a risk. But weather is also a factor if you do a land-based trip to any of the Cayman islands. You may be stuck on the south side of LC, or be unable to get over to Brac to dive the Tibbetts, or to travel from Brac to LC to dive BBW, or you may only get the chance to dive the west side of Grand Cayman. Weather is almost always a factor with diving any place you go.

On Grand Cayman, the only dive op that I know of that regularly offers 4 boat dives per day and one or two night dives per week is Ocean Frontiers on the East End, but that can get pricey - and the East End fits the OP's description of a Ghost Town. Another option is to stay at a GC dive resort that has a house reef and you can do 2 to 3 boat dives per day and a couple of shore dives - weather permitting - and you may need to rent a car if you are hoping for entertainment, because they are often in more remote locations.

2 to 3 dives per day are fine for me, but there was a time when I wanted more and an LOB can be a great opportunity to do a lot of really good diving - weather permitting!

 

[AggieDiver]

Many of those sites were probably dove from the same mooring of the mothership. I forget which ones are adjacent to each other, but you can go one direction and get one site and dive the other direction to get another. Also, if the conditions are very smooth, they can probably use other moorings. I just remember asking one of the LCBR captains why the CAIV was always on Randy’s and Nancy’s and I was told there were only a few that they could use in the Marine Park. Joys Joy may be a third one, but it was missing when we were there on that trip. For some reason I had it in my head that there were only 2.

 

[drrich2]

On my 2016 trip, Little Cayman sites we hit per my dive log:
1.) Randy's Gazebo.
2.) Bus Stop.
3.) Marilyn's Cut.
4.) 3 Fathom Wall.
5.) Leah Leah's Lookout.
6.) The Meadows.
7.) Nancy's Cup of Tea.
8.) The Great Wall.
I don't recall just where on the island which sites were, but that's my log. We did 2 dive on the Keith Tibbetts wreck, the only Cayman Brac dives we did.

On Grand Cayman, the only dive op that I know of that regularly offers 4 boat dives per day and one or two night dives per week is Ocean Frontiers on the East End, but that can get pricey - and the East End fits the OP's description of a Ghost Town.

Not sure about their exact offerings, but DiveTech's site notes: "Our two custom dive boats Atatude and Tenata run on a daily basis to provide two-tank trips in the morning then a selection of one or two-tanks in the afternoon." I imagine if someone wants to get back from the morning trip and take an afternoon trip, too, or wants to know how often a 1 vs. 2 tank afternoon trip is the option, better contact DiveTech directly and ask.

Richard.

 

[KathyV]

Many of those sites were probably dove from the same mooring of the mothership. I forget which ones are adjacent to each other, but you can go one direction and get one site and dive the other direction to get another. Also, if the conditions are very smooth, they can probably use other moorings. I just remember asking one of the LCBR captains why the CAIV was always on Randy’s and Nancy’s and I was told there were only a few that they could use in the Marine Park. Joys Joy may be a third one, but it was missing when we were there on that trip. For some reason I had it in my head that there were only 2.

No, they moved the boat at least a couple of times per day to different sites.

 

[AggieDiver]

Interesting. When we were there last, they were on Randy’s all morning and afternoon, then headed to Brac for a day, then came back and camped on Nancy’s all morning and afternoon for another day. How were the conditions when you were there? They may have more options when waves aren’t too big.

 

[drrich2]

We never spent the whole day, or did more than 3 dives, at any one site all week.