RadHal
Contributor
I just returned from an amazing five day, 13 dives, trip to Grand Cayman in the Caribbean, May 12-16, 2008. A great online resource with maps and coupons is www.caymanactivityguide.com/Pdf/Layout.pdf. I also recommend using Tripadvisor.com for all your travel research and of course www.scubaboard.com for everything SCUBA related from tech to travel.
Here is my trip report.
Flew on American airlines who fortunately only lost my bags on the return trip to Boston, but not outward bound. Otherwise the flights, Boston through Miami were uneventful. I traveled alone and rented a small car through Thrifty Rental, which was old but served my purposes fine. I strongly recommend getting a car to have more freedom of getting around especially to different shore dive sites. Be warned they drive on the opposite of the road compared to the USA. I stayed at the Comfort Suites on Seven Mile Beach, which was reasonably priced, central, clean and served my purposes as a place to sleep and shower. A bonus was free wireless internet access allowing me to keep in touch with the family back home in Boston through Skype, costing a few pennies as opposed to using my cell or the hotel phone. I also downloaded my daily dive log from my computer to my laptop and the underwater photos I took that day. The hotel has a small pool and there is very short walk (no road to cross) to the magnificent 7-Mile Beach. This is not a fancy resort, no jet ski rentals, cabanas or umbrellas on the beach, but that was not what I needed as a solo traveler. Breakfast was simple continental style, including a do-it-yourself waffle machine (excellent) and more than sufficient. I treated myself to one restaurant dinner at Casanovas by the sea in Georgetown, Italian, which was excellent.
My reason for going to Grand Cayman was to dive, this was my first Caribbean trip and I was not disappointed. I took all my own gear in a standard large suitcase, but carried my reg, camera/strobe, prescription-lens mask and dive lights in my carry-on (next time I'll leave lights behind, they are included in all night dives). I also packed a dry and wet gear bag in the main suitcase. I brought a full length 3mm wet suite which was perfect, most people used the same type, and though the water was 80F I felt comfortable throughout all dives. Obviously I never brought tanks or weights with.
I did three 2-tank morning dives, a boat night dive and a trip to Stingray City with Neptune Divers. Paul and Chris, our divemasters and were excellent. There were never more than eight people on their boats, they were punctual on their hotel pick up and were always polite, helpful, and a pleasure to deal with. We visited a variety of different sites, including "Main Street", "Haunted House" Reefs our deep (~100ft) North Wall dives. We did our second shallow dives (50-60ft) at "Queens Throne" and "Bonnies Arch" on the North wall. On the West Side (7-Mile Beach) we did our deep dive on the "OV Wall" Reef and the second dive on the "Doc Paulson" wreck, which can be safely and easily penetrated by novice divers. The night dive on the west side was on the "Aquarium" Reef. I used Nitrox 33% for the deep, first morning dives and air for the remainder of the days dives. Stingray City is a must to do at least once. It is best to dive the 12ft location rather than snorkel on the sandbar. It was neat to feed the docile Southern Stingrays and be up close and personal. The coral was healthy and hugely varied; the fish were beautiful and plentiful. The water was a comfortable warm 80F and the air temp around 90F (beware the sun and use plenty of SPF 50, don't let sunburn ruin an expensive vacation!). The water was clear with 80+ft visibility. Seeing a number of Hawksbill turtles, one Eagle Ray and one Spotted Moray were highlights.
I also did three afternoon shore dives where I easily found a dive buddy within 5minutes of arrival at the sites (best to arrive around 2pm). I dived at Sunset House (saw the 9ft copper mermaid Amphitrite and the small wreck of the Nicholson. I went on a night dive with Divetech at Cobalt House, a great reef and a pretty spot to see the sun set. Two afternoons were spent with Sundivers who run their op from Turtle Reef at the Cracked Conch. This is an awesome dive site - don't miss the Tarpon Grotto to the left of the buoys and the great mini wall on the right. The dive shore dive site were all easy entries down a ladder. I did another boat night dive with Red Sail Sports from the Hyatt Grand Cayman Beach Resort which was very well led by divemasters Nick and Paul. Even though there were twelve of us, I never felt cramped or congested. I never had any bad experiences with any of the dive ops I used.
Overall a fantastic dive trip, I hope to return soon
Here is my trip report.
Flew on American airlines who fortunately only lost my bags on the return trip to Boston, but not outward bound. Otherwise the flights, Boston through Miami were uneventful. I traveled alone and rented a small car through Thrifty Rental, which was old but served my purposes fine. I strongly recommend getting a car to have more freedom of getting around especially to different shore dive sites. Be warned they drive on the opposite of the road compared to the USA. I stayed at the Comfort Suites on Seven Mile Beach, which was reasonably priced, central, clean and served my purposes as a place to sleep and shower. A bonus was free wireless internet access allowing me to keep in touch with the family back home in Boston through Skype, costing a few pennies as opposed to using my cell or the hotel phone. I also downloaded my daily dive log from my computer to my laptop and the underwater photos I took that day. The hotel has a small pool and there is very short walk (no road to cross) to the magnificent 7-Mile Beach. This is not a fancy resort, no jet ski rentals, cabanas or umbrellas on the beach, but that was not what I needed as a solo traveler. Breakfast was simple continental style, including a do-it-yourself waffle machine (excellent) and more than sufficient. I treated myself to one restaurant dinner at Casanovas by the sea in Georgetown, Italian, which was excellent.
My reason for going to Grand Cayman was to dive, this was my first Caribbean trip and I was not disappointed. I took all my own gear in a standard large suitcase, but carried my reg, camera/strobe, prescription-lens mask and dive lights in my carry-on (next time I'll leave lights behind, they are included in all night dives). I also packed a dry and wet gear bag in the main suitcase. I brought a full length 3mm wet suite which was perfect, most people used the same type, and though the water was 80F I felt comfortable throughout all dives. Obviously I never brought tanks or weights with.
I did three 2-tank morning dives, a boat night dive and a trip to Stingray City with Neptune Divers. Paul and Chris, our divemasters and were excellent. There were never more than eight people on their boats, they were punctual on their hotel pick up and were always polite, helpful, and a pleasure to deal with. We visited a variety of different sites, including "Main Street", "Haunted House" Reefs our deep (~100ft) North Wall dives. We did our second shallow dives (50-60ft) at "Queens Throne" and "Bonnies Arch" on the North wall. On the West Side (7-Mile Beach) we did our deep dive on the "OV Wall" Reef and the second dive on the "Doc Paulson" wreck, which can be safely and easily penetrated by novice divers. The night dive on the west side was on the "Aquarium" Reef. I used Nitrox 33% for the deep, first morning dives and air for the remainder of the days dives. Stingray City is a must to do at least once. It is best to dive the 12ft location rather than snorkel on the sandbar. It was neat to feed the docile Southern Stingrays and be up close and personal. The coral was healthy and hugely varied; the fish were beautiful and plentiful. The water was a comfortable warm 80F and the air temp around 90F (beware the sun and use plenty of SPF 50, don't let sunburn ruin an expensive vacation!). The water was clear with 80+ft visibility. Seeing a number of Hawksbill turtles, one Eagle Ray and one Spotted Moray were highlights.
I also did three afternoon shore dives where I easily found a dive buddy within 5minutes of arrival at the sites (best to arrive around 2pm). I dived at Sunset House (saw the 9ft copper mermaid Amphitrite and the small wreck of the Nicholson. I went on a night dive with Divetech at Cobalt House, a great reef and a pretty spot to see the sun set. Two afternoons were spent with Sundivers who run their op from Turtle Reef at the Cracked Conch. This is an awesome dive site - don't miss the Tarpon Grotto to the left of the buoys and the great mini wall on the right. The dive shore dive site were all easy entries down a ladder. I did another boat night dive with Red Sail Sports from the Hyatt Grand Cayman Beach Resort which was very well led by divemasters Nick and Paul. Even though there were twelve of us, I never felt cramped or congested. I never had any bad experiences with any of the dive ops I used.
Overall a fantastic dive trip, I hope to return soon
