Trip Report Trip report on East End of Grand Cayman

[Erwin Poliakoff]

I went to Grand Cayman from March 14-21, and dove for 6 days on the East End of Grand Cayman with Ocean Frontiers. I traveled with a friend and we stayed in a one-bedroom condo at Compass Point. I have done this twice before, but it has been about 7 years since my last trip. I really enjoyed the topography at the dive sites in this area previously, and that has not changed at all. The resort and the dive operation were great. They were extremely helpful and professional. I am not sure if it was available on my last trip, but this is the first time I have stayed in the building across the street from the main complex. The accommodations were fine, but I prefer staying on the ocean side building. The restaurant at the resort is much improved from my last visit, and we ate most of our lunches there. The views were good, as was the food.

The conditions for diving were not ideal. It was really windy, and this may have affected things somewhat. The visibility was okay, maybe 50-60 feet, but not nearly as good as one typically finds in Grand Cayman, based on my previous experience. Still, it was fine. The reefs were very nice. The only complaint I really had was that the fish density was not nearly as high as I remember. This could be because of the profusion of lionfish, which were not present during my last trip several years ago. It could have just been the luck of the draw, too, but it is worth mentioning. With that said, there were the usual assortment of caribbean critters. I plan to visit Little Cayman again sometime soon, and I will be interested in comparing the diving with this past trip to Grand Cayman.

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

An example of the beautiful topography ...

03_adj_DSC_2214 Maggie's Maze divesite in Grand Cayman by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr

We saw a LOT of turtles, and they were not even particularly shy.

05_adj_DSC_2190 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr

There was the usual assortment of Caribbean reef fish, such as the rock beauties.

11_adj_DSC_2304 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr

and some more topography

16_adj_DSC_2412 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr

There were a lot of shark sightings, too.
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20_adj_DSC_2451 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr

and the set of photos can be found here: Flickr album of 2017 Grand Cayman pics

 

[mi000ke]

We had some unusually windy weather and choppy seas while you were here. It's been relatively calm since. What was very unusual was that we had 6-8 foot seas on the west side and along seven mile beach, but the north side was relatively calm - a total reversal for this time of year. As I usually am on the island in the winter months I never get a chance to dive north side, but did that week. We did have some wind/chop on the west side this past week as well, and the reef snorkeling I did with some of our non-diving visitors was relatively poor compared to the same sites a week earlier, so maybe that had something to do with the fish density you experienced.

 

[Erwin Poliakoff]

We did have some wind/chop on the west side this past week as well, and the reef snorkeling I did with some of our non-diving visitors was relatively poor compared to the same sites a week earlier, so maybe that had something to do with the fish density you experienced.

Definitely a possibility. Good point.

 

[deeper thoughts]

thnx for sharing

 

[drrich2]

Sounds like a good trip, all in all. How many dives/day did you do, and for the trip?

Richard.

 

[Erwin Poliakoff]

Sounds like a good trip, all in all. How many dives/day did you do, and for the trip?

Richard.

Hi Richard, you are correct, it was a good trip. We were in Grand Cayman for 7 nights, and did 6 days of 2-tank morning dives. (Afternoons were for naps and photo editing, roughly in that order...)
-Erwin