Well, here is my summary... but first, back home in Colorado and it is snowing like a big dog. I wanna go back to the beaches and warm, clear water! We bounced around with several dive shops, we never had time to fully confirm anything so we just went for it! Also, because of the conditions, we were able to dive the north side walls all week, and were happy to do these north side dives every day.
Saturday: didn't dive, although we thought about it. We just chilled and had some rum drinks on the beach!
Sunday: did 2 morning dives with Wall-To-Wall. Gary and Al are VERY good DM's, made this trip fun. Had some oranges and drinks b/t dives, nicely done. There were only about 9 (including DM's) of us aboard, we had a great couple of dives. I was very impressed with Wall-To-Wall. A funny thing happened, which I will touch on later in this trip report (see Friday's entry!). On the second dive, I came across some orange flagging tape with a weight on the end on top of some coral. Well, not having any idea what this was for and thinking this looked like crap on the beautiful coral, I picked up this trash and stuffed it in the leg of my shortie. Well, the DM, Gary, had found a lionfish which the rest of the group had all looked at. I wasn't thinking, but *had* heard about these things invading the water. No worries, swam on.... when Gary went shooting by me a few minutes later in the dive with a couple of hand nets, I wondered, "what the hell is he doing???". I got on the boat with my prize, thinking I'd get complimented for picking up trash on the bottom, and was then informed about Gary heading for his marker to collect this lionfish.... ouch. He actaully found the coral head and the lionfish had already cleared out but still, he couldn't figure out what happened to his marker. Well, this could have been a tense situation but we all laughed about it and Gary and Al made it into an enjoyable thing. I promised Gary I would find him a lionfish before I left Grand Cayman, and when you read Friday's entry you'll see I redeemed myself eventually.
Monday: we changed dive shops to Indigo Divers. I will say now that Indigo was definitely THE best shop we used and one of the best I've ever used... and that is saying a lot since I've dove all around the Caribbean, Fiji, and other places. This is a husband/wife team of Chris and Kate. Chris knows these reefs like the back of his hand, and was totally professional. Kate was awesome in making sure we were taken care of the entire time. We had fruit and cookies after every dive, along with sodas, water or juices. This was also nice because we were the only 3 on their boat for several days, it was like our own private charter. We saw a nice gray reef shark which came over the reef right at me, i looked right down it's mouth. Of course, it had not the slightest interest in me, slowly and gracefully finned away from us into the deep. Saw an Eagle Ray, we thought we were in diving heaven.
Tuesday: Indigo (Chris and Kate) again. We did 2 morning dives, then went over to Kaibo for lunch (just south of Rum Point), and then did 2 afternoon dives. This was the day we saw another large Eagle Ray. We were treated like kings.... always, canteloupe and cookies, sodas and water b/t dives. Just a great day diving!
Wednesday: We had reserved this day for diving with my buddy Nick over at Deep Blue, but he couldn't work us in on the morning dives. So, we called Indigo and we did 2 dives with them in the morning, as good as any diving we did. So, we went out for 2 afternoon dives with Deep Blue. Patrick was "out on holiday" so I did not get to dive with my old friend Patrick. Strangely, Nick did not come either, which I was puzzled by. Anyway, Rick was DM of the boat, and we were accompanied by Tavia, who was a videographer. It was OK, juices b/t dives, no snacks (thought i would note this for anyone who enjoys snacks on a ~100+ dollar 2 tank dive excursion!).
Thursday: Back to Indigo, had one other diver join us. Still, only 3 divers on the boat, gotta love the slow season. Absolutely beautiful weather. We did 2 morning dives and went up to the Turtle Farm and was touristy all afternoon, was strange not to be looking to jump aboard a boat in the afternoon, ha!
Friday: last day of diving....sigh. Our flight didn't leave until 4:40pm on Saturday so we were able to do a 3 tank dive with Wall-To-Wall. Because of the extra afternoon dive, with lunch included, we went all the way over to Babylon - I had never been so far east on the north side. I will have to say to anyone who has not dove Babylon - DO IT! What a great pinnacle/formation. Had a small turtle come up behind me almost like he was playing hide-n-seek, everyone was pointing behind me and I turned around and he literally was right behind me. Did 2 dives over in that area (can't remember the other dive but the buoy is right beside the babylon pinnacle buoy). We had lunch on the boat, provided by Wall-To-Wall, it was very good. Unhooked after, went back west and dove somewhere just north and east of Rum Point. Here is where I got retribution for my first dive of the week incident with a lionfish! On the last dive of the vacation, and coincidently back with Wall-To-Wall, we found another lionfish!. Underwater, my buddy joked that I should NOT touch the marker, we laughed in our regulators. Anyway, us being always the last to consume our air and thus out of the water, the DM came back to us with the 2 nets and a camera to document the event. We helped him harvest the lionfish in the nets, and we got pics for the DOE (Department of Environment, who was radioed and met us in the harbor to collect the lionfish). The only thing about The Lionfish Incident was that Gary, the original DM had left for a holiday for himself a day earlier. The DM's on the boat, who had heard the whole story of my taking the marker, promised me they'd inform Gary that I help collect him a lionfish and thus redeemed myself.
Well, sorry to be so long winded, but I like detailed trip reports so hopefully this will help anyone in future trips. In summary, the weather was great, even though it rained a few times during the week, but it usually passed over the island and the sun shone thru hard. We preferred Indigo Divers the best, followed closely by Wall-To-Wall. I was a bit disappointed with Deep Blue, but keep in mind I've dove with them exclusively on 2 prior trips and they were top notch. I only got to do a pair of afternoon dives with them so I don't really have much to go by. However, it was certainly noteably 3rd on our list, and as I stated earlier still a bit puzzled by Deep Blue. I certainly do not want to shy anyone away, everything was still very positive... just there was a difference.
Also, it could be my imagination but I thought the reefs had an unusually high amount of algae on them. I am going to look thru my old pics this week but I remembered the reefs being much more colorful, and less brown fuzz on them. The water temperature was many days 84-86 F at 50' depths, which almost definitely would have something to do with it. I also remember having to wear more than a shortie on some of the deeprer dives, i wore my shortie the entire time even after 3-4 dives each day.
So, here I sit typing on SB while it snows outside here in Colorado.... wishing I was still there diving! Hope this helps anyone looking to go to GC! Feel free to send me a PM if you have any thoughts, questions, or comments!
