Two quick Caymanian questions

[Rhone Man]

I have finally managed to wangle a business trip to Cayman, and am planning to take some personal days to get some diving in. Still doing my research and mulling my options, but I would welcome any input on:

• assuming I stay on Grand Cayman, are there any operators who are better or worse to arrange dives on the USS Kittiwake with?
• assuming I make the hop over the Little Cayman, I was told that some operators will do the run over to Cayman Brac to dive the Keith Tibbets, but I couldn't find any evidence of this on the various websites. Anyone know any details?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Since the USS Kittiwake is a relatively new attraction, I doubt any particular operator has developed a reputation for doing it better... yet. Keep in mind that the rules governing the use of the site prohibit a boat from staying longer than is necessary to do a one tank dive. It is either a second dive of a two tank trip or else a one tank stand alone dive.

I have certainly heard tales of divers making the crossing from LC to the Brac. Much more frequently it is the opposite direction with Brac operator crossing to dive Bloody Bay on LC.

 

[AggieDiver]

When we were at LCBR last year, Reef Divers was offering a trip to go dive the Tibbetts as a special add-on dive for an extra fee. The catch was that there had to be enough divers wanting to pay the fee and go for them to make the trip. I think the week we were there last august, there were not enough divers wanting to go, so the trip didn't go. Things may have changed since then, but check with Reef Divers and they can tell you what they will or won't be doing when you are there.

As a side note, maybe it is just because I am not a huge fan of wrecks in general, but to me, the walls and shallows of LC are better dives than the Tibbetts. I enjoyed the Tibbetts as a night dive, but during the day, it gets kind of boring pretty quick. I suspect it is like the Blue Hole in Belize...something to check off your list, but maybe the hype doesn't match the actual experience. Then again, maybe it is just me...

 

[Doctorfish]

Re Kittiwake; I have no personal experience as I have not been on GC since Last December before the sinking.

Re Tibbits; Little Cayman Beach Resort usually makes a run across to the Brac mid week to dive the wreck. If the weather is nice and the seas calm, it's a beautiful ride over and the dive is OK but in my opinion, no comparison to the diving at Bloody Bay. They used to stop for lunch at the Brac Beach Reef Resort as well. Don't know if they still do. If I had the choice, I'd stay on LC and not lose a day there to go across to the Brac.

 

[Alex777]

In Depth Watersports will make the run from GC to the Brac whenever there are enought paying customers for it. I think 6 is ideal but, of course, the group could be smaller if each diver pays more.

 

[Rhone Man]

Since the USS Kittiwake is a relatively new attraction, I doubt any particular operator has developed a reputation for doing it better... yet. Keep in mind that the rules governing the use of the site prohibit a boat from staying longer than is necessary to do a one tank dive. It is either a second dive of a two tank trip or else a one tank stand alone dive.

Thanks. My main thought was that only members of a certain organisation can dive it, and I wasn't sure if that was all operators or only some. Plus I figure some will do it more often than others if they are close by.

 

[master_diver_UJ]

Since the USS Kittiwake is a relatively new attraction, I doubt any particular operator has developed a reputation for doing it better... yet. Keep in mind that the rules governing the use of the site prohibit a boat from staying longer than is necessary to do a one tank dive. It is either a second dive of a two tank trip or else a one tank stand alone dive.

I have certainly heard tales of divers making the crossing from LC to the Brac. Much more frequently it is the opposite direction with Brac operator crossing to dive Bloody Bay on LC.

I totally agree, Drew. The Cayman government is monitoring the trips that the dive shops are escorting to the Kittiwake. Every dive shop is basically doing the same gig at the Kittiwake.

My only advice is to dive the Kittiwake when there aren't any cruise ships moored off Georgetown. This is a popular destination for cruise ship divers, and I think you'd have a better experience if you were there with only a handful of other divers - rather than dozens...

Enjoy,

John

 

[billinwilliamston]

Here's my $.02 worth on the Kittiwake. All ops are limited to one tank. The site is actually quite small, so the need for a guide is minimal. The top 3 decks are open to open water divers, the bottom 2 are not. I would pick a Kittiwake operator at least partially based on price. There are several ops that are charging around $95 for a 1 tank dive. IMO, that's outrageous. There are a couple I know of that charge less: Don Fosters charges $75 ($65 with a dive package) for divers and $50 ($40 with a dive package) for snorkelers. Sunset House charges $55. Both are in U.S.D. and include the marine park fee. Make a couple of calls, it could save you enough to pay for your lunch.

Being on a small vs. a large boat doesn't make that much of a difference since it's all but guaranteed that there will be other boats there at the same time you are. As John said, I would try to book when there are fewer cruise ships in port since the number of cruisers has a definite impact on how crowded it gets. http://www.caymanport.com/shipschedules.php

Have fun!!!

 

[caymaniac]

In Depth Watersports will make the run from GC to the Brac whenever there are enought paying customers for it. I think 6 is ideal but, of course, the group could be smaller if each diver pays more.

How much does it cost? 80+ miles is a long ways to take a boat ride. Why not choose LC as it is 5 miles closer to GC than the Brac? Are you sure Craig wasn't just kidding?
At 20 miles an hour that would be 4 hours one way.

 

[-hh]

When we were at LCBR last year, Reef Divers was offering a trip to go dive the Tibbetts as a special add-on dive for an extra fee. The catch was that there had to be enough divers wanting to pay the fee and go for them to make the trip. I think the week we were there last august, there were not enough divers wanting to go, so the trip didn't go. Things may have changed since then, but check with Reef Divers and they can tell you what they will or won't be doing when you are there.

Since all diveboat trips that cross between LC & Brac are weather-dependent, it is fairly challenging to come in for just a day or three and expect that there will definitely be a crossing.

As a side note, maybe it is just because I am not a huge fan of wrecks in general, but to me, the walls and shallows of LC are better dives than the Tibbetts. I enjoyed the Tibbetts as a night dive, but during the day, it gets kind of boring pretty quick. I suspect it is like the Blue Hole in Belize...something to check off your list, but maybe the hype doesn't match the actual experience. Then again, maybe it is just me...

No, its not you. For natural topology, Little Cayman has lots to offer (as does the Brac's southside walls, bathed in sunlight) and while the 356 is a nice wreck dive as far as wrecks go, its main attraction is that it is one of the few local wrecks for wreckkies. As a rule of thumb, even for the Brac operations it has been a "visit 1x/week" kind of spot, unless the customers onboard specifically ask for a return visit (or specifically ask to avoid it).

Of course for die hard wreckkies, a much harder Cayman ticket to punch is the 1897 wreck of the Prince Frederick, on the Brac's exposed southside in shallow water.


-hh