when to go and where to stay?

[gajeep94yj]

wife and I are planning our next dive trip and after last month's RSD magazine we have chose the cayman islands. only thing left is to decide where to stay, when to go, and most importanltly who to dive with! looking to go in late April early May....is that a good time?

Any suggestion would greatly be appriciated. so far the board has not steered me wrong!!!

thanks in Advance,
Seth

oh yea traveling from Atlanta.

 

[ppo2_diver]

If you are doing a pure dive vacation, stay at Cobalt Coast and dive with Divetech. They are purely targeted towards divers.

 

[Damselfish]

I think that's a nice time to go, though pretty much any time will be good.

I think you have to be more specific on what you are looking for as far as what type of area (busy, quiet, are you also considering Little Cayman and Brac), accomodations (hotel, condo, how fancy), budget, what you want in a dive op, etc.

Similar questions have been answered many times, have you tried a search here on Cayman yet?

 

[THX1138]

I agree. I did my open water cert with them. Also, Sunset House is a nice place to stay, with a good restaurant, but it is not on the main beach. If you like the beach, I have stayed at the Villas De Galleon, next to the Westin on 7 mile beach, for many years, but when I last checked with Lisa Ebanks, they could not confirm that they would be open by this March. John

 

[floridapadiinstructor]

Ditto on DIVE TECH. Jay and Nancy are the American Owners and transplants now for over 15 years and a wonderful operation.

If the 2 boat dives are not enough for you, then you walk out the from your room, out a 100 feet dock and jump into about 15 feet of water. Then swim about 50 yards and you are on the wall that goes to about 3300 feet.

Can't get better beach/dock/ diving as you have no sand to wade thru. And when you leave the dock, the rinse tank is right there and then a locked locker to dry your gear.

Restaurant on site or shuttle available if you need it to a local store. Rooms are remodeled completely after last years hurricane and all the water in the pool is even changed since the whole pool was converted to ocean after the hurricanes.

They came back beautifully and we went down in March right after they opened.

Have fun and tell Aurie, Jay and Nancy that Kevin and Suzanne Tolbert said hello.

 

[gratefuljames]

I am off to Ocean Frontiers/Compass Point next week and will be back with a full report...so stay tuned...

 

[Drew Sailbum]

The April/May time frame may put you here during thimble jellyfish season. The larvae of these annoying little critters can cause Sea Itch (aka Sea Lice, or Sea Bather's Eruption).

What is Sea Itch? How can I treat it once I've been affected?

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=576292&postcount=2

Are there any more ways to prevent it?
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=581760&postcount=7

 

[Mantasscareme]

The April/May time frame may put you here during thimble jellyfish season. The larvae of these annoying little critters can cause Sea Itch (aka Sea Lice, or Sea Bather's Eruption).

What is Sea Itch? How can I treat it once I've been affected?

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=576292&postcount=2

Are there any more ways to prevent it?
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=581760&postcount=7

Just out of curiosity, how often do divers get sea itch? I'm going to be diving with Ocean Frontiers mid-April, so this concerns me.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Sea Itch is a seasonal affair in Cayman. Some years the thimble jellyfish come in thick and look like oil slicks on the water. It's almost inevitable you'll get zapped if you jump into water like that. 2003 & 2004 seasons were like that.

Other years the thimbles are talked about, but rarely seen. The 2002 & 2005 seasons were rather mild.

There is no real way to predict whether this year will bring heavy infestations or not. Dive boat operators will try to choose sites where there are no thimbles. But since it is the unseen larvae that cause the reaction, sometimes you can hit a pocket of those even though the visible adults are not present.

 

[gratefuljames]

I'm not a big product recommender, but I have used "Safe Sea" jellyfish sting protective lotion and it works great for all of those things...put it (slater it on) any exposed skin, but use complete exposure protection (including gloves, and screw them ifthey tell you that you can't use gloves - tell them you want your money back and that will make them change their minds)....