which of the cayman islands?

[caymaniac]

In the spring such as late March to May one may encounter thimble jellies. The turtles love to eat them, however there are small larvae that swim with the jellies that can produce small stings. The way to avoid this is to not dive where the thimbles happen to be ...which is what the divemasters usually take care of by moving to another dive site. Another way to protect yourself is to wear a wet suit, not exsposing your skin to them. Wearing a wet suit works well for me, I've been in the thimble jelly schools plenty of times without a mishap - I wear a 3mm body wetsuit.

The best time at Grand Cayman would be any month since you can dive all four sides if there is a wind problem.

The shape of the Brac and Little Cayman is elongated like a cigar running more east and west/tilted sightly north - so the east and west tips are very small.

As far as the Brac or Little Cayman any month is a good time as well, except when the North Easterlys blow in. The north wind thing happens more in the late fall and winter, and can even happen in April, but it is not normal in the late spring.

Then of course thinking about the Caymans.....there is Hurricane season. The Caymans are usaully out of the way of hurricanes, but Grand Cayman sure took a hit a couple of years ago, it is still not fully recovered.

 

[cmalinowski]

I've only been to Grand Cayman and dove the east end with Ocean Frontiers. I can't speak more highly of a dive operator. We stayed on-site at compass point and loved it. Now, as said before, this was all about diving. No nightlife or anything like that, but fraser and crew down there treat you like gold. You get there, give them your dive gear, and that is the last you have to deal with it. They set it up for you every morning and put it away for you every evening after rinsing it. When you get on the boat, it's all strapped to the tank waiting for you to finalize it (check your fill if diving nitrox, etc.). I had a great time diving with them. The crews are liberal as well. Great dives too.

Chris

 

[jdcpa]

Little Cayman by far.

Check put Little Cayman Beach Resort, I highly recommend them. You can book the airfare through Reefseas. We have gotten great deals the last few years with them.

If you like to dive, Little Cayman is it for you.

 

[divingjd]

thanks everyone. little cayman sounds like the place for us! ok, next question. what time of the year is best? (want to avoid the jellyfish parade, want good chance of nice weather, etc.) please advise.

We went to Little Cayman at Thanksgiving and the weather was great. However, a hurricane had passed by the island (did'nt hit it directly, but the island got some heavy weather) about two weeks before. That's late in the hurricane season (June through November), but you can never tell. We went to the Brac at the end of Feburary. The weather was good, although it got pretty rough one day. No jellies that early.

 

[IceBergSlim]

If you just want to dive and relax I would say LC. There is not much else there to do.

GC has great diving, food and night life but it is really expensive.

I stayed at Cobalt Coast and dove with Divetech. The resort was very nice but I did not like Divetech at all. They were very rude when I arrived and had little to recomend them after that. Some of the staff were great but overall I was disapointed.

I won't get into the details but I had hoped for better service as they were so highly recomended.

 

[sdwho]

My two cents: what we like to do is take a ten day trip and split our time between Cobalt Coast on GC and Little Cayman Beach Resort. We love them both, so if we don't have to choose, all the better. We've been diving in the Caymans a dozen times overall, sometimes in Dec/Jan, sometimes in Aug/Sept. We actually prefer the late summer time...warm warm water, access to the North Wall in GC.

In fact we're heading back to Cobalt Coast in mid August.

Finally, while I've seen negative comments about Divetech from time to time, we've been diving with them for five years now and wouldn't think about using anyone esle on GC.

 

[LavaSurfer]

Never been to Little Cayman or Brac but I have LOTS of friends that go to Little Cayman and swear its the best diving in the Carib. They have 10's of thousands of dives between them and go back several times a year

whoever said 7 Mile is a strip mall was mistaken. Sorry if I make ya mad but 7 Mile is a beautiful beach and other than downtown Georgetown, which is a trip mall, I find Grand Cayman a wonderful place with great food and night life. Hit the local spots and stay away from the big hotels if you want a true caymanian flare.

Diving the North wall of Grand Cayman is a rare but wonderful treat. Rare because its usually too rough and the boats wont go there with when the weather is right its simply magnificent. Princess Pennies Pinnacle is heaven underwater.

 

[dkktsunami]

Have made four trips to Little Cayman Beach Resort, my favorite Caribbean destination and by far the best diving. Bloody Bay Wall is an awesome sight. Not much else to do but dive. Food is good. Have fun.

 

[donnad]

thanks so much everyone! sounds terrific! i don't want to go in high season, so i'm thinking august. (man, what a long wait, wish we could go THIS august, but will have to be patient)