Grand Cayman - Where to stay? Where to dive?

Grand Cayman - Where should a SCUBA diver stay and dive?


There are many different Caymans on Grand Cayman. There is the high rise luxury of Seven Mile beach with its Hilton, Westin, and other upscale hotels. There are the far flung villas and small resorts peppered around the edges of the island. And always, within view, are the signature Grand Cayman mansion estates lining the waterways.

For our purposes, we chose to make the less traveled East End our base of dive operations. The East End of the island has less divers, the reef is reported to be in better shape, and there are numerous bad weather options. When weather is rough, the dive boats scurry to the protected south side, or run up north around Rum Point, depending on wind and wave direction. It was good to know great diving in both directions was no more than a 15-20 minute boat ride away.

MORRITT’S TORTUGA and TORTUGA DIVERS
We stayed at Morritt’s Tortuga resort, a timeshare condo resort that also rents on a space available basis. Morritt’s, like so many places on the island, was still recovering from hurricane Ivan, with active building going on. Most of the resort was functional, but the visible foundations of building wings made it obvious there used to be more resort there than we were seeing on our visit. We later learned that even an entire three story condo building had been virtually erased by Ivan.

The condos at Morritt’s were serviceable, but suffered from minor deferred maintenance, probably due to the fact that all efforts were being directed to rebuilding. Most of the units available for renters (as opposed to timeshare owners) have pool views, not ocean views, so don’t expect one.

We dove with Tortuga Divers, who operate off the pier at Morritt's and are part of Red Sail Sports, a large corporation that serves SCUBA divers in the luxury resorts of Seven Mile Beach, as well as some other Caribbean islands. As such, they are not as warm and fuzzy, or as flexible, in their operation as some smaller dive operators are. If you know how to dive, then great. Go and have a blast. If you need hand holding, this is not the place for you.

The boats were modern and spotless. The crew and dive masters were efficient as well as a lot of fun. Particularly the dive briefings by Brett, which reminded me of going to comedy traffic school. They also managed to skirt around the rough water on windy days and get us to some fantastic sites. My favorite being Iron Shore Gardens, with countless tunnels and swim throughs filled with swirling shoals of silversides and Black Jacks zipping past us to feed on the small fish.

COMPASS POINT and OCEANT FRONTIERS
Just down the road from Morritt's, Compass Point Resort is the base of operations for Ocean Frontiers Dive Center, a full service SCUBA operation. Compass Point is much smaller than Morritt’s but like Morritt’s, consists entirely of one and two bedroom condo units, but here, all face the ocean. As a smaller resort focused on diving, and most guests busy talking dive gear and telling stories about their underwater adventures around the globe, Compass Point and Ocean Frontiers have a sportier, intimate feel. Think, SCUBA camp for grownups. But don’t think that means rustic – Compass Point is anything but rustic.

Ocean Frontiers is a fast and fun SCUBA dive operation, with energetic crews. They operate multiple boats, but keep the dive groups on the small side so everyone still gets a great experience.

We were there during “Pirate Week,” when all the dive boats on the island raise the skull and crossbones flag and engage in skirmishes involving eggs and homemade flour “bombs.” No matter where I looked on the East End, Ocean Frontiers could usually be found in the middle of the foray, mixing it up and challenging other dive boats for their patch of reef.

SUNSET HOUSE
Sunset House on the east side of the island, just south of Seven Mile Beach, and just a short drive from the airport, is the most well known SCUBA resort on Grand Cayman. It offers functional hotel rooms, restaurants and access to unlimited shore diving with a convenient tank shack on your way to the pier. This is a no-frills resort and a good value for the money, plus you’re just barely out of town, so everything from fast food to night life is only minutes away.

And surprisingly, there’s plenty to see right off the Sunset House pier. I wasn’t underwater three minutes when I was swimming with turtles and chasing schools of fish. We wandered over to explore a submerged military troop carrier and ended up sitting on the edge waving at an “Atlantis” tourist submarine going by. I could see all the camera flashes going off in the sub windows and had the odd sensation of becoming some kind of amusement attraction, suddenly transported into the Finding Nemo ride at Disneyland. Kind of quirky too, thinking that now some kid has a picture of me at home in his photo album.


COBALT COAST and DIVE TECH
Lastly, we visited Cobalt Coast Resort, the home of Dive Tech Dive Center, at the northern tip of the island. A smaller resort with a U-shaped hotel around a square pool facing the ocean, Cobalt Coast is a short drive, but well removed, from the hustle and bustle of Georgetown. You even have to wind through a residential area to arrive there, but once there it was a world removed. Slower paced, laid back and relaxed. Aaahhhhh.

It was too windy to dive the day we were there, so we just hung around the Dive Tech shop to chat, get to know people and discover the character of their staff and operation. Our first sign of Dive Tech’s personality was when we were greeted by a large white dog with brown spots sitting on a ledge in the service window of the dive shop. Approaching the windowsill was an invitation to have your face washed with a big pink tongue.

The Dive Tech staff was warm and relaxed, but obviously professional and took its responsibility for its divers seriously. Finally, we had found someone to hold our hand if we needed it. Every trip could be changed, every destination was adjustable to diver needs.

Even though I didn't actually dive with themk - with the wind too strong and the water too rough to dive, either by boat or shore - I liked them and knew I wouldn’t have a second thought about jumping off a boat with their dive master. After all that hunting around and diving here and there, Cobalt Coast and Dive Tech really felt like a good fit.

On Grand Cayman there is a resort, and a SCUBA dive operator, to match every diver. And with good diving – and some world famous dive sites like Stingray City – from almost every point on the island, Grand Cayman is well worth checking out.