2012 Grand Cayman, 7 Mile Beach Excellence, Shore Diving

Overall the flights were easy and comfortable and all our luggage arrived on time. We had arranged a car rental with Coconut Rentals right outside of the airport which is quick 3 minute walk just out of the terminal.

We were settled into our condo by early afternoon, slipped out for dinner at the Cracked Conch next to the Turtle Farm and then headed to the grocery store to get supplies. The exchange rate in the Caymans is always 1.25 to 1, in the Caymans favor. Factor in the exchange rate and that everything is more expensive on an island, and you can have a large bill no matter where you shop.

Sat May 26 - Christopher Columbus Condos
Christopher Columbus Condos (CCC) sits on one of the best stretches of 7 mile beach, which in itself is a beautiful beach, even by touristy, Caribbean standards. There are about 30 condos, all ocean front. Each condo is privately owned and decorated to suit the owners tastes. We were in unit 30 on the 3rd floor - a Penthouse Suite. It was big, roomy, clean, and loaded with creature comforts. The kitchen was well stocked with everything we needed to settle right in and get to making fresh fish dinners, opening bottles of wine, cooling off beers, etc. The penthouse units sleep 6, so just being the four of us, we had room to spare.

Visit the Christopher Columbus Condos web site for more details.

Sun May 27 - The Reef at Turtle Farm
Most of the stores are closed on Sunday, but we were aware of this and planned ahead. This allowed us to get in some diving on Sunday. We wanted an easy first dive - it never hurts to reacquaint yourself with your gear, the open ocean, and your dive buddies. To that end, we headed to turtle farm which has a very nice dive shop, an easy entrance, and a sheltered area to get situated in the water. The reef is an easy swim out and then the hard pan drops dramatically to a mini wall, perhaps to 60 to the sand. Two dives here were a perfect way to start a week in the Cayman Islands.

After diving we headed back to CCC to fire up the outdoor grills and have a splendid dinner of fresh sea bass, asparagus and crab cakes. With a nice wine and sunset for appetizers it could not have been a more relaxing and enjoyable day.

We noticed that offshore to the west of the condos what seemed to be a very, very popular number dive sites. Boats were constantly coming and going in the distance. Turns out the big, new wreck dive in Grand Cayman was just west of our condo - the Kittiwake. We did not dive it this week, opting to wait until a bit more sea life has decided to make a home there.

Tues May 29 - Smith's Cove
A relaxed day and somewhat overcast for most of it. After breakfast we went to Smith's cove and I didn't feel good so I sat out. The others surface swam out toward the reef and said visibility was bad until they actually got out to the reef, then they dropped down to about 50 feet and had a really nice dive and saw a lot of juvenile fish. We took then tanks back to the store and chatted with the workers a bit about other shore dive sites and decided to go back to the room and change then go exploring. We had instructions to a dive site next to an old resort called Spanish Bay that was destroyed by Ivan. We drove around a bit and found the place but it was a mosquito infested trash dump. We nick named it Spanish Landfill and left with no intention of going back.

After that we drove a wine store that was HUGE and made some purchases and then decided to head up to to East End of the island to Lighthouse Restaurant for dinner. One of us ordered lamb, the two women got sesame encrusted salmon, and I got curry seafood. Dinner was fantastic and we sat inside but could hear the ocean which was loud but nice. Then for desert we had coconut cheese cake, mango sorbet, chocolate mousse, After that we came back to the room ,opened a bottle of wine, and relaxed.

Wed May 30 - Lighthouse Point
A quick breakfast and then off to tech divers at light house point. The dive was OK, went out to the mini wall at about 30 feet and it was not impressive at all. We then had the option to follow a rope to the main wall, but not even half way there we were at 75 feet and down 500 PSI . We decided to bail on that idea and stick with the mini wall. While doing our safety stop we ran into a school of 18 reef squid and they were fun to hang out with so we did. For 10 minutes we swam around with the squid.

We also saw some lightning flashes about 1/2 thru the dive and the shop guy said it was striking the water. I didn't really like that I could see the light flash from it. While looking at the surface I could see it was raining hard...it is cool to be underwater seeing the rain hitting the surface. If you are quiet you can also hear the rain hitting the surface of the water.

I discovered the video strobe for the camera makes a great dive lite. Not too powerful but a nice even light. Very nice. The SeaLife Camera performed flawlessly all week - the LED video strobe acting as a strobe and a flashlight. I think I will have to purchase the flash strobe, however, to improve lighting.

Back to the room for a quick lunch. We stopped in some dive shops looking for boat diving and finally made reservations with 7 mile divers. Then we went and got some more food and came back to the room for dinner. sea bass, corn and asparagus and some cookies for desert. Then it was time for bed because our ride to the boat diving was picking us up at 7:40 am.

Thur May 31 - Boat Diving
Up at 6:00 am to get gear ready then to the parking lot where 7 mile divers picked us up. Mandy was our driver and dive master and Andy was the boat captain. They took us down to the beach and the little covered pontoon boat picked us up right on 7 mile beach beach. 8 divers total plus 2 crew. We had a lot of room on the boat and the dive sites were just off shore....we barely had time to set up gear before we were at the first dive site. Nice wall dive to a out 80 feet. Good vis and 3500 psi in each tank was the norm. Saw some very large turtles and the reefs were in reasonably good shape.

Back on the boat for a 50 minute interval then to the Ole Verde wreck dive. It was also nice, but nothing spectacular. Short boat back to shore and the diving was over for the day. Mandy dropped us off back at the room and we had lunch and got cleaned up. Out to buy some food for dinner.

Fri June 1 - Back to Turtle Farm
We got going fairly early and went up to turtle farm for our last dive of the week. I forgot c-cards and had to go back to CC to get them. We got nitrox, geared up and jumped in. Surface swam out to the wall/reef and descended. We found a lemon ray - a first for us, a lobster, cool cleaning station, and various other common finds. The dive was good. My buddy told me that had been our 400th dive together which was a bit of a milestone for us.

Afterward we went to the room and rinsed gear and cleaned up and went out shopping for food and anything else cool. I got a t-shirt. We visited Guy Harvey's store and some others. Got some wahoo for dinner and went home.

Sat June 2 - Headed Home
Heading home we had time to reflect on the week and we all agreed it had been excellent. CC Condos are very nice and perfect if you want a great place on 7 mile beach but don't want to stay in a big hotel. You need a car to get around the island but that was expected. You are on your own for food but the condo had a great kitchen and there are dozens of great restaurants close by. It is common to see 1 or 2 huge cruise ships docked in Georgetown which increases crowds for part of the day. The shore diving was good, but I think next time I will book 3 or 4 days of boat diving so we can get in more variety.

If I had any complaint, it would the roosters around the island. At 10:00 AM you don't notice the roosters that much, but at 4:00 AM, they are quite annoying.

Prices for the condo for the week were pretty reasonable I thought. I know what an ocean front condo like CC would charge at Myrtle Beach.