Some resorts offer "Hurricane protection". Your dive profile in Stingray City is relatively shallow since your maximum depth is just only 6 meters (20 feet) when you reach the sandy seafloor. Their sister company, Tortuga Divers, operates from Morritts Tortuga Club in East End. It was named after the famous free-diver Penny Ventura. Lemon Reef is a mini-wall dive site located on the North Wall in Grand Cayman. The islands are warm year-round with average highs holding steady in the 80s. [What You Need to Know]. Jackson's Bight- Located also in the Bloody Bay Marine Park, it does not fail to provide scuba divers with an amazing dive. With over 40 operators and 365 sites marked with moorings, thrill-seekers from all over take the plunge here. You can also go wreck diving as there are some shipwrecks that can be explored like the remains of USS Kittiwake. All the information you need to plan your dive vacations anywhere in the world. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. In addition, you're more likely to snag a hotel deal during these months. The best time to dive is between December and April when the water is at its warmest and the visibility is at its best. It should not be a surprise that January through April also happen to be popular months to visit the islands via western Caribbean cruises because of their ideal combination of cooler temperatures and low rainfall. Best Time to Dive in Little Cayman. We are proud to off-set 100% of the carbon generated by our clients' flights. Named for a historical anchorage, Anchor Point features a tight chimney-like descent at the beginning of the dive. It is Batabano, the countrys biggest festival, which is scheduled for early May each year. Now large groups of southern stingrays are lurking around daily. Below are our recommendations for the best months to dive in Cayman Islands, as well as our suggestions for the best places to dive in each month of the year. For diving, the reefs are easy to reach from many dive operators and offer a diversity of schooling fish, sponges, turtles, rays, and even sharks. Just be prepared for a rain shower or two, as this is the start of the region's wet season. Wilderness Wall starts at 15 meters (50ft) before plunging down into the depths. Sidetrip: Visit Little Caymans Booby Pond Nature Reserve. They pickup from the Westin, Ritz and Kimpton Seafire beaches for their West Dives, which is one of their standout features. Most people see flights, accommodations, and activities far cheaper during this time since fewer tourists are visiting. Press the question mark key to get the keyboard shortcuts for changing dates. The depths start at around 12m/40ft and end at 30m/98ft. It is because of the sometimes extreme temperatures and rainfall that the Caymans have distinct spikes and dips in the number of tourists who visit each month. Boat rides were no longer than 15 minutes, with most being around 5 minutes. The Pedro St. James National Historic Site is a great place for photography, or you can visit Rum Point for a true Caribbean beach experience. Stingray City has very large, friendly stingrays. If you make a purchase from our site, we may earn a commission. Away from the reef, divers can look around the LCM David Nicholson wreck. You need to take a boat to reach this area. The three islands that make up the nation, Cayman Brac, Grand Cayman, and Little Cayman, are diverse and have distinct diving. The water is about 100 feet deep, and there is a good variety of soft and hard corals. While the gazebo itself is actually an arch, this small dive site never fails to please. Babylon- Grand Cayman Island is surrounded by a wall, but what makes the Babylon site special is the pinnacle with a canyon cutting the north wall. It is only a 10-minute walk from the cruise ship port in George Town to Eden Rock. Turtles munched on big sponges with no worries about divers hanging about. Get certified to scuba dive. Grand Cayman makes a good dive vacation, but for us it was a great stop with plenty of good diving over 3 days on the way home from Cayman Brac. If you love nature, you can go hiking or explore some caverns and caves. that the underwater world (and overwater, if you plan on surfacing Find the best and most popular products and review them. Youtube+ Macro photographers should seek the banded coral shrimp and divers licensed to 30m/98ft will enjoy the gorgonian fans in the cavern at this depth. Answer 1 of 11: Does anyone have firsthand experience with any of the dive operators on Little Cayman that they will share? Here, you can take diving lessons, go on a guided dive, or rent tanks and gear. After exploring the area, here are some of the best dive sites in the Cayman Islands: 1. Click the link below to read our article about the USS Kittiwake: Wilderness Wall is located on the south-side of Cayman Brac. Cruise lines can reduce the number of ships that visit Grand Cayman in the fall, but hotels and resorts cant reduce the number of rooms. Boasting strong diving infrastructure, diverse types of diving, incredible walls and wrecks, and great visibility. With the wall beginning at just 6 meters (20ft), the site is popular with both divers and snorkelers. Cruise ships visit here, so expect everything you would find in most international cruise ship ports. Purposely sunk in 2011, she now sits upright in the sand at 18 meters (60ft) and is a teeming artificial reef encrusted with coral. She met her end on the reef in the late 70s, allegedly due to mutiny aboard. Were a free review guide run by passionate Divers, Sports, and Outdoor fanatics. Pelagics are attracted to the wall while schools of reef fish populate the shallows, swimming around the many purple, red, and yellow sponges. This is how we pay ourselves. Named for the bright orange elephant ear sponges that characterize this site, Orange Canyon doesnt contain a closed canyon per se, but an open channel with lively reef on either side. Frugal travel planners can look for good deals during these months while keeping an eye on the 10-day weather forecast. After being intentionally sunk to become an artificial reef, this former 76 meter (251 feet) long naval vessel now rests at 18 meters (60 feet) deep near the world-renowned Seven Mile Beach. Here youll find more than 50 dives sites including the famous Bloody Bay. This is the most famous dive site in the Cayman Islands - and with good reason. Watch your buoyancy and head out into the blue, look back to really appreciate the Great Walls sheer size and impressive drop-off. . Located in the Bloody Bay marine park on Little Caymans north side, Marilyns Cut is largely unspoiled and offers up pristine soft and hard corals. There are lots of beautiful beaches to visit and to relax. With world class conditions and a robust dive industry, the Cayman Islands is one of the best places to learn how to dive. Interested in diving the Cayman Islands? Sign up to get the latest updates, offers and more. Princess Pennies Pinnacle is located on the North Wall in Grand Cayman. Black coral and colorful sponges decorate the near-vertical face and the shallows are dotted with large coral heads teeming with marine life. September can bring rougher waters if there is a tropical storm, and that is also the month with a higher chance of a hurricane, although hurricanes are not common. In the 2019 Scuba Diving Magazine Readers Choice Awards, the Islands were named one of the Best Overall Dive Destination in the Caribbean/Atlantic and scored first place for Best Advanced Diving and Underwater Photography. Here are a few of our favourite dive sites in Grand Cayman: 1. There are plenty of great dive resorts available, but liveaboard is the best option if you want to dive around all three islands. Theres plenty to do if you are not diving. The units are privately owned and furnished, but they have 21 accommodations available for rental use. 310-915-6677 It was then sunk in Grand Cayman in 1980 to make a new dive site. Its not often divers can see a mermaid on a dive, but at Sunset Reef they can. Hotels, resorts and cruise ships dont like unsold rooms and cabins, so they are more likely to offer discounts to attract customers. They make a difference for anyone visiting the Caymans by cruise who plans to spend more time shopping, dining and visiting attractions than spend time on the beaches. Sharks and turtles are frequent visitors as are snappers, groupers, and grunts. Located in Little Cayman, the Bloody Bay Wall dive site is noted for its high visibility, rich marine life, and the presence of a sheer wall that drops 2000 meters into the deep ocean. This is a deep wall that drops several hundred feet into the abyss. Greenhouse is a nice medium-depth reef dive with plenty of grooves and gullies to explore. If you want to get rid of the tourist crowd in Grand Cayman and explore a dive site that is remote and that the diver to fish ratio is 1 to a million, then we suggest you head out northwest of Grand Cayman via a Cayman Liveaboard vessel in a site called Babylon. Each time has been a wonderful underwater adventure. Topside, the community is expanding with ongoing construction. Grandview Condominiums are located on the south end of 7 Mile Beach in George Town on the scuba diving island of Grand Cayman. The best time to go to the Cayman Islands is in March and April because there is spring break from school and April has a combination of warm temperatures and a low risk of rain. Only ten miles long and one mile wide, this is a place where you can truly focus on your opportunity to relax. Tieneke, Joe, and Kevin went out of their way to accommodate our dive group and show us a really great time. And when it comes to marine life, there is lots to see! They can offer up their first-hand September can bring rougher waters if there is a tropical storm, and that is also the month with a higher chance of a hurricane, although hurricanes are not common. We conduct this course from our shore location where the water is ideal for new divers! While Grand Cayman receives the most publicity and visitors, all three Cayman Islands - Cayman Brac and Little Cayman being the other two -- offer outstanding scuba diving. During the day rays, turtles, the occasional barracuda and plenty of reef fish mean theres a lot to keep divers engaged. I would like to mention 2 points though, one that it is a bit expensive, both the accommodations and the diving, and secondly, it looks like they allow open water divers to do the deeper wall dives, where you can be as deep as 100 feet, just an FYI, in case youre not comfortable at that depth. It is common to see barracudas and schools of horse-eye jacks in this area. Share your love of diving, experience new adventures, expand your dive skills, and help save the ocean. Originally coined 356, this wreck is now called the M/V Captain Keith Tibbetts after a well-known Cayman Brac politician. Continue with Recommended Cookies. for even more in-depth travel advice. (Closed Circuit Rebreathers/CCR) allows you to massively extend your dive time. You will need little more (and some prefer less) than a 3 mm full length wetsuit. While at first the Oro Verde was a complete ship, rough seas and tumultuous weather have dispersed the wreckage. The Seven Mile Beach area and the main city, Georgetown, are very developed with large hotels and resorts, restaurants, shops, etc. As a diver, with a PADI account you can access your eLearning along with many more tools to help you on your adventures. Located near a popular resort is a vertical drop off that is filled with all sorts of marine life the North Wall. There is also a small restaurant and dive resort. Jacques Costeau loved diving in the Caymans and its easy to see why.
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