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Grand Cayman Sep 08
Nesher - 10/31/2008 12:10 PM
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Category: Travel
Comments: 0
First let me say that this trip was supposedly the second leg of trip planned in Feb 08. Additionally,the second leg was originally slated for Little Cayman Beach Resort which was closed due to Hurricane Gustav. The first portion of our trip was canceled due to Hurricane Ike’s destruction of Turks and Caicos. When the dust finally settled we decided to go to Grand Cayman. My wife and I choose to stay at the Westin Casaurina Hotel on Seven Mile Beach. My wife doesn’t dive but she enjoys snorkeling, shopping, spas, dining, pools and beach activities. First, if you have a non - diving spouse who will go with you basically anywhere so you can dive, be sensitive to her needs. My trip was so much more rewarding to me because I found a location where she could do pretty much everything she wanted to do. The Westin is my recommendation. Don’t expect to go to Grand Cayman and not spend some money, it’s not possible, but you can find ways to save some dollars. Let’s get to the diving. I chose a small valet dive operator whose name I will not give. (I know, I know that almost defeats the purpose) However, I both loved and hated the experience. We were picked up early at 7:20 each morning. The first two days I was the only one on the boat that was diving. (6 passengers only plus crew) I have never been seasick but on this small vessel I had a very hard time. Once I hit the water I was okay. Nevertheless it only took ten minutes to get to the dive sites on the North side of the island and I was in deep trouble after five minutes. The diving was not as I expected. Early morning dives will not yield the best visibility and since we dove early every morning I missed the visibility I longed for. The SI was only 40 minutes and on the second day I had to insist that we take a full hour. My op was a good guy and I really enjoyed diving with him but they were more concerned about getting in and getting out which I didn’t like at all. I also didn’t care for a particular diving practice. Immediately descend to 100 ft and stay there for five minutes and IMMEDIATELY ascend to 50 ft. I thought that was dangerous and my computer agreed with me. This is the one thing I didn’t understand. By 12 or 1 in the afternoon the water was excellent and the visibility was at it’s best and not one dive operator that I could find was going out in the afternoon. I just couldn’t believe that when the diving was probably at it’s best no one was going out. Supposedly, it was the off season. So what? I did take pictures and a video which I want to upload, but I have to learn how to upload it first. The island is absolutely gorgeous, expensive and the restaurants are pretty good. And fella’s if you have a non-diving wife, make sure you have a great spa close by that offers 3 - 4 hour spa treatements.