Revisiting Cayman Brac
We hadn't been to the Brac since when we were there the week of 9/11 (a whole other story). We have been visiting Cozumel and various Pacific dive sites since, and decided to return.
We put together a group and stayed at Brac Reef Beach Resort, diving with Reef Divers. The resort can best be described as a nice Holiday Inn. The rooms are large and clean, with good working air conditioners and TVs that pick up the New York stations. The food is outstanding, with buffets every meal that offerred huge selections of salads, vegetables, entrees and desserts. During the week we saw lobster thermidor, prime rib, ribs, chicken cordon bleu, and many pastas.
The diving is some of the best in the Carribean. They really pamper you. You put your gear outside your room the first night and don't have to handle it until you leave. They gear stays on the boat and is rinsed every evening. You just walk off the boat, rinse your wetsuit and hang it out to dry and walk back to your room in your bathing suit. On the boat, they handle the gear for you, changing tanks between dives and bringing it to you while you sit on a seat at the dive platform.
We purchased the package that inlcudes 3 dives a day, all meals, and 3 drinks a day. You do a two tank dive in the morning, come back for lunch, then go out for the third tank that afternoon. Night dives are extra, as is Nitrox. The diving is from moored sites around the island.
The air temperature was 82 and the water 82 as well. Visibility varied from 50 to 100 feet. We had a strong Easterly wind the first couple days, so it was a chore getting back on the boat in large waves. They hung out a current line and asked you to take your fins off and place them on your wrists before you approached the ladder. Once you got the hang of it: no problems. Later in the week it calmed down or blew from the South so you could dive the other side of the island in very calm seas.
We saw lots of schooling fish, rays, large nurse sharks, lobsters, crabs, and groupers. One grouper followed my wife the whole dive, letting her pet him. We visited a fish cleaning station and were able to observe this site for quite a long time.
We were able to go over to Little Cayman one day and dive Bloody Bay Wall. The Wall is long and straight, dropping almost straight down. Interesting, but all the life was on the top.
A very enjoyable trip at fairly low cost. Cayman Airways still hasn't gotten any better over the years. They obviously work on "Island Time."
We hadn't been to the Brac since when we were there the week of 9/11 (a whole other story). We have been visiting Cozumel and various Pacific dive sites since, and decided to return.
We put together a group and stayed at Brac Reef Beach Resort, diving with Reef Divers. The resort can best be described as a nice Holiday Inn. The rooms are large and clean, with good working air conditioners and TVs that pick up the New York stations. The food is outstanding, with buffets every meal that offerred huge selections of salads, vegetables, entrees and desserts. During the week we saw lobster thermidor, prime rib, ribs, chicken cordon bleu, and many pastas.
The diving is some of the best in the Carribean. They really pamper you. You put your gear outside your room the first night and don't have to handle it until you leave. They gear stays on the boat and is rinsed every evening. You just walk off the boat, rinse your wetsuit and hang it out to dry and walk back to your room in your bathing suit. On the boat, they handle the gear for you, changing tanks between dives and bringing it to you while you sit on a seat at the dive platform.
We purchased the package that inlcudes 3 dives a day, all meals, and 3 drinks a day. You do a two tank dive in the morning, come back for lunch, then go out for the third tank that afternoon. Night dives are extra, as is Nitrox. The diving is from moored sites around the island.
The air temperature was 82 and the water 82 as well. Visibility varied from 50 to 100 feet. We had a strong Easterly wind the first couple days, so it was a chore getting back on the boat in large waves. They hung out a current line and asked you to take your fins off and place them on your wrists before you approached the ladder. Once you got the hang of it: no problems. Later in the week it calmed down or blew from the South so you could dive the other side of the island in very calm seas.
We saw lots of schooling fish, rays, large nurse sharks, lobsters, crabs, and groupers. One grouper followed my wife the whole dive, letting her pet him. We visited a fish cleaning station and were able to observe this site for quite a long time.
We were able to go over to Little Cayman one day and dive Bloody Bay Wall. The Wall is long and straight, dropping almost straight down. Interesting, but all the life was on the top.
A very enjoyable trip at fairly low cost. Cayman Airways still hasn't gotten any better over the years. They obviously work on "Island Time."
