Back from Cayman Brac

[Colin]

Spent last week on a group trip to the Brac. Accommodations through Brac Reef Beach Resort, diving through Reef Divers. Water temp consistent 86 all week, flat calm water Sunday through Wednesday, then the winds picked up and brought us 3-5 foot seas for the rest of the week. Needless to say, many of the resort's guests were heading for the Dramamine. Food was spectaular....three huge buffets for every meal.

As far as the diving goes, they have beautiful 46 foot Newtons that each could hold probably 30 divers, but there were only 16 on our boat. There was another group there from Connecticut that has the other two boats, and man were they packed in! The crew set up and changed tanks before every dive for us, and also gave very thorough briefings before every dive. We got to dive the 356 wreck twice, which was cool. Did two dives at Little Cayman which were fabulous. Toms of fish and very healty corals.

Now it's off to DEMA next week, Curacao in January, Curacao in February, and then we'll see what's next........I know..... it's a tough life!

Colin.

[Colin]

More photos.....

[Colin]

A couple more.....

[Roger Southwick]

Nice shots, Colin!

[MikeS]

Wow, great photos.

I´ve not gone to the Caymans but one person I know that did go said it was a lot more expensive than other dive destinations.  Did you find this to be true?  How did costs compare for travel and dive ops to other locations (in general, of course)?

Thanks again for the nice pics,

Mike

[Colin]

Roger, Mike, thanks for the compliments....

Mike, as far as expensive....I guess it's all relative. The Cayman islands do have a fixed exchange rate $1US = .80CI.....so things will definitley be more expensive. When I went to Grand Cayman last August, things were certainly not cheap. Individual dives if you weren't on a package were upwards of $95US for a two-tank dive, unlike Cozumel where you can sometimes barter for a better deal.

We booked this Brac trip originally as a two-dive package with breakfast and dinner only, but with some negotiation with the resort/dive operation, I got my group three dives per day and all meals, since there isn't much else on the Brac in terms of places to eat. When we went to the Brac a couple of years ago, we stayed at the Divi Tiara (which closed at the end of September) and only had two dives and the BF and dinner included. As I recall lunch was about 15 bucks every day.

Anyway, to sum up, Grand Cayman is certainly expensive, but the sister islands (Brac and Little) aren't too bad, especially if you dive with a group, as they can generally get a better package than individuals. I have a number of clients who won't travel alone anymore....they prefer the convenience they get by traveling with one of my groups, both from price and the whole planning issue. I've got folks who travel with me from the DC area, Maryland, Texas, Michigan, and even St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands!

Colin.