Diving with Reef Divers/Brac Reef Beach Resort in
Cayman Islands/Cayman Brac/Little Cayman in 2003/03:
an Instant Reader Report

 Bonaire, Cozumel, Curacao, Yap 

Dive Conditions

110' Max. depth, 50 minutes, not srickly enforced.  

[None]  

Overall Rating

The resort is small –about 40 rooms- and very comfy. The rooms
are all on the small side but were clean and totally adequate for our
needs. Daily made service with lots of clean towels. Fresh big blue
beach/dive towels are available in the lobby every day. Our room had
tub/shower, air/ceiling-fan, cable TV, and a coffee maker. The restaurant
served tasty meals with a varied selection every night. Breakfast was
typical eggs, fruit, waffles, etc., also served buffet style. Tap water at
the resort was drinkable with no ill effects. The bar had a good selection
of drinks, all on the pricey side. All-in-all, we were very satisfied with
the food and accommodations. I don’t know how this resort
compares to the other 2 or 3 on the island, ‘cause we never had
need or desire to leave the premises – except by dive boat of
course. 

Reef Divers, the in house dive-op, had gear bags and release forms waiting
in our room upon arrival. Put your filled gear bag outside your door the
first morning and they will take it to the assigned boat for you.
BC’s, regulators, and weights are left on the boat for the week.
Wetsuits, fins, etc. were taken (by ourselves) to the gear room each day
for rinsing (3 big rinse tanks) and storage. I took my cameras and
detachable computer back to our room each day. This meant that our gear was
scattered amongst three different places each day – a little
confusing at times! I opted for the unlimited Nitrox for the week, $140 for
17 tanks. Marianne made fewer dives, so was charged $10 per tank of Nitrox.
32% is the only flavor available. Due to dive time restrictions of 50
minutes/dive (not strictly enforced) Nitrox really doesn’t give
you much of an advantage, other than safety. My computer never went close
to yellow, and I often came up with 1200# left in the tank. Night dives
were offered on Tuesday and Thursday nights for an extra charge of $50@
– we did not do the night dives.  Shore diving in front of the
resort really isn’t an option, so all diving is done by boat. 

Reef Divers uses 3 large dive boats (15-20 divers/ boat) equipped with
camera table, radio, O2, shower, and head. There are two sturdy ladders off
the back platform for easy exit/entry. When divers are in the water, they
drop a safety stop rope/chain in the water, next to it is an extra
regulator for low air situations. BC’s and regs, are set up by
the DM’s. Be sure to check your own outfit, minor problems in
gear set-up did occur. Over the course of the week, we dove with a total of
6 different DM’s, all very friendly and competent, but all
slightly different in their interpretation of the rules. We could buddy up
and do our own thing, or go on the group tour. Solo diving was not
permitted. In the 17 dives I made, no sites were repeated. We made two
trips over to Little Cayman (2 tanks/trip) to dive the famous Bloody Bay.
Randy’s Gazebo was the best, with Marilyn’s Cut a close
second. At Cayman Brac, we dove the East end, West end, North side, South
side, and all points in-between! The DM’s did a great job of
selecting a good mix of sites – especially for the morning 2-tank
trips. The afternoon 1-tank dives tended to be closer and shallower sites
with a little more surge and reduced visibility. Pre-dive briefings were
very detailed with good maps drawn for each site. Roll call was done before
and after every dive. They are a very safe outfit to dive with. 
Dive sites are selected by the DM’s, not by a group vote like
many other places. The one exception to this was the day that most of the
divers threatened to mutiny if we didn’t go back to Little
Cayman, A quick check of the fuel tanks, and we were on our way –
smiles all around! 

In general, we were very pleased with the diving at both islands.
Depending on conditions, every site has the potential of being a very good
to great dive. Sheer walls, spur and grove, patch reefs, and sand flats
with HUGE barrel sponges. Sharks, rays, large grouper, and turtles were
spotted on almost every dive; first ones in the water always had a better
chance of seeing the big stuff. We felt the variety and abundance of the
smaller critters was far less than other places we’ve been. The
one exception was Randy’s Gazebo over at L.C. – tons of
fish! On C.B. our favorite site was Schoolhouse. A sand flat at 50-60 ft.
with plenty of huge barrel sponges (some with lobster inside) several rays,
and a turtle or two just for good measure. Add to that 150+ft. vis, no
current and 81degree water and you have the makings of a totally enjoyable
dive – even the long surface swim back to the boat, but
that’s another story.  The other “must do”
dive is the MV Capt. Keith Tibbetts (AKA Russian Frigate 356). Purchased
from Cuba and intentionally sunk off CB it makes for a nice wreck dive for
all skill levels. Speaking of skill level, we had several
“new” divers on the boat, and none of the dives
presented them with major problems. They just stayed a little shallower and
avoided some of the tighter swim-thrus. No diving was permitted below
110’.   

We really enjoyed our trip to Brac. Nice resort, outstanding food, good
diving, and a fine group of fellow divers to trade stories with. Just what
a dive vacation should be. 

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