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Dive Review of Paradise Divers/Paradise Villas in
Cayman Islands/Little Cayman

Paradise Divers/Paradise Villas, Jul, 2004,

by Kevin Robertson, TN, USA . Report 1251.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 1 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments There are six villas with two units per villa. The units are clean with very basic furnishings and decor. Don't expect to do a lot of cooking in the kitchenettes. Small refrigerator (5-7 cu ft). Small microwave oven and two slice toaster. Breakfast cereal and sandwiches best describe the cooking facilities. Very very firm king size bed. Limited storage for clothes. All units share a spacious porch with the neighboring unit. Great ocean views that are absolutely beautiful.There are hammocks in front of each villa. They are strung in the trees by the beach for peaceful naps and book reading.The beach shallows are mostly sea grass and not conducive for snorkeling.The beach is mostly large rocks and boulders.A good place to snorkel is Preston Bay were we lucked out in seeing a Manta! We visited the other resorts on the island and decided Paradise Villas appeals to us best.This is a very quiet island that offers little if any night life.
There is only ONE small, well stocked, mini market type grocery and liquor store on the island. Occasionally they run out of items and you might have to wait a couple days for the shipment from Grand Cayman. We had to wait a couple days for milk. They are a five min walk from the Villas.
The Hungry Iguana restaurant and bar is located at Paradise Villas. They are not open for breakfast. We ate there six nights and the meals were delicious. Typical Cayman prices, hamburgers $9.00 and dinner entrees are $16-$25. Nice cozy island atmosphere.
I did two tank dives for five days with these folks. Paradise Divers does not have a dive shop to speak of.Buy whatever you might need before your trip. The dive boat is a 35ft roomy and very clean boat. Its has twin 225HP outboards. The deck is fully covered by a canvas roof. There is a camera rinse tank.They rinse your gear and store it overnight. Each diver is furnished with a large plastic storage bin with lid for dry storage of personal items. Dive locations are Bloody Bay Wall and Jackson Bay. Diving here reminded me of why I learned to dive. Favorite dive site was "Meadows", Jackson Bay. Part of the dive is a long swim through at 80ft. As you begin to end this long swim through you start to see in the distance a most beautiful surreal blue shade of water. When exiting the swim through at 103ft the beauty is indescribable. You swim into a huge canyon with walls all around you. I saw a large yellow sponge spawning. It looked like a yellow smoke stack with yellow smoke coming out of it. There were majestic sea fans, soft and hard coral everywhere.I saw giant crabs tucked into deep holes in the walls. Lots of horse-eye jacks and grouper. Color everywhere. Ask dive masters about Jerry the Grouper at "Donnas Delight", Bloody Bay. This huge grouper plays tag with squirrelfish and divers! A diver points to a squirrelfish and Jerry chases it into hiding in the reef. He does this over and over. Jerry is very friendly and he will even let divers pet him. When we were being told this in our pre-dive briefing, I thought they were pulling something. It's true and you have to see it for yourself. Other dive sites offer fantastic healthy reefs with soft and hard corals, large sea fans and schools of beautiful small fish. I saw a large loggerhead turtle resting on a ledge of a wall.We saw one reef shark, sea lettuce slugs, lots of cleaner shrimp, spotted and green morays, queen triggers, queen angels, yellow stingrays, trunkfish and up close to schools of squid showing off there translucent color. The dive masters, Vince and Rod are very professional and extremely knowledgeable. They made the diving an adventure. Rod is great at finding interesting little critters. I learned a lot about reef life from these two guys.
The diving at Little Cayman is hard to beat. I liked diving here better than Bonaire. I highly recommend Paradise Divers and Paradise Villas.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 26-50 dives
Where else diving Curacao, Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Turks and Caicos
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, cloudy, dry Seas choppy
Water Temp 82-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 75-85 Ft/ 23-26 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions Restrictions are loose. 110 feet max depth. 45 minutes return to boat. They let you continue diving the reefs near the boat. On deck with 500psi or more. Most of my dives were 60-65 minutes.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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