Dive Review of Sunset House in
Cayman Islands/Grand Cayman

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Sunset House: "Sunset House--Back in our Rotation", Dec, 2022, by Jeanne Downey, PA, US ( Top Contributor 57 reports with 21 Helpful votes). Report 12316.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Sunset House is a family-owned dive lodge established in the “70’s now operated by the grandchildren of the founders. It’s been 12 years since being in Grand Cayman, when we didn’t remember it being anything special. Seven of us went back to Sunset House for 10 days and had a blast. Sunset House finally upgraded the rooms, not high grade, but certainly better than what it had been. We had one of the 8 courtyard rooms with a king bed, nightstand, mini-fridge, coffee-maker, large closet, safe, lots of bathroom sink space, A/C, and a porch. We had a partial view of the ocean. Right outside were a couple of picnic tables where we ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. The courtyard rooms are closer to dining, the dive lockers, dock, and swimming pool than the 22 ocean front rooms. Upon arrival at the airport, we went to the taxi stand, were quickly assigned a taxi, and taken to Sunset House where the taxi driver was paid; we only gave a tip. We were offered help with our luggage, but declined as it wasn’t far to the room. After signing in at the dive store, I walked 45 minutes to Kirk Supermarket, on the main drag, to get peanut butter, bread, and jelly, and 45 minutes back to the hotel in the hot sun and heat. There’s also a small grocery store and liquor store within a 10-minute walk, but they didn’t have nearly as much available; for produce you need to go to Kirk. Beach lovers beware! Located south of Seven Mile Beach and Georgetown, there is no beach, but cuts in the Ironshore make shore diving convenient and puts the reef right at your fin tips. We did a shore dive the day we arrived and managed to find the Nicholson wreck, so not a bad memory after 12 years. Shore diving isn’t exciting but planning a slightly different direction each day made it more interesting; some days there was a mild current, but a couple days it was quite strong, so plan accordingly. We saw sting rays, tarpon, and a mottled jaw fish, my first. Eventually we found the mermaid statue along with puffer fish, a couple anchors, and Nassau groupers. There are lots of spur and groove formations to explore for small fish and crabs. I only saw one lionfish during all our shore dives, on the wreck. A full breakfast is included at the indoor dining room, including your choice of eggs, pancakes, French toast, juice, toast, bacon or sausage, and potatoes or fruit. Other choices included fruit and yogurt or bagel with cream cheese or cheese, and bacon, my favorite. Two boat dives were included each day. Two to three of their six boats were used while we were there; we got our gear down to the dock by 7:45am, the staff loaded everything, and off we went. The partially covered boats were comfortable with plenty of room for the 8 to 10 divers onboard and were equipped with heads. Transport times were anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes. One of my favorite dives was Eagle Point Rock, where we actually saw an eagle ray as well as a large clinging crab and a dozen baby conchs only 4” long—so cute! At Knife Wall we saw several ocean triggerfish hanging around, and there were dozens of Flamingo tongues at Killer Pillar. There were garden eels on almost every dive. At Trinity Caves a green turtle was munching on a sponge the entire dive, along with two French angels keeping him company. We followed our guide Reed through tunnels and saw schooling barracuda at the end of the dive, where the turtle was still decimating the same sponge. Reed was one of several guides we had, some better than others at finding critters. Pablo was one of our favorites and had some of us following him around the way trumpet fish follow groupers. Among many critters he pointed out was a decorator crab hidden deep in coral. Another favorite site was Smith’s Cove where we followed Corbin around a maze of bommies. A big barracuda came into a swim-through to be cleaned just as I was entering. He didn’t see me at first and I got a great close-up of his teeth before he swam away. We ate most dinners at “My Bar” on the property. It was easier than walking to town single file on the busy road and we could add the bill to our room tab. It got very crowded, and smoking was allowed; there was a small no-smoking area. Other dining options were the indoor restaurant (no smoking) and an uncovered patio where we could watch the sunset while dining. The menu consisted of American, Mexican, and Indian cuisine. We finally started going over at 4:30 so we could eat by 5:30; the later you went over, the longer it took to eat--the servers were crazy busy. We ate once at Silver Sides, by Eden Rock. The food was good, but of course it took over two hours to eat. If a restaurant is too far to walk, taxis are expensive. An added bonus for going to Sunset House in December is the free entertainment across the street—massive Christmas light displays at the Bodden home. My favorite was the 12’ tall metal tree that had lights changing color patterns to Christmas music. Prices at Sunset House are reasonable by Grand Cayman standards, and I would go back again.
Websites	Sunset House
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Bahamas, Caribbean, Cocos, Socorro, Tahiti, Malaysia, Indonesia, Micronesia, Galapagos, Cayman Islands, Philippines, etc.
Closest Airport	Grand Cayman	Getting There	Many major airlines.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas
Water Temp	82-83°F / 28-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	50-70 Ft/ 15-21 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	100 feet encouraged. 700psi at end of dive. 60 minutes max including safety stop.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Large rinse tank on boat and shore.

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Dive Review of Sunset House in Cayman Islands/Grand Cayman

Sunset House: "Sunset House--Back in our Rotation", Dec, 2022,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Sunset House in
Cayman Islands/Grand Cayman