During the period 24 March to 2 April, 2006, Karen and I took a trip to Cayman Brac, one of the three major Cayman Islands. The trip was arranged by the NM SCUBA Center. Karen and I left a couple of days early and took in the sights of the Houston/Galveston area. Thankfully, we won't have to do that again anytime soon. The Johnson Space Center was certainly worth the visit! Beyond that...

On Sunday, 26 March, we flew from Houston to Cayman Brac, landing first in Grand Cayman to change planes. The flight from Grand Cayman to Cayman Brac took all of about 30 minutes. We had jet aircraft the entire way; however, some smaller prop aircraft do operate between the islands. Our flight was delayed so we got into Cayman Brac late. We were met at the airport by personnel from the Brac Reef Resort and transported the short distance from the terminal to the resort. The first order of business was room assignments (ours was Room 109) and then dinner and off to bed. We received a short orientation the next morning and then it was on to the main order of business - diving.

The Brac Reef Resort is comfortable, with nice room anemities, but little of the local ambiance. It could well have been a room just about anywhere there is a beach. The lodging was two-story and we could often hear the occupants in the room above us clunking around. The resort did have a hot tub, a swimming pool, and a tennis court, as well as other "water things" like kayaks. The food was excellent and the desserts were exquisite! The food was served buffet-style and there was always enough to go around.

We did not take the opportunity to see much of the island; we pretty much confined out activities to the resort. Karen did skip an afternoon dive one day and pedal around the countryside. She even visited some local stores. We did one shore night dive off the resort premises, but it was dark and I didn't see much as we transited to and from the dive site.

The resort dive operations was handled by a company called Reef Divers. They ran an excellent operation, just as good as I have found anywhere. They offered a two-tank morning dive and a one-tank afternoon dive. They also offered unlimited shore diving, but none was available on the resort; you had to drive somewhere to do it. That necessarily involved renting a van to transport personnel and gear. If the weather was stable enough (it never was when we were there) they would offer a boat night dive. They also offered a two-tank trip to Bloody Bay Wall off Little Cayman, which we DID do, and which turned out to be two of the best dives we did. It was a 45-min boat ride from the resort; it may have been shorter had the sea state been calmer. The trade winds were very tempermental and the seas tended to be somewhat choppy. Several divers in the group got seasick while traveling to and from dive sites. It was also a little early in the season and the water was chillier than I thought it would be - about 79 degrees. The weather was also cool initially so with the cool water, the cool weather and the wind to further chill you, many were shivering at the end of the day. But the weather warmed up and topside became much more comfortable. The water didn't warm appreciably. We dove NITROX the whole time. Reef Divers has three boats which, as best as I could tell, were identical. Each could easily handle 20 divers. We dove in "Big Sister" which was crewed by Jason and Vicki Belport. Getting into the water was a time-consuming process as instead of allowing you to get your BC/tank on at your boat location and stagger around to a water entry point, you moved to the stern, sat down on a platform and they brought your BC and tank to you - convenient, but time-consuming. Dive recovery was the same - in reverse. Fins and camera to the crew, climb the ladder, then sit on the platform and allow the crew to remove your BC and tank. Each diver had a fixed position marked in duct tape with your name on the boat.

To me the Cayman Brac diving was unique for two reasons: 1. VAST underwater expanses of pure white sand (it looked like snow) and 2. shear, precipitous walls. The sea life was not unlike what we have encountered diving around the Caribbean, with the single exception that there were a lot of sand-dwelling creatures there...forests of Garden Eels, for instance, and lots of Spotted Eagle Rays and Southern Rays. Probably the most unique sand-dwellers were the Flying Gurnards, which I have seen nowhere else. I'll have to say that Bloody Bay Wall was the best, most beautiful wall dive I have ever done. I saw some black sponges there I have never seen before. I have also never seen a Slipper Lobster, which we saw on the shore night dive. There is an abundance of artificial and natural wrecks in the area - some old, some new; some big, some small; some intact, some in small pieces.

The area is lacking in big pelagics, but this could be a seasonal thing. We saw a couple of nurse sharks, one maybe 8 ft.long. Several divers, to include the divemaster, saw a small Scalloped Hammerhead. There were many smallish Hawksbill Turtles. And then all the rest of the small reef fish. Surprisingly, I saw only one trumpetfish; I usually see them everywhere.

Here are the photos. I put them all in one display with resort and diving pictures alike. There aren't too many because they are very repetitive of other underwater photos from Belize and Roatan. Photoshop built the web display. If you want to return the the "Cayman Brac Trip" page, you will just have to use the "Back" arrow of your web browser until I can figure out how to insert a "Return to" command in the files Photoshop generates. With my vast computer expertise that may never happen. So far, your "Back" button is the best I can do to help you navigate around.

Photos of Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands.