Gorgeous diving, but...
Written: Dec 12 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Clear water, knowledgeable operators, beautiful!!!
Cons: Expensive, Stingray City was a bust
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| bcfrench's Full Review: Cayman Islands |
...unlike some others here, I was not at all impressed with Stingray City.
We stayed at Sunset House in George Town, which I recommend highly. The rooms are not plush, but comfortable and well set up for divers. Get the long lockers if you can. The boat diving was absolutely fabulous, even off season: Kent's Caves, Texas Hole, Orange Canyon, all of it was fabulous. Even just grabbing a tank and going off the end of Sunset House's dive platform yielded beautiful diving. The reef isn't in as great shape right around there, but good enough to yield treasures galore. The sergeant majors and yellow snapper will mob you on occasion, but it's worth it for all the rest of the wonderful sea life.
Grand Cayman is not cheap; $8.95 for a simple fish-and-chips lunch sounds a little on the expensive side until you realize that $1.00 Cayman equals $1.25 US, and then it seems REALLY expensive. It might be worth it to rent a kitchenette to avoid having to eat out all the time.
We did go on the obligatory jaunt to Stingray City, and I was not at all impressed. In fact, in the first 30 seconds of my dive, I was bitten on the arm by a large female. Now, stingrays don't have teeth -- they have cartiledge plates they use to vacuum goodies off the sea floor -- but the distinction was lost on me at the time. The bite left a black and blue egg on my arm that lasted more than three weeks; the bruising extended a good six inches out from the bite. Apparently there are some stingrays that are getting fed up with being fed, and use this new technique to get the people to drop the tasty fish bits faster. I was not impressed. I've seen stingrays of all kinds, eagle rays, mantas, and yellow rays, and I'm much happier watching them do their normal fishy things, rather than acting in the very unnatural manner that they do at Stingray City. I suppose one must do this once, but I'm glad I got my visit out of the way.
On the whole, though, I loved Cayman and plan to go back.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
bcfrench
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Member: Barb French
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 3 members
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