Cayman Brac

Cayman Brac

Cayman Brac is one of the two lesser-known Cayman Islands, the other being Little Cayman. They are sparsely populated and much, much quieter than Grand Cayman. The diving is good and convenient, with Little Cayman having some of the best walls in the Caribbean. My friends Derek van Bever and John Williams joined me with our families there in 1993. John and my family and I stayed at the Divi Tiara Resort, Derek stayed at the Brac Reef Resort next door. Divi Tiara

Divi Tiara Resort, Cayman Brac

was nice and had probably the best food of anywhere I've dived. Our trip was somewhat spoiled by a dredging operation going on in front of the resort causing constant noise and limiting swimming and snorkelling. We dove mostly on Brac but did three days of trips over to Little Cayman as well.

Here are my dive log entries for the trip:

Dive No. Date Dive Site Max Depth Bottom Time Notes
77 2/18/93 Monster Rock Chimney 94 0:41 Lots of trouble clearing, 80° water is cold. Nice wall, not many fish & all small.
78 2/18/93 Greenhouse reef 53 0:35 Too cold, too much ear trouble. Large-ish grunts, big 'cuda, French angel.
79 2/19/93 Manta Canyon 99 0:30 Spectacular wall, ears better, still chilly.
80 2/19/93 Heidi's Reef 47 0:45 Huge elkhorn formations, gorgeous trigger
81 2/20/93 Inside Out 100 0:27 Another spectacular Cayman wall. Heavy current. Derek's Micra malfunctioned on the boat & he didn't go in. Older diver had heart attack on surface, Derek rounded up other divers who were picked up by another boat. Stricken diver eventually OK.
82 2/20/93 Charlie's Reef 44 0:48 Nice reef. Looked for alleged resident moray & legendary Flying Gurnard w/o success. Nice big queen trigger, several filefish, peacock flounder. Still cold even w/newly-purchased vest.
83 2/20/93 End of the Island 65 0:51 Best of trip so far. Flat shallow reef, big school of grunts, tiny camouflaging filefish, huge conch, great pillar coral, puffer, queen angel, yellow/green barrel sponge, soapfish.
84 2/21/93 Mixing Bowl, Bloody Bay Wall, Little Cayman 106 0:46 Incredible wall starting @21 ft. Profuse growth everywhere & lots o' fish. Interesting cuts & tunnels behind wall towards Jackson's Bight.
85 2/21/93 Jackson's Bight, Bloody Bay Wall, Little Cayman 50 0:43 Fabulous site behind & on top of wall. Stingray w/Pilotfish in sand, trutle surfacing. Did "3 Muchachos" video.
86 2/22/93 Marylin's Cut, Bloody Bay Wall, Little Cayman 99 0:50 Derek found strange tunicate on wall, I found tiny transparent fish. Poor viz for L. Cayman wall.
87 2/22/93 Eagle Ray Roundup, Bloody Bay Wall, Little Cayman 45 0:49 Cool network of cuts & tunnels well behind the wall. Big groupers, 'cuda; video'd conch. Exhausting swim back to boat against current. Beautiful site.
88 2/23/93 Chimneys, Bloody Bay Wall, Little Cayman 99 0:49 More of the same lush B.B. Wall. Spotted drum @end.
89 2/23/93 The Meadows Bloody Bay Wall, Little Cayman 49 1:01 Cool spot w/lots of swim-throughs & cuts. Lush coral, fans, etc. Others saw nurse sharks, snorkler claimed to have seen manta.
90 2/23/93 Grunt Valley (North side) 45 0:54 Coral heads, sand, hardpan. Derek found nudibranch, I found 2 big hermit crabs in conch shells. Got error symbol (dirty head?) in camera viewfinder, now jitters on playback.
91 2/24/93 Middle Chute (North side) 105 0:46 Humongous sand chute cut in wall. Played w/dive light-brownish sponges & black encrusting coral turned bright red. Nice queen trigger, arrow crabs, brittle stars on big barrel sponge. Lush wall top, fed sausage to yellowtails. Video status uncertain.
92 2/24/93 Sgt. Major Reef (South side) 47 0:51 Lots of tunnels & caves similar to Roatan. Huge piece of elkhorn, soapfish, fed black durgons sausage. Good sized lobster, Blennies on top, more queen triggers. Last dive of trip for D.
93 2/25/93 Tiara Tunnels (South side) 96 0:35 Trouble clearing, after clearing had bad dizzy spell on wall @80' - scary. Saw fat 'cuda & stingray in sand. Skipped 2nd dive.
94 2/26/93 West Chute (N. side) 81 0:37 Dozen conch in chute, OK wall, so-so viz. Strawberry sponge turned beautiful deep red w/light.
95 2/26/93 Plymouth Rock (N. side) 31 0:54 Best reef on the Brac! Nice spur/groove coral, every possible kind of fish. Honeycomb cowfish, powder tangs, big snapper, small 'cudas, barred hamlet.

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