Grand Cayman Dec 28, 2005 Grand Princess

I've play with the stingrays a number of times with various companies and decided to try something different. The original game plan was to catch a cab to Divetech next to Cayman Turtle Farm/Boatswain's Beach and Tortuga rum cake outlet.

There is supposed to be great snorkeling in the area and not a whole lot of people to share it with (currently). They also said no charge - the magic words - to shore snorkel from their shop.

http://www.divetech.com/

It was kind of a busy day in Georgetown and none of the taxi drivers wanted to take only one person there. No problem if I were a party of four, but since I wasn't, and I wasn't going to pay for 4 people, I went with plan B.

There were several other ships in port that day, none of them small.

We used both ship tenders and some of the whopper shore tenders.

The tenders were lined up like duckings. My tender ticket numbers were not as low as I would have liked so had some time to kill.

To the far right is Eden Rock Dive Center, the building with the green roof is Paradise restaurant/Abanks, and to the left are the north and south tender docks. So that's about how far you need to walk to get to Eden Rock.

A zoom in on Paradise/Abanks and Eden Rock Dive...

Instead of heading to Eden Rock, I decided to head off in the opposite direction thinking about checking out Cali and Cheeseburger reef.

Many photo ops along the way...

Ahead is Hammerheads and the Cali is offshore from there.

Not far from the cruise ships at all.

Next to Hammerheads is a dive shop where I think you can rent gear. They said it was ok to leave from their beach which is better than climbing down the ladder at Hammerheads - at least for me.

http://www.diversdown.net/cruise.htm {Their Georgetown location }

I guess Ivan must have taken out the end of their pier...

But you can still enter from the "beach". There is some glass in the area, so watch where you step.

Looking over to Hammerheads Brewpub and its ladder.

A little further is another bar/ladder combo - Rackham's Pub. They have nightly tarpon feeding, but my cruise ship would not be around for that.

Looks like there is a going out of biz Stringray store there, too...

I should have just started snorkeling then, but wanted to find Cheeseburger reef so kept walking...

Getting warmer...

Red Hot...

Unfortunately, Bob Soto's Dive shop looks like it closed - I was kind of hoping to rent a locker there.

Upstairs is the Lobster Pot restaurant - but I did not try.

Still in search so somewhere safe to stash my stuff you sometimes run into interesting locations. How's that for an eternal view ?

After walking a little more, I gave up trying to find a biz to stash my stuff that would still be open when I returned...

and headed back to the Cali, but at least I know for next time.

By now even the dive shop was closing down, so I tipped a waitress at Hammerheads to put my stuff behind the bar for a while so I could go snorkeling. She was most accomodating!

Off we go... There was still a little boat traffic in the area, but they did a good job of avoiding me and I sometimes tried to stay out of their way.

You would have thought I had fish food (hehehehe)

The weather looked like it might be getting worse so I decided it was time to leave and retrieved my stuff from Hammerheads and headed back to the ship. But on the way I noticed some amateur fishermen, a real one or two, and an impromptu fish market!

He was the serious one...

And it seemed people were just walking up and buying fish

The Welcome sign for those wanting to know...

The South Tender dock

Decided what the heck and kept going to Eden Rock. I rented a locker from Abanks - think it was $4.

LOTs of parrotfish - herds...

You can stay right near the shore or swim out to the reef. I decided to swim out to the reef. Light was fading and of course I had the wrong settings on my camera, but some pics came out.

Great pics! Next time your there, you should try the Lobster Pot.....excellent food allbe a bit pricey. When we were eating there the week Wilma & Beta were affecting Grand Cayman, the splash from the waves was hitting the windows on the second floor and every once in a while would go completely over the street.

Mike

www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

There is a marker for the reef, but you can find it here, between Paradise and Eden Rock Dive about this far out.

I didn't really like any of the picture for here on, but seems like I have to post a couple more...

Back closer to shore - it looked like some urchins were trying to take root...

By now, it was about 15 minutes before the "last tender" so time to scoot...

walking away from Paradise Restaurant and back toward the tender docks.

Hmmm - long line for GP - good - can run around some more!

That line never did seem to get shorter - seems people were doing the same as me. But it did get darker and darker. Looks like they are doing some work on the North dock.

Finally on a tender and there was still a long line of people behind me. But this was one of the whopper tenders so just about all fit.

And back the mother ship - wonder what is playing on MUTS?

Hoisting up one of the last tenders...

And tucking it away...

That's all, folks...

Wow- thanks for all of the great pictures- I have never tendered so this was great to see!

This will be my first time on a cruise and to GC, and even though I have reservations with Soto's cruises to go snorkeling I wanted to do some of my own.

So it looks like this Eden Rock place is close enough to the pier to do some snorkeling on my own ?( with DH ) ?

Great pics! Thanks for sharing. I was just wondering what kind of camera equipment you used for the underwater shots. I've read you can get a waterproof cover of some kind - do you know anything about that?

Thanks!

This will be my first time on a cruise and to GC, and even though I have reservations with Soto's cruises to go snorkeling I wanted to do some of my own.

 

So it looks like this Eden Rock place is close enough to the pier to do some snorkeling on my own ?( with DH ) ?

Absolutely. If Soto's still picks up in the same spot - parking lot across the street from Church of God - you will have walked most of the way there and easily see Paradise Restaurant/Abanks/Eden Rock.

After your tour, Soto's can drop you off at 7 Mile Beach where you would have to taxki/bus back or back at the tender dock, but probably not at the same place where they picked you up.

You can always ask the driver if they will drop you off directly at Eden Rock area for a gratuity. ;)

Great pics! Thanks for sharing. I was just wondering what kind of camera equipment you used for the underwater shots. I've read you can get a waterproof cover of some kind - do you know anything about that?

 

Thanks!

I have a couple of Canon cameras with waterproof housings, but many cameras have them available. Many of the Nikon Coolpix and Olympus, for example.

There are also some other options including "baggies".

http://www.ewa-marine.de/english/index.htm

is one manufacturer.

You can try Google with your camera model and waterproof housing and see what pops up.