When we did a Western Caribbean cruise, it included Grand Cayman as a port. We were able to dive on one of the shore dives there. Actually, two dives were recommended to us from the shore in downtown Georgetown. For cruise ship passengers, it’s pretty easy to locate. As soon as the dinghies arrive at the dock, we walk to the right and in less than 5 minutes we arrive at Eden Rocks Dive Centre. Don’t be fooled by a new competitor they have right before you. Eden Rocks Dive Center is closer to the dive sites than its new competitor.
The Cayman Islands are relatively expensive to dive in with an average of $85 US for a dive trip on a two-tank boat. However, with limited time like with cruise ship passengers, we were able to do decent diving for much less. If you bring all your equipment except tanks and weights, you can rent them for around $10 USD. Even renting the complete equipment will cost much less than a boat trip. Eden Rocks has a patio with lockers in the back and an area with a ladder where the entrance to the water is. The two dive sites are called Eden Rocks and Devil’s Grotto. They are reached by a short swim to several buoys that mark the sites.
We ended up doing Devil’s Grotto which had some nice coral formations. The maximum depth was about 46 feet with a water temperature of about 80 degrees. The visibility was even better than what we experienced in Key Largo just a few days before. There was a very nice large tunnel to swim through and several smaller ones throughout the site. Inside the large tunnel, we saw a large resident tarpon. The fish life, including parrotfish, groupers and surgeonfish, was healthy on this shore dive and it is interesting to note that it even exists so close to cruise ships. Other divers said they also saw some turtles.
We’d like to do the other shore dive site, Eden Rocks, which is to the right of Devil’s Grotto, the next time we’re in Grand Cayman. These sites are ideal for beginner level divers. My partner was a newly certified diver and had no problems with this shore dive.