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Scuba Forum / Scuba Locations / October 2004Cayman dive sites
Hi all, I spend a nice week diving in Grand Cayman one year ago, and now after Ivan, Jeannine and who knows wich one more... I was wondering how the reefs are? Did they still in good??? I really hope so. Thanks in advance !! Albert Barcelona > Hi all, I spend a nice week diving in Grand Cayman one year ago, and now > after Ivan, Jeannine and who knows wich one more... I was wondering how the > reefs are? Did they still in good??? I really hope so. Albert, hurricanes are largely a "surface phenomenon". The best example is that tiny little plane sitting about 30 feet below the surface at the La Ceiba hotel shore in Cozumel. It's still there after Gilbert and all the other hurricanes that hit Coz. Gilbert blew away the steel-reenforced concrete La Ceiba pier, but the plane was hardly damaged about 100 feet off shore. The hurricanes moved it less than the propellers of a nearby cruiseship did on one occasion. :-) I've dived all three Cayman islands every year for the past 15, and I can't even count the number of hurricanes that had passed through or hit the islands. But I can tell you that the underwater world (except those very close to the surface) is hardly affected at all, by the hurricanes. The small changes in the sunken wrecks are more noticeable than anything else. The Russian wreck (Brac) was snapped in the middle and then leaned over after the first couple of hurricanes after it was sunk, but had been stable since, more or less like the Oro Verde in Grand Cayman -- just disintegrates a bit more each year -- but basically the smae wreck year after year. Go and enjoy your diving there. No need to worry about what any hurricane did or didn't do UNDERWATER, as long as you have water, electricity, and hosing above. :-) -- Bob. Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :Albert, hurricanes are largely a "surface phenomenon". : [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] :blew away the steel-reenforced concrete La Ceiba pier, but the plane :was hardly damaged about 100 feet off shore. Which means that you should definetely be worried about things like piers. If you can't get on the boat, it doesn't matter how nice the reefs are. The guy who asked the question should be contacting the resort he intends to stary with to see what issues there are getting on and off the dive boat, and whether or not they are important to him. Dan Bracuk Is it my imagination, or do Buffalo Wings taste like chicken? The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/ To all concerned about cayman Dive sites: The following is a copy of an article posted on the Ocean Frontiers Web Site on the 24 of Sept. My wife and I were on Island (Grand Cayman) before, during and for a couple of days after Ivan struck. It was the worst time of our lives. We truly did not know if we would survive or not. We were forced out of the Marriott Courtyard by the police and into a "shelter". On Sunday morning around 07:00 it was hit by lightning and the roof proceeded to progressively peel off. ASAP later Sunday, we were transported to another "shelter" on the other side of the athletic field where we were at least dry. We escaped on Monday and returned to the Marriott Courtyard that had minimal damage and we remained for the next two nights. We managed to get evacuated on Wednesday 15 Sept.. Were were two of the lucky ones. Over the last several years on Grand Cayman the algae has progressed and slowly inundated the corals in the waters especially on the west side of Grand Cayman. Ivan MAY have been a blessing to the corals. The article by Ocean Frontiers would tend to support my supposition. I will wait to hear first hand from someone I trust to support this idea. In the mean time, if anyone dives in the waters of Grand Cayman within the next several weeks, I would really like to get your observations. FWIW. Ed >Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com (Reef Fish) pounded away at his >keyboard resulting in: [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >Is it my imagination, or do Buffalo Wings taste like chicken? >The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/ Sorry, I forgot to attach the Ocean Frontier's Article. Here it is: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As posted By Ocean Frontiers: The staff made one extensive shore dive yesterday covering two of the most weather-exposed dive sites, River of Sand and High Rock Drop Off. Both are near the famous Cayman Blowholes on the south side of the island, near East End. The visibility was good and the whole area has a much "cleaner" appearance as any algae that was there is now gone. Many new gullies, tunnels, and swimthroughs are now further exposed and safe for divers to enter and exit since most of the sand has washed away. In fact, much of the sand has naturally relocated and may be found on the new 30-foot wide beach that mother nature dropped on the Compass Point doorstep -- happily there is a silver lining. The hard corals and reef structure seem to have been built to "hurricane code" appear to be in very good shape. While some sponges remain on these two dive sites, many have tipped over, leaving their "root" for healthy regrowth. The parade of marine life was out in full force, with a large grouper, 2 turtles and a school of 5 barracuda escorting Steve around the reef. Given that this dive was made on two of Cayman's dive sites that were most exposed to the full brunt of Ivan's fury, the prognosis is excellent for the other less-exposed areas around the island. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > To all concerned about cayman Dive sites: > [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] >> Is it my imagination, or do Buffalo Wings taste like chicken? >> The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/ > Which means that you should definetely be worried about things like > piers. If you can't get on the boat, it doesn't matter how nice the > reefs are. I dove at Cabo Pulmo a couple weeks ago. We helped push the boat into the water from the beach, then waded in and hopped aboard. Worked just fine. Don't they have sandy beaches in the Caymans? >> Which means that you should definetely be worried about things like >> piers. If you can't get on the boat, it doesn't matter how nice the [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Don't they have sandy beaches in the Caymans? They have one. It's really long . . . about 7 miles long. >>Don't they have sandy beaches in the Caymans? > > They have one. It's really long . . . about 7 miles long. Don't tell everyone, but they have a lot of other sandy beaches too. It's just that the one gets all the publicity and most of the tourists. The publicity is wrong, BTW. 7MB is actually "only" about 5.5 miles long. Unless somebody has a recent and reliable report that says otherwise, GC may have a lot more, a lot less, or just different sandy beaches than it did at the beginning of the month. And hurricane season still has about 60 days to go.  SignatureSteve The above can be construed as personal opinion in the absence of a reasonable belief that it was intended as a statement of fact. If you want a reply to reach me, remove the SPAMTRAP from the address. > >>Don't they have sandy beaches in the Caymans? > > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > GC may have a lot more, a lot less, or just different sandy beaches > than it did at the beginning of the month. Prior to Ivan, the Grand Cayman was talking about pumping sand in to replenish 7mi beach, because the beach had been getting small. I did see one report that claimed that the storm did that beach replenishment for them, but at this point, consider this to be unverified. There's also going to be a lot of sand that's current next to some of the roads that's going to have to be 'put' somewhere... On reefs, I'd expect the shallows to have taken the usual hits. I did get a brief post-Ivan dive report from Cayman Brac that reported some damage in 50fsw deep areas, notably some large barrel sponges lost and that the Cayman Mariner (dive site "East Chute") had its bow 'ripped off'. The Cayman Mariner has been slowly collapsing over the past half dozen years, so this it probably didn't need too much of a push. The #356 Wreck is reportedly unchanged, which I find modestly surprising. Historically, the November 1932 Storm that hit the Caymans alludes to it stripping off Cayman Brac's northside beaches. The history's a bit vague, but its my impression that there could have easily been 7 miles of beaches over here before 11/32 that would have rivaled Grand Cayman. -hh > Historically, the November 1932 Storm that hit the Caymans alludes to it > stripping off Cayman Brac's northside beaches. The history's a bit > vague, but its my impression that there could have easily been 7 miles > of beaches over here before 11/32 that would have rivaled Grand Cayman. Then I say, with all consideration to those who suffered, Thank God Brac doesn't have those beaches anymore. The island would be ruined similarly to Grand Cayman by now. I'm not even an "oldie" when it comes to visiting GC, as my first visit was in 1979, but it has spiraled downhill in every sense, since then. I can only imagine how beautiful it must have been in the late 50's when the islands first few dive ops opened. |
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