My preferences are a bit different from yours.  I visit GC for the diving
and am willing to stay pretty much anyplace that offers good diving and
acceptable accomodations and a handy bar.  All inclusives were made for guys
like me.

To find what you are looking for, you only need to shop for two things:
1. Accomodations that suit your taste.
2. A safe way to enter and exit the water.
Grand Cayman is surrounded by reef and, after a reasonable swim, with
spectacular drop offs.  Anywhere you can get in the water, you can get to
good diving.

If it were me, with your preferences, I'd look along 7 mile beach.  The area
is pricey, but generally very nice.  The beach is suitable for reading or
just relaxing and for easy entry to the water.  Not all Cayman entries are
easy.  Much of the shore line is razor sharp rock.  If you were willing to
give up some dining variety, I also suggest the west end of the island,
where the crowds are a bit less and the beaches every bid as nice.

It's quite reasonable.  While I prefer boat diving, each time we visit Grand
Cayman, we rent a car for at least a few days.  It's a good way to visit a
variety of dive sites, including some very nice night dive sites, and a good
way to see the island.  There's more on GC than just diving and beaches.
Rather than renting gear for the week, check and see if your choice of
accomodations has some kind of shore diving deal.  Many of the hotels
include unlimited shore diving in some kind of package.  Boat diving has
always been part of the packages I select, but that's not to say that you
can't custom order what you prefer.

A couple of round trip tickets from S. Florida to Grand Cayman would be
nice.

Lee

IIRC, Turtle Nest Inn is in the Bodden Town area. There aren't many boat diving sites
in that area, but that maybe that's just because the boats come from the ends of the
island. Bodden Town is in about the middle of the island, along the south shore,
which makes it a central location for exploring the island. If you want a place
that's quiet, but want to travel to both ends of th eisland, it may be a good choice.

If you want to be closer to the west end and GT, you might consider Cobalt Coast.
They're affiliated with Dive Tech, and have a shop on the premises and shore diving
100' down the dock. I haven't had a chance to dive there, but I believe it's good.
There's definitely good shore diving from Dive Tech's other shop about 1/2 mile away,
next to the Turtle Farm.

There are plenty of easy shore dives from any of the shops close to GT, as well as at
Smith's Cove beach about 2 mile south of GT. You can stay anyplace and do dives at
any or all of these locations. With the exception of Smith's Cove, which is a public
beach, you'll have to rent your tank from the shop whose entry you're diving from,
assuming they're open, so an unlimited shore diving package from elsewhere won't
help, other than already having weights. Expect tanks to run about $8.

Another option for quiet is to consider the east end of the island. Morritt's and
Royal Reef are nice places with a good beach right out front. Morritt's in particular
has some excellent snorkeling around the gazebo. It's right next door to Royal Reef,
so oyu can walk over from there, too. I'd suggest an operator other than the one at
Morritt's. The downside of staying on the east end is that it's an hour's drive back
to the west end, and the shore diving options are more limited.

You shouldn't have much of an issue with currents along the west end of the island,
but may encounter them elsewhere. If you do any shore diving from someplace other
than a shop check with a nearby shop first. Any current you find will generally be a
long shore current, or a rip current through a channel in the reef. The former may
mean difficulty in finding a place to exit and a walk back, while the latter can make
it difficult to get back inside the reef once you've gotten out.

"donheff" <don.heffernan@gmail.com> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:

Sunset House is not opulent, but it has pretty good shore diving.
There is a similar resort just to the south of Sunset House.  I think
it is called Coconut Grove.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.