Dive Review of Cayman Aggressor IV in
Cayman Islands

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Cayman Aggressor IV, Mar, 2006, by Maki Thomas Livesay, WA, USA . Report 2529.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The Cayman Aggressor IV (CAIV) is a 110-foot custom dive yacht carrying 18 passengers. The boat was captained by Sam, with first mate Matt who also served as the videographer. Boris, from Hamburg, Germany, was the photographer, who, along with Denise (from Manchester, England), were the instructors. Jolene “JoJo” was head of housekeeping and Yanis, from Belize, was the chef. The cabin was small but very clean, and had good storage space and a little porthole. After the Captain’s briefing, we were introduced to the crew and learned that we would be making the crossing to Little Cayman! The crew rings the “dive bell” and briefs each dive site before the “big pool is opened”. The Doc Polson checkout dive was a wreck of an old communication wire-laying boat down to 51ft. The second morning dive was at Stingray City, where the “swarm of friendly Southern stingrays” literally attacked us for ballyhoo fish. We moved over to Babylon for the afternoon dive down to 72ft. There were canyons with brilliant red cup sponges, gorgonians and black coral opening up to a sheer vertical wall. We even saw a few conch trails. Immediately after dinner and banana splits, we rocked and rolled for 7 hours over to Little Cayman. We awoke Monday morning to gorgeous weather for the morning dive at Randy’s Gazebo. It was an awesome wall dive down to 100ft, with swim thrus, lots of large grouper, barracuda and a green moray eel. Dozens of fish swimming straight down the wall (aren’t they supposed to be perpendicular?!?!), and pretty sponges, sea feathers and corals. We did our afternoon dive at Meadows (90 ft). After dinner, I did my first-ever night dive. Didn’t see much except a few shrimp, and bioluminescence. On Tuesday, we dove Marilyn’s Cut. It was a great dive with a black tip reef shark sighting out into the abyss a minute under. There were lobsters, a sleeping nurse shark, and lots of blennies and parrotfish (105 ft). After lunch, we dove Nancy’s Cup of Tea. After dinner, saw a video preview of tomorrow’s site, the Russian Brigadier Frigate “Patrol Vessel 356”, part of the old Soviet fleet stationed in Cuba during the Cold War. On Wednesday, everyone was excited to dive the 330-foot long wreck off Cayman Brac (80 ft). Apparently, Aggressor franchise owner Wayne Hasson negotiated with the Cuban government on behalf of the Caymanians, and added the four guns for $5K a piece. We saw brown garden eels, French angelfish, schools of yellowtail snapper and even a few stingrays. After lunch, we went back to Little Cayman for the rest of the day at Three Fathoms, a very steep wall with narrow canyons and coral. We had grilled steaks up on the sundeck for dinner, and were treated to a beautiful sunset and the fluorescent green flash. On the night dive (64 ft), we went over the wall into the pitch black abyss. Only 1 ft seas tonight on the way back to Grand Cayman…muuuch better. Thursday morning, we dove Round Rock. The afternoon dive was at Bonnie’s Arch (69ft). The pretty site was named after a freediver who was lost there during a practice dive. That night, we watched our “video of the week” and slideshow. On Friday, we dove Big Tunnels (65 ft). The last dive was near the cruise ships at Devil’s Grotto (only 33ft). I’d done 21 dives (of the 25 offered dives) over 6 days. Afterwards, we had a rinsing “party,” and the crew threw a cocktail party. Awards were given out and lots of laughs shared. Some of the crew even came along with us for dinner, which was a lot of fun. All in all, it was an absolutely amazing vacation…great crew, fun guests, beautiful and interesting diving! Random Notes: Email access onboard is only through a local ISP, so no internet or Yahoo! access. They do have washers and dryers if you have one or two things you HAVE to clean. Don’t throw bathroom tissue into the heads (when you get back on land after a week, this will be really funny as you look for a trash bin near the toilet). After diving, shower and dry off on the sundeck, then change into dry suits/clothes. Signs said divers were required to unpack batteries from dive lights for flights out of Grand Cayman. The “Video of the Week” / DVD was well worth the $65. The ship’s boutique only opened once, so buy all you want then (they only had souvenir items…no batteries or underwater cameras). Make sure to take eardrops as multi-day diving takes its toll. Take lots of cash for the Friday dinner, drinks and taxi rides…US$ are widely accepted but you may get change in Caymanian dollars. The main post office is close to the Georgetown tourist dock, but is only open on weekdays…the Cayman Islands are known for their pretty stamps. The small airport has a few duty free shops (plenty of alcohol/cigars), and a PO box, too, for last minute postcards…try the meat patties at the bar. Take lots of t-shirts, shorts and swim suits.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	26-50 dives
Where else diving	Turks & Caicos, Maui, Oahu, Bermuda, Seattle
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	79-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	100-200 Ft/ 30-61 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	110ft depth limit, dive with a buddy, report depth and time
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Camera table a little cramped...only one computer if you need to download, but very helpful crew. Rentals also available.

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Dive Review of Cayman Aggressor IV in Cayman Islands

Cayman Aggressor IV, Mar, 2006,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Cayman Aggressor IV in
Cayman Islands