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Dive Review of Reef Divers/Walton's Mango manor in
Cayman Islands/Cayman Brac

Reef Divers/Walton's Mango manor, Jul, 2006,

by Bill and Donna Goodwin, AL, USA . Report 2800.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 5 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments This was our third trip to Walton's Mango Manor, and the quietness, convenience (short walk through their sumptuous tropical gardens to the iron shore where there is a perfect cut leading to a fine spur and groove reef that's not even in the books - the resident Goliath Grouper would greet us like a dog after the first few dives there. The rental car (a clean station wagon) would take us over the empty road to the Brac Reef Resort where we had arrangements to pick up and drop off tanks for our three-four dives a day shore-diving habit.

Breakfast is great, generous and when you want it, and the kitchen is yours the rest of the time. Nearby stores are well stocked and we could have cooked for ourselves if we desired, but we usually ate dinner at Brac Reef or Aunt Sha's (reef sharks swimming in two feet of water, fins and backs exposed in the lights from the restaurant, while we ate).

The shore diving is excellent - we swam out to the warship (Capt Tibbetts) several times, dove Atlantis (we were skeptical but it's really quite cool, and big rays like it), Greenhouse Reef (great structure), Groupertown (fabulous tame groupers, 4 species of them, location a semi-secret), several sites on the south side (only when it's calm - that's the windward side most of the time), Police Cut, and several other sites on the leeward side (although the wind can reverse and mess up that side too).

Spoiled Bonaire-style shore divers that we are, we have kind of carved out a shore-diving world on Cayman Brac and been rewarded with fabulous, uncrowded (just us most of the time), fish-thick diving, tranquil days and nights, unlocked doors, wonderful people (the Brac folks are the cultural and historical heart of the Caymans).

Lynne and George Walton, your hosts, are great people - he's a retired USAF officer (and a Brac native) and she's a retired nurse from NYC. Their son Robert is a DM at Reef Divers and, perhaps for that reason, divers at Mango Manor get a 10% discount there.

Three Ds has rented us the car each time - they meet us at the tiny airport, and ask us to just leave the keys under the mat when we fly out. And one time we were buying some wine at a little store and were 5 dollars short - the owner said take the wine, bring the money later - and when we returned they were closed so we left the money stuck in the door. Went back later to be sure she got it - she had. That's the kind of place it is.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Grand Cayman, Bonaire, Stuart Cove's Bahamas, Roatan, St Lucia, Bequia, St Vincent, California Channel Islands, Socorro Is, Cabo San Lucas, La Paz, Costa Rica, Galapagos, Maui, Gulf of Aquaba, Saudi Arabian Red Sea Coast
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, noCurrents
Water Temp 82-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 0
Water Visibility 50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions none - we only shore dive
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 2 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Pretty much on your own to set things up in the generous space of this classic bed and breakfast. We took over the top of a dresser and made the kitchen ours for maintenance, charging, downloading, etc our digital movie and still cameras. Reef Divers has excellent photo services, and when my computer system let me down Ed Beaty downloaded our chips and burned them to DVDs for us.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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