Dive Review of SunDivers & Eden Rock/Morritts Grand in
Cayman Islands/Grand Cayman

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SunDivers & Eden Rock/Morritts Grand, May, 2009, by James A Heimer, Texas, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 10 reports). Report 4798.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation	N/A	Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	My wife and I spend a week shore diving on Grand Cayman each year, for the past two years in conjunction with a week of intensive boat diving on one of the Sister Islands (Cayman Brac and Little Cayman). We have focused on shore diving for two reasons: its low cost - $25 to $40 for a two shore dives - versus upwards from $90 for a two tank boat dive; and the accessibility of interesting diving terrain (though not, generally, the main wall around Grand Cayman). We recently completed a week diving two facilities – SunDivers located below the Cracked Conch Restaurant on West Bay with access to “Turtle Reef” and Eden Rock located on the south end of Georgetown with its well known dive sites, Eden Rock and Devil’s Grotto. SunDivers has by far the better facility and the dive site that lends itself to repeated exploration; Eden Rock lacks some of the amenities found at SunDivers, but the intracacies of the clump coral groups and swim-throughs provide entertaining, if not too challenging diving. SunDivers has a large covered area for gearing up with long benches and a bench and table combination that provide a convenient location to set up gear and protection from the tropical sun while getting into a wet suit and BC. The entrance is a 10 yard walk through the outdoor bar area and down a sturdy ladder into a small, narrow and generally protected cove that varies from 4 to 10 feet in depth. Once past the exit from the cove, buoys mark the 30-foot depth and mini-wall drop off to 60 feet. Farther out, the main wall at 2000 feet deep is accessible to competent divers, who don’t mind a swim. The top of the mini wall was rich with macro creatures like blennies, nudibranchs, and juvenile fish, and was also the location where we observed a school of Rainbow Parrotfish, several large jacks, trunkfish, bandtail puffers, and reef squid. Deeper water is home to large morays, white-spot and scrawled filefish, angelfish, stingrays, turtles, and the occasional eagle ray, as well as the usual tropicals. Upon exiting, there is a large rinse tank, shower, separate, large camera rinse tank, and hangers for drying gear. The Mocabucca Bar provides a handy between dive lunch spot, or an après dive gathering spot. Eden Rock is less well equipped. Its two picnic tables are unprotected from the sun, and gearing up can be a warm experience. Lockers can be rented for gear storage, and there is a rinse tank and shower, but no separate tank for cameras. The entrance is down a ladder into shallow water, then it is a short swim to either the Eden Rock or Devil’s Grotto dive sites, with maximum depths around 60 feet. Both have large clump coral formations, some of which rise almost to the surface; Devil’s Grotto is characterized by numerous swim-throughs. In addition to morays, stingrays, and the usual tropicals, both sites host large tarpon, which are very approachable. We also found giant anemones, arrow crabs, and – on our last dive – a common octopus out foraging in 12 feet of water on the swim back in. After diving, you can walk next door to the Paradise Café for local dishes, burgers, etc., or take the short drive to Sunset House (Cathy Church’s HQ) and eat at My Bar. Eden Rock charges for weights in addition to tanks, and their prices are about 40% higher than those at SunDivers for a single tank shore dive. Since it is near the cruise ship pier, Eden Rock also attracts divers and snorklers from the cruise ships, when they are in port. That can make for a crowded venue, all trying to put gear on the two picnic tables. SunDivers is too far out of town for cruise ships, so divers there tend to be locals or those staying on the island. It can be crowded on the weekends, but during the week, you have a lot of space. On another note, we usually dive on the Sunset House reef, but during the week we were on GCI, they were hosting 90 PADI divers on vacation package, so were closed for diving to the public.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii, Tahiti, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, California, Texas, Bahamas, BWI, USVI, Aruba, Bonaire, Australia
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	83-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-50 Ft/ 9-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Unguided shore dives - no restrictions other than usual sport diving limits
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	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	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	SunDivers had large, dedicated camera rinse tank and table for staging gear; Eden Rock had no rinse tanks and limited tables crowded with dive gear, so of little use for cameras; fw shower was available at ER for rinsing cameras

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Dive Review of SunDivers & Eden Rock/Morritts Grand in Cayman Islands/Grand Cayman

SunDivers & Eden Rock/Morritts Grand, May, 2009,

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 SunDivers & Eden Rock/Morritts Grand in
Cayman Islands/Grand Cayman