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Dive Review of Sunset House in
Cayman Islands/Grand Cayman

Sunset House: "Sunset House – still great service", Aug, 2022,

by Elizabeth Russell, PA, US (Contributor Contributor 12 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 12259.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 5 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Sunset House, Grand Cayman

Our Cathy Church photo class Cayman Aggressor trip was postponed twice and finally cancelled. We already had flights, hotel reservations at the Kimpton Seafire, and a car rental. We contacted Sunset House and they were more than happy to accommodate us that week.

The Kimpton Seafire is a relatively new resort on Grand Cayman and is quite swanky. The rooms are large and the amenities are nice. We had already had a long stressful day with American Airlines flight cancellations and rerouting. When we arrived at 1:30 p.m. we were told that check-in time is 4 p.m. and no room was ready yet so we would have to wait. My buddy is IHG Spire and usually gets better service than this. We waited in the lobby until about 3:45 when we were given a room. They did send us a fruit and cheese board and a bottle of champagne to make up for it, but it would have been better to have a room available. The resort is quite lovely and the breakfast is fantastic but we got a bit bored after three days. We had rented a car so we did some sightseeing at the Botanical Gardens and the Turtle Farm.

When we checked in to Sunset House and had a very different experience from the Seafire. We were immediately given a room and our bags were taken to the room. We settled in then went over the Sunset Divers to check in for our week of diving. The crew at the dive shop were helpful, pleasant, and knowledgeable. We were given locker keys and told when to meet the boat in the morning. They suggested a check-out dive and got us tanks. Sunset now has little wheelbarrows to haul your gear back and forth from the shop to the dive entry area. We met up with the boat in the morning and we only had nine divers, so we had plenty of room. We dove with the same divers all week and got to know them, which made the trip so much more enjoyable. The diving was better than I expected. We didn’t see too many large animals, only a few turtles, but the small- and medium-sized creatures are abundant. The boat crew took us to good sites with great visibility and minimum current–it was a currenty week there. The divemasters were great at going slowly and finding interesting critters for us. On one dive, Pablo, the divemaster found three different types of cyphomas, one of which was not in any book. He was able to get the yellow-throated pike blennies to put on a great display, using a small signal mirror.

In addition to the boat dives, we had unlimited shore diving and we took advantage of that to do several 90-120 minute shallow dives, hunting for little things. The sailfin blennies were quite cooperative. Diving off the dock is easy and there are two ladders to facilitate climbing out of the water. The marine life near the ladders is so abundant you can do a photo dive without going more than a short distance from shore. Of course, with a compass heading, the mermaid statue and the small wreck are great shore destinations that are worth multiple photo dives.

On the last dive of the trip, another diver called us over to see a fingerprint cyphoma! I have been looking for one of these for years and was starting to think they were a mythic creature but there one was, crawling on a gorgonian.
Websites Sunset House   [same]

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Indonesia, Fiji, Thailand, Egypt, Galapagos, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Chuuk, Cozumel, Baja, Belize, Honduras, Panama, Hawaii, Maldives
Closest Airport GCM Getting There We flew through Miami to get there and home through Charlotte on American Airlines. GCM is one of the easiest places to get to from the US.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas
Water Temp 85-88°F / 29-31°C Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility 80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions 100'/60 minute maximum, come back with 500 psi.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish N/A
Large Pelagics N/A

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 5 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities 5 stars
UW Photo Comments [None]
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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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