The SeaHorse Dive Club took 13 adventurous souls to Grand Cayman to enjoy a week of diving and good times, getting to spend time with old friends and meeting new ones at Sunset House resort December 2nd through 9th, 2023. Our crew consisted of Joe Sharp (trip organizer), my wife Benita Buchanan, Jacob Jurmain, Rachel Drapeau, Ed Gullekson, Dave Wakeley, (other) Dave Delgado, Suzanne Delgado, George Barron, Joyce Hoffman, Oscar Conroy, Amber Dawdy and Fritz Rivera. Our friends, Vickie and James Rodden, who we met at Sunset House last year, also joined us and were adopted as honorary SeaHorses.
Sunset House is the premier resort for divers on Grand Cayman, and was established in 1958, the same year as our SeaHorse Dive Club.
The Scouting Party
We (Benita and I) flew down a few days early, on November 28th, to do a little scouting and prepare the way for the main group by making sure all was well with our reservations, the dive shop was ready for us, and sampling all the specialty drinks on the bar menu. Unfortunately, we got caught up in the semi-truck stuck in the lower airport drive fiasco, and spent a nerve wracking 45 minutes inching the last 1.5 miles to the departures area. Luckily, we had allowed for a lot of time for checking in and getting through TSA, etc., and the lines at check-in and Security were practically non-existent, because a.) it was late at night and, b.) nobody could get there through the traffic. So, once we did get there, we breezed in to our departure gate.
The Journey
Nothing to report about the journey. The overnight flight to Miami was long but uneventful, which is how I like my flights. At Miami airport, we found this monstrosity at the entrance to a restaurant while looking for breakfast. We couldn’t help but notice it, like a car crash on the freeway. It was hideous but it did its job. It got us to pause long enough to look at the menu and choose to eat there.
Finally arrived in paradise and got settled in with our complimentary welcome drinks and and the first of many spectacular sunsets.
The Scouting Report
We did two boat dives and some shore diving while waiting for our main group to arrive. A unique feature of Sunset House is that they have an excellent house reef with great shore access, right from the resort. You can enter at their salt water pool with an exit to the ocean and a trail straight to the mermaid statue and the wreck of the Nicholson, or you can giant stride off one of their entry points 50 yards or so further south right in front of the bar and gear rinse tanks. Our package included unlimited shore diving when booked for a 2-tank morning boat dive, including night dives, and many of our members took full advantage. They also included a free shore dive on your day of arrival, so you could get your weights and gear set up properly in a relaxed environment, prior to boat diving.
We didn’t complete our assignment of sampling EVERY specialty drink at the bar, even with divide and conquer that would have been unhealthy, but we did discover that they make a mean Mudslide.
SeaHorse Down!
Just prior to leaving for the trip, one of our group members, Greg Justice, slipped on the ice back home and suffered a severe injury. Luckily, he found a friend who could take his spot on short notice, Fritz Rivera. We missed Greg and felt terrible for him, but Fritz was a great addition to our group.
The SeaHorses Arrive
Most of our group arrived in force on Saturday, Dec. 2nd, although the Delgados snuck in a day early. Arrival was pretty smooth and Kim, the resort manager, made it easy by arranging airport pickups and having all of our rooms ready to go. The dive shop was ready for us as well, and our group did an excellent job by having all of their C-cards, medical forms and other paperwork, so nobody missed any diving due to bureaucracy.
That night, a number of us gathered for dinner to get acquainted with new friends and catch up with old friends, others crashed. Since the boats load at 7:45 AM and breakfast happens at 6:45, that makes for a very early morning after crossing 3 time zones.
Diving
We did one 2-tank boat dive every day, except for Monday when we also took an afternoon trip to dive the wreck of the Kittiwake. All the morning boat dive trips featured a deep dive, max to 100 ft., followed by a shallower dive, max to 60 ft. House rules: respect the depth limits, no deco diving (keep your NDL time above single digits), no solo diving, max dive time including ascent and safety stop, 60 minutes. The dive staff at Sunset Divers is extremely professional and helpful and fun, and gave excellent briefings (including towel art site maps) and guided dives where they were able to find many fascinating things for us to look at. Pablo was especially helpful with his slate and magnifying glass, finding the tiny, special creatures and writing down what they were.
Each dive started with a guided portion of about 30 minutes, after which they would bring you back under the boat and show you where it was. You were then free to buddy up and explore.
All the dives featured the usual reef fishies, so you can just assume the usual swarm of brightly colored fish at every site. Unfortunately, the coral was suffering. The water was exceptionally warm, 87 deg. F. and this has been a record setting year for water temperatures so there was some degradation and bleaching. Benita and I felt like there weren’t as many big creatures, turtles, sharks, stingrays, morays, etc., as we saw when we were there last year.
Counting Fish and Taking Names
Ed Gullekson was helping science as well as having fun. He was filling out REEF surveys (Reef Environmental Education Foundation), cataloging all the fish that he identified (and how many of each) during each dive. Ed was our go-to guy for “What was that fish?” type questions. Given his degree in Marine Biology, his time with NOAA and his decades of diving he was an invaluable source of information, way better than those plastic fish identification cards they sell in the gift shop. You don’t have to be a marine biologist to participate in REEF surveys. Anybody can do it. Visit the REEF survey website to learn how.
Day 1 – Sunday
We boarded our boat, the Sunset Diver II, which would be our diving home for the week and set off promptly at 8 AM.
Meridian Dropoff and Paradise Reef
This is less of a wall than a submerged double-diamond ski slope. Several turtle encounters here. Both hawksbill and green. Visibility was good at about 60 to 70 feet, but not great. This was true of pretty much the entire trip. This was one of the sites Benita and I did before the main group arrived, and we saw multiple turtles on that dive too.
Wreck of the Oro Verde
Our divemaster Corbyn, told us the legend of the Oro Verde, which struck a reef in 1978 and was sunk as an artificial reef in 1980. The name means green gold, which referred to the bananas it carried as its main cargo. Its other cargo was marijuana, which the captain was smuggling as a side gig. Story is, the crew discovered it and wanted a cut. The captain refused and was thrown overboard (i.e., murdered). Unfortunately, nobody on board knew how to guide the ship through the passage through the reef and they ran aground.
Near the bow are a number of sunken bicycles. We were told that years ago, when a divemaster had a bicycle that had reached the end of its usefulness, said divemaster would take it out on the boat, kit up, and ride it off the bow, into the water, and to the bottom. It’s no longer practiced out of respect for the environment, and the price of bicycles.
Day 2 – Monday
Caribbean Club Sand Chute
More dramatic topography, with walls and sand chutes dropping into the deep. We learned during the briefing that many sites on Grand Cayman are named in a pattern of landmark + topography. In this case, the Caribbean Club is a bar that’s right onshore.
Lonestar Ledges
Lonestar is probably a bar too, I can’t remember, and there are lots of ledges and overhangs for critters to hide in. This was a neat dive. We saw a shark, morays, Nassau grouper, striped grouper, lobster under a shelf, spiny headed blenny, drumfish, salp near the surface (according to Ed), which are 1.5 in long finger-sized, transparent tubes, with purple lines and some with black and red smaller tubes inside. They resemble jellyfish and are fascinating to look at.
Kittiwake – Afternoon Dive
Monday was our day to dive the Kittiwake. Oh, and it’s pronounced ‘kitty-wake’, as in awaken the cat, not ‘kitt-i-wak-ay’ or some other fancy pronunciation. According to our divemaster Corbyn, its crew nicknamed it “Shitty Kitty,” due to the fact that it was the first of its class of diesel-electric ships and, as happens with the first of any new thing, had numerous malfunctions. The Kittiwake is one of Grand Cayman’s most famous dive sites. It was a US Navy submarine rescue ship, 251 ft. long. It’s located just off 7 Mile Beach in about 65 ft. of water. It sits on the bottom at a 45 deg. angle, as it was tipped over in 2017 by hurricane Nate. Interestingly, our own Ed Gullekson and David Wakeley were in Grand Cayman at the time, and were some of the last divers to dive the Kittiwake when it was upright. This was a guided wreck penetration dive. The path was fairly straight and roomy, and access holes had been cut all along the length of our path through the ship, so you could pretty much always see one. No advanced wreck penetration certification required. Corbyn briefed us on the history of the Kittiwake, which includes multiple submarine rescue operations (and the gruesome details of what exiting a submarine under emergency conditions is like), and playing a key role in searching for the black box from the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster.
For a history of the Kittiwake both as a US Navy ship and a dive location and what it’s like to dive it, the write up in Scuba Magazine is the most comprehensive I’ve seen.
We descended to the wreck and gathered below the stern for a group picture. It was a circus, with us spread out too far so the photographer couldn’t get us all in frame, stirring up the sand, floating away… Anyway, after that fiasco, we split into our two groups. The path through the wreck started at the stern, and we made our way forward. We were warned to stay together and not to stray off the path into any of the interior spaces but I have to admit it was tempting to just poke one’s head in and look around, but I behaved myself. After exiting at the bow, Corbyn took us to the diving bell on the deck, which has a trapped air space at the top. He took us in one at a time and we were able to “surface” inside (but NOT breathe the air in there, because, ick!), which was neat. Then we explored the deck some more as time and air allowed.
During our stay, a brisk current picked up, running from the boat to the Kittiwake, so the swim back was a slog. Visibility was poor and it seemed to take forever, swimming hard, before we could see the ladder. When I saw it, I put my head down and swam harder for a minute or so only to look up and, the ladder wasn’t any closer, or at least it didn’t look like it. Benita described it as, “Like in a horror movie where they do that extending hallway effect where you run and run but don’t get any closer to the end.” The boat put out a tag line which helped get us back and we all made it. We were tired, but all accounted for. Despite the grueling swim, it was a really fun dive, and I’d recommend it and I’d gladly do it again.
Day 3
Little Tunnels
Named for a bunch of crags in the wall. Not really tunnels, but narrow sand chutes with some overhanging structure. Lobsters in the tunnel, big crab, free swimming moray, 2 stingrays w/1 fish, field of garden eels.
Royal Palms Ledge
This site features a large, round coral formation surrounded by ring of coral forming a racetrack with a sandy bottom between the two, with a large overhang. Lots of life here, but it was a bit of a traffic jam at first with our large group. Once we finished the guided portion and could explore separately, it was better. This was a beautiful site, one of our favorites, with lots of lobsters, banded shrimp, Peterson’s cleaning shrimp, clear purplish, long segmented & tube salp, and 3 sleeping basket stars, red, white and black.
Day 4
Cable Wall
Not our favorite site; they can’t all be winners. Named for a communications cable that runs through the site. Benita’s logbook describes it as, “Turtle, lionfish, super-boring.” Evidently others in our group saw stuff. Yeah, sure.
Devil’s Grotto
We followed up a dud with the world famous, Devil’s Grotto. You’ve probably seen pictures of it. This was popularized by the photography of Cathy Church, who has a studio at Sunset House. It features three large swim-throughs with openings throughout allowing sunlight to stream down.
We found a big green moray in the first swim-through, and the site had lots of life on it. My personal highlight was when Pablo found a tiny fighting blenny in its hole in the sand, and set up a mirror in front of it. They HATE other male blennies and will fight viciously when they see one, even if it’s their own reflection. Once they get going, you can get really close because all they see is their enemy. This little guy came out and got really angry, bumping the mirror, flaring his fins, eventually the mirror tipped over and fell on him, which only made him angrier. Pablo picked up the mirror and he was right back at it, even more fierce than before. I almost spit out my regulator laughing.
At the end of the dive, we got to witness a fairly rare behavior, a jawfish mouthbrooding its eggs, spitting them out and sucking them back in again, a process known as, “churning,” to aerate the eggs to help them develop.
Day 5
Thursday was very blustery, with strong winds out of the northwest which meant that it was pounding our side of the island and generating big swells and waves. Sunset Divers had moved all their boats around the point into Red Bay where they were sheltered. In the morning, instead of leaving from the dock they packed up our gear in in trucks and us in vans and we met our boats at Red Bay, a few minutes away, where we could dive sites that were more protected from the weather.
Bullwinkle West
This site was pretty much in sight of our launch point. We assembled our gear inside the breakwater before heading out. It was pretty bumpy with swells and chop. Not much to say about this site. It had some nice canyon swim-throughs, but the water was cloudy and there wasn’t a lot to see, at least that’s what I was told. My ears wouldn’t clear so I aborted my dive and chatted with Pablo on the boat.
Red Bay Caves
Another site very close by. There were some fun things here: two drumfish, triggerfish, queen trigger, French angel, lobsters, and a lettuce-leaf sea slug, which was a first for me.
Day 6
Doc Paulson with Knife & Marty’s Wall
Three sites in one! The Doc Paulson is an 80-foot-long wreck, sunk as an artificial reef in 1982 in 60 ft. of water. Named for the doctor who set up the first hyperbaric chamber on Grand Cayman, the Doc Poulson was a Japanese cable laying ship before being repurposed into a dive site. Knife, I assume because it’s shaped like a knife? And Marty’s wall was first explored by some guy named Marty I’m guessing, and well, it’s a wall…
Benita saw three stingrays, Queen and French angle fish, lots of life and dramatic topography and a neat wreck. She said it was a fun site. Unfortunately, I missed out again because I couldn’t clear my ears. I spent another pleasant hour on the boat with Pablo, which is too bad because back in the 80s, when I did stupid, dangerous stuff like this, I once did a freedive down to the Doc Paulson on a snorkel cruise. It would have been fun to revisit it.
Aquarium
Our last boat dive was this beautiful site. Lots of life, as the name implies. My personal highlight was the tiny roughhead blenny Pablo found for me sticking his head out of his sponge home right under the boat. I hovered there and watched him/her for a long time. Then, alas, it was time to go.
Shore Diving on Sunset House Reef
One of the perks of staying at Sunset House is their excellent house reef. Shore diving, including night dives, is included in the package and numerous SeaHorses took full advantage. Pretty much every day there were people going out for afternoon and night dives. Everybody was welcome and nobody lacked for a buddy.
Shore diving at Sunset House is famous for a couple attractions, Amphitrite, the 9-foot-tall mermaid statue, wife of Poseidon, awaits in 55 ft. of water about 130 yards out from the saltwater pool. Past her is the wreck of the Nicholson, a WWII era landing craft. But the reef itself is among the best on Grand Cayman. There’s a mini-wall that drops off to about 60 ft., and past that is the major wall that drops into the abyss. It’s full of life and fun and easy to dive from the resort.
Night Diving
Somebody from our group went out every night. The Sunset House reef is a fun night dive and there’s almost always something interesting to see. Nearly every night diving group was accompanied by several large tarpon, hunting by our dive lights. These fish are big and they were fearless when it came to divers, sometimes getting very close, nearly bumping into you. On one night dive with Dave Delgado and Benita, I was a witness/accomplice to the murder of a sleeping parrotfish. A large jack spotted the parrotfish because of my dive light and in a flash, darted in, grabbed it and tore it apart while quickly swimming away with its body clamped in its jaws, my tarpon escort giving chase to see if they couldn’t steal a meal, or at least snack on some leftovers. It was over in seconds, so nobody saw it but me. I wonder if that jack is lurking on the reef, waiting to find me and eliminate the only witness to his crime.
Not Diving
Dry Land Attractions
Most of the group stayed close to home and enjoyed shore diving in the afternoon and at night, but a few of our more intrepid members took in the dry land attractions. Suzanne Delgado was our only non-diving group member and she boldly ventured forth on the island’s public bus system, and experienced a nature hike on the Mastic Trail, bike tour, the blue iguana sanctuary, crystal caves, and other local attractions.
Oscar and Amber rented a car and toured the island, remembering to drive on the wrong side of the road, snorkeling stingray city, visiting the Turtle Centre and finally going to Hell. Benita and I ventured into George Town a couple of times for shopping and a delicious lunch at Casanova Restaurant.
Resort Life
Resort life was very casual. We’d gather at the bar or the restaurant, in small or large groups. Nobody planned or arranged anything. It was always spontaneous. One night, we assimilated multiple tables and pretty much everybody was there, (Jake: “We will add your table’s culinary distinctiveness to our own.”) and our poor server Liz found more people and more tables pushed together and everybody moved around, every time she came back, but she handled it with humor and patience and somehow managed to match all of our orders with the right people, and we all had a nice time.
Many thanks to Fritz for the stunning sunset pictures.
A Christmas Bonus
One fun bonus was the spectacular Christmas lights display at the Bodden home right across the street from Sunset House. The Bodden family is one of the founding families of the Cayman Islands, and their home is host to a wonderful display every year, which is free for everybody to enjoy.
Acknowledgements
The whole staff at Sunset House and Sunset Divers were great, but I’d like to give a special shout out to Mel (dive shop manager), our captains Pablo and Reid, and their crew Corbyn and Jon, during our scouting missions before the main group arrived. For our main group, Pablo (boat captain), and divemasters Corbyn, Abby, Chris and Jack, showed us the wonders of Grand Cayman diving and brought us back alive. Also, Kim, the resort manager who worked with us to make this trip happen and everything run so smoothly, and the rest of the staff at Sunset House, who took such good care of us.
I’d also like to acknowledge our group, whose cooperation and attitude made my job as trip coordinator fun, easy and drama free.
Where Are We Going Next Year?
The trip to Sunset House was great, so where are we going next? Well, you have to tell us. Where would you like to go? And when? There have been destinations thrown out like Las Rocas Resort on Roatan, or maybe Bonaire, or Baja? Would you like to go someplace closer to home, like Hood Canal or Vancouver Island? Send a note to travel@seahorsediveclub.com or tell us in the comments.
You Too Can Be a Trip Leader
The key to having a successful club trip is finding somebody to run it. It doesn’t just happen. You don’t have to have any special qualifications to be a trip leader, you just need to want to go and take your SeaHorse friends with you, and be organized and willing to put in the time to put it together. And leaders earn additional discounts for putting in the work. “But I have no idea how to run a trip like this.” We would give you coaching and support. If there’s someplace you want to go and you want to take your SeaHorse buddies with you, we’ll help you make it happen. If you’re interested in learning more, send a note to travel@seahorsediveclub.com.
January Club Meeting – Meet the Gang
The program January club meeting, Thursday, January 25th, is going to be a presentation about the trip, and club travel in general, where you can meet the gang and ask questions. Not a member? Joining is easy and affordable and members get advanced notice of trips and first crack at signing up. Non-members can travel with us as well, but members get priory in signing up.
We’re meeting at Angelo’s of Burien. See the club calendar for details.
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