In July 1997 we went to the Cayman Islands for a week's diving. We stayed at the Cayman Diving Lodge which is located at the east end of the island, which is well away from the Seven Mile Beach tourist area. The Cayman Diving Lodge is rather small - around a dozen rooms - and caters solely for divers. We booked a package through Goldenjoy travel, flying BA from Gatwick to Grand Cayman direct, with a refueling stop on the way back at Nassau. Well, we thought we'd booked it with them - they'd confirmed it and taken our money. But when we arrived, firstly there was no-one to collect us from the airport, and secondly when we did arrive at the Lodge they weren't expecting us and worse, were full! However Leonard & Sue Brooks who manage the Lodge were very helpful and put us up for one night in the owners condo on the north side of the island while things were sorted out. Avoid Goldenjoy at all costs, they're totally incompetent.

The diving at Cayman Diving Lodge is arranged as two dives in the morning plus one in the afternoon. Normally a wall dive to 30m first, followed by a second dive in about 15m after an hour's surface interval. Then it's back for lunch, and out again in the afternoon for another 15m dive. The divemasters expect you to follow them, and are strict on depth - the one time we strayed to 33m we were told not to do it again! I guess they're worried about lawsuits with the predominately US divers that stay there. Having said that, during our stay a guy got suspected DCI - loss of feeling in one arm - and I have never seen people move so fast to get the oxygen and take the boat back at full speed. Why he got DCI beats me as he was diving the same profiles as the rest of us, although there was talk of dehydration.

The east end of the island has a shallow (3-6m) lagoon with a reef which breaks the surface before the dropoff. There aren't quite as many fish around the reef in the Caymans as compared to (say) the Maldives, but it is more interesting with many gullies and short tunnels and caves to explore. There are sharks, turtles, eagle rays, plenty of grouper and tarpon to be seen. The viz is usually about 25m and the water is 29-30C, with a 3 mm wetsuit being more than adequate - many people just used lycra or even just a T shirt. Also the water is quite rough outside the lagoon, and seasickness tablets were the order of the day after the first day's chunder!

One trip that is made once a week is to a place called Stingray City. Although the place can be flooded with tourists snorkeling in shallow water, the dive boats go to a deeper area where in 4-5m the stingrays will come to be fed. They hoover up bits of squid from your hand and can knock you over they are so big! One of them is an inky black compared to the usual gray, and for years was known as Darth Vader until someone discovered it was a female - she is now known as Dorothy Vader.

Most of the other dive sites are round the east and north sides of the island. There is rarely much of a current, and the dive boat was well equipped with a down line with a weight at 5m useful for safety stops, plus a long hose (5m long, now that's a long hose) in case you are low on air at the stop. I would thoroughly recommend the Cayman Diving lodge. It is relaxed, free of the usual tourist mob, and close to some great dive sites.