Brac Reef Resort - Cayman Brac

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Preface:

First of all I would like to thank Scubadiving Magazine, Scuba Emporium of Pembroke Pines, FL, Brac Reef Resort and Cayman Airways for this fantastic trip. This trip was the result of a visit to Scubadiving Magazine's "In Ten City" tour last summer in Pembroke Pines, Florida. My name was drawn randomly, after 10 other names for a free trip to Brac Reef Resort including airfare, lodging, three meals a day and seventeen dives with Reef Divers, the on-site dive shop for Brac Reef Resort. In a nutshell this is one of the most enjoyable trips I've ever made. Following are the details:

**Getting there:

** Cayman Brac is the easternmost of the three sister islands of the Caymans. Generally there are no direct flights from the mainland, but connecting flights through Grand Cayman. On our trip we saw airlines from the US and abroad at Grand Cayman but the majority was Cayman Airways. As this was a comp deal I was kind of concerned to get several calls in the weeks prior to our trip changing gates and times. Luckily all connections went off without a hitch, except the fact that our luggage didn't make it home with us. On many of the flights on C/A you fly a puddle jumper to the main island from the sister islands. They will not allow you to take your carry-ons on the plane, but check them at the gate.

If you have camera gear and the like that you want to retrieve before getting on the big jet home, you will have to wait on the tarmac to retrieve them. (I got my camera bags, and saw our other luggage, but it didn't make it to Miami.)

**Cayman Brac:

** Cayman Brac is a small island only about 12 miles long and two miles wide at it's widest point.

Rental cars are not necessary unless you want to tour the island on your dive to fly interval, and seemed pretty pricey for that cause. I would not consider Brac a "convenience island" similar to Coz or Bonaire with plenty of shopping. Frankly, you might want to consider picking up any consumables (liquor etc) at the duty free shop at Grand Cayman on your way through. Everything on the island is closed on Sunday other than the resorts, so shopping isn't an option on those days. We took a bicycle ride up the road about a mile to the "liquor store" where we paid $21 C/I for a bottle of rum that would be about $12 US here. Supplies and souvenirs come either via barge or airfreight and were scarce, in my size, even at the resort. For example polo type shirts were only available in small and 4X large, so I didn't get one until returning through Grand Cayman. T-shirts were plentiful. The Caymans have their own monetary system, using Cayman dollars. The fixed exchange rate is $.80 CI equal to $1.00 US. Us dollars are widely accepted, but expect to get change in CI dollars or a mix of both. At the resort we just signed for everything and settled at the end of the trip.

Brochures are plentiful about local attractions including hiking, birding etc.

**Brac Reef Resort:

**

Brac Reef Resort is adjacent to the airport runway, on the opposite side of the terminal building. It's only a five minute ride at best and we could see and hear the airport from the front door of our room. Luckily it's mostly commuter aircraft and didn't pose any inconveniences. From the time you enter the front door of the resort you are made to feel at home. Check-in was a breeze, as if they knew we were on our way. Brac Reef is a two story resort in an open "L" shaped with all rooms facing the courtyard/recreation area.

Most upstairs room have a small balcony overlooking the pool and recreation area.

We were situated on the second floor, which had a nice view, but hauling all the gear up and down was a pain, to say the least. If I had one small complaint about the rooms, they weren't equipped with divers and electronic gear in mind, and the beds were small. I don't know the options for bedding but our room had two double beds. Being used to a king size bed and being a "roving" sleeper it took some adjustment at best. I would also recommend throwing an extra plug strip in your bag if you have multiple batteries, camera and electronic gear as plugs are at a premium. The electricity is the same as in the US so no adapters were needed. The bathrooms were clean and fairly large with ample hot water for showers and cleaning. If you are a non-diver in anything less than a vegetative state there isn't a whole lot to do other than play tennis (there's a brand new lighted court if that's your bag), there's a rack full of bicycles in front of the resort to use at no charge at your discretion. There are also kayaks to use down by the dive shop.

The whole common area is sand, and was kept up very nicely. There is a volleyball court and huge hammocks set up throughout the resort, some even have their own shelter built over them for protection from the sun.

The sand areas are decorated with rocks and driftwood painted by guests with their personal creativity.

They encourage visitors to borrow their paint set and decorate a rock or driftwood to mark your spot. The resort has free wireless internet available in the lobby and bar areas, or you can pay by the minute on their computer in the lobby.

Dining at Brac Reef Resort can either be ala' carte or on a meal plan. You can dine inside the air-conditioning, in a screened open-air area, or outside on the patio. On the meal plans all food is served buffet style. Let me tell you, the food was delicious. This is the first dive trip I've been on where it felt like I gained weight by the end of the trip. Immediately upon checking in we were treated to a carving station with Beef Wellington as the main course. All buffets featured full salad bar and fruits, and enough fare for even the strictest vegetarian to be happy (Not that I would know) Breakfast usually consisted of a juice bar, fruit, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs and the like, with different entree's available. There's also an area where you can have eggs cooked to order, including omelets and over easy style, as well as either pancakes or waffles, depending on the day. There was also a variety of cereals and fresh milk.

Lunch and dinner used the same buffet. Lunch was a little lighter fare, with a sandwich making area with all the accoutrements, as well as salads, and other cooked entree's. Dinner ran the gamut from Prime Rib to Asian fare, local fresh seafood, and salads. The desert area was to die for, typically with several types of cakes, pastries, and ice cream, and was very hard to walk by, even after gorging in a full meal.

Right next door to the dining area is the Tipsy Turtle Pub, with an open-air atmosphere.

It is a full service bar open until 12 midnight. Typical of Caribbean pubs it was sort of pricey, but there was a happy hour every night from 5PM to 7PM. Beer selection is limited, but I feel in love with Stella Artois, a Belgium beer, which cost the same as American beers they had. Every night there's some sort of entertainment from Karaoke to movie night, and a mangers party with free rum punch and margaritas. Both US and CI currency is accepted, however you can just sign your bill. A 15% gratuity is added so tipping is at your discretion.

**Reef Divers - The on-site dive shop

**

I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed diving with these guys and gals. Diving here is called valet diving. You are issued a mesh bag upon check-in to the resort to put your dive gear in. (minus mask and breakables like wrist computers) At 7:30 the morning of your first dive your gear is collected and taken to the dive shop. There is a 15 minute orientation on boat safety and Cayman diving rules your first morning, and you are assigned a boat. All of the boats at Reef divers are either 42'or 46' Newton's and are well equipped for diving and rough seas, if necessary.

On the morning of your first dive you arrive at the boat and your dive gear is already set up on a tank next to your diving buddy. From that point on that is the last time you touch your gear until you leave. When you reach a dive site there is a bench on both the port and starboard side of the boat. After donning your mask you sit down on the bench, put your fins on, and the bring your scuba kit to you and help you put it on sitting on the bench, then off you go.

If you have camera gear it will be there by the time you turn around to the boat after diving in. After the dive you repeat the process. They remove your kit and take it back to your seat and exchange it for a fresh tank. They also rinse off all camera gear before returning it to the camera table under the fly-bridge. At the end of the day you take your wetsuit and mask and computers and camera gear. The rest of your gear is washed and put away until the afternoon dive, or the next morning. Typically you will have the same crew for most of your week of diving. I have to say these guys are great. It was first-name basis after only the second dive, and it was like having friends on the boat for a week of diving. On every dive a dive master is in the water giving an optional tour of the reef and making sure that everyone is OK. You can also go off on your own if you don't want to join the parade.

There were never more than twenty divers on the boat, but that wasn't the norm. Most times we never had more than ten or eleven on at anytime. The exception is the afternoon dive, where they might combine two boats, as a lot of the wussies only did two dives in the morning. All six of the dive masters we dove with were professional, friendly, and had a great attitude. A tip of the hat to Brett, Phil, BJ, Donny (get outta my swamp), Barbie, and Menne, you guys were great!!!

Nitrox is available at an extra charge, but I'm not sure what the mix was, as I dove air all week. If I had one small complaint it would be the scheduling of the Little Cayman excursion. All divers on a 6-day dive package usually get one pair of morning dives over on Bloody Bay Wall in Little Cayman. The exception is if the seas are nasty, as it is a fifty minute boat ride over the crossing. You need to stay on top of the office crew, as only one boat a day goes across, and we missed out on that trip. We had 5-6' rollers with howling winds the first three days, so there wasn't a crossing on those days…… More on that later….

The diving:

Now for the most important part….the diving. There is no shore diving on the resort property, as the lagoon is very shallow except the channel out, and there is a natural breaker about 100 yards out.

Night dives can be scheduled on Tuesday or Thursday nights, weather permitting, at an extra charge of $60US. Ten divers must sign up for this trip to happen.

In our week of diving the conditions ranged from a howling east to west wind to calm flat conditions. Either way the diving goes, and there are plenty of leeward places to dive, even in the worst wind conditions.

This is the best of both worlds compared to Coz or Bonaire diving. Cayman Brac has over 40 mooring balls around the island. Even on high wind days like we had our first three days you can find a leeward spot to dive.

There are two types of dives, wall and reef. The walls are typically a little further out than you would find in Bonaire and start at about 60fsw. The walls are healthy and go down to the Abyss. (According to lore the movie The Abyss was based on the Cayman Trench, the third deepest trench in the world) So you don't want to screw up here. Most of the wall dives had very cool swim throughs, my favorite of which was Pipers Wall that had a large swim through that started at 80fsw and came out of the wall at 100fsw.

Even the wall dives had some relief to off-gas with mounds and pinnacles galore just chucked with fish and critters.

If wall diving is not your bag, the reefs of Cayman Brac will definitely get your attention. Most all of the reefs are spur and groove formation, some with very high profile relief.

You could almost get lost swimming through some of the valleys over the sand chutes. There were other dive spots that were more mound-like with large sandy areas surrounded by mounds and pinnacles to explore. One of my favorites was Stingray Towers where we saw either five or six turtles on the same dive. ( They wouldn't tell us their names so one might have been a repeat).

Another favorite of mine was End-of-the Island Reef, a flat sandy area surrounded by mounds and pinnacles. On the white sandy areas I found yellow-headed jawfish, garden eels, flounder, and even along encounter with a sharp-tail ell at the base of a mound.

Also in the sandy areas is where you would find Southern stingrays and skates of multiple varieties. There are also conch's galore and if you are patient you can get a show of them peeking out of their shells and probing for food.

Of course, a diving trip to Cayman Brac would not be complete without a dive on the Russian Frigate 356, otherwise known as the MV Capt. Keith Tibbetts.

The 356 was originally sunk in 1996 resting upright in on a slight downhill slope ranging from 80fsw to about 100fsw. A strong hurricane season in 2004 twisted to wreck in half so the stern still sits upright and the bow half lays on it's port side with a rubble field in between. The wreck has substantial growth on it and has places for penetration if care is used.

It's unusual for a wreck that size to be at depths shallow enough for recreational divers to diver her, as you can reach the radar tower in less than 30fsw and the top of the stern on around 40fsw. You can see the whole wreck from the surface, and it could possibly be done as a surface dive from the old Buccaneer complex.

All in all the diving was almost perfect. If you don't take pictures or video, on at least one trip during your stay Ed Beaty, the local photographer and videographer for Reef Divers, will dive with the group and do a custom video. The video is edited and shown that night, available for purchase.

**Epilog:

** As you can probably tell, I can't say enough about how great our stay at Brac Reef Resort was. Other than the fact that I am still waiting on one piece of luggage as I write this I still give the entire trip 4.9 stars out of 5. Even a long report like this will leave out details, so feel free to contact me with questions you might have…… With all that being said, there's only one thing to say

I WANNA GO BRAC!!!!!