From: cee@wshb.csms.com ( HBS/WSHB Sr Station Mgr)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Brac Reef Trip Report (Cayman Brac and Little Cayman)
Keywords: Brac Reef Resort, Week of July 19
Date: 28 Jul 92 15:08:06 GMT
Organization: WSHB, Christian Science Mon. Synd., Cypress Creek, SC, USA


	Here is my trip report from Brac Reef Resort, Cayman Brac, BWI

	TRAVEL:

	Due to the airfare wars back in June, the four of us (2 from HHI, SC,
and 2 from Sav., Ga.) got some real cheap tickets from Jacksonville to Miami
roundtrip ($64), so we drove two hours to Jacksonville to start our trip.  
Connecting with Cayman Airways in Miami was relatively simple, but the flights
were absolutely fully booked going and coming.  On both the trip out and back,
we first landed in Grand Cayman, off-loaded the tourists, and then went on to
the Brac.  Flight times were :
	Left Jacksonville	3:50 PM EDT
	Left Miami		6:00 PM EDT
	Arrived CYB		9:00 PM CT

	Left CYB		7:00 AM CT yuk
	Arrived Miami	       10:45 AM EDT
	Arrived Jacksonville    3:50 PM EDT

	HOTEL PACKAGE:

	For the fifth year, we stayed at the Brac Reef Resort.  The rooms were
recently remodeled, with new carpets, pictures, paint, etc.  Air conditioning
and ceiling fans worked fine.  TV received HBO and USA only, but who needs
that.
	Our package was the Diver's Delight, which included room, meals, BAR,
dives, and free U/W video.  Including Cayman Airways airfare, total package
was approx. $1250 per person, for 6 days diving/7 nights.

	The other Hotels on the Island were having problems.  The old
Buccaneer, which was being renovated last year, has been caught up in the BCCI
bank scandal, and all work there has stopped.
	The Divi Tiara was having MAJOR personnel problems, with 4 US
employees having their work permits revoked, and being asked to leave the
Island ASAP - 72 hours !  It seems that someone high up in the dive operation
at the hotel was mis-appropriating the "DIVE GRATUITIES" for the DiveMasters
at Tiara.  The policy there, as I was told, is that a flat 10% is added to
your package as gratuity for the Divemasters, and this money was going into
the wrong pockets.  Anyway, things weren't very happy over at Tiara.

	The policy at Brac Aquatics is quite different.  Don't tip if you
don't want to, but if you do, you stuff your money into separate lock boxes
for the individual DiveMasters, or into one "community" box.  NO TIPPING IS
REQUIRED OR SOLICITED !  NO ONE MENTIONS IT AT ALL.


	FOOD AND DRINK:

	The food at Brac Reef is excellent.  For breakfast on four of the
days, the chef Cliff prepared omelets "to order."  Breakfast and Lunch were
held outside at the veranda every day.  Evening meals included rib-eyes,
conch stew, sauteed scallops, blackened snapper, leg of lamb, prime rib,
roast beef, turkey, conch fritters, and grilled grouper.
	As I mentioned the bar was included in our package, and I availed
myself of the ice cold Red Stripes, which were abundant.  Several other US and
European beers were available, along with the usual Caribbean rum drinks, and
call drinks.  All you had to do was put your initials on a card.

	DIVING:

	Brac Aquatics has a new boat, a 53 footer powered by a 12V92 Detroit
Diesel, called the "Out-Runner."  And it certainly will.  The Reef-Runner,
another 53 footer, was in for engine repair.  The other two boats were the
Brac-Runner and the Bogue-Runner.  The channel was in the process of being
deepened, so getting in and out was a bit tricky, but otherwise there were
no boat problems.  Two boats went out every day, as we had approximately
35 divers at the hotel. Cornell Burke is the head DiveMaster, a local with
more dives than he can count.  He claims he logged over 800 dives on his
Suunto in one year.  Other DiveMasters were "dive" Jack (who doubled at night
as "bar" Jack), Terry, Shane, and three US employees, "old" Jack, Jeff, and
Maggie.

	We made two trips to Little Cayman.  The second trip, not included in
our package, only cost us an extra $25.  The Little Cayman dive sites were
Maralyn's Cut (100') and Jackson Reef (40') on the first trip, and Bloody
Jackson (80') and Cambar Bay (40') on the second trip.  Visibilty was no less
than 100 feet, and it must have been juvenile drum season, as we saw at least
two on each dive.  On Maralyn's Cut, there is a very tame grouper who really
enjoys being petted.  Other items of interest were large green morays, green
turtles, anemonaes, black coral, sting rays, and multitudes on sponges.

	The dives at Cayman Brac included Anchor Wall, Airport Wall, Middle
Chute, Airport Reef, Greenhouse, Jeff's reef, Radar reef, and Buccaneer
Reef.  Jeff, Radar, and Buccaneer are the shore/night dive locations, with
fairly easy access - Jeff is a bit tricky, with slick rocks and many urchins.
Objects seen at the Brac included a huge pillar coral (about 10 feet around
and 15 feet high), more anemonaes, queen angels, queen triggers, cowfish,
skates, octopus (one on day dive and one on night), arrow crabs, banded coral
shrimp, spotted morays, puffer fish, more sponges, more juvenile spotted 
drums, and sting rays.

	The deep dives at Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are along a verticle
coral wall, which may start as cloes to the surface as 18 feet, and then drop
vertically for 1200 feet, although I didn't try to personally verify this.
On only one dive were we affected by any current whatsoever, and that had been
anticipated by the crew so we dove accordingly up current.  And Greenhouse has
to be one of the best "shallow" dives in all of the Caribbean.

	OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE:

	The owners of the Brac Reef Resort are building a new hotel on Little
Cayman, to be called the Little Cayman Beach Resort.  It was scheduled to open
this December, but will probably stretch a bit beyond this date, due to
construction delays, and some development concerns from Little Cayman
residents ( read here  the existing 4 Little Cayman dive operations).
	And Cayman Airways has some funny (and adjustable) departure times
from Cayman Brac.  Ours changed twice while we were there, ending up at our
original departure time of 7 AM !  This was the only hard part of the trip.
	Our video was done by Ed Beatty, of Brac Photographics, adjacent to
the dive shop.  Ed is a very friendly person, and does a great job with the
videos, capturing both the divers and the diversity of the dive site.  He runs
a complete U/W photography shop.
	I developed a problem with my low-pressure inflator at the beginning
of my first dive.  The crew quickly determined the problem, provided me with a
replacement set-up for the two dives, and then repaired my low-pressure
inflator once we were back ashore (a bad O-ring on a swivel fitting).  NO
CHARGE AND NO HASSLE !

	CONCLUSION:

	I'll be back !!

ED
-- 
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C. Ed Evans, Senior Station Manager, HBS * cee@wshb.csms.com * +1 803 625-5555
WSHB, Cypress Creek, SC * WCSN, Scotts Corner, ME * KHBI, Saipan, Mariana Isl.
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Newsgroups: rec.scuba