More snorkel sites on the Brac

Frequent Flyer Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 25

Hi guys,

My wife is a land lubber so getting her off her chair and into the ocean is a major feat for me. I need some more ideas for good snorkel sites that can be easily accessed and close to shore. I have been to several already, but I could always use more sites. Thanks.

Moderator Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 1825 Location: Ohio

Hi dive guy -

I have only been to Brac once last June for one day, so unfortunately I do not know street names...The best spot I remember snorkeling was a place we found after asking at a dive shop... coming out from the airport area, we turned left at that stop sign... this is from my trip report...

Quote:

We would like to snorkel some more, but we really don?t know where to go. I didn?t get around to contacting anyone on island to book a snorkel trip by boat. I decide to drive to one of the resorts and ask someone in a dive shop for advice. I think most all of the resorts are on the southern coast next to the airport. There are some nice sandy beaches down that way. A very nice man at the dive shop gives me directions for a great snorkel from shore spot. It is not far from the airport on the northern side. We make a left turn at the first post office and follow the road to the water. This is the best place we have been all day. We went through a whole roll of film here. (But I am disappointed in the pictures.) We have a great time here. It is pretty rocky so there are not any boats where we are at. We are each saying, ?Look over here,? ?check this out? in snorkelese. I get a shot of the lacy purple coral here.

My underwater photos did not come out well, but we saw some beautiful things here.

This is another place we stopped and snorkelled-

Very pretty and peaceful -

To read about the day my family spent on Cayman Brac See Day 4 in my TRIP REPORT

Frequent Flyer Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 25

Thanks gardengirl,

The site you mention sounds like Buccaneer's Cut. This is the closest site to the Russian war ship. I snorkelled out there by myself one day. It was a great swim as the ocean was a little rough, but the visibility was still very good. Thanks for the pictures.

Frequent Flyer Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 64

Take a left out of the airport. The Welcome /Tourism office is just down on your left. They have a handout of all the shore snorkeling/diving spots with directions on how to get to them. A few good ones are Buccaneers which has laready been mentioned, Charlie's Reef, The Public Beach Reef on the Southside, and Burt's Bolder's. Hope this helps!!!! Swanny

Moderator Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 1825 Location: Ohio

Thanks swanny - sounds like you know where to find things! We had a fun day there, but were there such a short time, it was hard for me to give directions to anything - thanks for posting this!

ps - Too bad I didn't hear this from you before our trip - but now we all know Wink

Frequent Flyer Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 25

Swanny,

Thanks for the advice. I will be stopping at the office when we are down there.

Temporary Resident Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 159

Dive Guy:

The guide you will get to the best snorkel spots on the Brac will mention only the easiest spots to get into the water. The old Bucanneer Hotel, the Cemetary, the Police Station. They are all good. Also go out past La Esparanza and look for the cuts in the iron shore. Good spots there too.

Most of those are shallow water except the Bucanneer, which is in line with the MV Tibbetts. The water can be rough close to shore there, but it is fine once you get out.

You can almost go to the end of every road on the north side and find good snorkeling, if you can get in the water.

The best place on the south side is about directly across from the cross over road.

The sound near Aunt Sha's, the Brac Caribbean and ? (the name escapes me) is not much, except to go to Aunt Sha's at dusk and watch the Lemon Sharks and their babies come in.

Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:30 am Post subject: Husband can't swim

We are heading to the Brac in 3 weeks. My husband has never been snorkeling before, but wants to try. We plan to rent snorkeling equipment, including snorkeling vests for both of us. Are there any gentle spots to start out with, especially anything in shallow water?

Thanks for your help!!

Northern Lights

Newbie Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Posts: 11 Location: Cayman Brac

Northern Lights:

A few spots for you to go:

Radar Reef (north side) - This is at the end of Kirkconnell in Stake Bay. There are steps leading into the water and once in the water, you can stand on the bottom. For a new snorkeler, stay close to shore and head west.

Buccaneer's Reef (north side) - Located at the north end of Robert Foster Lane (dirt road). This lane is west of the airport on the North Side Rd. There was a small barcadere that was expanded a number of years ago to allow dive boats to enter (the project was never completed). You can swim around in the barcadere and see some fish. It is like a very large salt water pool--nice warm water. It has an access out into the sea, but for more experienced snorkelers.

Near resorts (south side) - Just east of the Brac Caribbean is a house and then a vacant lot. Good snorkeling inside the lagoon for a new snorkeler. I have taken new snorkelers there before and they enjoyed it. Best bet if the sea is rough on the north side.

My number one recommendation is Radar Reef because of all the sea life you can see and ease of access. Take reef runners (water socks) and if possible get fins that will will work with them. You will feel a lot more confident walking on the bottom with reef runners on and it makes it easy to go over hot rocky areas.

Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:41 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the forum, thebracker Smile

,

I could tell by the detail of your snorkeling advice on the Brac, that you must be quite familiar with it......then, I noticed you live there! Have you lived there long? What do you do on the island?

Thanks so much for your input.....I'm sure northern lights and others will benefit greatly from all of that clapping

Char

Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:52 pm Post subject: Snorkeling Advice

Thanks for the great advice, the bracker. I was hoping that there would be some decent snorkeling next to shore for us to start out with. Can't wait to reconnect to the underwater world again.

peace,

Northern Lights

Native Joined: 18 Feb 2005 Posts: 1195 Location: Illinois

thebracker

Wish I had all the snorkeling spots when we went to the Brac 2 years ago. We were staying in a house and were fairly isolated, but I should have thought to check with the People at the Dive Shop where our son was snorkeling. We did find the spot at the end of Kirkconnell--but alas it had gotten rough by the time we got there and so decided to cancel.

Great information for people going to the Brac

Shelly :-)

Newbie Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Posts: 11 Location: Cayman Brac

Hi Everyone,

I am temporarily living in Florida due to health needs. Hope to get back to the Brac soon. I still have lots of family living there and I keep in contact with them every week. My Dad was born on the Brac in 1910. His father was also born there. I still have a lot of cousins living on the Brac and my whole family has strong connections there.

A couple of snorkel spots for the more experienced:

The aquarium (north side) - Head west from the airport on the West End Rd. Turn right on James Scott Rd (only way to go). Go down this road until it goes into the sea (it actually ends in the water and looks like a boat ramp). Straight out from there about 100-150 feet out from the shore is an outrageous snorkel site. I can never remember if it is east or west of the road, but not very far (there is good snorkeling all around this area). But there is one spot that has several large schools of fish swimming around. There hard part is getting there because of the iron shore.

South Side (no name that I am aware) - This is on the south just east of where Ashton Reid Rd comes across the bluff. There is a boat ramp and head straight out. Once you hit water about 12 feet deep, you will run into some really nice coral heads. This is a tough one to get to. You need a very calm day and high tide to swim out in about 2 ft of water. You can also wade out, but it is very rocky with sea urchins, so you need reef runners. Just east of this site is the remains of a ship wreck. Not much left except some metal objects.

Have fun snorkeling!

Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:46 pm Post subject: Brac Vacation 2008

Yes 2008 is a long ways away now but we're sure looking forward to planning our first vaction on Cayman Brac. It's been great reading about the snorkel sites here. I'll print them all out closer to when we actually go. We are snorkellers, not divers, and some information on the web had us wondering if we'd have difficulty getting into the water due to the ironshore. We don't need sand but don't want to be bounced around on the rocks either. We're planning to stay on the south east part of the island... apparently rather isolated but there is a new condominium complex backing onto the Bluff that looks worthy of checking out and with the Brac being as small as it is ... how far out can it be really???? We were on Grand Cayman twice in the last 3 years. Found it pretty busy with the cruise ship traffic and this year we went back to Maui for a cheaper vacation considering we're on the west coast - it's a lot easier and cheaper to fly to Maui than Cayman. Apparently Air Canada is cancelling it's Toronto Grand Cayman route starting mid January 2008. Maui is beautiful but it's an incredibly busy island with way too much traffic and way too fast now. We think Cayman Brac will be just the place we've been looking for... hoping it's a little more like Grand Cayman was back in the early 90's when we first fell in love with it.

Palm

Native Joined: 18 Feb 2005 Posts: 1195 Location: Illinois

Maggi wrote:

We think Cayman Brac will be just the place we've been looking for... hoping it's a little more like Grand Cayman was back in the early 90's when we first fell in love with it.

Palm

I think you will find that Cayman Brac is more like Cayman in the 70s than the 90s. My husband loved the peace and quiet there, but it was a little too quiet for me.

The things that I missed most in the Brac was being able to go to a grocery store and pick up just about anything you want.

Back in the 70s in GC the stores were kind of hit and miss and often the shelves were bare in certain areas. 2 years ago when we were in the Brac, there were very rough seas and the barge couldn't come in, so there was a milk shortage--I guess parmalat was the way to go. There really is no fresh meat and small ammounts of fresh produce. I guess when things get really bad, the stores and perhaps the restaurants fly in some supplies.

No traffic is great! We liked that a lot. No stop lights and people wave at you like they used to do in GC. The people were friendly .

Hope you enjoy it--be sure to take some good books!

Our son loved the diving and enjoyed his dive trip over to Little Cayman

Shelly :-)

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