Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet/Cayman Aggressor IV in
Cayman Islands/all three islands

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Aggressor Fleet/Cayman Aggressor IV: "Cayman Aggressor IV - A Perfect Vacation!", Jun, 2016, by Kevin Peterson, CA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 8 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 9290.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I have been diving at Grand Cayman twice before during cruise ship stops, so I had already experienced Trinity Caves, the Oro Verde and Stingray City. This time I got to spend a week diving all three islands and enjoyed it so much more. The highlight was Bloody Bay Wall on Little Cayman where we dove pretty much every dive site along that wall. There was much healthier coral and fish life there than the more heavily visited sites close to Georgetown. I had timed my trip to cover the last week in June and just before the 4th of July holiday. Since that could be during hurricane season, I took out trip insurance, but the weather turned out to be perfect! It was sunny every day and barely sprinkled. The water was calm with very little current everywhere we went and the visibility was very good. We started out with the Doc Paulson and Kittiwake wrecks ending with the obligatory Sting Ray City experience and Babylon before heading over to Little Cayman for the dive sites at Bloody Bay Wall. Some of the sites we dove more than once, especially for night dives, which was fine. There was much to see. The crossing between islands turned out to be very smooth. From Little Cayman we went to Cayman Brac where we only dove at one dive site, the Russian Destroyer (Keith Tibbett's). Upon arrival in the late afternoon we did the night dive there and then two dives the next day. I had equipment difficulties so I had to miss the night dive which was unfortunate. Manny and Lauren fixed me up with an alternate depth gauge and computer to use for the rest of the trip at no additional charge. I had developed a leaky high pressure hose and hated to dive without my own integrated computer. Manny was firm and frank with me about the dangerous risk I would be taking if tried to make the damaged hose last through the trip. I appreciated his candor because I might have died if the hose had ruptured suddenly underwater. After a day at Cayman Brac, we returned to Little Cayman for another two days of diving the other dive sites we had not visited yet. I got some nice pictures of spider crabs, Petersen shrimp, some HUGE lobsters and a juvenile Channel Crab that I had never seen before at that stage of development. There were plenty of Nassau groupers, parrot fish, queen and French angels along with the usual butterfly, trumpet, Moorish Idol and the rest of the common Caribbean tropical fish. On almost every dive we saw turtles, rays and sharks. Some were reef sharks and some nurse sharks. Coming back to Grand Cayman, on our last diving day we did the Oro Verde wreck dive and Devil's Grotto. I dove on the Oro Verde twice before. The first time was fifteen years earlier and I still have video from that dive. It was very interesting, and somewhat sad, to compare my earlier dives with this one. Several hurricanes have badly battered this wreck so that it is a shadow of its former self. The first time I was able to penetrate the bow and swim through passages. Now there is a small piece of the bow still intact and it is mostly filled with sand. Inside I saw the biggest parrot fish I have ever seen in my life. It was two or three feet long and about a foot wide! Most of the wreck is now scattered debris with some bicycles strewn about to attract tourist interest. The surrounding coral does not look all that healthy compared to that of the less visited sites. This was my second Aggressor trip and it won't be my last. The food, accommodations and service is top-notch. Captain Lauren is very involved with her guests and interacts with them. She is alert to their feelings and tries to make everyone happy and comfortable as well as safe. All the other crew members likewise bend over backwards to be helpful and provide a pleasant and safe experience. The chef was Allen who was a substitute this trip, but he did a superb job of making mouth-watering meals and snacks. One of the crew, Ty from Canada, made a video and set of still photographs that was for sale if we wanted it. At first I was going to decline because I had taken my own pictures and videos, but then I changed my mind since everyone else bought it. Now I am glad that I did since I have watched it several times with a smile on my face the whole time. It is very professionally done with captions and background music dubbed in. The video is in 1080p and is delivered on a thumb drive in mp4 format. I can play it easily on my HDTV at home through my Blu-Ray player that has a USB input. This was a great week and I am looking forward to doing it again sometime in the future.
Websites	Aggressor Fleet
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Australia, Palau, Yap, Hawaii, Belize, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Caribbean (many islands), Key Largo, California (including the Channel Islands as well as Monterey), Mexico, Costa Rica, Bonaire, Curacao, Epcot Center in Disney World, etc.
Closest Airport	GCM - Grand Cayman	Getting There	United from SFO through Houston to GCM - very smooth
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	76-81°F / 24-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	We all dove Nitrox and were strongly encouraged not to exceed the mixture dive limits. We all dove with a buddy or one of the crew. It did not feel like rigid enforcement of rules.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There was a center dry table for cameras and underwater strobes that had ready availability of power for battery chargers. The crew handed down and retrieved cameras while divers were in the water. Experienced photographers who were crew members offered tips when asked for advice.

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Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet/Cayman Aggressor IV in Cayman Islands/all three islands

Aggressor Fleet/Cayman Aggressor IV: "Cayman Aggressor IV - A Perfect Vacation!", Jun, 2016,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Aggressor Fleet/Cayman Aggressor IV in
Cayman Islands/all three islands