Dive Review of Ocean Frontiers/Morritt's Grand Resort in
Cayman Islands/Grand Cayman, East End

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Ocean Frontiers/Morritt's Grand Resort, Jan, 2009, by Jan & Michael Lewis, VA, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 5103.
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
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	January 10-16, 2009 My husband, Michael, and I had another great week of diving with Ocean Frontiers on the East End of Grand Cayman. We return every year and it is, by far, the best shore dive operation we have ever experienced. The shop is 5 minutes down the road from our timeshare at Morritt's Tortuga Club & Grand Resort . We don't like the cattle-car, group dive philosophy at Tortuga, and we usually find much more experienced divers at OF. We have so much confidence in OF that we have taken our niece and nephew, as well as a good friend, to them for Open Water Certification. Ocean Frontiers is a superbly professional dive operation that goes above and beyond in customer service. They give excellent safety and dive briefings, including reminders to be kind to the environment. I'm particularly grateful for that because the once spectacular Cayman reefs have begun, in the last few years, to show signs of suffering from overfishing and coral bleaching. The crew and shore staff at OF are the hardest working folks we've ever seen at a dive shop. They take your equipment to and from the boats, and even set-up your equipment if you desire. If you're diving with them for the week, you leave your gear at the shop, and they wash it and have it ready for you on your next dive. Safety is number one. There is always a divemaster ready to lead your dive, but once you've proven you're a good diver they treat you as adults, and allow you dive freedom within their very reasonable dive times and profiles. This past January our captain, Shawn, was particularly wonderful. I was very sea sick one day, and he moved the boat inside the reef between dives so that I could recover enough for the second dive. Fantastic! Our favorite sites are Split Rock and Fishtank. We saw huge lobsters, French Angel fish, Parrotfish, Butterflyfish, schools of yellowtail Snapper and Barracuda, Yellow Rays, Green Sea Turtle and a 7 ft Nurse shark. Various sites had saucer coral, pillar coral, sea fingers and beautiful light purple sea fans. The less visited sites are in very good shape, but juvenile reef fish are much less plentiful than in previous years. I'm always cold and wore my 5 mm wetsuit, but most folks wore less neoprene. Seas were never more than 3-4 ft, and there was mild to moderate surge. As usual for January it was windy. Our 2 bedroom condo at Morritt's Grand Resort was very nice with a beautiful ocean view. The resort is still rebuilding from being devastated by Hurricane IVAN a few years ago. The Grand was built to withstand a Hurricane of that magnitude, and did pretty well, but some of the older Tortuga Club was destroyed or badly damaged. The on-site restaurant, David's is pretty good, and Mimi's dock bar has good sandwiches, pizza, etc., and entertainment most nights. The swim-up bar at the Grand Pool is always fun, although the drinks get a bit expensive. We always stop at Foster's Food Mart near the airport, and hit a liquor store before making the drive out to the East End. We cook for ourselves at least half the time, and always make the 20 minute drive for a fabulous dinner at the Lighthouse, our favorite Grand Cayman restaurant. Portofino's is also quite good.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Galapagos, Hawaii, Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Belize, Bonaire, Aruba, Bermuda
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm, surge
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	60-80 Ft/ 18-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	100 ft, 60 minutes, buddy or group dive, don't put computer into deco, no gloves (Cayman rule), don't harass marine life.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	We're not photographers, and often get irritated with photographers who drag equipment or themselves across coral to get their shots, or harass marine life.

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Dive Review of Ocean Frontiers/Morritt's Grand Resort in Cayman Islands/Grand Cayman, East End

Ocean Frontiers/Morritt's Grand Resort, Jan, 2009,

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 Ocean Frontiers/Morritt's Grand Resort in
Cayman Islands/Grand Cayman, East End