large_diver
Contributor
We stayed at Cayman Brac Beach resort March 16-23 – very fun trip. This was as part of a group trip with our greater Boston LDS. Our family group was my wife (non-diver) and our 2 kids ages 24, 22.
The Trip:
We flew JetBlue direct from Boston to Grand Cayman and the made the Cayman Airways hop from GC to the Brac. You can definitely see many of the upgrades at the Grand Cayman airport, but there are still things to be done. The positives = much larger departure/check-in area, larger customs and baggage claim area, larger waiting area where the gates are, no more waiting in security line outside the airport. The bad – gate area still feels crowded, additional restaurants are yet to be opened (signs said Subway and Wendy’s coming soon), gate area still apparently has more work to be done, the tent restaurant in the parking lot closed and was packed up during our week there…but no alternative has opened up yet (perhaps moving a restaurant back upstairs where the old one was?). So yes, Saturday in Grand Cayman airport on the way home at this time of year home was crowded, steamy, somewhat chaotic, etc…..but knowing it would likely be like that going in eased the pain.
The Resort:
I’ve stayed at Little Cayman Beach Resort twice before; the rooms at CBBR are very similar with one major improvement = every room has private outdoor space. We stayed on the second floor, our kids on the first. Second floor rooms have a small porch with chairs and table that faces towards the ocean; first floor rooms have a small patio that also faces the ocean….making it very easy to walk right out your porch door to the bar, dining hall, etc. Beds were comfortable, A/C worked great, ceiling fans, separate room and beach towels, shampoo/conditioner/soap provided, drinkable tap water, plenty of charging outlets, decent in-room wifi, TV (we never used), dresser, sizeable table which works well for camera set-up. Very nice pool and bar area. Bikes that can be borrowed – beach-style bikes, although on one day my wife rode one of these all the way to the bluff and back. My favorite morning routine was to walk down to the western tip of the island to stretch my legs (an 8 minute walk) and then head back to the resort in time for coffee and sunrise. This western point is also a fantastic place to watch the sunset; there is even a little picnic table to sit at while watching the show. Like LCBR, CBBR also has a lighted tennis court with a basketball hoop on it.
Resort Food = very good and variable. We had some special dietary requests that we sent in advance – handled no problem. Coffee each morning at 6:30.
Diving = very good. Generally deeper starting depths vs. my prior experience at Little Cayman. There were some shallower sites, but most seemed to start somewhere in the 40-50 foot range. Tibbets wreck was definitely a hit especially with our kids. We also made a trip over to LC one day, including lunch at the newly renovated LCBR dining room (very fancy). It was nice to do a few dives on the north side of LC to add some variety to the week. Creatures sighted included most of the “regular” Caribbean characters = spotted drums, lettuce sea slugs, flamingo tongues, the ever-friendly Nassau grouper, reef sharks, nurse sharks, green and hawksbill turtles, squid, morays, gray angels, French angels, butterfly fish, etc., etc. My last dive trip was a Galapagos liveaboard….not a fair comparison, but CB was good, solid Caribbean diving = nice marine life, interesting coral formations, swim throughs, CB walls, the Tibbets wreck, LC dramatic walls. Reef divers (our guides were BJ and Brett) has nice big boats and runs an efficient operation. Separate camera rinse tanks on land, but no separate camera room and no rinse tanks on the boats. That said, crew was efficient and careful in handling cameras and gave camera rigs a fresh water rinse with the hose on the boat before putting back on the camera table. Again, the large, granite-topped tables in the guest rooms make good camera staging areas.
My wife spent multiple days rock climbing, most of it with Rock Iguana. She highly recommends Angel, one of the co-owners. The 3 of them (wife and kids) also did a full moon/night yoga session with Rock Iguana – candle light, moonlight, the sound of the waves – apparently very soothing.
Cayman Brac Climbing - Rock Iguana Ltd - Rock Climbing and Adventure Tours
Since my wife rented a car for the rock climbing (driving on the left…luckily we lived in the UK for 2 years….although traffic on CB is VERY mellow), they also did some cave exploring one day and we took multiple trips up to the bluff (one for sunrise – beautiful!). Getting to the bluff is definitely recommended – not only for the views, but for the topography and the brown-footed boobies nesting all along the edge of the bluff.
We also ate out on 2 nights – Captain’s Table for Taco Tuesday (colorful crowd and beautiful night for sitting outside) and Star Island (great for local seafood; CBBR does not generally serve local seafood).
All in all a great trip for us given the combination of great resort, good diving and topside activities. I know there have been some discussions here lately regarding LCBR vs. CBBR. IMHO, CB definitely wins in terms for overall resort comfort, better pool, outdoor space with the rooms, larger bar and seating area, same Reef Divers efficient operation, more to do on the island (both activities and culinary choices), the bluff, larger planes (we had jet service inbound to CB and one of the larger Saab turbo props on the way home). I think LC is better in terms of overall quality of diving assuming you are able to dive the north side of the island for the week. So – it all depends on what you are looking for; I’m certainly glad I had a chance to try both.
The Trip:
We flew JetBlue direct from Boston to Grand Cayman and the made the Cayman Airways hop from GC to the Brac. You can definitely see many of the upgrades at the Grand Cayman airport, but there are still things to be done. The positives = much larger departure/check-in area, larger customs and baggage claim area, larger waiting area where the gates are, no more waiting in security line outside the airport. The bad – gate area still feels crowded, additional restaurants are yet to be opened (signs said Subway and Wendy’s coming soon), gate area still apparently has more work to be done, the tent restaurant in the parking lot closed and was packed up during our week there…but no alternative has opened up yet (perhaps moving a restaurant back upstairs where the old one was?). So yes, Saturday in Grand Cayman airport on the way home at this time of year home was crowded, steamy, somewhat chaotic, etc…..but knowing it would likely be like that going in eased the pain.
The Resort:
I’ve stayed at Little Cayman Beach Resort twice before; the rooms at CBBR are very similar with one major improvement = every room has private outdoor space. We stayed on the second floor, our kids on the first. Second floor rooms have a small porch with chairs and table that faces towards the ocean; first floor rooms have a small patio that also faces the ocean….making it very easy to walk right out your porch door to the bar, dining hall, etc. Beds were comfortable, A/C worked great, ceiling fans, separate room and beach towels, shampoo/conditioner/soap provided, drinkable tap water, plenty of charging outlets, decent in-room wifi, TV (we never used), dresser, sizeable table which works well for camera set-up. Very nice pool and bar area. Bikes that can be borrowed – beach-style bikes, although on one day my wife rode one of these all the way to the bluff and back. My favorite morning routine was to walk down to the western tip of the island to stretch my legs (an 8 minute walk) and then head back to the resort in time for coffee and sunrise. This western point is also a fantastic place to watch the sunset; there is even a little picnic table to sit at while watching the show. Like LCBR, CBBR also has a lighted tennis court with a basketball hoop on it.
Resort Food = very good and variable. We had some special dietary requests that we sent in advance – handled no problem. Coffee each morning at 6:30.
Diving = very good. Generally deeper starting depths vs. my prior experience at Little Cayman. There were some shallower sites, but most seemed to start somewhere in the 40-50 foot range. Tibbets wreck was definitely a hit especially with our kids. We also made a trip over to LC one day, including lunch at the newly renovated LCBR dining room (very fancy). It was nice to do a few dives on the north side of LC to add some variety to the week. Creatures sighted included most of the “regular” Caribbean characters = spotted drums, lettuce sea slugs, flamingo tongues, the ever-friendly Nassau grouper, reef sharks, nurse sharks, green and hawksbill turtles, squid, morays, gray angels, French angels, butterfly fish, etc., etc. My last dive trip was a Galapagos liveaboard….not a fair comparison, but CB was good, solid Caribbean diving = nice marine life, interesting coral formations, swim throughs, CB walls, the Tibbets wreck, LC dramatic walls. Reef divers (our guides were BJ and Brett) has nice big boats and runs an efficient operation. Separate camera rinse tanks on land, but no separate camera room and no rinse tanks on the boats. That said, crew was efficient and careful in handling cameras and gave camera rigs a fresh water rinse with the hose on the boat before putting back on the camera table. Again, the large, granite-topped tables in the guest rooms make good camera staging areas.
My wife spent multiple days rock climbing, most of it with Rock Iguana. She highly recommends Angel, one of the co-owners. The 3 of them (wife and kids) also did a full moon/night yoga session with Rock Iguana – candle light, moonlight, the sound of the waves – apparently very soothing.
Cayman Brac Climbing - Rock Iguana Ltd - Rock Climbing and Adventure Tours
Since my wife rented a car for the rock climbing (driving on the left…luckily we lived in the UK for 2 years….although traffic on CB is VERY mellow), they also did some cave exploring one day and we took multiple trips up to the bluff (one for sunrise – beautiful!). Getting to the bluff is definitely recommended – not only for the views, but for the topography and the brown-footed boobies nesting all along the edge of the bluff.
We also ate out on 2 nights – Captain’s Table for Taco Tuesday (colorful crowd and beautiful night for sitting outside) and Star Island (great for local seafood; CBBR does not generally serve local seafood).
All in all a great trip for us given the combination of great resort, good diving and topside activities. I know there have been some discussions here lately regarding LCBR vs. CBBR. IMHO, CB definitely wins in terms for overall resort comfort, better pool, outdoor space with the rooms, larger bar and seating area, same Reef Divers efficient operation, more to do on the island (both activities and culinary choices), the bluff, larger planes (we had jet service inbound to CB and one of the larger Saab turbo props on the way home). I think LC is better in terms of overall quality of diving assuming you are able to dive the north side of the island for the week. So – it all depends on what you are looking for; I’m certainly glad I had a chance to try both.
