Booked Southern Cross Club on LC for June 1-11, any tips?

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diversmith

Contributor
Messages
122
Reaction score
51
Location
Henderson, Nevada
# of dives
500 - 999
Howdy all...

The wife and I are heading to Southern Cross Club for June 1-11. It's coming up fast and I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips regarding SCC or the diving there. Anything is appreciated.

We had a few bad things go on at Bohio on Grand Turk last year so I'm hoping that SCC is smooth sailing and the facilities are problem free. SCC has confirmed with me that their paddleboards are in great shape and fully serviceable!!

I had to have a burial at sea in Grand Turk last summer for my trusty but ancient fins so I will have some new Atomic fins to get used to. I'm also about to pull the trigger on a Mares Quad for a backup computer so I'll have a new toy to play with!

No kids for 11 days! We can't wait! lol
 
No cruise ships or cruise crowds to worry about on LC. Never stayed but the place looks awesome.
 
No cruise ships or cruise crowds to worry about on LC. Never stayed but the place looks awesome.

That's one of the things we won't miss about Grand Turk! GT & Bohio was awesome when the cruisers weren't around. Unfortunately, Bohio allows them on property and some days were just crazy. There was almost a fight one day between a staff member & a cruiser!!

We really like the very small resort feel. It looks like the rooms are much better at SCC than Bohio.
 
Random thoughts


Diving on LC is outstanding and the Southern Cross boats will get you to the most appropriate for conditions sites on Bloody Bay Wall and Jackson's Bight on the north side of the island. In June, the conditions should be perfect. On a 10 day trip, you will undoubtedly hit all the best dive sites. My personal favourites are Mixing Bowl, Randy's Gazebo, and Cumber's Caves.
The dive op is very much "valet" and you will not have to lift a finger.
If Captain Ron is still there, try to go out with him as he is an outstanding dive master.

Rooms and food are very good as is the ambience.
Not much to do on LC apart from eat, sleep, dive.
There is a beach on the south side of the island that stretches about a mile. You can walk the length of it and feel like Robinson Crusoe.
You can paddle board out to Owens Island, watch the birds and lie on the beach. Bring water and snacks.
The most excitement on island is Karaoke Night Friday at the Little Cayman Beach Resort bar.
Other activities include bike rides, fishing and kite boarding if you are interested.
Snorkeling near SCC is not good as there is turtle grass, boat traffic and current. If you want to snorkel, take bikes to the north side and access from the beach at Jacksons Reef and Wall. There is flat water and a sandy entry.

There is a Little Cayman Museum, a bird sanctuary and a small marine institute. All are worth a visit on a non diving afternoon. There is a small general store and liquor store down the road in Blossom Village.
Alcohol is expensive on LC so you might consider bringing a few bottles of your favourite libation from the duty free in US. Going from Grand Cayman to LC, there is no opportunity to purchase any.

Make sure you have enough time for the transfer in GC. Going through Customs, Immigration, picking up bags, checking in again and passing through security can take up to 1.5 hours.

You are in for a real treat.
 
Southern Cross is a lovely property, we've visited there and enjoyed a drink but we have never stayed there.

Most travelers to Little Cayman fly first to Grand Cayman and go through customs and immigration on GC before rechecking their bags and going through GCM Security to access the departure lounge and board their flight to Little Cayman. Each adult can bring a liter of duty-free liquor into Cayman, but remember to pack it carefully inside your checked luggage before rechecking it for your final flight. You won't be able to carry it through Security because it is larger than 3 oz. and doesn't fit inside a quart bag.

If you have a good interval before your flight from GCM to LCM (or on your return flight home from GCM) you can catch the free shuttle to the George Town Yacht Club, just outside the ticketing hall at the GC airport, to have a drink or a meal. The GTYC is located on the marina and the food is good, especially the cracked conch. They open at 11 am on weekdays but they are open early (8:30 am) on Saturdays and Sundays for breakfast. It's only about 3 minutes away and it is a very pleasant place to eat or drink, nicer than the airport, see the link below: https://www.gtyachtclub.com/

You are allowed a total of 55 lbs luggage on Cayman Airways and that means everything, including carry-ons, and you may be charged per pound for overweight baggage. You won't be allowed any large carry-ons (no rollerboards or large back packs, etc.) because you will be flying a small Twin Otter plane. Large carry-ons will be placed in the baggage hold.

The LC airport is very tiny and it doesn't have any lights so the planes only fly during daylight hours. The runway is used as a road when there is no air traffic. Sometimes you fly a turboprop from GC to Brac and then transfer to a twin otter for the flight to LC - other times you fly an Otter directly from GC to LC. All the flights are short. On the day before you are scheduled to fly back to GC, you are usually allowed to pack a bag and send it back early. It will be waiting for you at the GC airport when you fly there the next day.

It is not unusual to have a bag delayed by a day. The last time we were there in 2017 the suitcase with most of our clothes was delayed for a day. Another couple had the bag with all their dive gear delayed - but the dive shop loaned them gear for free until their stuff arrived. I tend to bring a large purse that I can jam under the tiny seat in front of me and I pack it with essentials like medications, glasses and contact lenses, C-cards, swimsuits, and clean undies, phones and dive computers, just things that we will really need if our luggage is delayed. The staff at the LCBR laundered our clothes for free to help us get by until our missing bag arrived.

Little Cayman is a very small and quiet island. There's only one small village on the island and it's called Blossom Village. It has a grocery store, a liquor store, a car rental agency, and a gas pump and I think that's all the shops, but the grocery store (and liquor store?) is open on Sundays - at least it was the last time we were there.

The resort can arrange a rental car for you or you can arrange one yourself. You will have to pay $20 Cayman for a temporary drivers license unless you have an international license. The car rental agency can issue the temporary license if you show them a valid drivers license from back home. The license is valid on all 3 Cayman islands so if you are visiting multiple islands make sure they date it for your full trip.

There's very little traffic on LC so driving on the left is easy. Some folks like to rent motorbikes but it's a longish trip if you plan to drive around the island, stop at the village, the beach, the museum, the other resorts, etc., we prefer to rent a small car.

If you do rent a car for a day or two you may want to stop at the Hungry Iguana, it's a local restaurant and bar near the village and the lionfish tacos are very popular. It's also near Paradise Villas which is a small resort. It's not a dive-dedicated resort but I am sure that you can arrange diving if you stay about anywhere on the island. The last time we were on LC a local condo owner joined out boat with Reef Divers a few times.

The small LC Museum is also near the village and is a charming and interesting place to visit.

Damian, a former bartender at the Beach-Nuts Bar at the LCBR, now operates a glass-bottom boat and offers tours, fishing, and other water excursions. You might arrange an excursion with him over to uninhabited Owens Island to snorkel or fish. I believe that he also hosts a Lazy Sunday Barbecue on Owens Island that sounds like fun, see the link below:
https://www.caymancompass.com/2019/01/08/restored-glass-bottom-boat-now-little-cayman-tourist-vessel/

None of the LC resorts are large but the Little Cayman Beach Resort is the largest. They've just completed some renovations at LCBR and they are scheduled to open a underwater video and photography shop soon.There's a lovely little spa at the LCBR if you want to have a relaxing massage or other spa service, but book early because it fills up quickly, especially near the end of the week. There may be other spa offerings on the island, I don't know.

I'm not a fan of Karaoke night at the Beach-Nuts bar but Trivia night can be a lot of fun IMO. There's usually a barbecue on Friday nights and also a Sunday Brunch at LCBR. They also have a basketball and tennis court there.

In addition to SCC and LCBR, there's a 3rd dive resort on Little Cayman called Pirates Point and it is said to have the best food. They offer a prix-fixe gourmet menu but the choices are limited. We have never visited or eaten there, see link below: http://www.piratespointresort.com/

The Salt Rock Nature Trail on LC is a popular nature-walk and hiking trail. It started as a footpath between Blossom Village and the Salt Pier.

There are many beautiful bird species on LC and the Booby Pond Nature Reserve supports the largest red-footed booby population in the Caribbean. You will see lots of Frigate Birds above the island also. LC also has a large, healthy population of the native iguana species.

The Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) is located on LC and in the past they have given tours of the facility on Friday afternoons but I don't know if they still do that, see link below: https://reefresearch.org/

I think that Little Cayman has some of the best diving in the Caribbean. The reefs are beautiful and healthy and you will see lots of beautiful corals and sea life including eagle rays and friendly groupers. The reefs start shallow and they have a lot of swim-throughs and tunnels that you can either explore or swim over.


I have never done any shore diving on LC but @Ricardo V. has and he shared this report about shore diving on Little Cayman:
https://www.scubaboard.com/community/posts/8139619/


There is a recompression chamber on the nearby island of Cayman Brac.

Reef Divers, the dive op at LCBR, will take a boat over to Cayman Brac to dive the Tibbetts wreck (the Russian Frigate) and that is a fun dive. I imagine that other dive ops on the island will do the same if enough divers are interested in the excursion.

Here's some links about LC:

http://www.alertdiver.com/Caymans_Sister_Islands

http://www.alertdiver.com/Sister_Islands_gallery

http://www.qsl.net/zf2nt/index.htm

https://www.caymancompass.com/2015/07/24/From-Grand-to-Little--a-relaxing-island-hop/

https://www.caymancompass.com/2015/08/07/little-cayman-s-big-summer-shutdown/

https://www.caribjournal.com/2017/06/22/why-you-need-to-visit-little-cayman/#

https://youtu.be/Q6pJ7-Acks0

https://youtu.be/QDb1nkROOcE

https://www.facebook.com/littlecaymanbeachresort/videos/10158715980845230/
 
What a comprehensive review. KathyV continues to be a font of information.

Thanks! But it was also a self-serving exercise because we've just booked a trip to GC and LC for later this year. We haven't been to LC for two years and so it was helpful to me to pull together a lot of info about LC - it both scratches an itch while I am waiting and it reminds me of key information!
 
That's one of the things we won't miss about Grand Turk! GT & Bohio was awesome when the cruisers weren't around. Unfortunately, Bohio allows them on property and some days were just crazy. There was almost a fight one day between a staff member & a cruiser!!

We really like the very small resort feel. It looks like the rooms are much better at SCC than Bohio.

We were at a hotel on Roatan once that encouraged cruise ship passengers to visit and it wasn't fun so I would avoid Bohio just for that reason, do you know if the Osprey resort on GT also allows cruisers?

We have visited Provo and we have both dived from day boats and departed on liveaboards from there but we have never visited any other T&C islands. There is very good LOB diving around West Caicos and French Caye, but how is the diving around Grand Turk? Something that I don't care for about Provo is the long boat rides to the reefs, that's why a LOB is a good choice IMO. I believe that the reefs are near shore on Grand Turk, is that correct? I know that the T&Cs can be expensive and that can also be true of the Caymans.
 
We were at a hotel on Roatan once that encouraged cruise ship passengers to visit and it wasn't fun so I would avoid Bohio just for that reason, do you know if the Osprey resort on GT also allows cruisers?

We have visited Provo and we have both dived from day boats and departed on liveaboards from there but we have never visited any other T&C islands. There is very good LOB diving around West Caicos and French Caye, but how is the diving around Grand Turk? Something that I don't care for about Provo is the long boat rides to the reefs, that's why a LOB is a good choice IMO. I believe that the reefs are near shore on Grand Turk, is that correct? I know that the T&Cs can be expensive and that can also be true of the Caymans.

KathyV

The diving on Grand Turk was great! Very short boat rides. The think I heard the Osprey DOES NOT allow cruisers on property so that might be a better choice and it's not that far away from Bohio's location, so still short boat rides. Bohio is pretty well aged as far as the rooms go. The cruisers there were pretty annoying. We still had a good time but there were some serious issues I wrote about in my trip review on Bohio & GT last year. If you haven't done GT, I would definitely say do it, just at the Osprey. I think it's a little better overall from what I have heard while on GT and what we know now.

And, I can imagine the cruisers on Roatan can be bad. We saw a glimpse of it while down there. We stayed at Anthony's Key so it was super quiet and peaceful, but we saw the terminal while out and about.
 

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