Cayman Air told me that you can check a total of 55 lbs. per person from GC to LC. This does not include your carry on bag. I've slimmed down my travelling gear so much that I can easily meet that weight.
DMdoogie
IIRC, the carry-on bag has an 8lb weight limit.
We have been wanting to visit LCBR for several years and finally looks like we'll book Memorial Day week of 2010! Thanks to everyone on this site. My only question is what shape the reefs are in after the hurricane a couple years back?
Don't worry too much. I've not dived since Paloma (last November), but reports from local friends say 'no negative impact', with some positive comments about how all the Brac's reefs have gotten a major rest break from diver pressure.
For LC vs Brac, while many divers report favorably on Bloody Bay Marine Park (BBMP) sites, a lot of the reason IMO is because of how shallow the wall starts, which allows for easy & long bottom time dives. Unfortunately, this popularity has also resulted in BBMP getting "loved to death" beaten up - - these moorings have been in continuous use for over 20 years without any of them being pulled out of service for a "rest" and they definitely have declined from what they were like years ago. While there's still some friendly groupers, I don't see as many French or Grey Angelfish around, nor as many Rays either (Sting or Eagle), and any Cuda are these tiny little 3ft - 5ft babies. However, since you've never been there before, you probably won't consider it to be 'in decline'. One of these years, I'll have to find some UW photos in my collection to illustrate 'BBMP Dive Site X over the past 20 years' see if I can illustrate this.
Also, what kind of diving do you experience there, big stuff, little stuff, deep wall dives, current...?
In general, both islands have deep wall dives available ... the variability is how shallow they start: LC-BloodyBay is ~25fsw, LC-Jackson's is ~50fsw, LC-Southside is deeper (60fsw IIRC). The Brac tends to be 60fsw on the Northside & Southside, with the dropoff at several walls being 80fsw+ .. but more rugged and with swim-thrus. Diving Nitrox tends to be a bigger reward on the Brac, especially on the southside.
The Brac's southside is a nice contrast to BBMP, since by being southern-facing, the walls are in light instead of shadow, which provides for a completely different visual appearance...you can actually see them go on 'forever' below you.
For max depth off the walls, the practical limit is going to be you & the dive operation's policy (which typically is 110fsw).
For shallow, LC tends to be spot/patch, or hardpan formations, whereas the Brac has more spur & groove, particularly with some pretty serious vertical reef topology, which lets you swim *through* the reef, rather than merely "above" it (although some of the LC spot reefs, such as Eagle Ray in Jackson's, has some nice shallow reef canyon swim-throughs too). If you like big Sand Chutes going off the wall, the Brac is your place.
My general recommendation for Little Cayman is to try to get off the beaten path. Most visitors want to go to the "famous" sites and while they are famous for good reason, they're not the only diving that the island has to offer. Do make it a point to speak up and express a willingness to 'explore' other areas ... if nothing else, the staff will thank you silently, because ~80% of their diving is done week after week after week at the same dozen or so dive sites.
For current, there's generally very little. The dive staff is generally very good about selecting each day's site to be somewhere where there's 1/3 knot or less... although you still always need to check and then swim up-current (whatever there is) when you get out to the wall's edge.
Be more aware of your navigation to get back under the boat at the end of the dive, as most 'lost' divers are those that surface downwind and get blown away from the boat mostly by the wind. In general, I take one compass heading to get to the wall, and then rely on natural navigation from there, although there are some tricky sites where the face of the wall is horseshoe-shaped, which can throw you off.
For critters, there's a good mix of big & small, with certain sites being known for a certain critter here or there. The Brac's southside is known for having a blue variety of the lettuce leaf nudibranch, for example, and there's also Tarpon on Tarpon Reef, Horse Eye Jacks on Wilderness Wall, Flying Grunards at ... Schoolhouse Wall?, plus a few resident scorpionfish on the 356 wreck, sites that have a goldenphase coney, another that has a few indigo hamlet, etc. Local DM knowledge goes a long ways here...last fall, there was a spot in LC's Jackson's area where there was a 6ft lemon shark hanging out in 8fsw of water, etc. Other 'big' critters include turtles, and a couple of sightings per week is average. There's also a lot of tiny critters, although I have to admit to not paying too much attention to them, since I normally carry a wide angle lens. A good amount of 'medium' stuff too, like lobster, puffers, octopi, rock beauties, butterflies, etc. Some stuff is so common that you had also better also know your sub-species (Grouper: Nassau, Tiger, Black, Peacock, Coral, Goliath).
...and now all you have to do is to wait another 8 months.
-hh
