Cayman Islands

[Helice'N'co]

Hi all,
I'm planning a holiday in November with 1 week on Grand Cayman and then another week... But I'm not sure where would be best.
Plan would be to do more diving, but also other activities (sightseeing, maybe continuing to learn kitesurfing...) . Which would be better in your experience : Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, La Ceiba/Utila/Roatan, Jamaica?
I look forward to hearing your suggestions

Cheers!

 

[KathyV]

Hi all,
I'm planning a holiday in November with 1 week on Grand Cayman and then another week... But I'm not sure where would be best.
Plan would be to do more diving, but also other activities (sightseeing, maybe continuing to learn kitesurfing...) . Which would be better in your experience : Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, La Ceiba/Utila/Roatan, Jamaica?
I look forward to hearing your suggestions

Cheers!

It's our favorite thing to do - spend a week on Grand Cayman and then a week on either Little Cayman or Cayman Brac; I love all 3 Cayman Islands, see the link below.

But Cayman Airways does fly to both Roatan and Le Ceiba - not everyday but 2 or 3 times a week so you could get there pretty easily. They also fly to Jamaica but it I am not crazy about the diving. Cayman Air also flies to Cuba if that is of interest.

It is not always easy to hop from island to island in the Caribbean - even when they are not far away - because you can't always get flights from Point A to Point B, sometimes you have to fly back to Miami just to catch a plane to a neighboring island!


http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147364-i260-k8593445-The_differences_for_a_diver_between_the_3_Cayman_islands-Cayman_Islands.html

 

[Altamira]

I do not think you will find many here that would rank Jamaica anywhere near the Caymans and Roatan.

 

[Trailboss123]

Hi all,
I'm planning a holiday in November with 1 week on Grand Cayman and then another week... But I'm not sure where would be best.
Plan would be to do more diving, but also other activities (sightseeing, maybe continuing to learn kitesurfing...) . Which would be better in your experience : Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, La Ceiba/Utila/Roatan, Jamaica?
I look forward to hearing your suggestions

Cheers!

Concur with @KathyV - I wouldn't go to Jamaica. Probably Cayman Brac or Roatan for week 2. If you want to do Roatan, you'll just need to sort out the Cayman Air flight schedule to suit you. I wouldn't go to La Ceiba at all for any reason and Utila will require additional travel that will cut into your vacation time and cost.

 

[KathyV]

Since you will be in the Caymans it would be easiest just to stay in the Caymans. It is only an inexpensive, half-hour flight to get to Cayman Brac or Little Cayman from GC - and the sister islands are very different experience from Grand Cayman. All 3 Cayman islands have great diving, and kitesurfing is available on both Grand Cayman and Little Cayman, but not Brac.

But keep in mind that the "wait to fly after diving" rule does apply, whether you are flying to another country or just hoping over to Brac or Little - so figure that into your travel plans.

Why not save Roatan and other destinations for a different trip?

 

[Helice'N'co]

Thanks a lot for your replies! I'll keep Honduras for another time and stay in the Cayman Islands.
I'll do a bit more research, but I think Little Cayman will be the better option for us if we pursue the idea of kitesurfing, if hiking will be our main land activity, then we'll head to Cayman Brac which seems to have more trails... And in both cases we can do a bit of birdwatching if we fancy.
From a hurricane point of view, I guess the risk is the same for LC and CB? And that's a bit more than for GC? Are they all at the same risk as the eastern part of the Caribbean belt (whuch got severely hit in 2017)?

 

[KathyV]

Thanks a lot for your replies! I'll keep Honduras for another time and stay in the Cayman Islands.
I'll do a bit more research, but I think Little Cayman will be the better option for us if we pursue the idea of kitesurfing, if hiking will be our main land activity, then we'll head to Cayman Brac which seems to have more trails... And in both cases we can do a bit of birdwatching if we fancy.
From a hurricane point of view, I guess the risk is the same for LC and CB? And that's a bit more than for GC? Are they all at the same risk as the eastern part of the Caribbean belt (whuch got severely hit in 2017)?

The Caymans did NOT get hit by any hurricanes in 2017 (and I don't think that Roatan got hit either) but there were some bad storms and high winds throughout the Caribbean that impacted vacationing and diving at different times last year and early this year. When we were on Little Cayman in early November 2017 we were unable to dive the Bloody Bay Wall on the first 2 days so we dived the south side of the island instead; but things calmed down quickly and we were able to move around the corner and dive BBW and Jackson's Bight for the rest of our dives.

Some Caribbean Islands were hit very hard by devastating hurricanes in 2017 - including Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos, and others. Because of the widespread damage, destinations that were not impacted have gotten a lot busier with vacationers switching plans to the luckier islands - so don't wait too long to make your plans, although November is the slow season so it isn't as urgent.

The kitesurfing on Little Cayman is available at the Southern Cross Club. We usually stay at the Little Cayman Beach Resort and one time when we were there they invited the manager (owner?) of the SCC kitesurfing venue to come to a Beach Bar event at LCBR and tell guests about the kitesurfing opportunities. We didn't take advantage of it, but I believe that the other LC resorts will work with SCC to help their guests to enjoy this activity.

By the same token, LCBR has a lovely little spa on the property and guests from other resorts are welcome to make appointments and enjoy the spa services.

Just a comment, you mentioned plans for November - which would be fine - but be aware that most of the businesses on Little Cayman, including the SCC, shut down for a couple of months in late summer and early fall. The LCBR stays open but if you want to kitesurf on LC then don't plan on going there during the summer shutdown, see the link below:

Little Cayman's big summer shutdown | Cayman Compass

 

[Rhone Man]

+1 for Little Cayman.

November is definitely in the Caribbean basin hurricane season, but Cayman does occupy a bit of a sweet spot and rarely gets hit. It got badly smacked in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan but that was the first one for nearly a century (although it has had one more clean hit since then, but not nearly as bad).

People are much more affected by fear of hurricanes than hurricanes themselves.

 

[KathyV]

+1 for Little Cayman.

November is definitely in the Caribbean basin hurricane season, but Cayman does occupy a bit of a sweet spot and rarely gets hit. It got badly smacked in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan but that was the first one for nearly a century (although it has had one more clean hit since then, but not nearly as bad).

People are much more affected by fear of hurricanes than hurricanes themselves.

I agree that people may disproportionally fear hurricanes because not every summer/fall storm is a disaster and the Caribbean is a huge region, so a storm in one area may have little impact on other areas.

We frequently travel to the Caribbean in the fall to celebrate our anniversary in late October and over the years we have experienced wonderful weather, rainy and windy weather, and a couple of strong storms but never hurricanes - at least not yet! But the risk is always there so we take comprehensive travel insurance on our big trips.

And Cayman has been hit by devastating hurricanes over the years, like Ivan (Grand Cayman) in 2004 and Paloma (Brac and Little) in 2008. Even Bonaire (considered to be "below the hurricane belt") gets hit with a bad one every 30 years or so!

See the graph below for the frequency by month of storms and hurricanes in the Caribbean; but keep in mind (as stated below the graph) that one storm might only affect 3% of the region.

Hurricanes and Storms

 

[Rhone Man]

On average the BVI (my long term home) gets hit by a hurricane once every 8.5 years. But what that basically means is you get about a week per decade wiped out by a hurricane.

What is a PITA is hurricane warnings. We can easily get three or four of those a year. All that prep for nothing (usually).