Little Cayman Beach Resort- been there?

[jdcpa]

The Resort recommends 15% of the diving rate as a guide for tips. I think it is about $120 per day for three dives, so about $18 per day would be what they recommend.

 

[divingjd]

LCBR was one of the best vacations I ever had. Don't worry too much about which dive sites you visit. They basically vary from great to spectacular. The crew will pick sites based on weather conditions and suggestions. My number one suggestion is to avoid over-packing. The dress code is pretty basic: shirts and pants required at dinner, which basically means no wet bathing suits and you need to wear something on top. Shorts and t-shirts are fine. I think I even went to dinner with bare feet once or twice. At lunch, I don't think they even worry about the bathing suits. Be prepared for an opportunity for serious relaxation. Other than diving, there really isn't anything to do and there are no TVs in the rooms, so you're basically left with lying in a hammock, reading by the pool, sitting in the hot tub, and variations on those themes.

jdcpa's description of tipping sounds about right. It is close to the usual $5/tank/day rule of thumb for the Caribbean.

 

[Rpeiffer]

Just got back from LCBR yesterday. Pretty much of what's been posted is accurate. Went with two friends on a "guys trip" and had a great time. Was surprised to see so many non divers at this resort. But if the pool, beach, sun and bar make you happy then I guess I can get it.

Didn't notice the DM's taking any votes on the sites. But as said before, they pick the best site available. Funny thing is after each dive it seemed our group was split on how Great it was. One liked this one better than that one and vice a verse. So the eye of the beholder thing seems to apply. Overall a really great place to dive for sure. Some of the most remarkable reefs I've seen.

Our DM's were not overly friendly. One even a bit lacking in customer service skills. But we had a different one on the last day and that one was very nice. Great dive briefings. If you're good on air you won't want to follow the DM as you end up back in the shallows too soon. If you have never ventured out on your own this is a good place to do try it. I can't find my way around my house but with the briefings the reef seemed easy. For tipping they have boxes just inside the dive shop door to put them in and a sheet with "suggested" tipping amounts based on the number of days diving.

We must have had two "special" rooms as they both had TV's. Nice to turn on and listen to while you sneak in a nap.

Bar's a mixed bag. Some times more busy than other with varying types showing up. Friday is kerioky (sp? I've never been "kerioky drunk" so sorry if I can't spell it) and some of the locals show up. As would be expected there are some characters mixed in that group. Prices aren't cheap, so if you are, stay away from the bar.

Boats are awsome. There are benches at the back where you sit down and put on your fins. They bring you your tank and one short step and your in the water. Same deal on the way out after climbing up very nice ladders.

We liked the food a lot! For the price you pay I feel it's of a very high quality. I get annoyed with people complaining about resort food who want to pay for a Hyundai and drive a Benz.

Bugs do come out at about 5:30 to 6:00, so do pack some bug spray. We didn't, but the bar seemed to have a bottle available, my arms and legs tell me there's didn't work all that well.

The beds were way too soft for my tastes but clean and acceptable. AC made it as cool as you would like it. Clean rooms and decent in size.

We didn't cruise the island at all so not much to tell you there. If you are there to dive there is no way you won't have a great time! If you've been considering photography I would say this would be the time. I've been considering it and wish I had pulled the trigger for this trip.......and had one.

 

[IceBergSlim]

Iceberg:

How is EAN32 ridiculously lean?

Not that it's so lean but like most dive ops they have 32% in a bank. You can get no other mix regardless of the planned profile. On many dives 32% would not be my first choice.

 

[susan6868]

Thank you Rpeiffer- what a great overview. Gald you had such a great time, I'm really looking forward to it!
Again, many thanks for the share.

 

[-hh]

My advice for a first trip is to let the divemasters pick the sites.

I'd express strong willingness to dive outside the park. Solicit some southside dives (SW corner area).

There are only 22 moored sites on Jackson's and Bloody Bay, and if you are doing a 3 a day package, you will probably do most of them anyway. Actually, when I was there in October, there was a plan to remove 11 of the moorings to let the sites "rest".

The plan to remove half the moorings is because of the diving pressure on the Park. These sites have been in constant use for 25 years (*zero* rests) and their use took a big uptick a few years ago with an increase in the number of dive operation boats using them.

There had been a conservation rule from several years ago to limit the number of boats/day from any one business - - this was aimed at the then-6 boats that the Divi Tiara was running, as they would crowd things 2x/year when they were hosting the Nikonos Shootout. With the Tiara in decline (now gone), the "big fish" in the pond now is Reef Divers and they run nearly to the limit a couple of times per week, instead of just essentially twice per year.

I don't know if this plan has come to fruition.

It hasn't. Its being opposed because the dive operations wanted a much larger marine conservation zone, which significantly impacted a couple of local (but Caymanian) fishermen.

The bottom line is that these sites need to be rested - bad - but there's going to be squabbling over the proposals. In the meantime, part of the Marine Park on Cayman Brac is being filled in with rock to make a cruise ship dock. As the old saying goes, "follow the money".

Everyone who has dived there has, for various reasons, developed his own list of favorites. I think it's probably best if you go with a clean slate and fill it in yourself. The divemasters will show you what they think is the best they have.

Not really: the DM's will take the customers to the "Famous" dive sites because that's the customers' expectations, virtually regardless of how bad they've become. One of my best stays on Little Cayman happened on a week when there was bad weather out of the north which made BBay off limits - - so we were 'forced' to dive elsewhere. There's a lot of great places on Little Cayman, but the DM's don't take people there because they always get the requests for the "famous" places. I've seen this happen year after year after year since the 1980s.

I try to do my DM a favor and ask them where they've not been for awhile. I'm sure that they're just as sick & tired of "Great Wall West" as I am.

The Cayman Airways flights to LC have a 55 lb per person baggage limit, and they are not bashful about charging for overweight.

That's an understatement.


-hh

 

[scuba6262]

My local dive shop organized a week at LCBC in October 2006, we had a great time. Rpieffer's report was pretty similar to my experience, although I found the DMs to be very friendly and very customer service conscious. The boat set-up was the BEST, what a treat to sit at the back and have someone else carry your BCD and tank to you!

We had TVs in our rooms, the basics, nothing fancy although the bathrooms could stand to be updated. I found the food to be pretty good all around. I wish I had done some exploring while on the island, other than when I was diving, I stayed at the resort the entire week.

Enjoy!

 

[nipi]

I try to do my DM a favor and ask them where they've not been for awhile. I'm sure that they're just as sick & tired of "Great Wall West" as I am.

If you ever get tired of Great Wall West, you might as well hang up your reg for good.

 

[Dive1Dennis]

Susan,
I just returned a couple weeks ago from a week at Little Cayman Beach Resort. I went down with a big group from the LDS and we had a great time.

I have no complaints about Reef divers. I dove 32% Nitrox all week, found it to be a good mix for the diving we did. My buddy and I generally dove our own profile as did most of the divers in our group. We must be an independent lot! I did not notice any attitude problems and found the dive master and crew to be top notch. Once my gear was set-up, I never moved it, swapped a tank, on any of that manual labor stuff. Our boat was a 46' Newton dive boat. Nice ride, lots of room. Dive briefings were good, and surface interval jokes kept us all smiling One minor complaint, we did a night dive and they seemed to start a little too soon. Seemed that we were in the water early, possibly to get us back in in time for dinner.

At LCBR the food was fantastic, there was always a good assortment and great quality. Very laid back, we ate outside on the screen porch at night, outside during the day. Why eat inside, the weather was so great while we were there. Our room had a TV, but I never watched it. I can do that at home! I did not notice any bugs at all. Maybe that is a problem in the summer, but we had no problem.

The dives were great. I think I would have to live on LC and dive there for a long time before I would tire of that wall. Coming out of a swim through into the deep blue of the wall to see a big reef shark swim past, it will take your breath away. We also found the south side sites to be fine. There is a wall there too, as well as lots of shallower sites. We dove the south side for the first couple days when it was too rough on the north side. I was going to take a stab at a favorite, but I really liked to many to pick.

....Oh, and speaking of the bar, all prices at the bar are in CI (US$ + 25%), and are quite high. Interestingly, all other prices at the resort are in US$. A Canadian couple that I met there last year were horrified at checkout when they found that they had run up a $600+ bar bill.

You must not have biked over to the Southern Cross Club for drinks. That place made LCBR bar prices look like a bargain. A Red Stripe at LCBR was $3.50 Cayman, or about $4.40 US. We spent a night in Grand Cayman, prices there were comparable. I think it is just Cayman pricing.

I'd also be interested in knowing the approximate cost of non-alcoholic beverages.

Free

If you ever get tired of Great Wall West, you might as well hang up your reg for good.

Amen

Diving is the thing to do, there is not a lot else to do on the island but you probably know that already. I did bike over to Point of Sand, a nice beach on the east end with a view of Brac. I never got over to the Hungry Iguana, I'm saving that for the next trip I really enjoyed the trip, very relaxing with fantastic diving. :14: I think you will have a great time.

 

[-hh]

If you ever get tired of Great Wall West, you might as well hang up your reg for good.

The problem is that GWW is twofold.

First, its not that great of a spot for Wide Angle UW photography, as there's only so many shots you can get of sunbursts working over the top of the wall, and the wall itself lacks many interesting "nooks and crannies" to use as foreground subjects.

Second, I know that there's unexplored stuff not far away that is akin to pulling teeth to get to, because most of the time, everyone else on the boat is a first or second timer, so they haven't done GWW yet, so it gets the "Famous site" requests. For example, most people probably haven't even heard of Cascades.


-hh