edpdiver
Contributor
Hello all,
My wife and I just returned from a 1-week trip to Little Cayman and we stayed at the Little Cayman Beach Resort. It was for our 25th wedding anniversary (a really good excuse for an additional dive trip), so we left our 18 year old son at home and went by ourselves. Our home was standing when we returned -- whew! We had been to LCBR last April, and had enjoyed it very much. The same was true on this trip, too. The trip was set up by Ken at Ultimate Dive Travel, Ultimate Dive Travel - Scuba Diving Tours - Scuba Dive Vacation , and I recommend them highly (okay Ken, you owe me a beer for the plug
) Actually, my wife has MS, so it is important to set up various little aspects of the trip in some detail (first floor room, notifying the dive operation, etc.) While she is mobile, those little details are important. Because the travel agents at Ultimate Dive Travel have actually been to ALL of the resorts and liveaboards that they advertise, they are very knowledgeable and helpful with the details. This is good for any divers who are traveling, but particularly for us. They have been indispensable to us for the past couple of years.
I have some pics (underwater) posted here:
Little Cayman 2008 - a set on Flickr
Here are a few details on the trip. The travel to the resort was uneventful, though the weather was a little iffy. It had been very dry the past couple of months, but it rained on us a couple of times, and the sky was overcast quite a bit. It did not affect the diving for us, fortunately. The boat trips (typically 20-25 minutes to the dive sites) were relatively smooth. Dottie was our divemaster for most of the trip, and she is great to dive with. She is a great critter spotter, and is also very, very funny. With that said, all of the divemasters are excellent. Sunny, Ingrid, and Neil were divemasters for some of our dives, and they were all first rate, too. I don't think that they have any clunkers on their staff. The reef was mostly very healthy. The sponges were incredible, all varieties. The fish population seemed to be down a little from last year, but that could be my memory, or just a seasonal fluctuation. The fish density was still quite good, and the variety was great (pictures in the link above give an inkling). Vis was very good. That is typical for Little Cayman, in fact. All of the dives that we have done here dives consist of two main parts, hard pan and incredible walls. Many dives also have a rubble or sandy component between a miniwall and the main wall (Bloody Bay Wall). All of these areas have their special appeal. A very nice aspect of the vast majority of the dives is that the safety stops can be done in the hard pan at 15-20' depths. There is a very healthy reef with lots of critters to search for. It is as good a part of the dive as the 6000' wall in many respects. That is saying something.
Food at the resort was very good (excellent for buffet style eating). My only complaint is that their water is pretty awful (probably desalinated is my guess). Makes the morning cup of coffee really suck. For someone with roots in California and southeast Louisiana, that is almost a capital offense. But I digress.
I recommend Little Cayman and I think that it has some of the best Caribbean diving available, probably the best in my opinion. The Little Cayman Beach Resort is a great lodging choice, and I plan to return there relatively soon. If you have any specific questions, I would be happy to answer them.
Cheers,
Erwin
My wife and I just returned from a 1-week trip to Little Cayman and we stayed at the Little Cayman Beach Resort. It was for our 25th wedding anniversary (a really good excuse for an additional dive trip), so we left our 18 year old son at home and went by ourselves. Our home was standing when we returned -- whew! We had been to LCBR last April, and had enjoyed it very much. The same was true on this trip, too. The trip was set up by Ken at Ultimate Dive Travel, Ultimate Dive Travel - Scuba Diving Tours - Scuba Dive Vacation , and I recommend them highly (okay Ken, you owe me a beer for the plug
) Actually, my wife has MS, so it is important to set up various little aspects of the trip in some detail (first floor room, notifying the dive operation, etc.) While she is mobile, those little details are important. Because the travel agents at Ultimate Dive Travel have actually been to ALL of the resorts and liveaboards that they advertise, they are very knowledgeable and helpful with the details. This is good for any divers who are traveling, but particularly for us. They have been indispensable to us for the past couple of years.I have some pics (underwater) posted here:
Little Cayman 2008 - a set on Flickr
Here are a few details on the trip. The travel to the resort was uneventful, though the weather was a little iffy. It had been very dry the past couple of months, but it rained on us a couple of times, and the sky was overcast quite a bit. It did not affect the diving for us, fortunately. The boat trips (typically 20-25 minutes to the dive sites) were relatively smooth. Dottie was our divemaster for most of the trip, and she is great to dive with. She is a great critter spotter, and is also very, very funny. With that said, all of the divemasters are excellent. Sunny, Ingrid, and Neil were divemasters for some of our dives, and they were all first rate, too. I don't think that they have any clunkers on their staff. The reef was mostly very healthy. The sponges were incredible, all varieties. The fish population seemed to be down a little from last year, but that could be my memory, or just a seasonal fluctuation. The fish density was still quite good, and the variety was great (pictures in the link above give an inkling). Vis was very good. That is typical for Little Cayman, in fact. All of the dives that we have done here dives consist of two main parts, hard pan and incredible walls. Many dives also have a rubble or sandy component between a miniwall and the main wall (Bloody Bay Wall). All of these areas have their special appeal. A very nice aspect of the vast majority of the dives is that the safety stops can be done in the hard pan at 15-20' depths. There is a very healthy reef with lots of critters to search for. It is as good a part of the dive as the 6000' wall in many respects. That is saying something.
Food at the resort was very good (excellent for buffet style eating). My only complaint is that their water is pretty awful (probably desalinated is my guess). Makes the morning cup of coffee really suck. For someone with roots in California and southeast Louisiana, that is almost a capital offense. But I digress.
I recommend Little Cayman and I think that it has some of the best Caribbean diving available, probably the best in my opinion. The Little Cayman Beach Resort is a great lodging choice, and I plan to return there relatively soon. If you have any specific questions, I would be happy to answer them.
Cheers,
Erwin
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