Question Little Cayman Beach REsort vs Cayman Brac Beach Resort?

[Doctorfish]

If staying at LC, going over to dive the Tibbetts is an option, not a must. Same for staying on CB and diving Bloody Bay for the day. With 4 dive boats at each resort, you can stay on your own island the day they plan to go to the other.

I've been to CB and LC many times. Most recently CB in December. Have not been to LC since pre Covid, but going back in April. I love both islands and both resorts. Personally I prefer diving Brac but my wife prefers LC. That's why we go back and forth. Tersiops, the flight from LC to Brac is 10 minutes and no more than 500 feet altitude. I don't think you need to sit out the day before transfer.

 

[AggieDiver]

They are not offering this anymore. I asked for this package, for an 8-room group. They can't guarantee the boat transfer due to weather uncertainty, so I guess they don't want to deal with it anymore. It was a good idea!

That is too bad. Was thinking it sounded like fun.

 

[DiverDanCa]

Stay at Little Cayman to dive the Bloody Bay Wall, which is amazing. Brac will only dive the Bloody Bat Wall when weather permits. It's also a long trip.

 

[gryffin]

We just came back from a 2 week stay- one week at CBBR one week at LCBR. We took the super short flight between them on changeover day. We really enjoyed both resorts- each for different reasons. I’d do the same thing again in a heartbeat- in fact, we just signed up for a repeat in 2025!

 

[Doctorfish]

I like both islands a lot and both resorts. My wife prefers LC diving and I'm neutral between the two. We were on CB in December and had very good diving. Going to LC end of this month.

CBBR is a marginally nicer resort, IMO. Much more luxurious pool and bar area, as well as all rooms having ocean view. LCBR, on the other hand, has a renovated dining area.

 

[PatW]

I dove a fair bit at Little Cayman some years back. But I have shifted to “The Brac” in the later years.

I cannot speak about the current situation, but I recall the food being pretty similar.

Little Cayman has much more compact grounds. It can be a bit claustrophobic. Cayman Bracs grounds are far more spacious with more beach frontage, a big and really nice bar and a very good pool. My wife and I have friends. Glen dives and Karen does not. The larger grounds and more shore activities at The Brac are much more attractive for a non diver.

The Bracs diving tends to be deeper. At Little Cayman, you can do virtually all of your safety stops on coral heads or even shallow waters near the boat. That means, even on deep dives, you have the option of puttering around in shallow water, At The Brac, the south side, deep dives are maybe 55’ at the shallow points and often the lip of the wall is 80’ plus. The deep dives on the north side are about 55’ at the shallow spot but usually no deeper than 60 of so feet at the lip of the wall. At The Brac, I have had whole trips where all the dives are on one side of the island.

The advantage of The Brac is that it has better corals. The deep walls on the south are very good. And there is elk horn coral on the south side shallow dives and some very good piller coral. And you can find stag horn coral patches on some dives.

The north side of Little Cayman can be pretty sheltered. You need the weather coming from the north or northwest to muck things up and then you can do OK on the south side (which is not that popular). At the Brac, weather can muck things more often. Usually they can find something that is nice but sometimes not. At Little Cayman, I have never seen weather do that unless it is so rough as to make getting out through the cut impossible. Little Cayman is a better pick for divers who want to be a bit more shallo

Also, The Brac, has more dive sites.

And then there are the people. Generally if divers go to The Sister Islands, they go to Little Cayman. Divers who go to The Brac, tend to be more experienced and that can make for a more pleasant experience.

Both places have their strengths. And they both offer really nice diving. I have had great diving at both places and I think most people would be happy with either place.

 

[CYB]

I have a different take. I have spent 2 weeks on Little Cayman and a week on Cayman Brac. I find the two locations quite complimentary and am very glad I have done both.

I was somewhat disappointed in both as Reef Divers offers just 3 dives per day, 2 morning and 1 afternoon. I would prefer to do 4 dives when on a diving vacation. If I return, I am considering Cayman Brac and would likely choose to do 2 morning boat dives and a couple of afternoon shore dives. Brac has 26 shore diving sites, and you can obtain cylinders and a flag from CBBR or Scuba Shack. You would need a car rental Shore diving on Cayman Brac?

Reef divers won't rent you tanks. you have to go to Scuba shack, They want to force you to go on their boats. I live on the Brac, I would avoid Brac reef, and Reef divers

 

[scubadada]

Thanks @CYB very useful 1st post on SB.

If I make it back to Brac, I would probably try the Alexander Hotel with their food plan and dive boats and shore with Scuba Shack.

 

[Jaan]

We were there last week and a few updates.

- We were told that since Covid they no longer do the day visit from Brac to Little Cayman or vice versa. Used to be you could visit for the day and have lunch, see the resort.

- We never made it to the bloody bay wall as conditions were too rough (but the wall diving was good on Brac too (despite not having a real comparison)

- True that the deeper wall dives here start at 40-50 ft so no coral heads for the safety stop on most of those dives. (As previously mentioned)

- The M/V Captain Tibbits was an amazing wreck dive, I think overall our favorite dive but we do love wrecks. )

- Confirmed no more tank rentals or shore dives from reef divers. They seemingly had some liability or missing equipment issues we were told. Seems there would be ways around that but …. Either way no rentals.

- We did say hello to the Brac Shack and they said they have three compressors and a big bank of what looked like at least 8 large tanks.

- CBR food was great, rooms were comfortable, people were friendly, would recommend (although not much to do for non-divers here but hang at the pool or rocky beach)


Nat is writing up some posts with some reviews and pics. I’ll share when ready too.

Meanwhile, here is a curious turtle that came to say hi

 

[DirtFish]

We were there last week and a few updates.

- We were told that since Covid they no longer do the day visit from Brac to Little Cayman or vice versa. Used to be you could visit for the day and have lunch, see the resort.

- We never made it to the bloody bay wall as conditions were too rough (but the wall diving was good on Brac too (despite not having a real comparison)

- True that the deeper wall dives here start at 40-50 ft so no coral heads for the safety stop on most of those dives. (As previously mentioned)

- The M/V Captain Tibbits was an amazing wreck dive, I think overall our favorite dive but we do love wrecks. )

- Confirmed no more tank rentals or shore dives from reef divers. They seemingly had some liability or missing equipment issues we were told. Seems there would be ways around that but …. Either way no rentals.

- We did say hello to the Brac Shack and they said they have three compressors and a big bank of what looked like at least 8 large tanks.

- CBR food was great, rooms were comfortable, people were friendly, would recommend (although not much to do for non-divers here but hang at the pool or rocky beach)


Nat is writing up some posts with some reviews and pics. I’ll share when ready too.

Meanwhile, here is a curious turtle that came to say hi

Bloody Bay Wall is the number 1 reason we went there! I believe we made 10 dives on it during the week we were there. Agree, the Tibbets was fun dive. Our Christmas card had a photo of my wife and I hoovering above the large guns.