Little Cayman in January?

[AdivingBel]

I've been to LCBR several times and in my experience (and IMHO) none of the listed restrictions has impacted my diving in the least. Reef Divers runs a friendly, laid back, valet dive service. It's easy, recreational, vacation diving. They are very upfront about their rules, but I haven't found them to be sticklers or overbearing about enforcing them. If you're a considerate, no drama diver, you won't have any problems. It's good to check them out and make sure you're comfortable abiding by their rules, but once you're there it's like everywhere else...their boat, their rules. Be considerate of the other divers and don't overtly flout their rules and everyone will have a great time and go home happy. All IMHO, YMMV.

 

[BDSC]

I don’t think dive insurance is actually required.

 

[potato cod]

Yes, I did and I blame My broken leg.... We were at Cayman Brac in 2017 and now we're going to Little Cayman in January 2020.

Sorry to hear about your leg--ouch! It sounds like you will be more than ready for a good dive vacation after rehabbing that, so I promise not to trash the LCBR the week before you get there.

 

[KathyV]

Perhaps a bit off topic but I just got the dive waivers for a group trip with a few of my regular buddies and @BDSC 's large group in August with Little Cayman Reef Resort and their house Dive Op. @BDSC runs some great dive trips at significant savings just about everywhere. Last May my girlfriend and I joined him and his regular group on the Belize Aggressor 4 and we're looking forward to seeing many of them in 2 short months, but I digress.

Reef Divers of Little Cayman Reef Resort:

1- Require that you check a box that says you agree only to dive with a buddy.. so much for solo certification?
2- You must check a box that says you will not dive below 110'.
3- No gloves. I get it, we don't anyone touching coral but there's a couple of wrecks and sometimes those downlines have crap on them including firecorals and even fish hooks.
4- They ask for dive insurance on the waiver- not clear if it's required, I have an email out to them.

I've been to LCBR several times and in my experience (and IMHO) none of the listed restrictions has impacted my diving in the least. Reef Divers runs a friendly, laid back, valet dive service. It's easy, recreational, vacation diving. They are very upfront about their rules, but I haven't found them to be sticklers or overbearing about enforcing them. If you're a considerate, no drama diver, you won't have any problems. It's good to check them out and make sure you're comfortable abiding by their rules, but once you're there it's like everywhere else...their boat, their rules. Be considerate of the other divers and don't overtly flout their rules and everyone will have a great time and go home happy. All IMHO, YMMV.

I don’t think dive insurance is actually required.

No, they have asked about dive insurance in the past but never required it, but I think it is a good thing to have and we always take DAN insurance anyway.

We've had longer dives with Reef Divers many times, just get off the boat quickly and come back with the requested amount of air in your tank, and don't make everyone hang around a long time waiting for you and it's not a big deal.

We've had the solo diving on Cayman discussion on SB many times and the upshot is that the watersports commission recommends buddy diving only, and most dive ops choose to follow that recommendation.

I always wear a skin or rash guard and if there is current, I pull the sleeve down to protect my hand while I am hanging on the mooring line. None of the Cayman dive ops that we have used have allowed gloves.

The 110 feet limit is the requirement with Reef Divers but it really isn't an issue if you are diving nitrox. And you don't have to follow the guide, you can either choose to follow the divemaster or go off on your own with your buddy - and nobody checks your computer or depth gauge when you get back on board, but it hasn't been a problem for us to comply with the rules. The only spot on Cayman that has required us to have an escorted dive was the Kittiwake on GC.

The only time I ever saw the RD divemasters get strict with a diver was on Brac when a crazy woman went to 150 ft on Nitrox, she couldn't understand why her computer was making all that noise! They told her no more diving for the rest of the week - she was furious but we were all relieved!

However, if you decide to use one of their free loaner computers then be aware that they are set at rather conservative limits and you can get into ceiling problems if you don't pay close attention. I noticed it during one trip when we decided to try out one of their computers.

 

[The Chairman]

but I think it is a good thing to have and we always take DAN insurance.

Get both dive and travel insurance. Hopefully, you'll never need it. I thought I wouldn't, but then I did. I use DAN for Dive, Travel and Professional Insurance.

 

[KathyV]

Get both dive and travel insurance. Hopefully, you'll never need it. I thought I wouldn't, but then I did. I use DAN for Dive, Travel and Professional Insurance.

We do, we usually get DAN and TripAssure but this year we are trying something new for our trips to GC and LC. We have DAN and a company called Travel Insured. The cost was about the same and the coverage seemed a little better.

 

[AggieDiver]

I am pretty sure those are related at least partially to the guidelines developed by the Cayman Islands Tourism Associations watersports guidelines developed by their operators and that they expect all member organizations to adhere to.

The 110' limit is also probably related to their DMs diving on nitrox with a working limit that would prevent them from going deeper to assist you if needed. In reality, there is not much at LC that you really need to go that deep for. The walls on the north side generally start in 20-40' of water, so 110 feet is 70-90 feet down the wall in most places. Most of the action is closer to the top of the wall, so you aren't missing much except shorter bottom times.

Re the buddy diving, I have seen them with a solo diver either try to put you with a boat buddy, or have you "buddy" with the DM, and when the DM heads up after about 40 mins, you are left under the boat with whatever groups are there. It is fairly loose, and they don't seem militant about it in my experience. If you want a definitive answer on solo diving, I would call Reef Divers directly and they can tell you their actual policy on it.

I believe the no gloves policy is actually a marine park rule enforced by the Cayman government, so it is completely outside of their control.

I don't believe they require you to have dive insurance to dive with them, but there is no chamber on Little Cayman, so anybody getting sent to a chamber is going to need a special low elevation air evacuation flight that will not be cheap. I believe they simply want the info in case you are injured and they need to help coordinate your care.

 

[caruso]

The 110' limit is also probably related to their DMs diving on nitrox with a working limit that would prevent them from going deeper to assist you if needed. In reality, there is not much at LC that you really need to go that deep for. .

All good useful infom thanks. As far as the depth goes, that's sort of what I figured from diving elsewhere, usually all the interesting stuff drops off when you get past 60' or so, there's no reason to go that deep unless you like short cold dives.

 

[AggieDiver]

All good useful infom thanks. As far as the depth goes, that's sort of what I figured from diving elsewhere, usually all the interesting stuff drops off when you get past 60' or so, there's no reason to go that deep unless you like short cold dives.

Every once in a while there might be something worth it, but it is pretty rare. The two examples I can think of were the very large green moray that used to like to hang out under the Aguila in Roatan. My depth gauge said I was at 112' laying on the sand to take photos of him under the hull. The other one I can think of was a dive on Brac (East Chute or Middle Chute maybe?) that had a sand chute that ramped down to the edge of the wall. It had a nice coral head planted in the middle of the sand channel that usually had a moray in it that liked to pose. You could settle down at around 105' to get a good photo of it with the deep blue and the wall edge behind it.

Beyond that kind of thing, as a dedicated air hog (trying to become a recovering air hog), I tend to like being above 60' a lot better.

 

[AdivingBel]

There are some very nice swim throughs that pop out "into the blue" around 100' or so. It's nice to roll over and see the sun crest the wall from that depth if you like that sort of thing. Bloody Bay Marine Park is nice.