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theshusters
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Little Cayman or Grand Turk
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Good diving from land but too long a trip to and from. A 2 tanker takes nearly all day. I would do T&C on one of the liveaboards.
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theshusters
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Can you give some examples of what has happened with Cayman Airlines? thanks!
I'm just back from a week of LC diving; we stayed at Southern Cross Club (SCC). We stayed at SCC Feb 2022. And we're already booked at SCC for Feb 2024.
When I get out from underneath all the real-world baloney that piled up while I was gone, I'll write up and post the Trip Report I promised in another thread discussing LC...hopefully by the end of the week (I'll probably regret saying that!). I haven't stayed at LCBR so I can't compare it to SCC so it will be purely my take on SCC. As you've probably guessed from the above paragraph I'm very happy with SCC but will do my best to be clear when providing info and when providing opinion.
When I get out from underneath all the real-world baloney that piled up while I was gone, I'll write up and post the Trip Report I promised in another thread discussing LC...hopefully by the end of the week (I'll probably regret saying that!). I haven't stayed at LCBR so I can't compare it to SCC so it will be purely my take on SCC. As you've probably guessed from the above paragraph I'm very happy with SCC but will do my best to be clear when providing info and when providing opinion.
I share some of the frustration that @Doc Harry has with Cayman Airways though I haven't been burned often enough nor seriously enough to cross LC off my list. Of the four flights I've taken, I was satisfied with three of them: the 2022 outbound departed on time and the 2022 & 2023 returns departed late but not enough to bust our back-to-the-states connections. The 2023 outbound nine days ago on Saturday was canceled because one of the two Twin Otters used for LC was out of service. Cayman Airways gave us vouchers for the Marriott Seven Mile Beach, to & from taxis, as well as a little food credit ($30 each). We had the choice of three flights on Sunday; we chose the earliest which was a 7:05am departure. It got us to LC in time for me to make the AM two-tank with SCC holding the boat (I only delayed the 8am departure by 5 min after unpacking my gear in the parking lot). The lessons I have learned are 1) build enough connection time margin (meaning more than you would think adequate) between flights and 2) take flights as early as possible in the day before delays build enough to be problems. Last week we were also advised by quite a few people (SCC guests & staff and airport staff) to fly Mon thru Thu when things are less hectic (which is what we are planning to do in 2024).
Damselfish
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I've only dove Grand Turk from a LOB (Wind Dancer, which is now Okeanos Aggressor.) I wasn't that impressed with the diving and have no interest in returning.
I like the diving on Little Cayman. (LOB once and from LCBR a bunch of times.) Avoiding weekend flights to Little is absolutely a good idea. Next time we go we will probably try Southern Cross Club, assuming they are not also trying to force the Saturday arrival nonsense, which just makes the flight issues worse. (I think LCBR is mostly pushing the Saturday thing to increase their overall occupancy, even though they originally said they were doing it in conjunction with finding ways to get more people there on Saturday and help solve the airlift problem - which is pretty much a crock.)
20 on a boat sounds crowded but they're big boats and it all works well enough. You get to know the people on your boat.
But for fewer divers consider staying at Conch Club condos and diving with their op Little Cayman Divers. it's not much further from LCBR dining than The Club. The Conch Club op at least used to work pretty closely with Reef Divers at LCBR, like for night dives when they would have few people.
Or Southern Cross might have fewer divers and you'd have meals there.
For a fussy eater the buffets at LCBR might have the best selection.
Be aware that grocery availability on Little is not so great, you could do some light meals but you may find it more practical to eat at LCBR rather then attempting lots of cooking. There's also the Hungry Iguana restaurant at Paradise Villas (which also uses the Conch Club dive op) or you might be able to make a dinner reservation at Pirates Point. But there is a reason the resorts are AI.
I wouldn't say Cayman Air is "screwing up" exactly, but end result to customers is the same, too many people not getting there when planned. Lots of plane problems; the government is supposed to be buying a third Twin Otter. They are stuck because it's a small runway and they can't land bigger stuff there. No lights, so they can't run late flights even if it would help. Also I think a broken down fire truck at what passes for an airport shut down the airport recently, not the first time that has happened. Things used to mostly work pretty well, but they went through a really bad stretch of clusters recently.
I like the diving on Little Cayman. (LOB once and from LCBR a bunch of times.) Avoiding weekend flights to Little is absolutely a good idea. Next time we go we will probably try Southern Cross Club, assuming they are not also trying to force the Saturday arrival nonsense, which just makes the flight issues worse. (I think LCBR is mostly pushing the Saturday thing to increase their overall occupancy, even though they originally said they were doing it in conjunction with finding ways to get more people there on Saturday and help solve the airlift problem - which is pretty much a crock.)
20 on a boat sounds crowded but they're big boats and it all works well enough. You get to know the people on your boat.
But for fewer divers consider staying at Conch Club condos and diving with their op Little Cayman Divers. it's not much further from LCBR dining than The Club. The Conch Club op at least used to work pretty closely with Reef Divers at LCBR, like for night dives when they would have few people.
Or Southern Cross might have fewer divers and you'd have meals there.
For a fussy eater the buffets at LCBR might have the best selection.
Be aware that grocery availability on Little is not so great, you could do some light meals but you may find it more practical to eat at LCBR rather then attempting lots of cooking. There's also the Hungry Iguana restaurant at Paradise Villas (which also uses the Conch Club dive op) or you might be able to make a dinner reservation at Pirates Point. But there is a reason the resorts are AI.
I wouldn't say Cayman Air is "screwing up" exactly, but end result to customers is the same, too many people not getting there when planned. Lots of plane problems; the government is supposed to be buying a third Twin Otter. They are stuck because it's a small runway and they can't land bigger stuff there. No lights, so they can't run late flights even if it would help. Also I think a broken down fire truck at what passes for an airport shut down the airport recently, not the first time that has happened. Things used to mostly work pretty well, but they went through a really bad stretch of clusters recently.
My experience is SCC doesn't push for in Sat/out Sat reservations or, furthermore, care which day of the week you arrive or depart:
2022: Our 2022 trip was a week long; we made reservations for (and did) in Sat/out Sat so no conclusion to be drawn from that trip. I don't recall if other guests did/did not arrive and depart on days other than Saturday. (I include 2022 for the sake of full disclosure.)
2023: When we and a friend originally booked last week's 2023 trip (in April 2022 I believe), we booked it for a little more than a week (in Thu/out Sat) and never got any impression that SCC cared about the Thu arrival. While we later had to change our reservation to in Sat/out Sat due to a conflict, our friend stuck with the original in Thu/out Sat plan. As well, a tardy pair of friends that made a last minute decision in January to join us hoping to match our in Sat/out Sat reservation had to settle for in Tue/out Tue which means someone was coming/going on days other than Saturday. Lastly, last week people arrived or departed just about every day of the week.
2024: Our 2023 in Thu/out Sat friend, our 2023 tardy pair of in Tue/out Tue friends and my gal & I have all made reservations for a little more than a week doing an in Tue/out Thu.
Last week we met several people who were not SCC guests (one guy staying with friends and a couple renting an Air BnB) that came to SCC for a lunch or a dinner here and there. So, as @Damselfish points out, if you stay somewhere that's not AI and cooking-in doesn't pan out (there I go cracking myself up again), the resorts and restaurants are available for dining. If you consider eating at SCC, I would recommend calling them prior to the trip to see how non-guest dining works...the menus for the plated dinners are provided at lunch and orders taken then...in other words, you aren't seated at dinner time and handed a menu.
SCC has 14 bungalows so I guess we're talking 28 guests max. With two dive boats (a 36-foot Newton and a 36-foot Seahawk), without explicitly saying what the capacity of each boat was, SCC reservations told me prior to my first trip in 2022 that SCC has more dive capacity than guest capacity.
2022: Not a good data point for number of divers on a boat...a good chunk (slightly more than half I would guess) of the SCC guests that week were attending a family reunion and overwhelmingly weren't divers...I recall something like six to ten divers on each two-tank AM dive.
2023: With the exception of one day, I'd guess that on average there were about 12 divers on the two-tank AM dives...sometimes a few more, sometimes a few less...and all divers went out on the Newton. The one exception was a day where there were 17 divers and both boats went out (nine on the Seahawk and eight on the Newton).
EDIT: On the two-tank AM dive, when the group size got above (I'm estimating) eight, a second dive guide would be on board with each guide leading half the divers...so a group was never bigger than eight.
FWIW, the one-tank afternoon dive was offered everyday; it required a minimum of four divers to go. It went three of the six diving days I was there last week; once with four, and twice with about eight if my memory serves me well (I don't recall 2022 numbers). The other three days there weren't four so no afternoon diving. Hopefully someone with LCBR or LC Divers experience can provide info on those operations' afternoon dives...if diving three times a day is a requirement, SCC is not a sure bet unless your group is at least four.
PS: It's clear that my post focuses on SCC. That's because it's the only LC resort where I have stayed or have first-hand experience. My intent is to provide info...not to pimp SCC...apologies in advance if I missed the mark.
I feel exactly the same way. Grand Turk was probably my most "meh" full week diving trip ever. Mediocre and overpriced food, just OK hotel, and a dive op that was more interested in cruisers than independent divers. I'd much rather go to Coz for example even if the prices were equal instead of GT being much higher.
OTOH, the diving at Little Cayman was amazing. The best I've personally seen anywhere. My wife and I stayed at Pirate's Point which was wonderful as well. But that was all the way back in 2005 when Gladys was still running things. I have idea what it is like currently.
FWIW, we only had the most minor inconvenience possible with Cayman Airways. They were overloaded so one bag had to come on the next flight.
OTOH, we flew Spirit Airlines to Grand Turk and had the worst baggage experience. They misplaced my wife's checked bag and didn't find it until 2 days before we had to leave. What made it so bad was they constantly lied about it. "It will be here this afternoon." "It will be here tomorrow morning." Which meant handwashing her clothes every night and wasting time and energy on the phone and going out to the airport.
OTOH, we flew Spirit Airlines to Grand Turk and had the worst baggage experience. They misplaced my wife's checked bag and didn't find it until 2 days before we had to leave. What made it so bad was they constantly lied about it. "It will be here this afternoon." "It will be here tomorrow morning." Which meant handwashing her clothes every night and wasting time and energy on the phone and going out to the airport.
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