Little Cayman recommendations, please?

[FrenziedFerret]

My wife and I are going to Little Cayman, and were hoping to get some recommendations on dive operations as well as the resorts there. (By the way, does one necessarily need to dive with the resort's operation, or can you use any dive operation on the island?)

Stuff we like in dive operators, in order:
1) no cattle boats (preferably <10 divers)
2) easy-going attitude underwater, don't make you stay in a tight group
3) friendly, knowledgeable divemasters

Things we like in resorts:
1) nice surroundings/outdoorsy/cool flora & fauna
2) good food
3) stuff to do, activities (relatively speaking, of course)

Any pointers would be very much appreciated!

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

You may weant to use the search funciotn as this question has been asked many times. That being said I can personally recommend Conch Club Condominiums and the meal plan at LCBR. Conch Club is 1/4 mile down the road from the resort. That means peace and quiet. The food and diving at Little Cayman Beach Resort were very good. Godd luck! You are gonna love Little Cayman.

 

[FrenziedFerret]

I saw some of the previous posts about Little Cayman, but they were either not totally relevant (looking for private rentals, flight info, weddings, etc), or a couple years old. So I figured I'd learn what I could from those posts, and see if I could solicit any more input.

Sounds as though Little Cayman is about as good as it gets, huh? I had my heart set on going there, but a guy at our local dive shop nearly talked me out of it. He says there are a number of well known places, like the Caymans, where the diving is very good. But there are lesser-known places where the diving is unbelievable. He almost had me going to Thailand near a place called Phukit (ha! nice name), or some other place in Micronesia. But from all the rave reviews about the Caymans, I think it'll be hard to go wrong.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Don't worry so much. Just start a list of all the places you want to go and get busy checking them off the list. Little Cayman deserves to be on any "must dive" list and could reasonably be called the best diving in the entire Caribbean.

Little Cayman has incredible diving. What Little Cayman does not have is much else to do topside. It is a quiet island with a very small population.

How small? Yesterday's edition of The Caymanian Compass reported on the graduation of one student from Little Cayman's primary school. Next year a combined 5 students are expeceted to enroll in grades 1 through 6 in LC.


Little Cayman resorts tend to be all inclusive. The logistics of getting supplies to the island can be a bit troubling, so there aren't lots of shops and restaurants and such. Still, the food tends to be very good and the people very friendly. Go and enjoy.

 

[Yazmeen]

Don't worry so much. Just start a list of all the places you want to go and get busy checking them off the list. Little Cayman deserves to be on any "must dive" list and could reasonably be called the best diving in the entire Caribbean.

Little Cayman has incredible diving. What Little Cayman does not have is much else to do topside. It is a quiet island with a very small population.

How small? Yesterday's edition of The Caymanian Compass reported on the graduation of one student from Little Cayman's primary school. Next year a combined 5 students are expeceted to enroll in grades 1 through 6 in LC.


Little Cayman resorts tend to be all inclusive. The logistics of getting supplies to the island can be a bit troubling, so there aren't lots of shops and restaurants and such. Still, the food tends to be very good and the people very friendly. Go and enjoy.

My husband enjoyed the diving at the Little Cayman Beach Resort quite a bit. I don't remember the average number of divers per boat, but he never felt "hemmed in." Diving and snorkeling are both excellent there. Very good dive shop, great bar, and I'll just warn you on the food there: Its all inclusive, buffet style, and weight gain is definitely a possibility--very, very good food. They have old bicycles there for you to take on your own, no charge to ride around the island--just watch out for iguanas. Its quite and peaceful, but even as a non-diver, I never felt bored. The surround resorts are also supposed to be quite nice.

One small thing: There is no airstrip for large jet airliners on LC (and hopefully there never will be). You have to take a small prop plane from Grand Cayman, and flights cease after dark. I only bring it up as some have problems with small planes.

 

[scaldwell]

Is it possible to bring your own gear to LC in terms of baggage restrictions on the little aeroplanes?
thanks

 

[muldoonthief]

Is it possible to bring your own gear to LC in terms of baggage restrictions on the little aeroplanes?
thanks

Yes. Three of us went to LC for a week last September. Island Air has a restriction of 55 lb per passenger. You pay 50 cents per pound above that (each way). All 3 of us brought our own gear. One guy was 10 lb under, I was about 5-10 lb over, the third guy was 25 lb over! So it depends on how much of a packrat you are and how much stuff you need survive for a week - the guy who was under had been in the Airborne, so he was *very* good at getting down to essentials.

BTW, make sure you have a carryon with arrival/overnight supplies, and make sure to bring it with you to the plane, and watch them put it on board. When we were checking in, they asked each of us to identify one bag that had to come on the flight with us. The rest of the bags might be on our flight, might be on a later flight, depending on how full the plane was. Well, the bags that arrived with us weren't the bags we had identified as "must haves" - which meant I had all my divegear that I wouldn't need until the next day, but I didn't have a bathing suit, sunscreen, etc. that sure would have been nice so I could go to the pool. It all arrived a few hours later, but it was annoying that they didn't pay attention to my bag priorities.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

It all arrived a few hours later, but it was annoying that they didn't pay attention to my bag priorities.

Thank you for flying IslandAir!

 

[carlislere]

Since I just returned from a week at Pirates Point on LC, I must recommend them. The owner, Gladys Howard, is a gourmet chef and she hires chefs for the meals that are prepared there. It is an inclusive resort, room, diving, 3-meals. The resort holds 20 people.
The diving is the best that I have done in the Caribbean. They make two dives a day. The boat doesn't leave till 9:30am and returns between 2:00-2:30pm then lunch is served. As long as you have 500psi and a dive partner and within computer or table limits, enjoy. You can follow the dive guides or go off on your own. Depth limits are 100 feet on the first dive and 60 feet on the second. Their website is http://www.piratespointresort.com/.

 

[scaldwell]

Hi, 2 questions- what is the food like at Little Cayman Beach Resort, and would there be any reason to stay at Cayman Brac over Little Cayman?

Thankyou!