Little Cayman trip, August 19-29, 2017

[Erwin Poliakoff]

My wife and I recently returned from a trip to Little Cayman. We went to Little Cayman Beach Resort for 10 nights, with 9 days of 2-tanks dives. This was our fourth trip to LCBR, and we liked it very much. The diving was excellent, and the staff were first rate. They have dialed back on the service a little bit (probably to cut back on staff, at a guess). Between days of diving, you are responsible for your gear except for wetsuit and BCD. I am pretty sure that they used to take care of all of your gear in previous trips. Not a big deal, but I think that the "valet diving" label is a little exaggerated as a result. The water was very warm on this trip (between 84 and 88 F). I noticed more algae on the reefs on some of the sites, and the staff said that they thought that the warmer water temperatures might have been the cause. With that said, the reefs, fish diversity, and fish density were very good. The operation is smoothly run, and it was a wonderful trip. I have posted a few examples below, and the whole photo album is linked here: 2017 Little Cayman photo album
- Erwin


076_adj_DSC_5049 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr


057_adj_DSC_4970 cowfish posing by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr


020_adj_DSC_4906 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr


019_adj_DSC_4758 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr


013_adj_DSC_4670 wreck of the Tibbetts by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr


006_adj_DSC_5060 by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr


002_adj_DSC_4444 parrotfish by Erwin Poliakoff, on Flickr

 

[AggieDiver]

Great pics! Thanks for posting them. How long ago were your previous visits? I have been (I think) 6-8 times since the late 90s, and I don't ever remember them handling ALL of your gear. We always had to take wetsuits, fins, masks, etc. up the dock to rinse and hang them in the drying shack ourselves. They have always just handled BCs and regs since we have been going there.

 

[KathyV]

... They have dialed back on the service a little bit (probably to cut back on staff, at a guess). Between days of diving, you are responsible for your gear except for wetsuit and BCD. I am pretty sure that they used to take care of all of your gear in previous trips...

Thanks for the report and great pics, can you explain what you mean by "dialing back" on the valet services? During our last visit we rinsed and hung our own wetsuits, mask fins, and snorkels, and took care of our camera and computers, but the staff took care of the BCs and regulators - we left them on the boats along with the weights.

On dive days they hooked up our tanks and carried the tank/bc/regulator to the back of the boat and helped us to gear up and then get out of our gear after the dive. Are they still providing these services?

 

[AdivingBel]

We always left our reg & BCD on the boat and were responsible for rinsing and hanging everything else in the drying room. Have things changed? I thought valet diving referred to them bringing your rig to you at the little bench and you stood up and fell in. Same on exit and they did all the tank changing. Still one of my favorite places & ways to dive (unless you're going to do shore dive freedom sans schedule, but that's another kettle of fish ).

@KathyV & @AggieDiver beat me to it...

 

[Erwin Poliakoff]

Great pics! Thanks for posting them. How long ago were your previous visits? I have been (I think) 6-8 times since the late 90s, and I don't ever remember them handling ALL of your gear. We always had to take wetsuits, fins, masks, etc. up the dock to rinse and hang them in the drying shack ourselves. They have always just handled BCs and regs since we have been going there.

You could well be correct, and I am recalling other dive operations I have used more recently, most of which handle all of your gear between dive days. My last trip to LCBR was 4 years ago, I believe. I still loved the diving (with the exception of the algae), and plan to return when I can fit it into the schedule.

 

[Erwin Poliakoff]

Thanks for the report and great pics, can you explain what you mean by "dialing back" on the valet services?

Sure thing. The main difference compared to when we first started diving with them about 10 years ago is that they would have 2 dive guides in the water for a boat, usually meaning about 6 or 7 divers per guide. On one of our dives, we had at least 20 divers with one guide, which caused a lot of crowding when the guide spotted something. It was not a big deal (we just separated and went our own way), but the difference was noticeable. Also, it is worth pointing out that the staff were working really hard, and did everything that they could to be as helpful as possible. I had actually asked about them cutting back on staff before our previous trip, and they had replied that it was an effort to keep the costs down. It is a trade-off, for sure.

 

[AdivingBel]

One of the best things about their diving was the quality of the dive briefings & the easy navigation of the sites. I don't think we ever followed a guide. 20 divers on the boat seems like a lot (never counted heads). That might slow down the "valet" diving a bit. I always tried to use that to my advantage by being one of the first off/last on. I could get an extra 10 min on the dives without upsetting the crew or the schedule.

 

[Erwin Poliakoff]

One of the best things about their diving was the quality of the dive briefings & the easy navigation of the sites. I don't think we ever followed a guide. 20 divers on the boat seems like a lot (never counted heads). That might slow down the "valet" diving a bit. I always tried to use that to my advantage by being one of the first off/last on. I could get an extra 10 min on the dives without upsetting the crew or the schedule.

I agree with you completely about the quality of the dive briefings. They were uniformly excellent. You make another good point with the first in, last out idea. I exploited this a little bit myself, thought not so much as to be the last one back on the boat.

While I know a lot of people who actually prefer to dive on their own without a guide, that is not the case for me, probably because of my emphasis on the photography. I am an okay spotter, but not in the same league as most of the dive guides. When I am shooting macro, I really like to have the dive guide helping out, and this is not practical with so many divers per guide.

 

[AggieDiver]

I suspect that it may also be related to it being "low season" from August to October when quite a few of the staff take time off. They may have unexpectedly gotten more guests than usual and not had the staff to add extras. I think I have been on a boat there a few times when they had 20 on it, and while it made for a bit of commotion trying to get everybody in the water, with the size of the boats, it is never really crowded. I am more used to seeing about 12-14 which is comfortable.

As for the underwater part, my wife and I take careful note of the briefings and where the DM is planning to go, then we hit the water and head the other direction. I hate crowds underwater, and love to be able to just head for our own spots and do our own thing. She is the photographer and I am the spotter. I won't claim to be as good as the DMs, but between the two of us, we spot more than enough stuff for her to stay busy with the camera for the full dive. It is just a matter of slowing down and learning what to look for. I can't count now how many times I have been drifting over a coral head or sandy spot and thinking, "this looks like a great place to find a (insert critter here)", and within a couple of minutes I will spot one. Or many times, I will be waiting for her to finish getting the shot she wants of something, and I will just hover over a spot and keep looking and looking and looking until I see something of interest. That is a great way to spot some very cool little blennies and macro critters. I am sure we miss a few things that the group following the DM sees, but it is worth it to me to avoid watching people laying on the reef, grabbing coral, and kicking me in the head trying to force their way into a position in front of me, which is what usually seems to happen when the DM tries to point anything out.

 

[large_diver]

Erwin - nice report! It was nice meeting you while Abby and I were there. And again..great images!

I went diving locally this past weekend here in greater Boston. Although we stayed shallow, water temp was 57F. My old drysuit (purchased 2004) was retired due to leakiness just prior to the Cayman trip, so I was diving a 7mm wetsuit. I was missing the 86F Cayman water ;-)

Chris