Trip Report - Little Cayman Beach Resort 11/11-11/19/09

[reefduffer]

Executive Summary:
LCBR - Recommended.
Reef Divers - Recommended.
Reef Fanta Seas (Travel Agent) - Recommended.
Little Cayman diving - Recommended.

Overview

My wife and I took a dive trip to Little Cayman Beach Resort Nov 11-19, our first trip to the Caymans. We got a standard package but added a day, three meals and three dives a day, plus two drinks each. Since that's more than either of us ever drinks, it's an all-inclusive as far as we're concerned. We never left the resort except for a walk to the little museums about a half mile down the road one afternoon. Arrived Wednesday, left Thursday, skipped one dive, for a total of nineteen dives.

I'll report just what we saw and did. The LCBR website at
Little Cayman Beach Resort, Cayman Islands, Caribbean
has more details and pictures, including stuff we ignored or didn't notice. I've looked it over again since being there, and it seems quite accurate, in a sales brochure way.

I'll attach just a couple of photos. One of the couples we dove with, Bruce and Jackie, are more experienced divers and photographers, and their photos generally are much better than ours. With their permission, you can find their photos at
Little Cayman '09
We value our dive pics because they remind us of our experiences, just as I like writing these reports to help remember the trip, but I think most people would prefer looking at better underwater pictures.

LC was missed by hurricane Ida prior to our arrival, but it did bring some rain and winds, and the winds were from the north most of our trip, causing rough seas on the famous wall sites, so we probably didn't see it at its best. Several times the crew tried to take us around to the north wall sites but the high seas forced a turn around after one dive, or earlier than that, or we just stayed at the less dramatic south-side reef sites based on reports from other boats. We ended up doing eight dives on the north side, mostly sites in Bloody Bay, and eleven south. But the south side has a lot of nice diving. We did do a few of the south sites twice over the week, which was fine.

I recorded bottom temps between 82 and 84 degF (my wife got an 80 once). Visibility ranged from 40-50 feet to as much as 80-90, mostly around 50. Generally very little in the way of current or surge, but some moderate chop that gave some people trouble on exit up the ladders on a few dives.

The fish were usually a bit scarcer than at other places I've been in the Caribbean, but enough to be interesting, and some spectacular. In a deep canyon at the east end of a site called Coconut Walk we saw a pair of Jurassic-sized lobsters, one of them in the open, and it had to be 30" long not counting the antenna. And in a nearby hole, a crab at least a foot across.

There was a large green Moray that had just killed a lobster. I missed the kill, my wife saw it as a blur in the distance; we ended up with six or eight divers surrounding it, taking pictures, and the eel was *NOT* happy at being disturbed at his meal. Bruce has a nice picture of it on the previously mentioned site.

At a site called Donna's Delight, a pair of tame groupers which liked, or at least put up with, being stroked. They also had trained the divers to help them hunt for Squirrel Fish using us as blinds, and then bird-dogging the hole when we pointed at one, ever hopeful that we would reach in and get the fish for them. Sorry, Charlie ...

A large snail or conch, maybe 10-12" across, I won't attempt to ID it. At the end of a long serpentine track through the sandy plain between coral heads, disappearing undisturbed into the distance beyond he viz limit. Made us wonder how long it took to make that track. Days? Like a wanderer in a windless desert. See photo.

A couple of times we saw a medium sized ray being shadowed by a single dark-phase Bar Jack hoping for scraps. Several barracuda, including a large one that appeared to be sleeping a few feet off the wall. Closest I've been to a barracuda, or need to. A sandy bottom with garden eels at a site called Jackson's Reef and Wall. A pair of large courting Puffer Fish -- well he was courting, she was swimming away. A few turtles, a small flounder, and at least a few of all the familiar fish species, although the only angelfish we saw were French, and I only saw one lonely Midnight Parrot, and one Spotted Drum. A pod of dolphins around the boat on one return trip from the north side.

And then there's the Lionfish, first time we'd seen them. It seemed almost every other dive the DM would capture one, using a heavy plastic bag net with a handle and drawstring, and a snorkel to prod them into the net. They'd take them topside, add ice and let them die in the bag, then dump them the next dive to try to teach the local fish to consider them food. They don't really expect to contain them, just give the ecosystem time to adjust. I think it's that the authorities want some data on the spread, the DMs like the novelty of being allowed to kill something, and the guests find it entertaining, which is the bottom line.

The largest Lionfish was measured at 26 cm or 10.25 inches long. Apparently this was the biggest they'd seen. As we were unloading I overheard the DM telling someone about it on her cell - "this guy eats hammerheads for lunch".

I also enjoyed some of the impressive swim-throughs we were pointed to, particularly one at a site called Randy's Gazebo. My computer log profile shows a drop from 46 to 88 feet through a mostly vertical tube maybe 6' x 10'. Horizontal at the top, vertical hole in the wall at the bottom. I'm not really interested in diving with overheads, but I enjoy these small tastes of something a little novel.

All in all, we had a very nice trip, good diving, good food and amenities. This is the first place in the Caribbean we've been, other than Bonaire, that we think we'd really like to go back to again sometime vice try someplace new. Put it "in the rotation" as it were.

 

[reefduffer]

Dive Operation - Reef Divers

Reef Divers is the on-site dive op at LCBR. I believe there are other options, but for our diving ability and tastes I don't know why one would bother. They have three dive boats, I think the largest is 44 feet. You get assigned to a boat at the start, and mostly remain with it for your stay, although there was some shuffling as groups leave and arrive and all boats aren't needed on a given day. We did all our dives on the same boat. We only did boat dives.

This means you're diving with the same people most of the week, and we ended up sharing several meals, conversation, and even contact info with a few other couples, which was pleasant.

The morning 2-tank trip leaves at 8:15, the afternoon 1-tanker at 2:00. There's a minimum 45 minute SI between the morning dives. The profile is standardized; the first dive is max 110 feet for 50 minutes, the other two 60 feet for 60 minutes. When we had to do the first dive on the south side where, to quote the DMs, "you can't get to 110 feet with a spade" or "if you're at 110 feet you're very lost, surface and look for the boat", and the travel time was shorter, the dive time was extended to 60 minutes. Trips around to the north side were 20-25 minutes each way.

The boat typically had a dozen or so divers, often less, I think the max we had was 14. Not crowded at all, especially given the lack of walking around while geared up.

Boats are well timed with the meals. Docks, rooms, and restaurant/desk are very close together, and there are textured vinyl or wood walkways everywhere.

I had previously read of LCBR described as "valet" or "concierge" diving, and based on my experience with Amigos Del Mar in Belize, I was anticipating it with some skepticism. I'd say that LCBR have the balance pretty much perfect. They will set up your gear on your tank for you, but you have full access to it during the trip and pre-dive, so you can adjust and check it to your heart's content.

The entry process consists of walking to one of three stations at the stern, two short benches each side and a swim step in the middle. Mask on, fins in hand; fins on after sitting down. There are two DMs taking turns fetching your rig and helping you in, and for those with weight belts, fetching those as needed. You are left to finish your setup at your own pace, stand up, and do a giant stride. No walking around with fins on, and an absolute minimum of walking with tanks and weights. My wife really, really loved this aspect of it. With my 5' long hose, bungied backup, and mask leash necklace, I take a few seconds more than most to gear up. I was kidded by a DM about having a "noose fetish", but I never felt like I was being rushed.

Those with large cameras get them handed down by the DMs after entry. There's a camera table forward. No rinse tanks, but a fresh water hose starboard midship. The DMs pretty quickly learn names, whose gear is whose, and details of setup preferences.

There are two ladders for exit. The DM will take your fins, although I carry mine on my wrists. Sit down at one of the stations, the DM will take off your BC/tank and stow it, switching tanks for you, leaving you to walk comfortably back to a seat. In rougher water they throw out a surface float line to minimize time at the ladder. A couple of times in particularly rough water the DM had my wife take off her BC and weights in the water and pulled them up, calmly talking her through that.

There are two DMs on each boat, doubling as captain/pilot. One gets in the water, taking turns, last in, first out, every dive, and you can stay with the DM or not as you prefer. The boat ties up to permanent moorings, there's little current, no drift dives. The DMs stay with the same boat all week, although there's some rotation for days off. We had Sunny and Dottie all week except for Craig the first two days and Laura the last. All the staff was thoroughly professional, competent, friendly, and helpful.

Our boat had a working head, cold drinking water, a cooler with ice, small bags of chips and some fruit, a fresh water rinse hose, spray bottles of defog and vinegar. The cockpit had a radio, but I didn't look to see what other nav gear was aboard. Four large Pelican cases of tools, spare parts, oxygen, and first aid. An external defibrillator. A large camera table. A milk crate of spare weights. The boat has a stack of nice large fluffy dry towels forward. Only one per diver per day, though. :cool2:

A second stage on a hookah hose dropped to 20 feet with a chain as weight for safety stops, with the boat name on a tag for the confused. We only moored adjacent to another dive boat once, and the DMs had us go in different directions. No coffee, which would have been nice on a couple of the days where it rained a little (the lowest air temp I recorded was 75 degF), but it probably wouldn't get used often.

The boat briefing given to divers new to the boat was very thorough, and included procedures for emergencies such as the mooring breaking (dive down) and the boat being forced to leave the site in an emergency (float together at the mooring buoy and wait for another boat).

My wife's rental gear was fairly basic, but in very good condition. The BC was not weight integrated. This was her first trip with the Suunto Cobra AI computer I got her to match mine, and the dive shop had no problem installing it on their first stage in place of their SPG console. She initially had a slow bubble leak at the BC LP connect, but Sunny was able to swap out the LP hose on the boat before the second dive, which fixed that. Before the first dive, Craig helped her put on her tank band weight pouches and did not get the (dry) band sufficiently tightened, so she had the unnerving experience of an almost free-floating tank as she returned to the boat. She got out of the BC in the water, and Craig fixed the problem promptly. Lesson learned: wet the strap, and check it yourself.

There is a thorough briefing at the site before each dive, using a whiteboard mounted to the back of the ladder to the cockpit/upper deck. The site features are sketched in in some detail. Sunny in particular, who apparently has some background in art or graphic design, would do some impressive 3-D drawings of the underwater terrain (see photo, and Bruce has another on his site), but they all did a serviceable job.

When our usual 50' Kodak disposables were used up, my wife rented a Sony point and shoot with housing and built-in flash the last day, which was kind of fun. $29, which included putting the shots on both a CD and on a USB flash drive I had with me. We'll see, maybe she'll get into it seriously.

The dive shop seemed to have a very limited selection of dive gear for sale, one kind of mask. maybe one choice of fins. Not a big part of their business model, obviously. I don't know what other resources there are on the island if you need gear shopping. I wouldn't plan on much.


This was our first trip since getting nitrox certified a few months ago. Reef Divers offer only EANx32, which consistently analyzed at a lean 31.3 - 31.8, although I had a couple of 32.0s one day. Per the Cobra manual, we rounded down to 31%. The analysis station usually had two Maxtec analyzers with first-stage connections, although one went missing for a couple of days, I think being serviced. Very easy to use. We would analyze the next day's tanks after lunch or before dinner (the dive shop and nitrox station closes at 5:00 PM), log them, label them with our name and boat name, move them to the "ready" station a few feet away. and they would be on the boat the next day.

They charge $10 per tank surcharge for nitrox. There is no nitrox "package" available. A little pricey IMO, but we did decide to do all our dives after the first day on nitrox (just kept it simple the first day) so I suppose they've got their market calibrated. We did note one other couple that only dove nitrox on the first (deep) dive each day, air on the other two, and plenty of people diving air. I'd guess it was 40-50% nitrox use, but that's a very rough estimate, and a small sample. I wouldn't presume to tell them how to run their business.

Actually, there was a package available: $200 will get you a PADI nitrox certification at the resort, and then free nitrox for the rest of the week. If you're already certified, however, it's just $10 a tank a la carte.

There are plenty of spare air tanks on the boat, but no spare nitrox, and AFAIK no O2 analyzer. The DMs dive nitrox, and we were cautioned that they will not go below 110 feet to help us if we get in trouble that deep.

The nitrox log sheet is used for billing, and that, and all the rentals, were 100% accurate for us.

There is an unsecured and AFAICT unguarded drying shed next to the dive shop. BCs and regs can be left on the boat, the staff will hose-rinse them and leave them on the boats, which are anchored a couple dozen yards out overnight, so reasonably secure. We took our regs each night to manually dump the dive data from the computers for our logs, but that's about all the dive gear that could reasonably be taken to the room. We hung wetsuits and other gear in the shed after rinsing. Nothing went missing. Dried pretty well.

Reef Divers has three of their info and release forms available as PDFs on the LCBR website. Use them. It's a long, tiring trip and it's nice not to be filling out forms when you get there. Oddly, the nitrox form isn't online; I mentioned that to them, and it may get added.

Tipping for the dive staff is not included in the package, and we were reminded of that, but not annoyingly. There's a sign in the dive shop suggesting amounts which were quite consistent with what's customary for US and Caribbean diving from reading here on SB and elsewhere. Some people gave cash to the DMs, we used the form in the dive shop that let us specify straight prorating for the staff on the boat we were on, and let us put it on plastic. They've done this before.

 

[reefduffer]

Accommodations and Resort.

The rooms have been recently remodeled, and were pretty nice for a dive resort, although the design choices were not what I'm used to at a dive resort. Carpeted floors except right around the door and the bathroom. No place at all to hang anything wet except in the tub/shower. Signs request nothing be hung on railings. There's the aforementioned shed near the dive shop, and more drying space behind the hotel building, but nothing remotely secure or even near the room. I guess I'm just reflecting my working class background, I like to keep my stuff to myself. I don't like valet parking, either.

A comfortable room, nice shower, plenty of AC, a ceiling fan, an LCD TV and DVD player. Well enough lit, adequate clothing storage, nice bed & linens, plenty of towels, alarm clock,hair dryer, etc. A fridge and coffee maker we didn't use much. Ironing board and iron (?!!) we didn't use at all. Complementary shampoo etc. Too many pillows. A nice clean hotel room with a king bed, a table and a couple of chairs.

There's a standard hotel electronic set-your-own-combination safe in the room. Big enough for most laptops. It's bolted to the shelf in the wardrobe. Not a typical installation, but probably secure enough for the likeliest threats to property.

This time of year, it was comfortable enough to turn off the AC and open the window at the front, which has a screen. That's when we realized that neither the window or the in-swinging shutters had a lock. Only the window screen stands between anyone outside the door just climbing in through the window. They'd be visible from the pool and bar area, but that's about all that prevents it. Made we wonder if the idea is like rental cars in Bonaire; just assume everyone had access, don't leave anything valuable in it, and leave it unlocked.

There was no screen on the bathroom window at the rear. We had a nice breeze with both open, but then got too many flies in the room.

The room keys are little RFID electronic fobs. We were told they can't get wet, and we should leave them on the boat when diving. Odd choice for a dive resort.

There was working WiFi in the office/restaurant area except for one day it was out, although it frequently needed to have the router reset, which sometimes didn't work. Never worked at all in the room, which was annoying. I'm not there to surf the web, but I like to be able to check mail and news. Net access is becoming a requirement, I want a vacation, not exile. LCBR aren't paying it much attention beyond being able to claim they have it in the brochure.

Electrical outlets are North America 110V standard, no adapter needed. There's a big ice machine behind the bar.

There's a nice second-story deck with a railing above the fill station out on the boat dock. It's a nice place to look at the stars, which are worth looking at when the sky is clear. You might want a small flashlight for the stairs.

The resort is a U shape. Lobby, restaurant, and gift ship north along the road, most rooms in a two story building with outside stairs/balcony east, a smaller similar structure west. The west line continues to a fitness and game room with a half dozen or so various machines and a pool table, then the dive and photo shop, drying shed, and dock. There's a lighted tennis court in the northeast corner next to the kitchen, and a basketball net; we saw it used in the early evening for a sort of half-court soccer game, using a hockey goal sized net, by staff and locals. In the middle is the covered open-air bar, pool and hot tub, and some beach. I'm not positive, I think I remember some kayaks on the beach. Not our focus.

A row of bicycles between the office and gift shop if you want to explore.

There was karaoke at the bar one night, seemed pretty loud and annoying for awhile. But it either stopped about 10:00 or we fell asleep in spite of it. Other nights I noticed trivia games or a magic show. Only the karaoke was at all noisy.


Food

All three meals were buffet, lots of choice, lots of variety from meal to meal, and the quality generally as good as restaurant food served buffet-style on steam tables can be. Between the quality and the variety, it really required effort not to pig out too much.

Breakfast always had an omelet bar, some form of pancake or waffle or french toast, usually scrambled eggs, poached eggs on muffins a couple of times, bacon, sausage, fruit, hot and cold cereal, yogurt, bagels, english muffins, bread, sweet rolls. etc. Tailored to USA tastes. And blessedly, the coffee was self-serve.

Dinner always had a red meat (beef, pork, lamb or veal), a poultry dish (duck once, cornish game hen once, chicken or turkey), a seafood dish (shrimp more than once, scallops once), some form of cooked veggies, usually lightly buttered, pasta or potatoes, a meat or seafood salad, and a cooked veggie salad. Always a big bowl of undressed lettuce, tomatoes onions etc. and an array of olives and dressings. Always a soup, usually cream of something. Filling half the plate with greens, skipping the starch and soup, and only having one serving each of the various proteins and the two salads and veggies sort of kept things in check. Or would have if not for the desserts.

Always at least three dessert offerings, usually a fruit pie, a cream or chocolate pie or cake, or cheesecake, ice cream a couple of times, or cookies. Usually some fresh fruit. Generally not "to die for", but very good. Ice tea and fruit punch, plus coffee and tea.

Lunch was similar to dinner with a couple fewer choices, plus an assortment of sliced meats, cheeses, and other sandwich stuff.

The dining room is nicely decorated, and air conditioned. On our stay, it was set up with tables for two, four, eight, and a big one for a large group. Maybe 50 total capacity. There's a screened-in outside dining area with about ten less formal tables. and some more tables outside the screened area.

Anthony, the executive chef, has been there three years. He's instantly recognizable walking around the desk lobby or grounds because he carries his chef knife and steel with him; he said if he leaves it in the kitchen, the staff is likely to use it to open cans. I think he was exaggerating a little. He was very friendly, and seemed genuinely interested in all comments about the food.

He's a diver, and mentioned that he had previously worked in Yap, among other places. The food comes from either Cuba or the US. The supply chain can be tenuous; when rough seas on the north side delayed delivery for a couple of days, he said he was down to his last head of lettuce. They have several large walk-in refrigerators adjacent to the kitchen, and ample backup supplies for weeks in case of a hurricane or such, but the fresh food situation can be fragile. It would be hard to know that from what we were fed.

Most desserts are made in their kitchen because the ingredients are cheap compared to prepared, but they do import some prepared foods. I was curious about the bagels; Anthony said they're made in the US, but he could make them, he made them on Yap.

Coffee and tea was always available in the dining room between meals. I never looked for it before breakfast or after dinner. Coffee and WiFi mail/news after the afternoon dive and a shower, followed by a nap before dinner, became my routine.

I don't think I'd recommend non-divers go to LCBR just for the food, but if you're going to go someplace to dive, their food is a plus.

 

[reefduffer]

Travel

When we booked LCBR with Reef Fanta Seas (no choice there, I think), we had them book round trip from Miami on Cayman Air. It seemed a little cheaper than other options, and we were told it was a bulk rate, we paid RFS and they paid Cayman Air. Our seats on the 737 between Miami and GC were way in the back of the plane both ways, which may have been related to the bulk rate fare, but it's a short flight and we arrived almost as soon as the folks in first class. I was pleased with both the recommended flights and generally with the service I got from RFS whenever I called them.

We flew from San Diego and did an overnight near the Miami airport. I suppose a red-eye is possible, but not needing to save a day is one advantage of being retired, and I don't want to start my dive vacation already fried. The return segued into a visit with my wife's family near Orlando for Thanksgiving.

Based on descriptions here on SB, I was expecting a very small plane between GC and LC, like the one from Belize City to San Pedro, or smaller. It turned out to be a 19-seat de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, pretty fair sized. One empty seat each way. Roller carry-ons are definitely checked bags; there was barely room for my computer case.

We had the unnerving experience on the way to LC of sitting in the plane on the runway and watching my wife's suitcase get taken off. Too much weight. But we told the LCBR porter about it, and it was outside our hotel room door a few hours later. At checkin, we were told that the dive shop would comp any rentals required until the baggage arrived, but it wasn't necessary,

The LCBR shuttle and porter service was great, we never had to move luggage beyond the door to our room. They were waiting when the plane landed. On departure, we just had to have luggage outside the door and check out at the desk an hour before flight time.

The airstrip at LC is paved but not lit, AFAICT. The very small air conditioned ticket office requires you to take turns going inside to get ticketed; the waiting area and luggage scale is outside, although covered. Astoundingly, I found an open WiFi connection while waiting for the outbound plane, although it was weak, and probably an accident. There are rest rooms around back. The LC fire department and post office share the building.

Our baggage between GC and LC was weighed (inconsistently wrt my computer bag) and we did slightly exceed the 55 lb total limit, even when considering it as 110 lbs for both of us. I was prepared to pay the well-advertised 50 cents/lb excess charge, but they didn't ask for it, either way. Maybe it was close enough, maybe it was the phase of the moon; I didn't ask.

There is food and coffee both inside and outside of security at the GC airport, although outside is better. A dozen duty free/gift/chochkie shops inside. Don't miss the rum cake free samples, the Cuban cigars, and the gallon bottles of Johnny Walker. The GC waiting room is air conditioned and quite comfortable.

Customs is at GC going, and Miami (or wherever) on return. There was no departure tax, or at least not a direct one. The departing TSA check was at GC; apparently nobody's worried about a hijacked Twin Otter taking out the GC government building, or the Marriott. Or going to Cuba.

I had a learning experience with GC TSA. I travel for diving with a few tools, all completely legal wrt USA or Bonaire TSA. I put them in my carryon to keep my checked duffel safely under 50 lbs. Never had a problem with them other than coming back from Belize, including going to LC. On the return, though, Cayman TSA said I'd either have to check my carryon, or discard the tools. My duffel was gone into the bowels of the luggage handlers. I don't like it, but I decided to check it, which required another trip out of and back through security. The Cayman Air counter guy was nice about it, didn't charge me for the second bag, and assured me it would be on our plane, which it was.

The issue with the tools was the same as I had in Belize, but this time, the TSA guy wasn't just officious and uncommunicative, he explained that Cayman TSA use British regulations, which are different than US, and don't allow even small tools. Doh! Yup, Belize is British community as well. It all clicks into place. Lesson: Put all tools in checked baggage going through TSA anyplace with a British Commonwealth heritage.

The Caymans are on EST, same as Miami, but they don't do daylight saving time, so when that's in effect, they're on CDT, like Dallas. As west coasters, we started body-time shifting six weeks ahead, with the gift of a free hour at the end of DST Nov 1. I really don't want to be jetlagged while I'm diving.

 

[reefduffer]

Photos

 

[carriemak]

Great report. I think you did a great job of covering everything I love about Little Cayman. Great resort, great diving, great people. What more can you ask for?
Whale sharks when I am there in June!

FWIW, we had wireless access for the entire week without any interruptions.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Glad you enjoyed your trip. Your first picture is Strombus gigas better known as a Queen conch.

 

[Roombaguy]

wow. That's an awesome report! Thanks

M.

 

[hypersonic]

My wife and I stayed at the LCBR the week after reefduffer. Would echo everthing he wrote but would add a note of caution that the weather in November is iffy. North winds can preclude diving in the favored Bloody Bay area.

We lucked out and had near perfect weather but it changed dramatically the day we left. Quite sure there wasn't much diving on the North shore that day.

Everytime I plan a trip my wife wants to know how to pack, especially for evening wear. The LCBR web site does not have an image of their dining room so I did not have a clue. To be on the safe side, I told her to pack some nice resort wear. Glad I did! While some women wore shorts and a T-shirt to dinner, about half the women dressed quite nicely for dinner.

Our view on the diving...back on board after the first dive, my wife and I just looked at each other in amazement as diver after diver would come out of the water proclaiming how great the dive was. After having dove Fiji and the Red Sea earlier in the year, we were not all that impressed. Having said that, we are planning a trip back to the resort next spring. After a few days the place kinda of grows on you. Most of the people on our dive boat were back for their second, third and even fourth trip. The diving is quite good, LCBR is quite accessible from the US, the resort and dive operation is well run. Hard not to like the place.

Another note I would add - for three days, we were in sight of the Aggressor and diving virtually the same sites. While we have done two liveaboards and enjoyed them greatly. The great beach and spaciousness of resort sure made us glad we were booked into the resort and not cooped up on a small boat with a dozen or so fellow divers. But YMMV.

 

[caymaniac]

Our view on the diving...back on board after the first dive, my wife and I just looked at each other in amazement as diver after diver would come out of the water proclaiming how great the dive was. After having dove Fiji and the Red Sea earlier in the year, we were not all that impressed.

How true, I've been to the Red Sea and to Australia, Papua New Guinea. The fish species, the coral species, the diversity is really not as good on Cayman, but it does only take a few hours to get to unlike the South Pacific or Red Sea. The diving in those places is really fantastic compared to the Caribbean but like you said the place grows on you, as I have noticed that too, and will be back in the Caymans in a few months.