Just got back from a great trip to Little Cayman! Here's a trip report:
We arrived in Little Cayman on Halloween evening. The flight aboard Cayman Airways was quick and easy, but just make sure your carry-on and personal items are a maximum of 15 pounds combined. We were all well under the 55-pound limit for checked luggage, but the carry-on limit was pretty close for us. We were in Little Cayman with a group from our LDS, and two members of our group didn't receive their checked baggage until the next morning because they exceeded the checked weight limit. My advice is to pack as light as you can for this trip.
We stayed at Little Cayman Beach Resort. Once we arrived, they picked us up from the airport, and we made our way to the Beach Nuts bar at the resort, where they were hosting a staff pumpkin carving contest. As there is really nothing else to do on the island besides diving, we spent a lot of time out by the bar, pool, and hot tub at night. The bar staff is great (especially Jose) and they will all learn your name very quickly. After our welcome rum punch, the dinner bell rang. We were greeted with rock crab claws, scallop pasta, a beef carving station, and much more. The desserts were great every night, and we were very impressed by the food overall. The seafood and chicken dishes were great, but we found the beef to be a bit tough. Overall, we were very impressed with food. We did try the Hungry Iguana one of the nights just for a change, and while it was good, it was quite expensive for what you get. With the tip, one appetizer to share amongst us, and a couple beers in addition to our entrees, our bill for 4 people at the Hungry Iguana was $200.
Now on to the diving. We were very worried about the weather forecast for this trip, as a cold front was coming down and winds of 20-30 mph were predicted with rough seas. The first day of diving, Saturday, we had no problems and made it out to Bloody Bay on the north side of the island. We started with Randy's Gazebo, where we went down a coral chimney that spits you out on the wall at 90 feet. The wall was beautiful, with lots of huge barrel sponges and a few turtles. The "gazebo" is a coral archway where the grouper like to hang out. Our next dive after that was Joy's Joy, another site on Bloody Bay with lots of crevices and canyons to explore.
After we came in from our 2 morning dives and had lunch, the winds had begun to pick up for our afternoon dive. It was around 15 mph NE wind, so it was too rough for the boat to go around to the north side. Instead, they took us to Preston Bay, the south side, which was still calm at this point. There, we went to "Uncle Lucky's," which ended up being a really nice dive where we saw a lot...turtles, lobster, rays, and of course the friendly grouper who follow along with you on the dive. The high winds unfortunately persisted for the remainder of our trip, so we were in Preston Bay for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We typically did a wall dive first thing, then shallower for the second and third dives. The seas were the roughest on Monday, with a lot of 4-5 foot waves. The rough seas caused us to stay pretty close to shore on Monday, and the sand being kicked up really reduced the visibility. Fortunately, it wasn't quite as rough on Tuesday and Wednesday, so we were able to do some wall dives on the south side, and the visibility improved. We went to the Soto Trader on Tuesday, which is the wreck of a fuel barge that exploded, and that was nice for a change of scenery. Overall, we saw a lot of fish and wildlife, and we were grateful for the fact that although it was windy and rough, we were still able to go out and make all of our dives. The only dive that did not happen was the night dive on Tuesday night due to the rough seas. They normally do night dives on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so unfortunately we didn't get a night dive in since we flew out on Thursday.
The dive operators at Little Cayman Beach Resort, Reef Divers, were very safety conscious. Reggie and Heather were our dive masters for all but one day of the trip. They weren't afraid to correct people who weren't following their instructions in terms of safety, which was particularly important in exiting/boarding the boat in unusually rough seas. I did feel kind of spoiled by the "valet service" diving, in which you only set up your equipment on a tank the first day, and after that they switch it for you, and even bring your gear to you to put on at the back of the boat while you sit on a bench. With seas as rough as they were, I was glad for the bench and them bringing me my gear rather than everyone falling all over the place on the way to exit the boat. All you bring on and off the boat with you each night is your mask, fins, and wetsuit, and they have a nice setup with rinse tanks and a covered drying room. It was nice to fly home with totally dry, clean gear at the end of the trip.
Overall, the dive experience was great, and I felt like the resort staff made an effort to get to know you and make you feel at home. We will definitely return to LCBR to finish diving those sites on the north side!
We arrived in Little Cayman on Halloween evening. The flight aboard Cayman Airways was quick and easy, but just make sure your carry-on and personal items are a maximum of 15 pounds combined. We were all well under the 55-pound limit for checked luggage, but the carry-on limit was pretty close for us. We were in Little Cayman with a group from our LDS, and two members of our group didn't receive their checked baggage until the next morning because they exceeded the checked weight limit. My advice is to pack as light as you can for this trip.
We stayed at Little Cayman Beach Resort. Once we arrived, they picked us up from the airport, and we made our way to the Beach Nuts bar at the resort, where they were hosting a staff pumpkin carving contest. As there is really nothing else to do on the island besides diving, we spent a lot of time out by the bar, pool, and hot tub at night. The bar staff is great (especially Jose) and they will all learn your name very quickly. After our welcome rum punch, the dinner bell rang. We were greeted with rock crab claws, scallop pasta, a beef carving station, and much more. The desserts were great every night, and we were very impressed by the food overall. The seafood and chicken dishes were great, but we found the beef to be a bit tough. Overall, we were very impressed with food. We did try the Hungry Iguana one of the nights just for a change, and while it was good, it was quite expensive for what you get. With the tip, one appetizer to share amongst us, and a couple beers in addition to our entrees, our bill for 4 people at the Hungry Iguana was $200.
Now on to the diving. We were very worried about the weather forecast for this trip, as a cold front was coming down and winds of 20-30 mph were predicted with rough seas. The first day of diving, Saturday, we had no problems and made it out to Bloody Bay on the north side of the island. We started with Randy's Gazebo, where we went down a coral chimney that spits you out on the wall at 90 feet. The wall was beautiful, with lots of huge barrel sponges and a few turtles. The "gazebo" is a coral archway where the grouper like to hang out. Our next dive after that was Joy's Joy, another site on Bloody Bay with lots of crevices and canyons to explore.
After we came in from our 2 morning dives and had lunch, the winds had begun to pick up for our afternoon dive. It was around 15 mph NE wind, so it was too rough for the boat to go around to the north side. Instead, they took us to Preston Bay, the south side, which was still calm at this point. There, we went to "Uncle Lucky's," which ended up being a really nice dive where we saw a lot...turtles, lobster, rays, and of course the friendly grouper who follow along with you on the dive. The high winds unfortunately persisted for the remainder of our trip, so we were in Preston Bay for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We typically did a wall dive first thing, then shallower for the second and third dives. The seas were the roughest on Monday, with a lot of 4-5 foot waves. The rough seas caused us to stay pretty close to shore on Monday, and the sand being kicked up really reduced the visibility. Fortunately, it wasn't quite as rough on Tuesday and Wednesday, so we were able to do some wall dives on the south side, and the visibility improved. We went to the Soto Trader on Tuesday, which is the wreck of a fuel barge that exploded, and that was nice for a change of scenery. Overall, we saw a lot of fish and wildlife, and we were grateful for the fact that although it was windy and rough, we were still able to go out and make all of our dives. The only dive that did not happen was the night dive on Tuesday night due to the rough seas. They normally do night dives on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so unfortunately we didn't get a night dive in since we flew out on Thursday.
The dive operators at Little Cayman Beach Resort, Reef Divers, were very safety conscious. Reggie and Heather were our dive masters for all but one day of the trip. They weren't afraid to correct people who weren't following their instructions in terms of safety, which was particularly important in exiting/boarding the boat in unusually rough seas. I did feel kind of spoiled by the "valet service" diving, in which you only set up your equipment on a tank the first day, and after that they switch it for you, and even bring your gear to you to put on at the back of the boat while you sit on a bench. With seas as rough as they were, I was glad for the bench and them bringing me my gear rather than everyone falling all over the place on the way to exit the boat. All you bring on and off the boat with you each night is your mask, fins, and wetsuit, and they have a nice setup with rinse tanks and a covered drying room. It was nice to fly home with totally dry, clean gear at the end of the trip.
Overall, the dive experience was great, and I felt like the resort staff made an effort to get to know you and make you feel at home. We will definitely return to LCBR to finish diving those sites on the north side!
How does it compare to other places you have dove and stayed?
