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Scuba Forum / Scuba Locations / January 2006Trip Report - Little Cayman Beach Resort
Service Provided By Air Canada (www.aircanada.ca), Cayman Airways Express (www.caymanairways.com) and Little Cayman Beach Resort (www.littlecayman.com). Executive Summary This trip was absolutely wonderful. The Travel There are some really bad itineraries between Toronto and the Caribbean. This is not one of them. The flight to Grand Cayman left mid-morning and arrived mid-afternoon. No getting up at 0300 or other such nonsense. We were scheduled for a two hour layover in Grand Cayman, but, because another flight was late, and Cayman Airways are flexible, we only spent half an hour at the airport on the way down. Coming back, we had an early morning flight to Grand Cayman and a late afternoon flight to Toronto, so we rented a car and visited the Queen Elizabeth Botanic Garden. That was fun. Plus, we got home at a decent hour. There are a couple of baggage issues, which I'll address later. The Resort Our room was warm and dry with functional plumbing and that's all we ask. It also had a television with some American channels. Sometimes we watched tv, sometimes we didn't. The televisions in the rooms do not have input jacks for digital cameras, but the ones at the bar do. There is also a book exchange, which is nice. The restaurant is fantastic. Neither Patti nor I can remember better food anywhere. We had lobster tails for our first meal, and then things got better. All meals were buffets so when we couldn't decide whether to have baby back ribs, shrimp and crab crepe, or roasted quail, we had all three. And was it ever good. A nice touch at breakfast was that, in addition to the usual collection of melons, pineapples and oranges, we also had blueberries and raspberries. No strawberries though, they were on the dessert menus. Better for the taste buds than the girlish figure, thats for sure. The Dive Shop These guys offer a valet dive service, much like Divi Tiara in Cayman Brac. Specifically, on your first day of diving, you put your gear outside your room and go for breakfast. Then you go to the boat and there it is. You do your original hookup yourself, but for the rest of the trip, the crew would swap tanks for you. For the actual dives, you would go to the back of the boat and have a seat. The crew would bring your rig which you then don. Then you stand up and jump into the water. Coming back, you hand up your fins, climb the ladder and sit down. You doff your rig, and they carry it away. Doesn't get much easier than that. The boats were big and comfy. Even though there were 16-18 dives on each trip, it never seemed crowded, either on the boar or in the water. There were spots in the sun and spots in the shade, so you could take your pick. The itinerary started with 0830 departure. The boat rides were 20 to 30 minutes and then we did a 50 minute dive, 45 minute interval, and a 60 minute dive. Then we went back for lunch. The boat left again at 1430 and the afternoon dive was 60 minutes. The dives were timed (otherwise we'd be late for lunch)and either guided or not - your choice. One of the crew would be the last one in and first one out and would guide whoever wanted to dive with him, or her. We just went on our own. What really set this dive shop apart was the between dive snacks. They had fruits and nutrition bars, much like most dive shops. But, the most popular snack, and my personal favourite was, (pause for effect), barbeque chips. Yummy. The Diving The diving was very nice. The best diving is on the north side of the island and we did every dive except one on that side. On the west side is Bloody Bay Wall where the top of the wall is somewhere between 20 and 40 feet deep, with a nice reef on top. Further to the east is Jackson's Point where the top of the wall is 40 to 60 feet deep, with a sandbar on top leading to a mini wall closer to shore. Both areas are very nice. The water is clear, but, since we went in mid-December, if you went down the wall on the first dive, it was kinda dark. Little Cayman has the usual collection of Caribbean fish. Compared to other places they had more turtles and queen triggerfish, but fewer angelfish and Sgt Majors. The coral was in decent shape. If You Go, You Should Know The aircraft that fly between the three Cayman Islands can only lift so much weight. So there are luggage issues. There is a 55 lb weight limit, including hand luggage. Plus, if you are travelling on a weekend, on the way in, your luggage might arrive the following day (it happened to the lady in the room next to ours). On the way back, everyone was asked to send their luggage ahead to Grand Cayman a day early. Most people, including us did so. The big issue was drying the wetsuits after the morning dives, but it was a nice sunny day and mine got dry enough to send. My Plan B would have been to send my parka to Grand Cayman, give the suit more time to dry, and switch it around the following day. This whole luggage thing sounds a lot worse than it is. There were guys there with housed camcorders, and housed digital SLR cameras with twin strobes, and they said they made weight. Just make sure you have your bathing suit in your carryon on the way in, and you'll be fine. Trip Dates 2005-12-11 to 2005-12-18 Link to some photos from this trip (for awhile at least) http://www.pathcom.com/~u1072675/ Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. > The Diving > The diving was very nice. The best diving is on the north side of the > island and we did every dive except one on that side. On the west Was the north side wall diving as well? A question, since you've been to all 3 islands. If you were to return to any of the Cayman Islands and had to repeat a vacation, where would it be? > side is Bloody Bay Wall where the top of the wall is somewhere between > 20 and 40 feet deep, with a nice reef on top. Further to the east is [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > went in mid-December, if you went down the wall on the first dive, it > was kinda dark. > If You Go, You Should Know > The aircraft that fly between the three Cayman Islands can only lift > so much weight. So there are luggage issues. There is a 55 lb weight > limit, including hand luggage. Plus, if you are travelling on a > weekend, on the way in, your luggage might arrive the following day We've experienced the same issues when flying on other small planes. Not only will you get charged any extra weight (and the allowance has shrunk even on large carriers), but they won't guarantee the luggage will be on the same flight you are. Passengers must sometimes declare their own weight as well, but it has no bearing on their luggage allotment. > (it happened to the lady in the room next to ours). On the way back, > everyone was asked to send their luggage ahead to Grand Cayman a day [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > parka to Grand Cayman, give the suit more time to dry, and switch it > around the following day. I take Sink The Stink and a plastic bag. I soak the wetsuits and booties after the last dive. If they're still damp when I need to pack, they go in the plastic bag and into the luggage. Even after nearly 24 hours in the bag, they weren't funky. Thanks for the report and the pics. greatviz <invalid@invalid.invalid> pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :Was the north side wall diving as well? : :A question, since you've been to all 3 islands. If you were to return :to any of the Cayman Islands and had to repeat a vacation, where would :it be? We did every dive but one on the north shore of the island. When I'm referring to the west end, that's the west end of the north shore. The island itself is 1 mile north to south and 10 miles east to west. There really is no west shore to speak of. If I were going to go back to a Cayman Island, it would not be Cayman Brac. Little Cayman is nicer and has better diving. Choosing between Gand and Little Cayman would more or less depend on how I felt about the puddle jump. Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. > We did every dive but one on the north shore of the island. > When I'm referring to the west end, that's the west end of the north shore. Was this then a southside site (true southside, or in the SW pocket), or merely a "western end" dive on the northside? If you can remember its name, I can probably place it. If it was a "western end of Northside", while most people consider Great Wall West to be the end of Bloody Bay, the moored sites of LeaLea's Lookout, Coconut Walk, Baracuda Bight and Joy's Joy are all considered to be within BB, whereas sites even further to the west (Fisheye Fantasy, Bubble House, etc) are not considered to be part of BB. > The island itself is 1 mile north to south and 10 miles east to west. > There really is no west shore to speak of. True, there's not much "west" to speak of, but with the protrusion of South Hole Sound, this effectively provides westerly-like shelter to the southside for when the winter winds blow "down the slot" from the ENE. There's some nice sites in here like Grundy's Gardens and Pirate's Reef. The alternative is to buck the weather to get up inside of Jackson's Point (extreme east end before going around the point), although when there's a N-NNW-NW swell coming in, this will kick up the sand and trash water visibility to 20ft or less. > If I were going to go back to a Cayman Island, it would not be Cayman > Brac. Little Cayman is nicer and has better diving. Everyone has their preferences. For example, I noticed that you didn't like how dark Little Cayman's walls are. That's because they're north-facing, and while they're darkest in the winter, there's really no time of year that they are sun-lit. The only way to really get a well-lit wall is to get one that faces the sun, which preculdes Little Cayman's northside Bloody Bay & Jackson's Bight areas. While there are some diveable southern walls on Little Cayman, these are generally to windward and not dived too frequently, but more significantly, unless you're there with your own group whose explicit purpose is to go where the tourists don't go, the 'majority rule' customs for diveboat destination will go past these sites and take you to the north side. In any event, I've dived some of these and IMO, the Brac's southside wall are significantly better...and while people often complain about the depths to the Brac's southside walls, the southside walls on Little Cayman aren't any shallower than the Brac's. FWIW, there's also some northside sites beyond (east of )Jackson's Point, but the odds are that you'll similarly never get to them from most Little Cayman operations ("too far"), unless an organized group makes a concerted effort to request them. -hh Back from the Pacific ~1.5 weeks early, as the Spirit of Oceana was damaged in a full Gale en route from Vancouver. Dang. Good news was that no one was hurt and the damage to the ship wasn't critical. "-hh" <recscuba_google@huntzinger.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :Was this then a southside site (true southside, or in the SW pocket), :or merely a "western end" dive on the northside? If you can remember :its name, I can probably place it. 16 of our 17 dives were on the north shore. It was roughly a 50/50 split between Bloody Bay and Jackson's Point. We never went further east than Jackson's Point. The one dive we did on the south side was on Tuesday. It was the afternoon dive. the name of the dive site was Gay's Point. The bottom was spur and groove. Reminded me of Cayman Brac. Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. greatviz <invalid@invalid.invalid> pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :I take Sink The Stink and a plastic bag. I soak the wetsuits and :booties after the last dive. If they're still damp when I need to pack, :they go in the plastic bag and into the luggage. Even after nearly 24 :hours in the bag, they weren't funky. I am more concerned about the weight of the water than the stink of the suit. I still haven't rinsed my suit and booties, and probably won't. Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. greatviz asks: > A question, since you've been to all 3 islands. If you were to return > to any of the Cayman Islands and had to repeat a vacation, where would > it be? I've dived all the Caribbean hot spots including all 3 Cayman Islands on several vacations, and IMHO, Little Cayman is as good as it gets,....in the Caribbean. Different people have different tastes and there are other very good places ( you would not be disappointed with the Brac or GC), but the walls and reef life are really something to see. Dive safe, /Don > Service Provided By > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > This trip was absolutely wonderful. Dan, Very nice overview. Thanks. I much prefer to read from someone like you than in a magazine. A coworkers wife is a travel writer and since I've learned that the place being written about usually pays, I'm extra dubious of the quality of information. What was the thickness of your wetsuit? "Vaughn" <sailor303@yahoo.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :What was the thickness of your wetsuit? 3 mm. Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. |
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