Dive Review of Little Cayman Beach Resort in
Cayman Islands/Little Cayman

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Little Cayman Beach Resort: "Great week at Little Cayman Beach Resort", Feb, 2015, by Chris, MA, US ( Contributor 16 reports with 17 Helpful votes). Report 8131.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
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Comments	Spent Feb 7-14 at Little Cayman Beach Resort. All in all, a great trip. This was a trip arranged and led by my local dive shop. 12 of us flew Boston-Newark-GCM-Cayman Brac-Little Cayman. I guess we benefitted from a group rate, but that was definitely a long series of flights to a destination that is not that far away. Luckily the last flight lasted literally only 7 minutes  ACCOMMODATIONS = we stayed in a pool view room, which was more than fine IMHO. Bar noise did not bother us in the least. There was some noise on our last night there (Karaoke night), but things were generally very quiet after 9-10PM. Rooms have been renovated relatively recently (2009) and are quite comfortable. Beds are on the softer side, but fine. Spacious bathroom with lotion/bath gel/shampoo and hairdryer. Digital alarm clock. Mini-fridge in the room. Full dresser with 2 separate stacks of 3 drawers. Hanging closet with ~6 hangers. In-room safe. US-style 3 prong electrical outlets and 110 voltage. There appeared to be plenty of electrical outlets in the room….my roommate and I each had 2 x 2 plug outlets (4 total sockets each) at our disposal = plenty for me to keep my GoPro, video light, night dive back-up light and iPhone batteries charged, as needed. Well-functioning air conditioner and ceiling fan. There was also a round table inside the door. Plenty of hot water; water pressure was adequate but very average. DINING = we had all of our meals at LCBR. All meals were buffet-style and very good. Breakfast included boxed cereals, granola, yoghurt, white and wheat toasting bread, fruit (normally melon, watermelon, grapefruit, pineapple), eggs, meats (usually bacon and sausage), sometimes pancakes, sometimes French toast, oatmeal or something similar and a, everyday made-to-order omelet station. Lunch was typically salad bar, a sometimes sandwich bar and rotating choices of meat/fish/veggie dishes, plus dessert. Dinner was similar to lunch, but with more substantial dishes, often including seafood/fish, beef, chicken, plus dessert. I was never hungry or disappointed. Food is available at mealtime in the dining room. There is also food available at the bar from late morning throughout the evening for an additional charge = a mix of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads. The dive shop and gift shop both sell small snacks and drinks (sodas, Gatorade). “Included” drinks are water, iced tea and fruit punch. Our particular package included 2 additional bar drinks per day = soda, beer or wine. RESORT LAYOUT = LCBR is essentially a horseshoe shaped resort, with the open end facing the ocean. Guest rooms are on the sides of the horseshoe, with ocean view rooms on the 2 ends that face the ocean. There is a decent-sized fitness center (called Mrs. T’s) that includes a treadmill, and elliptical trainer, a Bowflex resistance machine, various exercise mats and a full set of dumbbells. Also in the fitness center is a used paperback lending library. The Beach Nuts bar and adjacent pool are in the middle of the horseshoe. Outside behind the bar there is a ping pong table and cornhole game. LCBR does have a sandy beach with chaise lounges and hammock cabanas, but eel grass makes swimming a challenge. As for bugs = really not a problem. There was a nice breeze on most days. LCBR has raised wooden walkways throughout the resort that connect the guest rooms, dining room/reception, pool/bar area, dive shop and dock.....which probably helps to minimize any sort of ground bugs/sand fleas (also keeps sand out of rooms). Maintenance staff seemed to rake sandy areas most days. There was really only 1 time I noticed bugs..... Late afternoon one day I ordered some nachos from the bar while sitting poolside to log my dives. A few bugs showed up.....perhaps more for the food than for me. So, based on my n=1, when it's breezy bugs don't seem to be an issue....but perhaps worth bringing some spray just in case (I put some on early morning since I liked sitting on the dock to watch sunrise each AM....and early evening). We rented scooters and drove around the island during our off-gassing afternoon on Friday..... There are many large ponds including the booby reserve across the street that look like mosquito paradise..... DIVING OPERATIONS = Reef Divers is the on-site dive op and they do a really nice job. They run 4 Newton (42 or 46 – not sure if they are all the same) dive boats that are spacious and stable. We had a boat to ourselves as we were a group of 12….IMHO this is the max that feels comfortable on these boats. Brand new dive dock just completed at the end of 2014 – very nice. Well-organized Nitrox analyzing station and logging system. Dive guides all appeared to be on the young side – energetic, helpful and ran the boats well. We had Will (American) & Ben (Brit) as our guides and both were very good. 1 stayed topside and 1 was in the water with us on each dive (they switched off all week). Dive schedule on most days was a 2 tank trip in the morning leaving at 8:10AM, back to the resort for lunch and then a 1 tanker leaving at 1:50PM. Night dives were offered Tuesday and Thursday…..many signed up for the Tuesday dive; the resulting underwater scrum (18 on our boat) soured many folks and not enough signed up for the Thurs night dive (they need 8 to run the trip; 1 person + me were the only ones interested so we didn’t go). Dive sites on the south side of the island close to the resort are decent and about 10 min away. The best sites are on the north side, about 25 minutes away = Bloody Bay Wall is why you come to dive on Little Cayman. We also made the 1 hour trip on Thursday morning to dive the Keith Tibbetts wreck on Cayman Brac (former Russian destroyer bought from Cuba); 2nd dive that day was on BBW on the way back from the Brac; back to the resort for lunch; third dive was a regular afternoon 1 tank back on the north side. I enjoyed 18 dives during the week = 3 x 5 days + 2 on Friday + 1 night dive. The quality of the diving was among the best I’ve experienced in the Caribbean (vs. previous trips to Belize, Turks & Caicos, Roatan, St. Vincent). The dive sites in the Bloody Bay Wall /Jackson’s Bight areas are beautiful = beautiful shallow reef tops with varying reefy/sandy areas, hard pan in the shallows and then the dramatic main walls themselves with gorgeous sponges and marine life galore. We did not see many sharks….just a few nurse sharks. We were visited by the notoriously friendly Cayman grouper flock, although a big Nassau grouper spawning event was going on the week we were there (so lots of grouper mass transit going on back and forth from the orgy). Plenty of Caribbean marine life staples = green turtles, green and spotted morays, large crabs, Caribbean lobster, puffers, spotted eagle rays, southern sting rays, flamingo tongues, neck crabs, arrow crabs, banded coral shrimp, red night shrimp, mantis shrimp, peacock flounder, various butterfly fish, garden eels, sea horses, queen triggers, spotted drums (including the smallest one I’ve ever seen – about ½ an inch long), filefish, great barracuda, yellowhead jawfish (with eggs) and fairy basslets, to name a few. The DMs worked hard to spot things during dives. The diving was relaxing and not strenuous = easy navigation with wall diving, clear water (vis ranged from 60-100) and only mild current. We were fortunate to have had relatively calm seas and little in the way of current most of the week, although there were 1-2 days when we could not make it to the north side. The ride over to the Brac was slightly bumpy with 3-4 footers and an occasional 5 footer, but nothing extreme. Suggested dive limits tended to be 110’/50 min on dive 1 and 60’/60 min on dive 2…..more than anything to make sure we kept the trains running on time to get back in time for lunch. That said, our DMs were in no way militant about enforcing the limits unlike some recent trip reports I’ve read. Given we were a 1 group boat, our group tended to be generally considerate of the limits and the other divers. DMs were also comfortable with us either following the group or doing our own thing. I did some of both depending on the situation….both enjoyable. There were times when I strayed off alone when following a ray or turtle…DMs were gentle in their reminders to stay at least loosely with our buddies. This is definitely valet diving, with the DMs carrying your tank rig to a seat at the stern….you sit down, put your fins on, they help you shrug into your BC and off you go via giant stride. Same thing in reverse when exiting the water. Snacks (chips and fruit) and water provided on the boat. There is a separate camera table, but no rinse tank on the boat. There is a garden hose with fresh water at the stern for rinsing gear and divers. Gear washing = BC/regs were left on board and rinsed by the crew each night; everything else is rinsed by each diver in 2 large communal tanks adjacent to the dive shop (large, covered drying area next to tanks with plenty of hangers for hanging wetsuits). 2 cameras-only rinse tanks nearby as well. There is a small shower next to the rinse tanks as well as one adjacent to the pool for a quick body wash. Tanks are AL 80s with yoke valve fittings. All in all a very efficient and well-run dive operation that we were really happy with. My only minor complaints were (1) they could use more rinse tanks for gear given the number of divers (40 rooms); (2) DMs were very young, which brings positives and negatives. The Reef Divers DMs were really very good, so perhaps splitting hairs here; the best-in-class I’ve seen tend to be slightly older, longer tenured at the given resort and more in tune with their guests (perhaps due to more life experience). All that said, I think anyone would be happy diving with these guys/girls. OTHER COMMENTS = LCBR provides transfers from the airport in their resort van = 3 minute ride. There is free wifi at the resort accessible in your guest room, but it was very slow. We rented scooters during our Friday afternoon off-gassing. Very fun and easy to make it around most of the island in an afternoon (LC is 10 miles long and 1 mile wide). We used Scooten Scooters, who were great = they dropped off/picked up the scooters right at/from the resort and payment in the parking lot via credit card – so easy. Due to the grouper spawning, we had some UW photography celebrities at the resort = Jim Hellemn and Berkley White. Both very nice guys with some great stories to tell. There is a spa at the resort (no one from our group used it) as well as a gift shop. Dive shop sells gear as well as snacks/drinks. The resort provides laundry services for $18/load (we did not use this service). There is a market close to the airport (the only one on the island) = a 15 minute walk or short bike ride from the resort. The resort has bikes as well as kayaks for guest use. If you do a night dive, make sure you take time to look at the night sky when the boat is away from the resort = spectacular. Permanent population on Little Cayman is only about 170….so laid back is a term that applies very well to LC. Everyone seems to wave to everyone else when you are moving around the island. First trip to the Caymans = I loved LC, the diving and LCBR (accommodations, facilities and staff) and hope to get back sometime very soon.
Websites	Little Cayman Beach Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	New England, Turks & Caicos, Belize, St. Vincent, Roatan, Bermuda, FL Keys, Red Sea, Maldives
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	81-°F / 27-°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	See trip write-up
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	No rinse tank on boats. 2 large rinse tanks at the dock.

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Dive Review of Little Cayman Beach Resort in Cayman Islands/Little Cayman

Little Cayman Beach Resort: "Great week at Little Cayman Beach Resort", Feb, 2015,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Little Cayman Beach Resort in
Cayman Islands/Little Cayman