Dive Review of
Southern Cross in
Cayman Islands/Little Cayman

Belize, Bonaire, Bahamas, Cozumel, Dominica, Grand Cayman, Grand Turk,
Hawaii, Roatan, and Utila

Dive Conditions

Standard  

[None]  

Overall Rating

Google Darren Dawson for a longer version of the trip report and slide
show

Air travel was easy for us, as we were able to fly Delta from Atlanta to
Grand Cayman then take the Cayman Airways flight from Grand Cayman to
Little Cayman.  The only snag we experienced was a one hour delay on our
return flight from Grand Cayman to Atlanta. 

Southern Cross is definitely the most upscale dive resort that we have
visited.  It is small and intimate, with a maximum of 24 on-site guests. It
is an all-inclusive resort that includes lodging, meals, and diving (or
fishing).  The resort motto is “barefoot elegance” and it is an accurate
descriptor – Darren never wore shoes, even to meals, and we both dressed
very casually at all times. 

The staff members are all very attentive and always greet you by name
throughout your stay.  They do everything they can to make your stay as
enjoyable and memorable as possible.  

The meals here are simply excellent, and it is obvious that there is a real
chef in the kitchen.  The seafood was fantastic, as were the homemade soups
we enjoyed at lunch and all of the unusual salads and side dishes at lunch
and dinner.  Meals always included lots of delicious fresh fruit and
vegetables.  And we can’t forget the awesome lunchtime cookies and evening
desserts. Breakfast and lunch were served buffet style.  Breakfast included
meats, pastries, bread, bagels, fruit, and cereal as well as made-to-order
omelets.  Lunch was also served buffet style.  Homemade soup and fruit and
salad were always included.  Sometimes hot food was served (quesadillas or
grilled chicken, etc.) and other times we made sandwiches with nice deli
meats and cheeses.  Dinner alternated between plated meals, which you
selected from a menu during lunchtime, and buffets.  Meals were all served
in the main common building and guests had the option of eating in the
indoor dining area or outdoors by the pool at breakfast and lunch – we ate
out by the pool most of the time.  On Friday night, the resort hosts a dock
party with an elaborate buffet served on the dock, and some local residents
and guests from other resorts join the Southern Cross guests for this
event.  It was definitely the most memorable meal of the trip.

The rooms do not have phones, computers or televisions -- this made our
stay very relaxing.  There is a phone in the main office that guests can
use and calls are billed on the honor system at 50 cents/minute, and there
is also a computer with internet access set up near the office for guests
to use free of charge.  The air conditioning in our apartment worked very
well.  Electrical outlets were standard US-type outlets so no power
adapters are needed.  The tap water is potable.   

The dive operation at Southern Cross is definitely first class – the
divemasters work very hard to make the diving easy and fun for the guests. 
We completed 17 dives during our stay: 3 per day for five days plus 2 on
our last dive day.  We booked the dive package in advance when we made our
reservation.   The resort operates two very nice dive boats that are
spacious and well laid out for diving.  The boats both have ample dry
storage and camera rinse tanks on board.  The divemasters set up the
guests’ gear each morning and switched tanks over between the two morning
dives.  Cold drinking water was always available and fresh fruit was always
offered between dives in the morning.  

For the 2-tank morning dive package, the boats leave the dock by 8:00 and
go around to the north side of the island to dive sites in Bloody Bay and
Jackson Bay.  Boat rides are about 30 minutes each way.   On most days, the
divemasters gave afternoon divers the option of an afternoon or a dusk
dive, and we did the dusk dive on 4 of the 5 afternoons that we dove. 
These were definitely some of the best dives of the trip.  There was a
minimal up-charge for the dusk dive ($10/dive).

The diving on Little Cayman was as good as we remembered from our trip on
the Cayman Aggressor in 2001.  The walls at some of the sites in Bloody Bay
and Jackson Bay are absolutely breathtaking -- sheer walls with lots of
colorful sponges and corals.  For the first few days, we experienced some
rough waters (though not really bad), but the end of the week was
remarkably calm – almost like lake water on the last day.  The most notable
thing about the diving to us was the vivid clear blue water – it was
absolutely gorgeous – almost surreal in some places.

Overall, in comparison to other dive destinations we have visited (Belize,
Bonaire, Bahamas, Cozumel, Dominica, Grand Cayman, Grand Turk, Hawaii,
Roatan, and Utila), we both agreed that the quality of the diving on Little
Cayman was on par with the Bay Islands (Roatan and Utila), a notch below
Dominica, and notably better than the other destinations. We should note
that the diving in the Bay Islands is quite different from Little Cayman
(more color and macro in the Bay Islands but more stunning walls in Little
Cayman), but we rank them similarly in quality for different reasons.

All in all, we had a wonderful dive vacation at Southern Cross.  In fact,
when you take all things into consideration, we consider this trip to be
our best overall dive vacation. We enjoyed perfect weather, great
accommodations, relaxing diving, and fabulous food. Southern Cross is a
beautiful, well-run resort and Little Cayman diving is excellent.  We’d
love to return again in the future.

 

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