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

Little Cayman Beach Resort, Jul, 2014,

by Roger Tachuk, FL, US (Reviewer Reviewer 3 reports). Report 7692.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 5 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments I traveled to Little Cayman with my local dive shop group July 26 to Aug 2.
Highlights:
#1 dwarf frog fish (p. 359) - found by a dive master by turning over rocks on a sandy bottom area about 30 feet deep.
#2 fingerprint flamingo tongue - also found by a dive master - quite rare flamingo tongue with a fingerprint pattern instead of the usual spots
#3 the underwater topography - the WALL - 3000 foot vertical drop; fantastic swim throughs (think Disney version of Robert Louis Stevenson)
#4 friendly hawksbill turtles on most dives
#5 sharks - reef and nurse sharks - especially off the wall
#6 grouper - the grouper are roughly 25 pounds and they are like friendly dogs
#7 gigantic barrel sponges
#8 black sponges
#9 razorfish - green and rosy
#10 sand tile fish and yellow headed jaw fish
#11 conch - I saw a conch walking!

The reefs are beautiful, but not as ubiquitous as Bonaire. Supposedly, they are the healthiest in the Caribbean -- that is - least pollution.
Visibility - excellent 100+ feet on all dives except one.
Night dive was good - great visibility.

There is not as much aquatic life (fish and eels) as Bonaire. I only saw one eel (green moray.) Lots of southern rays, lemon rays, a few eagle rays, one octopus on the night dive, one octopus on the day dives. Lots of evidence of octopus - I just could not find them.

Snorkeling -- there is some snorkeling, but most of the good stuff is out of reach/view.

The resort was nice. My room was great. Food was good, but not great. There was plenty to eat.

Island is tiny 10 miles long by one one mile wide. 650 residents - most of whom work long days. One restaurant (I had cracked conch - good.) One small general store. One liquor store. The airport on Little Cayman is about the size of a two car garage and is also the post office, fire station, and police station.

Summary: A good trip for scuba divers once. A return trip for scuba divers only with excellent companions. Snorkelers and pedestrians will be bored out of their minds. Seven day trip, five days diving, 18 dives -- more than enough.

I really enjoyed a visit to the Central Caribbean Marine Institute, a research facility working on coral viability projects. Truly exceptional university students (grad and undergrad) doing cool science. They do a lot of education for children, teens as well. [reefresearch.org link] They are working on stag horn restoration especially.

Cost: USD $1895 for 7 nights, 3 meals a day, 2 drinks a day, 17 boat dives. Airfare from Miami was USD $464. Night dive was CYD $65.

Annoyances: The currency is the Cayman Dollar and it is pegged at USD $1.25. When you arrive home you will understand that this is so you pay 25% more for everything without realizing it at the time.

Cayman Airlines was good. The airport on Grand Cayman is woefully inadequate. It is much too small. There were far too many people inside the secure area and the building does not have sprinklers. There is only one cheesy restaurant in the secure area, two small bathrooms, and seven liquor stores. Not enough chairs. Things got tense !!!

More info for divers:
3 dives per day, 2 dives are in the morning with a 45 minute SI between, 1 dive after lunch.
Anything over 2800 psi is considered a full tank. Most of my tanks were 2850-2900. I think this is a really lame (since I know how to fill tanks myself.)
Nitrox is available at CYD $10 - that's USD $12.50 per tank. I did not use nitrox.
You leave your bcd and reg on the boat and they set it up for you. You MUST always check your psi before jumping in the water because you might not have a fresh tank. This happened to one of our divers.
The dive master gets in the water and you can follow him/her around but they kind of do their own thing and don't stay in for more than about 30 minutes. They don't pay much attention to the divers.
My boat was a Newton 46 and ran like a top. There are three other boats in various states of repair.
I liked the diving a lot. I am glad I went. I probably will not go back.
Websites Little Cayman Beach Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Bonaire, Florida
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, no currents
Water Temp 85-87°F / 29-31°C Wetsuit Thickness 2
Water Visibility 100- Ft/ 30- M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Must dive with a buddy, max depth 110, max 60 minutes
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 3 stars

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Subscriber's Comments

By Craig A Wood in PA, US at Aug 07, 2014 16:01 EST  
Hi Roger, did you see plaque painted with an iguana for Craig's 60th birthday at the bar? Great trip Jan-Feb of this year. I agree with you, great walls, not the most sea life.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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