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Dive Review of Little Cayman Beach Resort in
Cayman Islands

Little Cayman Beach Resort: "A nice place to be", Apr, 2018,

by S Smith, WA, US ( 1 report with 1 Helpful vote). Report 10576 has 1 Helpful vote.

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 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments Good: The resort and staff (both dive and land) were great. The rooms are large and clean. Rooms have coffee makers and refrigerators. The food was good and varied. The dive shop was well staffed and organized. The system for nitrox tank analyzing was excellent given the large volume of divers at the resort.

The diving was above average. Bloody Bay Wall was absolutely beautiful. The reef fish populations are healthy and we saw many game fish sized groupers. We saw sting rays almost every time we dove near good ray habitat. I found the invertebrate life sparse and I saw only two eels over 18 dives.

Bad: There is a problem with the quality of the electricity on the island. I first noticed it when the digital clock in our room gained about five minutes a day. Charging rechargeable batteries from zero was a problem. Bring a separate surge protector might be a good idea. Also, all of the fresh water on the island is desalinated, which left it with an unpleasant taste. I would recommend packing in some lemon juice or other water flavoring.

Not Bad but good to know: The crew does pack along enough towels for each guest on the boat. However, my habit of leaving my dry towel folded on the shelf must have convinced some divers they could have a second, leaving me with no towel after the third dive. Best to stow your towel for the day in your dry bag until needed.

Awkward: One of the resorts differentiators is ‘Valet Diving’. This is the practice of having the diver sit one of two benches on the aft of the boat, don mask and fins and then have the dive master bring your BCD with tank to you. While this sounds nice, it took a more than 15 minutes for everyone to get in the water and the DM to start the optional tour. With a time limit of 50 minutes for first dive of the day and hour for all others, this cut a big chunk of time from those first in the water. The bigger problem was at the end of the dive. We had a large group of experienced divers and when told to come up in an hour, we did just that. We were good about spacing ourselves climbing up the ladder but it was clearly faster than the crew was used to. Again the ‘Valet Diving’. On exit, we were asked to sit on the aft benches and a crew member would remove our scuba unit. As the BCD’s were removed from each diver, the crew changed the tank as well. Although they were very efficient at this, we were exiting the water faster than then they could keep up. The result was that often there was no crew to take cameras and fins being handed up, leaving guests to fill in and in some cases, cameras left on the deck. When attempted, divers were asked not to move around the deck with BCD’s and tanks on.

Also, on the day prior to departure, we were asked to send one of our large luggage pieces ahead to Grand Cayman on that afternoon’s flight. It was a little disconcerting having no idea of the level of security at Grand Cayman airport.
Websites Little Cayman Beach Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving [Unspecified]
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, no currents
Water Temp 80-82°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 2
Water Visibility 50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions 50 minutes first dive, 60 second and third
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available?

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 2 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics N/A

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities 2 stars
UW Photo Comments I am not a photographer but there did not seem to be enough shelf space on the dive boat for all of the cameras and a very inadequate camera rinse bucket. On land, looks like they should set up a second soak tub. I did not see any special areas set up for cameras on land (benches etc.) but I was not looking for them.
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Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Subscriber's Comments

By Craig A Wood in PA, US at Oct 23, 2018 09:05 EST  
I visited Cayman Brac last fall, where Reef Divers follows the same protocol. I was traveling by myself so had no buddy. I discussed with The DMs ahead of time and made sure I was among 1st in and started my dive. I stayed loosely associated with the group and then finished my dive by myself and was generally last to exit. I ended up getting 54 min/dive on 1st dives and 67 min/dive on the others. Not optimal, but better than 50/60. This is one of the many reasons I like Ocean Frontiers on Grand Cayman
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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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