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Dive Review of Sam McCoy's Lodge in
Cayman Islands/Little Cayman Island

Sam McCoy's Lodge, Aug, 2003,

by Larry Simpson, FL, USA . Report 762.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 4 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments This was our second visit to Little Cayman. The first was on the Little Cayman Diver live-aboard in 1997. Bloody Bay Wall (BBW)is still as spectacular and as awe inspiring as ever. For sheer masiveness, there is not another wall in the Caribbean that matches it. The coral formations on Jackson Wall are very impressive and definitely worth seeing. However, Hurricane Michele which pounded The Caymans for three days with 25 foot waves about 2 or 3 years ago really scoured the tops of the wall and stripped off many sponges. The good news is that just the South Florida reefs came back quickly after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, there are many new corals, both hard and soft, which are re-generating. Based upon our observations of after Andrew, unless you specifically know what to look for, you will not even know that Michele hit it so hard.

There are hoards of tropical fish and lots of small to medium size Nassau Groupers populating the reefs. We saw about 15 spiny lobsters all of which were between 5 to 10 lbs. No I wasn't narc-ed; those guys were BIG!

We found the "Cascades" dive site to be one of our favorites. It is at the north end of Jackson Bay with enormous coral heads. Some start around 80 feet but they are huge & healthy with lots of interesting formations. Let me include my dive buddy's description of them in a report to a friend, "...THE CASCADES...ohmygod I thought I had dived and gone to heaven....these huge glorious coral heads appeared out of the distance standing on a pure white sand chute like an offering from the dive gods to us!! Maybe her description is a little melo-dramatic, but they are definitely worth seeing.

Lowell is the dive master for McCoy's Lodge and one of the best we have ever encountered at dive resorts. After determining that we were experienced capable divers, he let us dive with no our own and go where we wanted to.

As we had a NE breeze most of the week we were there, the no-seeums didn't bother us too bad. One morning there was no breeze and the "flying teeth" were out in force.

The food was American style cooking and satisfying, but nothing to get overly excited about--but we didn't go for the food.

We will go back again and definitely will stay at McCoy's.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Ft. Lauderdale, \; Florida Keys; Walker's Cay, Chubb Cay, Cay Sal Banks & Bimini all in the Bahamas; Roaton, Hondurus; Belize; Saba; Grand Turk, No. & West & So Caicos all in the Turks & Caicos Islands
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather Seas choppy, surge
Water Temp 85-85°F / 29-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 0
Water Visibility 75-150 Ft/ 23-46 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Depth limit of 130 feet, but no seriously monitored for experienced divers
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

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

Subject Matter 2 stars Boat Facilities 1 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 2 stars Shore Facilities 2 stars
UW Photo Comments This is a shore based operation. However there were no special rinse facilities either on the boat or at the lodge for rinsing cameras or housings. No film developing capabilities at the lodge, although there may have been some on available on the Island.
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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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