Grand Cayman/Little Cayman in One Trip?

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TravelDave

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Some friends and I are looking to do a short dive trip (maybe 4 days of diving). We've been to Grand Cayman before and enjoyed it. One thought we had was to go to Grand Cayman, but do a side trip with a couple days of diving to Little Cayman (thought process being to dive somewhere we haven't been before). We are trying to keep the trip cost to a reasonable level. My questions:

1) Is it easy and/or affordable to get to LC from GC?
2) What kind of lodging is available on LC for a couple of days?
3) Is the diving on LC that much better to warrant the extra effort?
4) Anything else you can think of to help with making decisions and planning?
 
Airfare from GCM to LC is about $140 pp RT. There are very limited lodging option on LC, and it may be difficult to get lodging for less than 3 nights. As for the diving, well it is extraordinary, and in most cases, I would say go for it, but I am not sure it is worth the extreme effort to get maybe 2 days of diving or less out of it. Keep in mind your time to fly requirements and realize that if you are doing a 4 day trip, because of the way flights in and out of LC and GCM are structured, you may lose as many as 2 of your 4 dive days because of the need to degas before flying.

My advice would be to enjoy four days on GCM, and save the trip to LC for a time when you can come back and spend enough time to really enjoy it. One of the great things about LC is that it is quiet and relaxing in addition to having great diving. You won't really get the chance to experience that with such a short visit.
 
I have lived on Little Cayman for six years now, so think I can offer some help here!

(a) At the moment, there is a bit of a fare ware going on between Island Air and Cayman Airways. You can get cheap tickets as a result. The basic R/T fare is now $100, plus $11.25 in landing fees. I have heard that if you take Cayman Airways from the US, then it is only something like $30 more to continue on to Little Cayman.
(b) There are all kinds of choices for lodging. I have links off my web page to the web pages for the 5 main resorts--see http://www.qsl.net/zf2nt and take the link for background info on Little Cayman. In addition to the 5 resorts, there are several cottages you can rent. Which resort you would choose depends on what you like. Little Cayman Beach Resort is the most focused on diving...Pirate's Point is smaller and cozier, and with better food...Southern Cross has the nicest beach and the best Friday afternoon happy hour...and Paradise Villas actually has kitchens in the room so you can do your own cooking.
(c) Yes, the diving is that much better on Little Cayman than on Grand Cayman. It's the best I've seen anywhere in North America, which is why my wife and I stopped traveling around to different dive resorts and settled on Little Cayman!
(d) Other things you might want to know: there is not much else to do on Little Cayman besides dive. There is no shopping, there is almost no night life. But there are no stop lights, no traffic, only 7 stop signs on the whole island. It's a very rare day when I see somebody out on my beach as far as I can see in either direction.

I was on Grand Cayman last month for my IDC, and it was nice. But I'm sure glad I don't live there!

Bruce Sawyer
OWSI-190273


TravelDave:
Some friends and I are looking to do a short dive trip (maybe 4 days of diving). We've been to Grand Cayman before and enjoyed it. One thought we had was to go to Grand Cayman, but do a side trip with a couple days of diving to Little Cayman (thought process being to dive somewhere we haven't been before). We are trying to keep the trip cost to a reasonable level. My questions:

1) Is it easy and/or affordable to get to LC from GC?
2) What kind of lodging is available on LC for a couple of days?
3) Is the diving on LC that much better to warrant the extra effort?
4) Anything else you can think of to help with making decisions and planning?
 
My wife & I stayed 1 week Little Cayman followed by 1 week Grand Cayman in November 2003. Cayman Airways was not yet servicing Little Cayman when we went, so it appears you have the free market competition thing to your advantage for this now. The diving is different enough along Bloody Bay Wall due to its sheer "sheerness" - almost vertical - to any site we dove in Grand Cayman. But Grand Cayman sites aren't "ugly" either - for example, Turtle Reef is our favorite site on Grand Cayman.

We're not big nightlife folks - so for us, if we were full of money and didn't have to concern ourselves about earning a living anymore Little Cayman would be our current pick to live out our existence on - unless the island gets a big "boom" in development now with jet service (something some folks were concerned with when we were there). Only time will tell.

Everyone has individual tastes, but we like to spend a minimum of 1 week anywhere we travel to have any opportunity to try to "get to know" the place. My in-laws are content with no more than 2 days in one place most times as the sheer variety of places they visit is their main enjoyment (they've been to 93 counties now, including an Antarctic vacation!) We're exactly the opposite and vacation to relax and not have harried full schedules on vacation as we get enough of that in our everyday work lives. Enjoy your vacation as suits your tastes, whatever those might be!
 
My first time in the Caymans we did 5 nights Little Cayman (Beach Resort, which had just opened) and 5 nts Grand Cayman. This is about the minimum time I'd spend splitting a trip between the 2 islands. We turned around 6 months later and went back just to LCBR for 8 nights so that says something. Don't try to do both islands in 4 days, you'll spend all your time offgassing & traveling. I wouldn't completely rule out a 4 night trip to Little Cayman alone, but you're probably better off sticking to GC for a short trip. (One of the biggest problems with a 4 night LC trip is the pain of leaving so soon!)

If you stayed in 7 mile beach or Georgetown area last time and dove mostly the West, you can get a completely different trip by staying at Cobalt Coast at the northwest tip or one of the places on the East End, that gets you some of the best diving on GC while staying in a quiet/uncongested area.
 
Damselfish:
My first time in the Caymans we did 5 nights Little Cayman (Beach Resort, which had just opened)...

That would have been in '93. I visited LCBR that year as well, in April while it was still under construction. We had dinner with Linton Tibbets, his wife and son Danny, most nights. Quite a nice gent, although I image he's got to be close to being in his 90's by now. I hope we'll be able to see him again when we go down to LC later this year.

...and 5 nts Grand Cayman. This is about the minimum time I'd spend splitting a trip between the 2 islands.

Agreed, and even this is tight when you start considering your transit days...depending on where in the USA you're coming from, I'd probably recommend spending the first half of your trip in Little Cayman...that way, you could catch an AM flight back to Grand Cayman and make an afternoon dive, or at least get properly checked in on the GCM diveshop in the afternoon before your first full day of diving.


Back to the original questions:

1) Is it easy and/or affordable to get to LC from GC?

Around $150/pp-RT. Do watch your flight schedules, as LYB's airport is a grass strip with no lights, which means the last flight of the day is before sunset.

2) What kind of lodging is available on LC for a couple of days?

The LCBR is the only official hotel. The dive "camps" are really clusters of cottages & rooms, are generally less expensive and have all been around a lot longer than the LCBR. From lowest to highest general prices, its Sam McCoy's, then Southern Cross Club, then Pirate's Point.

There's also a couple of Condo type places, but they're generally expensive...Paradise Villas used to be downright cheap, but the last time I looked it was IMO pricey. Houses tend to be good priced for a group; be careful of transportation costs as vehicles and fuel are both expensive, and these are often a prerequisite for the home rentals (FWIW, I think a few include a vehicle).

3) Is the diving on LC that much better to warrant the extra effort?

Diving "goodness" is always subject to some degree to personal taste. However, less diver pressure and less land development are not bad things. I've dived the Bloody Bay area dozens of times and have found most visitors are awed by its topology. One of my favorite techniques when guiding a first-timer is at Mixing Bowl, and I'll tell them to closely follow me, doing what I do for the first 5 minutes. I then get down close to the bottom and swim the compass heading that will take me nice and perpendicular, straight off the wall. The trick is that as I see the hint of the edge approaching, I accelerate :)

BTW, do make sure beforehand that the first timer doesn't have a fear of heights.


4) Anything else you can think of to help with making decisions and planning?

First, decide if you really want to go to a place that has minimal topside (land) entertainment or distractions. If you're the type who can keep youself entertained on a camping trip to the woods, you'll do fine. But if you need the big city for the dance & bar scene, Little Cayman will drive you up a wall.

Second, be aware that there are some seasonal variations. When were you thinking about going?

Third, the best food on the island is generally considered to be Gladys Howard's, down at Pirates Point.


-hh
 
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