Little Cayman Trip - November 1-8, 2014
It has been over a year since my last real dive trip vacation and finally the time has come as this trip has been in the works since January of 2014. This will also be my first dive trip with a group of friends who I've never dove with before and I had been excitedly looking forward to the nice getaway. Rob Knuth, Jennifer and Jeremy Miu are my dive buddies for the week at Little Cayman Beach Resort.
It has been over a year since my last real dive trip vacation and finally the time has come as this trip has been in the works since January of 2014. This will also be my first dive trip with a group of friends who I've never dove with before and I had been excitedly looking forward to the nice getaway. Rob Knuth, Jennifer and Jeremy Miu are my dive buddies for the week at Little Cayman Beach Resort.
Jenn was the lead at putting together the itinerary including the resort
booking, travel arrangements and timeframe.
She did an amazing job keeping us updated on any changes and making sure
we all had the contact information. Jenn
and Jeremy had their first adventure to Little Cayman Beach Resort the previous
year and enjoyed it so much they had to go back. They spoke very highly of the resort, the
people and the dive sites that I was very excited to accompany them. Little Cayman is a small island only about 10
miles long and 1 mile wide. Makes for
great traffic, or lack thereof, and peace and quiet.
Our trip was scheduled from the 1st of November through the 8th. Due to flight schedules, we flew out on
Friday, October 31st, Halloween. It is
also Rob's birthday so we had planned to try and celebrate amidst the
traveling. I went to work in the morning
of the 31st and Rob picked me up around 2pm to meet up with Jenn and Jeremy
where we got a taxi to the airport. No
sense in leaving a vehicle at the airport and paying parking fees for the week. Our flight was on time and all made it through
security with plenty of time to grab a couple pre-flight drinks. Apparently Halloween is a good time to fly
out as the airport was surprisingly empty.
Our flight took off at about 5:30pm and landed in Miami, FL just after
8PM. We had a short layover which went
by quickly and then back on a plane to Grand Cayman. Touchdown was at about 10PM and we collected
our baggage and got a taxi to a hotel to stay the night as our next flight to
Little Cayman wasn't until 7:45am. The
hotel was decent and had a nice outdoor bar where we proceeded to enjoy some
brews and celebrate Rob's birthday. I
tried Caybrew, a beer of the Caymans, which was a tasty thirst quencher. It was finally time for some shuteye so we
all went to the room and passed out.
Morning came too soon, however it was nice waking up knowing we were
already on an island and on the way to our final destination, Little
Cayman! Our plane was a very tiny
19-person "puddle jumper" prop plane and thankfully was only just
over an hour flight. It was serene
looking out the window over the beautiful blue ocean and seeing our very tiny
island come into view. The landing was
smooth and we made our way off the runway to the smallest airport I’ve ever
been to, collected our luggage and all piled up into the shuttle to take us a
couple miles down the road to the resort.
Our rooms were not quite ready so we left our luggage with the front
desk and walked around the resort and along the beach. Reef Divers dive shop was open so we checked
in and signed all the paperwork for our upcoming dives. Lunch was not included on today’s travel day
so we ventured a couple miles to the market and picked up some water and snacks
then next door to the Hungry Iguana and enjoyed some fish-n-chips.
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| ...Jeremy not so much |
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| Rob enjoying fresh coconut water... |
Little Cayman runs east to West
so the diving is typically done off the North or South sides. The North side is typically better and more
sought after, however the winds were strong and causing higher swells and
currents so we couldn’t make it over to the North until later in the week. As long as I'm below the surface and wet, I'm happy! Little Cayman Beach Resort
is known for it's amazing accommodations from exceptional managerial
staff to extraordinary wait staff and excellent dive crew. Everybody
working at the resort were professional, courteous, polite and had a
great sense of humor. Our Divemasters, Will and Anoush took great care of all of us
including handling our gear and providing us with great detail of each
dive site we visited. With the all-inclusive tickets came a week of
full enjoyment, adventure, relaxation and food! |
| courtesy of Mark Vogel |
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| courtesy of Mark Vogel |
Each day was quite similar, early rising at 6:30am and ready for the sound of the breakfast bell at 7am. Relax and get gear ready for the days diving. 8:10am we were to be at the boat with our personal gear and head out for our two morning dives. We would dock between 11am and noon to break for some lunch and a short relaxation before back on board for a 1:50pm departure for our afternoon dive. The diving day ended between 4pm and 5pm where showers were in full use and dry clothes was scarce. The dinner bell was a delightful sound at 6:30pm and then the refreshing outdoor bar area was a great place to enjoy a couple drinks before the earliest of bedtimes at around 9pm.
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| courtesy of Pete Passolt |
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| courtesy of Pete Passolt |
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| courtesy of Pete Passolt |
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| courtesy of Pete Passolt |
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| courtesy of Pete Passolt |
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| courtesy of Pete Passolt |
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| courtesy of Pete Passolt |
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| courtesy of Pete Passolt |
The first day was introductions on the dive boat and Jeremy, Jenn, Rob and I "adopted" Mark into our group as he was a solo diver. Mark was a great addition to our group and we all enjoyed spending the week diving with him and getting to know him. He is a great diver and took lots of beautiful pictures which I can't wait to share as well. We met our Divemasters Will and Anoush, made sure all our gear was on board and set up and then set out to sea. Lighthouse, Grundy's Reef and Gaye's Reef were our first three South side dive locations. The water was warm, clear and full of Caribbean fish and coral! Grouper were everywhere and they are quite friendly as they have been taught to hunt the invasive Lionfish. It's quite entertaining being followed closely by these larger fish hoping you will point out a tasty specimen.
Each dive was as good as the previous, if not better. It seemed like the aquatic life was just as friendly and beautiful as those on land. Day two we continued on the South side due to strong winds causing high swells and currents on the North side. No worry to me as I just love being in the water. Richard's Reef, Soto Traitor, and Grundy's Garden, Grundy's Reef, Windsock and Gaye's (Andy's) Reef were on the docket for day two and three. There was lots to look at and enjoy. Eels, Groupers, Triggers, Shrimp, Crabs, and more!
There was a managers welcome on Monday the 3rd and Ladies Night was Tuesday followed by a fun evening of Trivia on Wednesday. Mark really wanted to do trivia and we were all happy to group up and come in at 3rd place! The weather also started calming down and we were able to cruise on over to the North side and complete the rest of the dives along the North. I can see why that side is more popular, it is full of life, swim throughs, and gorgeous reef walls. Rob and I also decided to do a night dive on Thursday which was kept on the South side and we ended up diving Windsock which we had dove on a previous day. It was neat to see the same dive spot at night and there was a cannon in the sand that I made sure to find on our night dive. Our remaining dive sites included Sarah's Set, Cumbers Caves, Pirates Point Reef, Nancy's Cup of Tea (really cool spot), Lea Lea's Lookout, Mixing Bowl (one of the fav's), Windsock (night dive), Mike's Mount, and Great Wall East. I've posted a bunch of pictures below so please enjoy!
Alas the final day arrived and we set out for our last two dives aboard the Holiday Diver II where Anoush was off and Natalie joined Will as our DM. The final dives were spectacular! I got to feed a turtle, hover around with Eagle Rays and float out into the open blue. If you are not a diver you just don't understand the beauty of our oceans, such peace and tranquility. It will definitely lower your stress levels and put you in a state of relaxation.
Back on solid land we all met for lunch and then took our time cleaning up our gear and enjoying a break before Jeremy, Jenn, Rob and I decided to rent some kayaks. Unfortunately there were only two and only one of those was a two-person. So instead we strolled along the beach toward the end where a small island was across the beautiful turquoise lagoon and proceeded to snorkel through the lagoon. There were hundreds of conch and small fish living within the sea grass and sands. The island was small and also covered with conch shells and other snail shells. Jeremy and I walked around looking for shells while Jenn and Rob enjoyed laying out and catching some sun rays. On our way back Rob spotted a pile of conch shells in the sand with a small(ish) octopus hiding in it's burrow. I was able to dive down and get a few pictures as well as a short video clip.
I think we all decided it was time to finally get back to the resort and get cleaned up and in dry clothes. The dinner bell was not too far away and we were all quite hungry. Mark met us for dinner and we had a great time reflecting on the days past. He bought us a very tasty bottle of wine which didn't last long. I really hope to keep in touch as I am sure as divers, our paths will cross again! Thank you Mark for a really enjoyable time diving with you!
A few highlights from the trip were the friendly and curious Groupers, playing around with the Sting Rays, feeding a Sea Turtle, meeting new dive friends, great weather and all around great adventure!
A special thank you to Little Cayman Beach Resort staff and crew; Anoush, Will, Natalie, Robert, Tanisha, Claudia, Judeen, Samantha, Damian, Jose, Grace, Teresa, and I apologize if I forgot anyone as everyone was amazing at remembering all of our names. Until next time...
(all pictures unless noted were taken by me with my Intova, Canon and iPhone)
