Trip Report Grand Cayman: Cobalt Coast (Reef Divers) and Compass Point (Ocean Frontiers)

[KathyV]

We went Ala Carte instead of a package. Since my wife doesn't dive it seemed to be quite a bit cheaper that way. Found a rental car from Alamo for under a hundred a week.....added the insurance however since I have never driven on the wrong .....er left side of the road before!

I suggest bringing a GPS and car charger with you. Driving around Compass Point won't be a problem because there isn't much traffic and only a few main roads. But driving to and from the airport and visiting George Town and Seven Mile Beach and other parts of the island can be confusing. There are lots of roundabouts and George Town has many narrow, angled, one-way streets and traffic can get heavy during rush hours.

And you won't want to use up your cellular data and incur roaming charges by depending on your interactive phone maps. But some folks like to download the Grand Cayman maps to their phone before leaving home and say that works for them.

We have an old Garmin GPS and car charger and it works well for us, the Cayman maps are included in the North American Garmin map so you don't need to buy anything special. If you don't have one perhaps you can borrow one or buy one cheap on ebay? Garmin's international office used to be located on GC so they have good maps of the island.

In fact, the directions to Compass Point suggest using a Garmin GPS, see below:
Directions

 

[ShutterFinger]

Thanks KathyV,
I dug out my old Garmin and will be bring it along. Thanks for the tips. I can't wait for some Lionfish tacos!

 

[scubadada]

The Lionfish tacos at Eagle Ray's are delicious!

 

[MAGELLAN]

So, we stayed at Compass Point, and dove with Reef Divers. The package we had included food, which was pretty good for an all-inclusive. Dive staff was very friendly and professional, but they did limit our dive times - despite gently asking to extend them several times (Don't you hate having to walk on eggshells around someone you're paying to cater to you?) - typically, 60Min for the first and 50Min for the second. For that reason, we wouldn't go back, we are in Cozumel now and diving 65-80 mins each time (typical 80cuft tanks). The culture of Mexico is so much less rigid and rule oriented, and even though I appreciate a well run operation, I'm on vacation and don't want to "wrap up" the dives in time to make it back for a 12:00 lunch... Don't know why, but this seems to bother me a lot more than others; I just need air, weighs, and a boat ride - no hand-holding and no schedules...

Very nice shore dive at Cobalt Coast though, highly recommend that! If we go back to Cayman we will most likely stay somewhere inexpensive, rent a car, and just do shore dives around the island.

 

[tkaelin]

You mean Cobalt Coast?

 

[Joneill]

You mean Cobalt Coast?

He must have meant that as Compass Point is Ocean Frontiers! Reef Divers are at Cobalt Coast...

 

[Damselfish]

and as Cobalt Coast is an AI and Compass Point is not, and doesn't have a shore dive.

Reef Divers at Little Cayman Beach Resort has had periods over the years where they were way hung up on dive times and/or making a schedule. (We stopped going there for awhile until they knocked it off.) Given that there is no afternoon boat at Cobalt Coast to worry about I wonder why.

 

[Doctorfish]

Have been to LCBR recently and if a dive went 65 or 70 minutes, the DMs did not say a word. There was a DM at LCBR a few years back who was an absolute witch when it came to dive times and schedule. Thankfully she is long gone and the current dive shop manager, Sharon, is pretty laid back.

I am surprised that Reef Divers on GC worries so much about dive times. If they want to grow their business, they should back off. As Damselfish said, there is no afternoon boat dive so why quibble over a few extra minutes of diving.

 

[AggieDiver]

Most of the folks at the GC reef divers came from one of the sister island reef divers, so I suspect it is just habit at this point.

 

[scubadada]

Most of the folks at the GC reef divers came from one of the sister island reef divers, so I suspect it is just habit at this point.

I was never over regulated on my two trips to Little Cayman, average dive times about 65 minutes. Even though the same policy was in place, I was not limited at Cobalt Coast when it was run by Divetech. It would be disappointing if Reef Divers at Cobalt Coast was more restrictive.