Help me decide on a location

[jonb347]

Hey guys. I am a somewhat newer diver, my wife is experienced. We want to go for a caribbean trip and want it to be affordable. We had a nice all inclusive honeymoon last year in Nuevo Vallarta so this time I want to do more diving. Id like a nice beach area and some other things to do, but in general we want to do some good diving. I am thinking of the following

The Reef Resort in Grand Cayman. 5 night dive package (morning dives)
Scuba Club Cozumel (more diving, less lounging)

I am looking for input on both! Thanks! Want to keep it relatively affordable.
-Jon

 

[vicky-g.]

I believe Cozumel is probably the best bang for the buck! Would recommend the Blue Angel Resort, their beach is not that great-but small, friendly, clean and good hotel +dive op. Scuba Clubs beach is not impressive either. But you can also go for on of the AI Resorts in the south, then its probably pretty cheap and the nicer beaches are there. Diving is awesome!

 

[frostfire]

Hey Jon...The Reef is at the pretty remote far end of Grand Cayman, right by the great wall dives, but a solid 25 minute drive to 7 Mile Beach restaurants for dinner. That being said, the diving at that part of the island kicks butt off 7 mile dives (though you must do Stingray City even though its a tourist trap). The wall dives off The Reef are pristine and almost deserted as the 7 mile operators wont go that far in general. The only other divers we saw on the walls were from the live aboards.

While I love Cozumel and it's caribbean vibe, I wouldnt go back to Cancun again if someone paid me. Is there a direct flight from where you are to Cozumel or do you have to go thru Cancun?

 

[Bryan Cunningham]

Hi Jon,
Caymans is by far a more expensive option. The Reef is also pretty remote. You would be better staying at a resort closer to 7 Mile beach and use Epic Divers.

Cozumel would be a far better bang for the buck trip. Choose one of the All Inclusive down South.

Where are you flying from, and when? From Canada, AC flies direct to Coz from Toronto.

 

[releck97]

Bang for the buck depends on a number of variables. Units at The Reef and Morritt's in East End can typically be had through owners for very little on VRBO and other sites. Yes, the boat diving is more expensive on GC, but if you don't mind driving to the other side of the island a couple of times, shore dives can be had for $10 a bottle. Check out the Cayman forum for a lot more on this. Most units at The Reef have full kitchens making it very easy to cut down on eating costs. There are several restaurants on the east end of the island including Over the Edge, Eagle Rays, Tukka, the Lighthouse, South Coast Bar and Grill, Vivines, the restaurants at The Reef and Morritt's and others. Rum Point is an easy drive as is Kaibo. The roads are in much better shape on GC as are the rental cars. Flights into GCM from the US East Coast tend to be significantly cheaper when we price them as well. My favorite operators on GC are Ocean Frontiers and Epic Divers.To quote our POTAS, "Let me be perfectly clear", I'm not attempting to bash CZM, just trying to give you a perspective on how to do GCM on the cheap without it feeling like it...we do it every year. We also dive CZM regularly.

 

[Lopez116]

Bang for the buck depends on a number of variables. Units at The Reef and Morritt's in East End can typically be had through owners for very little on VRBO and other sites. Yes, the boat diving is more expensive on GC, but if you don't mind driving to the other side of the island a couple of times, shore dives can be had for $10 a bottle. Check out the Cayman forum for a lot more on this. Most units at The Reef have full kitchens making it very easy to cut down on eating costs. There are several restaurants on the east end of the island including Over the Edge, Eagle Rays, Tukka, the Lighthouse, South Coast Bar and Grill, Vivines, the restaurants at The Reef and Morritt's and others. Rum Point is an easy drive as is Kaibo. The roads are in much better shape on GC as are the rental cars. Flights into GCM from the US East Coast tend to be significantly cheaper when we price them as well. My favorite operators on GC are Ocean Frontiers and Epic Divers.To quote our POTAS, "Let me be perfectly clear", I'm not attempting to bash CZM, just trying to give you a perspective on how to do GCM on the cheap without it feeling like it...we do it every year. We also dive CZM regularly.

Totally agree with Releck here. I think the "cayman is too expensive" theme is a little oversimplified.


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[herman]

What is you defination of "more diving"? Many places are just 2 dives a day which I don't consider much. If any more are offered they usually run the cost up a lot.
SC Cozumel is nice but it you are really looking for more diving it may not be the place for you. Basically, it's 2 morning dives followed by lounging around all day or walking down town. They do not have a "beach", just a man made sandy area that overlooks a 5ish foot concrete dropoff into the water. There is a shore dive there but it's not the best dive to be had.
If you want a lot more diving for less bucks you might want to look at is Curacao, it's similar to Bonaire with lots of good shore diving but it is bigger with more attactions and some better beaches.

 

[jonb347]

What is you defination of "more diving"? Many places are just 2 dives a day which I don't consider much. If any more are offered they usually run the cost up a lot.
SC Cozumel is nice but it you are really looking for more diving it may not be the place for you. Basically, it's 2 morning dives followed by lounging around all day or walking down town. They do not have a "beach", just a man made sandy area that overlooks a 5ish foot concrete dropoff into the water. There is a shore dive there but it's not the best dive to be had.
If you want a lot more diving for less bucks you might want to look at is Curacao, it's similar to Bonaire with lots of good shore diving but it is bigger with more attactions and some better beaches.

huh for some reason my subscription thing was messed up and i just now got a notice. thanks for all the input guys! I have to go back and read them all now haha

 

[releck97]

If you are leaning towards CZM, please ask more questions! My operator (who I truly call my friend) will give you an experience way beyond the "normal" commercial operations on island.

 

[sullivan]

A couple of suggestions would be to provide target budget and whether you are going in low or high season as budget will dictate resort choices. Tough to give spot on options when you say "affordable"; what some consider affordable, you may consider expensive. Having stayed at a variety of places in GC, including the Reef, my suggestion is to avoid the remote side of GC for your first trip. Spend your last, non-diving day driving to the quiet side and check out the Reef; if you like the remoteness, you can do it the next trip.


We travel during low season (April-mid December) and when we want a nice trip, we stay at the Coral Stone Club; all the units are beachfront and they are full condos. A week of lodging alone is around $5,000. When we want a less expensive trip, we stay at the Discovery Point Club "DPC". Most of the units have been remodeled and you can go online, see pics of each unit and choose your unit. They are all full condo, oceanfront units and a low season week is under $2,000 (call direct and ask for specials for best rate). If you want to make it a cheap vacation, you can cook a bunch of meals in your unit. The other nice thing about DPC is that it is 2 minutes from the West Bay dock from where multiple dive boats depart.


We like Living the Dream Divers and 6 days of 2 tanks dives is $510 per person. We usually take our gear off the boat a few days and do shore dives at Turtle Reef, Cobalt Coast & Eden Rock, getting tanks/weights from the on-site operators (2 divers approx. $25 per diver). Rental car approx. $350/wk. So, before food, you can do a lot of diving and stay oceanfront for $3,500 or less before considering food.

As someone else stated, there are a lot of different options for GC across many price spectrums. I'm sure you can go even cheaper if wanted to stay at a dive resort like Sunset House or Cobalt Coast. Just look around based on target budget. Feel free to PM me with specific questions

---------- Post added March 29th, 2014 at 09:25 AM ----------

Just read this and it may help. Post #2 in this thread is spot on with respect to shore diving options in GC. If you wanted to save money, you could do more shore dives vs. boat dives and get plenty of variety. When we were new divers, we learned a lot & got more comfortable by doing dives on our own (in Bonaire) rather than rely fully on a guide off a boat.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gr...e-diving-grand-cayman-cayman-brac-advice.html