Just got back from a quick (4 days) trip to Grand Cayman, staying at Cobalt Coast and diving with Divetech. There were four of us; our family came to GC to dive the Kittiwake. As I have mentioned on other threads, this was my dad's last ship--he was the diving officer and chief engineer. The Kittiwake foundation allowed us to put a plaque to my dad on the ship when it was still in Norfolk (my husband's a marine engineer, so no problems there). This was our first time to see it underwater.
Anyway, we have been to Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, but never have dove Grand Cayman. Most of our diving has been in Bonaire, Cozumel, Roatan, and the Florida Keyes; one trip each to Palau and Lembeh. On our vacations, we like to DIVE, eat and sleep. So, like a lot of people here, we prefer dedicated dive resorts.
Cobalt Coast Dive Resort
Cobalt Coast fit our needs nicely. Ari and Dora in the front office were both lovely people, answered all my questions, and took good care of us. We had a 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit with a little kitchen/dining area and living room, three televisions we never turned on, and our own porch with a gorgeous view of the water. Very spacious and comfy. The bed linens were a bit worn, but I liked the firm pillow they gave me. (I usually travel with my own, as I have neck problems.) In any case, I slept like a rock each night and woke up feeling great.
We got the meal plan and it was quite good--particularly lunch. All meals were ordered off the menu. Full breakfast, excellent lunch and a three-course dinner. I actually thought dinner was too much food--when you eat that late and go right to bed, sometimes you just don't need that much. The menu is limited with a special each night--I could see where that could get monotonous. We did see a pizza delivery man at one point, so I guess not everybody gets the meal plan. We were there for such a short time, however, and didn't want to bother with a car or spending time going out.
There is not much to do at night--it's a small place and everything is deserted by nine. There is nothing walkable nearby. I was thinking of an earlier thread that asked "how congenial is Cobalt Coast?" because there was a single woman at the resort. I would have liked to ask her (and others--we met a lot of nice couples there) to join us for dinner, but the table are small, designed for no more than four. I wish they would consider a few rectangular ones for larger groups.
On our first night there, we went for a walk out to the tiny beach area and pier. The pier was in terrible shape--several planks missing, one with nails sticking up, a real hazard. I remarked to one of the Divetech crews about it--seriously, that was just a lawsuit waiting to happen--and was told the pier belonged to the resort. Well, I never got the chance to voice my concerns because it was fixed the very next day! And a nice job they did, too!
Our flight left at 4:30 and our transport came for us at 1:45. So we had some time in the morning, but not enough to go for a sail or something like that. We decided not to do the turtle farm after talking to some other divers about it. Ari warned us about going into town, and I sure do wish I had listened to him. I guess we thought we ought to at least give George Town a look-see. Ugh. I hate shopping and I hate cruise ships and the town looks like Miami thirty years ago. Not very charming, to say the least. We ate lunch out (it would have been better at the resort) and took the bus back. Word to the wise--spend the morning by the pool or snorkeling. I wish we had!
---------- Post added May 11th, 2013 at 11:11 AM ----------
DIVETECH
The most important thing you need to know about the Divetech operation (if you are staying at Cobalt Coast) is that apparently they don't use the on-site pier very much. One of the DMs told me they use it a lot in the summer--when the seas are calm. However, many repeaters to CC have mentioned that they have never used it and it was pretty calm when we were there, so I don't know what to think. You can use the pier for shore dives--it's shallow, so don't do a giant stride--use the ladder.
Here's how it works. Every morning (or afternoon) you get your gear together in your bag and head out to where the trucks are. They put your gear in the truck and you get into the vans. They take you to Lighthouse or other site (if you are diving the Kittiwake, for example) and get your gear on board and out you go. The weights are on the boat and you put them in and take them out again after each trip (or shore dive) You hook up your own gear and change tanks in between.
Our boat was in decent condition, reasonably fast, not overly large and there is no head on board. There is water and orange slices for in between dives. They provide towels.
The DMs/Instructors are a mix of Caymanians, American, Canadians and British/Europeans. They give very thorough briefings and are obviously safety-conscious. Underwater they lead you out and back in, waiting for everybody to get back in the boat before they do. But there isn't a lot of assistance on the boat and they don't point out anything of interest to their charges, unless it's something big--a turtle, or the manta ray we saw one day (another groups saw a hammerhead!) Some people prefer the low-key DM, others don't. Your call.
Christian appears to be the one who really knows his marine life--particularly the small stuff; at one site, he tried to tell us where we could find a sea spider (he was not the DM for that trip) but, sadly, we were unable to find it. But the guy knows his blennies, so I appreciated talking to him about one of my most favorite subjects!
Our DM for the Kittiwake was Andre (Ondrej) who was very thorough and very helpful, taking photos of us with my dad's plaque and leading us around.
The dive briefing for the Stingray City trip was also very thorough. They don't let you feed them yourself--instead the DMs have a bottle full of squid which they feed the rays around the divers sitting in a circle. The "ray wranglers" try to get the rays over to the divers, allowing us to touch them, holding them up for photos and that kind of thing. The DM put the heel of my thumb under the ray's mouth and let it suck--ouch! My goodness, I think they could suck the hair from your head! But the rays know who has the food, so they pretty much ignore the divers who don't have the bottles. It was interesting for awhile, but, I admit, I started looking around for something else to see and/or do after 15 minutes or so. It was a bit controlled for my taste. YMMV.
The diver-prep area is pretty nice--long benches for suiting up. There isn't a lot of room for hanging your stuff to dry. They give you lockers--it was kind of tight for two diver's stuff, but we made it work.
---------- Post added May 11th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ----------
THE DIVING
The dive plan includes two boat dives per day--there is no one-tank afternoon dive. We were scheduled for the morning (7:45 am) dive one day, and subsequent days for the 12:45 pm boat dives. In between we did shore dives at both Lighthouse and Cobalt Coast. So we had a total of six boat dives and four shore dives. For our first (we call it a check-out, both for us and our cameras) dive, it looked pretty choppy at Cobalt Coast, so they took us over to Lighthouse. You have to be out of the water by 4:45 in you want a ride back to Cobalt Coast.
We'd come to GC primarily to dive the Kittiwake. My original plan was to stay on GC just long enough for the Kittiwake and then go on to Little Cayman. I wish I had stuck to our plan, because honestly I do not think the diving was very good on Grand Cayman. I get that people like the coral formations and walls but there just don't seem to be all that many fish. Very few large schools. Very few schools, period. Not even all that many individual fish--the only place I've ever been where a solitary Angel or Rock Beauty is the norm, btw. Strange. You could be on a wall for a good ten minutes and not see a single fish. And, btw, I include small stuff. I like the small stuff. I was happier rooting around in the rubble and sand for blennies and crabs than I was hanging on the walls, on which the dominant color scheme appeared to be varying shades of brown with purple and green accents provided by sponges and sea fans. I just don't get the attraction of the diving here, although I know there are lots of people who return year after year. So perhaps there is something that I'm missing?
I'm not really into wreck diving, although obviously I have an emotional connection to the Kittiwake. But, honestly, the Kittiwake is a great dive, mostly because they foundation has done an outstanding job on it. There are lots of places to swim through and lots of rooms to explore. Very accessible and not scary at all. Some resident fish, including a gorgeous midnight parrot. Definitely a must-do.
Outside of the Kittiwake, our favorite dive was a night shore dive from Cobalt Coast. Lobster, octopus, shrimps, turtle, tarpon and, unfortunately, the largest lionfish I have ever seen anywhere. Our boat dives were otherwise pretty forgettable.
This is hard to write, because I like the people and operation at Divetech and Cobalt Coast very much, and wish them all the best. But the truth is that this is an expensive trip--$1200 a day for four people--for what is essentially mediocre diving. Certainly you can get better diving in Cozumel for less than half the price, but Roatan and Bonaire are also not as expensive and not all that much more difficult/expensive to get to. I'm sorry, but if you are into fish and reef creatures, then Grand Cayman just isn't worth the time nor the money.
IMHO. YMMV, and probably does.
Anyway, we have been to Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, but never have dove Grand Cayman. Most of our diving has been in Bonaire, Cozumel, Roatan, and the Florida Keyes; one trip each to Palau and Lembeh. On our vacations, we like to DIVE, eat and sleep. So, like a lot of people here, we prefer dedicated dive resorts.
Cobalt Coast Dive Resort
Cobalt Coast fit our needs nicely. Ari and Dora in the front office were both lovely people, answered all my questions, and took good care of us. We had a 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit with a little kitchen/dining area and living room, three televisions we never turned on, and our own porch with a gorgeous view of the water. Very spacious and comfy. The bed linens were a bit worn, but I liked the firm pillow they gave me. (I usually travel with my own, as I have neck problems.) In any case, I slept like a rock each night and woke up feeling great.
We got the meal plan and it was quite good--particularly lunch. All meals were ordered off the menu. Full breakfast, excellent lunch and a three-course dinner. I actually thought dinner was too much food--when you eat that late and go right to bed, sometimes you just don't need that much. The menu is limited with a special each night--I could see where that could get monotonous. We did see a pizza delivery man at one point, so I guess not everybody gets the meal plan. We were there for such a short time, however, and didn't want to bother with a car or spending time going out.
There is not much to do at night--it's a small place and everything is deserted by nine. There is nothing walkable nearby. I was thinking of an earlier thread that asked "how congenial is Cobalt Coast?" because there was a single woman at the resort. I would have liked to ask her (and others--we met a lot of nice couples there) to join us for dinner, but the table are small, designed for no more than four. I wish they would consider a few rectangular ones for larger groups.
On our first night there, we went for a walk out to the tiny beach area and pier. The pier was in terrible shape--several planks missing, one with nails sticking up, a real hazard. I remarked to one of the Divetech crews about it--seriously, that was just a lawsuit waiting to happen--and was told the pier belonged to the resort. Well, I never got the chance to voice my concerns because it was fixed the very next day! And a nice job they did, too!
Our flight left at 4:30 and our transport came for us at 1:45. So we had some time in the morning, but not enough to go for a sail or something like that. We decided not to do the turtle farm after talking to some other divers about it. Ari warned us about going into town, and I sure do wish I had listened to him. I guess we thought we ought to at least give George Town a look-see. Ugh. I hate shopping and I hate cruise ships and the town looks like Miami thirty years ago. Not very charming, to say the least. We ate lunch out (it would have been better at the resort) and took the bus back. Word to the wise--spend the morning by the pool or snorkeling. I wish we had!
---------- Post added May 11th, 2013 at 11:11 AM ----------
DIVETECH
The most important thing you need to know about the Divetech operation (if you are staying at Cobalt Coast) is that apparently they don't use the on-site pier very much. One of the DMs told me they use it a lot in the summer--when the seas are calm. However, many repeaters to CC have mentioned that they have never used it and it was pretty calm when we were there, so I don't know what to think. You can use the pier for shore dives--it's shallow, so don't do a giant stride--use the ladder.
Here's how it works. Every morning (or afternoon) you get your gear together in your bag and head out to where the trucks are. They put your gear in the truck and you get into the vans. They take you to Lighthouse or other site (if you are diving the Kittiwake, for example) and get your gear on board and out you go. The weights are on the boat and you put them in and take them out again after each trip (or shore dive) You hook up your own gear and change tanks in between.
Our boat was in decent condition, reasonably fast, not overly large and there is no head on board. There is water and orange slices for in between dives. They provide towels.
The DMs/Instructors are a mix of Caymanians, American, Canadians and British/Europeans. They give very thorough briefings and are obviously safety-conscious. Underwater they lead you out and back in, waiting for everybody to get back in the boat before they do. But there isn't a lot of assistance on the boat and they don't point out anything of interest to their charges, unless it's something big--a turtle, or the manta ray we saw one day (another groups saw a hammerhead!) Some people prefer the low-key DM, others don't. Your call.
Christian appears to be the one who really knows his marine life--particularly the small stuff; at one site, he tried to tell us where we could find a sea spider (he was not the DM for that trip) but, sadly, we were unable to find it. But the guy knows his blennies, so I appreciated talking to him about one of my most favorite subjects!
Our DM for the Kittiwake was Andre (Ondrej) who was very thorough and very helpful, taking photos of us with my dad's plaque and leading us around.
The dive briefing for the Stingray City trip was also very thorough. They don't let you feed them yourself--instead the DMs have a bottle full of squid which they feed the rays around the divers sitting in a circle. The "ray wranglers" try to get the rays over to the divers, allowing us to touch them, holding them up for photos and that kind of thing. The DM put the heel of my thumb under the ray's mouth and let it suck--ouch! My goodness, I think they could suck the hair from your head! But the rays know who has the food, so they pretty much ignore the divers who don't have the bottles. It was interesting for awhile, but, I admit, I started looking around for something else to see and/or do after 15 minutes or so. It was a bit controlled for my taste. YMMV.
The diver-prep area is pretty nice--long benches for suiting up. There isn't a lot of room for hanging your stuff to dry. They give you lockers--it was kind of tight for two diver's stuff, but we made it work.
---------- Post added May 11th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ----------
THE DIVING
The dive plan includes two boat dives per day--there is no one-tank afternoon dive. We were scheduled for the morning (7:45 am) dive one day, and subsequent days for the 12:45 pm boat dives. In between we did shore dives at both Lighthouse and Cobalt Coast. So we had a total of six boat dives and four shore dives. For our first (we call it a check-out, both for us and our cameras) dive, it looked pretty choppy at Cobalt Coast, so they took us over to Lighthouse. You have to be out of the water by 4:45 in you want a ride back to Cobalt Coast.
We'd come to GC primarily to dive the Kittiwake. My original plan was to stay on GC just long enough for the Kittiwake and then go on to Little Cayman. I wish I had stuck to our plan, because honestly I do not think the diving was very good on Grand Cayman. I get that people like the coral formations and walls but there just don't seem to be all that many fish. Very few large schools. Very few schools, period. Not even all that many individual fish--the only place I've ever been where a solitary Angel or Rock Beauty is the norm, btw. Strange. You could be on a wall for a good ten minutes and not see a single fish. And, btw, I include small stuff. I like the small stuff. I was happier rooting around in the rubble and sand for blennies and crabs than I was hanging on the walls, on which the dominant color scheme appeared to be varying shades of brown with purple and green accents provided by sponges and sea fans. I just don't get the attraction of the diving here, although I know there are lots of people who return year after year. So perhaps there is something that I'm missing?
I'm not really into wreck diving, although obviously I have an emotional connection to the Kittiwake. But, honestly, the Kittiwake is a great dive, mostly because they foundation has done an outstanding job on it. There are lots of places to swim through and lots of rooms to explore. Very accessible and not scary at all. Some resident fish, including a gorgeous midnight parrot. Definitely a must-do.
Outside of the Kittiwake, our favorite dive was a night shore dive from Cobalt Coast. Lobster, octopus, shrimps, turtle, tarpon and, unfortunately, the largest lionfish I have ever seen anywhere. Our boat dives were otherwise pretty forgettable.
This is hard to write, because I like the people and operation at Divetech and Cobalt Coast very much, and wish them all the best. But the truth is that this is an expensive trip--$1200 a day for four people--for what is essentially mediocre diving. Certainly you can get better diving in Cozumel for less than half the price, but Roatan and Bonaire are also not as expensive and not all that much more difficult/expensive to get to. I'm sorry, but if you are into fish and reef creatures, then Grand Cayman just isn't worth the time nor the money.
IMHO. YMMV, and probably does.
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