DiveTech and Cobalt Coast?

I'm looking at taking some tech diving courses with DiveTech the last week of May and was wondering about Cobalt Coast? From the posts I've read both sound like great operations but was wondering about the location of Cobalt Coast and its proximity to things. I'm traveling alone but would like to get out a bit and was wondering what was around it. Not adverse to walking a few miles but don't ask me to drive on the left :bonk:

Is Cobalt Coast the best place to stay in that area? I've been to Grand Cayman once before, 2 years ago and stayed at Treasure Island, which was fine and close to everything. Also have walked the Seven Mile Beach and was wondering how far they are from the northern part of the strip?

Thanks,

Kev

bridgenet once bubbled...
I'm looking at taking some tech diving courses with DiveTech the last week of May and was wondering about Cobalt Coast? From the posts I've read both sound like great operations but was wondering about the location of Cobalt Coast and its proximity to things. I'm traveling alone but would like to get out a bit and was wondering what was around it. Not adverse to walking a few miles but don't ask me to drive on the left :bonk:

Is Cobalt Coast the best place to stay in that area? I've been to Grand Cayman once before, 2 years ago and stayed at Treasure Island, which was fine and close to everything. Also have walked the Seven Mile Beach and was wondering how far they are from the northern part of the strip?

Thanks,

Kev

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Yeh.... CC is quite a ways from other tourist type activities. I stayed in a condo at the West Bay end of 7 mile beach and it was still a bit of a drive to get to CC. Not terrible mind you, but you have to do a bit of jogging around to get back to it.

Even though I didn't stay there, I did a fair bit of shore diving from there and their Turtle Farm location. Nice Wall and reef back there. Also ate lunch at their Bar and food was decent. Nice folks were working there at the time in the dive ops. (2 years ago).

I don't know if they have shuttle or taxi service, but if not, you'll definitely want a car (IMHO).

And hey... driving on the left isn't that bad... it's easier if you get a car with steering wheel on the right side of the car.

We stayed at Cobalt and had a blast! It is a ways from everything, but if you want to get into town & don't want to rent a car, you can catch the "bus" (it's actually a van). To catch the bus, you need to walk down the beach to the dead tree, take a left & walk to the main street (that's the directions they gave us at the resort). I'm thinking to myself, "What am I getting myself into"? Anyway, it's not much of a walk & if you happen to see the bus before you get to the stop you can hail it like a cab & it'll stop to pick you up. It's only a couple of bucks to get into town, but if you pay an extra dollar on the way back they'll drop you off right at the Resort.
If you haven't eaten at Chicken-Chicken I would strongly suggest going there. They have the BEST chicken I've ever eaten & give you really big portions of veggies..
Really nice people at Cobalt & Divetech is great! Going back this October & can't wait.

Cindy

Thank you both for the replies. My daughter is graduating high school and she just mentioned she might like to join me. Was wondering if there were any decent beaches within walking distance of Cobalt Coast? Looking at the pictures there doesn't seem to be any there, just coral. How is the snorkeling?

Thanks,

Kev

I dove with Divetech both at the the Turtle Reef and Cobalt coast locations in Sept.

If you stay at CC, you can probably catch a ride with the staff back and forth to the Turtle Reef location as they seem to go back and forth quite a bit. From Turtle Reef, it is prolly easier to catch a shuttle or taxi back to town, as the Turtle Farm is right there.

CC is pretty much on "ironshore", not much in the way of a beach there. A little further down is Spanish Bay Reef Resort, and there is a somewhat decent beach there.

Snorkeling should be excellent at both locations, possibly all the way out to the mini wall. Avg depth out to the top of the miniwall seems to be in the 15-20' range. Once you hit the mini wall, the depth drops to 40-60' on avg until you hit the main wall.

CC also offers a "water taxi" and unlimited shore diving on days you sign up for their boat diving. Ask them about any specials they might have.

Sunset house also has a good diving operation and is closer to town (a little south actually). You might check with Natasha on the board, as she had a trip going there sometime soon and still had a few rooms to fill I believe.

Thanks for the input. Actually I am meeting up with Natasha in Key Largo on my way back from the Caymans for Wreckmania. Dove with her in Bonaire last September. She is headed to the Cayman's in April with doesn't work out for me.

With regards to Sunset House I haven't been impressed with them. I like their location better but when trying to arrange a trip with them I went through several emails that contain very little information on their part, where they finally said they were handing over to the manager after 3 weeks of emails. Wanted to do my tech diving with them and was, at the time planning on joining Natasha. But alas they dropped the ball and haven't been very responsive, basically kept saying they would get back to me. DiveTech immediately responded with all the appropriate information which impressed me and were also less expensive. My only guess was that Sunset House isn't into TDI training but that is not what their web site says? Cost isn't the biggest thing but if I have to compare the two, Sunset House blew it. If you have had better experiences with them would like to hear about it and maybe I'll give them another chance.

Thanks,

Kev

Check the www.cobaltcoast.com website for deals...

They sometimes offer a free rental car with the room if you're staying several days. The last offer ended Jan 30 but if you call them, maybe they can help get you a good rate on a rental car for the week.

I've stayed there several times and I have no plans to stay anywhere else on Grand Cayman in the future. It's great.

I spent my honeymoon in grand Cayman last summer and we stayed in one of Jeff kingstad's guest houses. He can be reached at jeffsresorts.com.

For less than most of the resorts we had a whole two bedroom house with a kitchen, deck, grill, everything we could want. Even a resident cat, jake.

We absolutely loved it. It's located in west bay, not in a touristy area. it made us feel like locals during our trip and i SWEAR it's easier to find than Cobalt coast. (there are many, many signs to follow to find that place and you'll swear you're driving in circles)

We had a great experience and would go back exactly the same way.

the best part was that EVERYONE knew jeff's place and where it was. teh people a t the airport, gas stations, it's really neat.

HTH, RICE

Oh come on...

What's so hard about "Right at the gas station, left at the police station, 2nd right (should pass a running track/sports field on your right), bear left and follow the road around the curve to the left past pirates cove and go straight into the dead end and it's on the right..."

At least that's what I remember it as from almost a year ago. :bonk:

It can be tricky going the shortest way from CC to the turtle farm as well.

But it IS very nice and quiet and the diving is great.

Instead of the bear left in the directions above, if you bear right, and follow that to the end, you find Papa Gallos restaurant and the bird sanctuary. VERY good Italian food there.

I wonder if that will be on my Advanced Nitrox exam ?

Talked to Cobalt Coast and they aren't doing much in the way of deals for end of May. Strange because rooms are wide open. Looks like it will run around $1800-2K for the week, room and breakfast only. I'll be in classes most of the week so won't be doing much other diving. Anyone know of nice condo's along Seven Mile Beach with beachfront that an 18 year old would enjoy while I'm underwater. According to DiveTech classes run 8-5 probably want to put her near some activity .

Noticed Treasure Island Condo's were running about $240/night but there isn't much beach there, anyone know more about further down Seven Mile Beach? I've walked it but can't remember the names of the places other than the big hotels.

Thanks,

Kev