Trip report: Grand Cayman, stay at Cobalt Coast

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ChyLn

Registered
Messages
38
Reaction score
35
Location
Boston, MA, USA
# of dives
200 - 499
We finally got around to editing and posting our photos from this trip last summer. We had an excellent long weekend where we were able to jam in 10 dives. Highlights included the silversides at Devil's Grotto and a squad of squid on Macabuca. This was right before the hurricanes and we actually got to see the Kittiwake while it was still upright!

Link here
 
Great report and pics, thanks!
 
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Great trip report and photos, for sure. The Tarpon are, unfortunately, long gone from Tarpon Alley. The first time I dove there about 15 years ago, the cuts were full of them - you dropped down from the mooring right in the middle of them. It was my second dive after OWC and I was awestruck. Folks who are down there permanently say they haven't seen them there in a long while.

Surprised that you said that shore diving was more expensive than guided boat diving in Bonaire! Bonaire must be cheap, because I pay about $12.50 US for a tank, so can do a 2 tank shore dive for $25.
 
Great trip report and photos, for sure. The Tarpon are, unfortunately, long gone from Tarpon Alley. The first time I dove there about 15 years ago, the cuts were full of them - you dropped down from the mooring right in the middle of them. It was my second dive after OWC and I was awestruck. Folks who are down there permanently say they haven't seen them there in a long while.

Surprised that you said that shore diving was more expensive than guided boat diving in Bonaire! Bonaire must be cheap, because I pay about $12.50 US for a tank, so can do a 2 tank shore dive for $25.

He may have been referring to Eden Rock shore dive, they charge for a tank and then per pound for the weights! They are able to do this because the site is popular with the cruise ship visitors. At other shore dive sites on GC like Macabuca, Coconut Bay, Sunset House - they only charge around $12 to $15 for a tank and weights, Air is usually around $12 and Nitrox is $15.

Don Foster's Dive shop also does a lot of work with the cruise ship passengers and they charge $12 for a tank to shore dive and $10 for weights, so it is $22 per shore dive - not bad - but not as cheap as at some of the other shore dive sites.

I just looked at the Lobster Pot Dive Op website because they offer shore diving on Cheeseburger Reef. They charge $12.50 (air) and $15 (nitrox) and they also charge $5 per day for a weight belt but it doesn't say anything about charging to rent weights.

Most shore dive shops will accommodate requests for a guided dive if that is what you are looking for, although they might need a little advance notice, but I am sure that would increase the price quite a bit.
 
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We finally got around to editing and posting our photos from this trip last summer. We had an excellent long weekend where we were able to jam in 10 dives. Highlights included the silversides at Devil's Grotto and a squad of squid on Macabuca. This was right before the hurricanes and we actually got to see the Kittiwake while it was still upright!

Link here
Nice report. Thanks for taking the time to share.
 
I appreciated this bit from late in your review:

"This is Ann's first trip with a real underwater camera (Canon G7x Mark II with FantaSea housing). First impressions: kinda grainy. It wasn't until Raja Ampat, seven months later, that she realized it came with the digital "ND filter" setting ON by default...."

How big a difference did turning it off make? A lot of people 'point & shot,' including when diving, relying on auto modes (including 'Underwater' scene mode). Wonder how big an issue it is, and how well known?

Richard.
 
Hi all,

So I'm pretty sure we paid significantly more than 12.50 per tank while we were doing the shore dives. Our memory was that it was closer to $25-30/dive while we were out there at both Eden Rock as well as Macabuca but that may be due to having to pay for weight rental as well? Either way, Bonaire guided boat dives were $25/dive at most dive ops there.

I appreciated this bit from late in your review:

"This is Ann's first trip with a real underwater camera (Canon G7x Mark II with FantaSea housing). First impressions: kinda grainy. It wasn't until Raja Ampat, seven months later, that she realized it came with the digital "ND filter" setting ON by default...."

How big a difference did turning it off make? A lot of people 'point & shot,' including when diving, relying on auto modes (including 'Underwater' scene mode). Wonder how big an issue it is, and how well known?

Richard.

It was setting deep into one of the menus you have to scroll through and she didn’t realize that there was such an option so didn’t check for it. She felt pretty ‘meh’ with the first set of photos because she had to crank the ISO way high. Apparently it’s an integrated, automatic turn-on filter that kills about 3 stops worth of light. Not sure why it decided to do that underwater. She hasn’t used the underwater mode so doesn’t know if it has the same issue.

In general the camera is nicely compact and does an adequate job. It really shines when the lighting is appropriate and having the optical zoom is nice. She thinks she’ll be using it primary as a macro/more close up camera. Our other, almost 10 year old 5D Mark II is still better in terms of overall picture quality and light sensitivity.
 
...Surprised that you said that shore diving was more expensive than guided boat diving in Bonaire! Bonaire must be cheap, because I pay about $12.50 US for a tank, so can do a 2 tank shore dive for $25.

Hi all, So I'm pretty sure we paid significantly more than 12.50 per tank while we were doing the shore dives. Our memory was that it was closer to $25-30/dive while we were out there at both Eden Rock as well as Macabuca but that may be due to having to pay for weight rental as well? Either way, Bonaire guided boat dives were $25/dive at most dive ops there...

The picture below is of the Sundivers price board at Turtle Reef shore dive at Macabuca. This photo was taken in 2017 so unless they've had a recent price increase, it costs $12 Cayman for tanks with weights (that's $14.40 $US).

TurtleReefSundiversMacabuca.jpg
 
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Here are the prices for equipment rental at Eden Rock; they charge (in $US dollars) $12.50 for a tank, $1.25 for a weight belt, and $0.30 per pound for weights; so they are more expensive than Sundivers at Macabuca.

Diving Equipment Rental
 

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