East End in December?

[dashark]

We are planning a family trip to the East End of G.C. Dec. 12-20. Any suggestions on a family friendly resort for us to stay and dive at?
Is this a bad time of year for the East end?
Is there much hurricane damage in the resorts, beaches or reefs?
Should we consider any other options?
We appreciate any and all input as usual......

Danny

 

[Damselfish]

There's basically only 3 resorts on the East End. The Reef or Morritt's would probably be about equally good for families, have nice beaches, pools, lots of space. Not sure exactly how any other activities compare as I didn't pay much attention to that. I'd guess I saw more kids at Morritt's. Then there's Compass Point where Ocean Frontiers is located. It's very much a dive resort and probably the last choice of the 3 for families, if family means younger kids, or kids who don't dive. It's nice but is a smaller place with a small beach. The pool isn't kid friendly (or adult-lounging friendly for that matter) it's designed more for dive classes. No bar or restaurant on site there. Focus is very much the diving, not much else.

It sounds like the Reef is completely recovered from the hurricane and has been for awhile, while Morritt's was still working on some buildings last I read and had a temporary restaurant and workarounds like that. Not sure of the latest I'm sure someone will chime in. Ocean Frontiers will pick you up at either place, it's only a short drive.

Weather could be real nice in early December, or could be cloudy, windier and rougher than summer, as it can be as you get into winter. Kind of a crapshoot time. I would go.

You will almost certainly see leftover signs of hurricane damage (especially if you had a "before" to compare against), but nothing that is going to affect your vacation in any important way at this point.

Best to rent a car, in case you hadn't already planned on it.

 

[dashark]

Great info once again. You gave me some good stuff in my other post as well.
We are trying to choose between Spanish bay reef and The reef resort at this time. We like the idea of the all inclusive resort, and also you can shore dive and snorkel out front. I also understand that Divetech will pick us up for boat dives if we don't like the on-sight operation. The only question is if they still have a beach. They advertise this, but, I don't know how it withstood the hurricane.
As far as The Reef resort, I like the idea of being closer to the best diving(on the east end). I also know they have a good beach for the family.
Thanks for all the input...
Danny

 

[worlddiver]

We almost lost a whole week of diving by booking at the East End in December 2003. We ended up driving to Divetech on the NW side (calm seas) to get some diving. We booked a 2 tank trip in the morning and then they gave us unlimited shore diving at no charge as long we have a boat trip in the morning. The shore diving was just as awesome as the boat dives. They also have a small dive resort called Cobalt Coast Resort that the boat left from on most days, but they also have 3 seperate docks around the island, so they never lose out to weather.

At Cobalt they do not have any beaches but have iron shore which turned out to be a good thing (better shore diving). The iron shore was not hard to walk on and the kids loved the tide pools and hermit crabs. They also have kids programs from 5 years old while your on the boat diving. We now go every year in January for their Digital Jam event instead of December and stay at Cobalt Coast Resort.

All the dive sites in the Cayman are great but we prefer the Northwall being it from the East End or the West End. We

 

[Skinsfan1311]

We were stayed at the Morritt's, in August. It's right next to the Reef Resort. Either one of them would be good for families. The pools are nicer at the Morritt's. There were more activities at the Reef. There is no shore diving at either resort. One thing to keep in mind, is that the rooms at the Morritt's have full kitchens....I think the rooms at the Reef only have small refrigerators and Microwaves.

I can't recommend Ocean Frontiers highly enough. They have a first-class operation. They're literally 5 minutes away. They also have a retail shop in the Reef resort. They will also come pick you up. I did a week of diving with them, and all of the dive-sites were a relatively short boat ride away.

 

[Damselfish]

Thats interesting, I would have said the pool was nicer at the Reef, and it seemed that Morrits had more activities! Oh well.

Our 1BR suite at the Reef had a full kitchen, all the 1&2 bedrooms do. The smaller studio units have the mini kitchens.

 

[CJ's]

Spanish Bay does not have a beach, just ironshore.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Thats interesting, I would have said the pool was nicer at the Reef, and it seemed that Morrits had more activities! Oh well.

Our 1BR suite at the Reef had a full kitchen, all the 1&2 bedrooms do. The smaller studio units have the mini kitchens.

Makes sense to me, given that they had those Weber grills scattered throughout the place...... My repsonse was based on my conversations with a few folks I dowve with. I didn't think to ask them what type of accomodations they had. In any case, I don't think you could go wrong staying at either place....

 

[sdwho]

Courtesy of hurricane Ivan, Cobalt Coast now has a small sandy beach area to go with its ironshore. Just big enough for a couple of people to sunbathe on...