jonhall
Contributor
Recently spent a week at Cobalt Coast Dive Resort diving with Reef Divers, the onsite dive op and a week at Compass Point Dive Resort diving with Ocean Frontiers their onsite dive op.
Cobalt Coast (located on the West End), as far as the "resort," is the same as it has been in the past. New owners/staff are very friendly and helpful. We stayed in one of the cottages by way of a vacation club. Everything was the same as when we were there in early 2015.
Reef Divers operates pretty much as Divetech did (when they were the onsite op) except they are "valet service." The only difference was that with Reef Divers, they put your bc on when you are seated at the rear of the boat (all you have to do is giant stride into the water) and remove your bc after getting out of the water. Your bc and reg is kept in a bag that they rinse after dives. You are still responsible for later putting it in your assigned locker. They provide you a second bag to keep and carry your other gear in. Even though we stayed at CC, we didn't purchase a stay and dive package, so diving was not discounted. No matter the number of dives, they were each US $120. Because of the time of year we expected to load up in a van and dive 7 mile beach each day (only did it once during the week), but we actually had great weather and boarded the boat from their pier and dove some sites to the north. Crazy to see waves over the pier the first few days after we arrived to nothing but calm. Procedure was always the same: One dm led the dive, one stayed on boat. After about 25 minutes the dm circled back to the boat and let everyone continue to dive their air while they returned to the boat to assist with divers returning to the boat. Generally stayed under about another 25-30 minutes. Staff was very friendly and helpful. They changed tanks between dives. Usually had as many as 16 divers on the boat. Boat was good size with room to move around.
Compass Point (located on the East End) and Ocean Frontiers are hard to separate. The staff that runs the resort also runs the dive op. The 2 bedroom unit we were in was nice with an ocean view. A couple of repairs that were needed were taken care of with no problem.
After checking in, a plastic basket with our names was placed outside our door for us to put any dive gear we wanted to be on the boat in. They picked it up and it was returned after our last day of diving. The procedure was the same as Reef Divers in that the dm led the dive for about 25 minutes and then, when under the boat, would leave the divers to use their air while they returned to the boat to assist returning divers. They didn't do that in 2010. They also changed the tanks over. They had 2 boats that went out each day. Each boat had anywhere from 8-16 divers on it. Not positive, but I think the boat I wasn't on had students on it. The staff was great. Didn't have a dive package here either but dives were US $109.
Dive sites were great on both ends of the island. More swim throughs were on the East End. Amazingly the water became calm on the West End (and on 7 mile beach) while the water became a little choppy a couple of days with current on the East End.
Had contacted Divetech before arrival to see about getting nitrox cert. They were charging $150 and would have picked me up at CC. Reef Divers would have been $160. Decided it wasn't important yet for me to get it. When at Ocean Frontiers, I just happened to think about asking when checking in, and it was $99. Did the course online and did final knowledge exam for OF. Finished on the 11th and my cert card was in my mailbox here in Indy on the 17th. That's fast!
Think both dive ops were great. Would stay at either resort again, but GC is one of the more expensive places to visit, so it'll probably be a few more years before we return.
Cobalt Coast (located on the West End), as far as the "resort," is the same as it has been in the past. New owners/staff are very friendly and helpful. We stayed in one of the cottages by way of a vacation club. Everything was the same as when we were there in early 2015.
Reef Divers operates pretty much as Divetech did (when they were the onsite op) except they are "valet service." The only difference was that with Reef Divers, they put your bc on when you are seated at the rear of the boat (all you have to do is giant stride into the water) and remove your bc after getting out of the water. Your bc and reg is kept in a bag that they rinse after dives. You are still responsible for later putting it in your assigned locker. They provide you a second bag to keep and carry your other gear in. Even though we stayed at CC, we didn't purchase a stay and dive package, so diving was not discounted. No matter the number of dives, they were each US $120. Because of the time of year we expected to load up in a van and dive 7 mile beach each day (only did it once during the week), but we actually had great weather and boarded the boat from their pier and dove some sites to the north. Crazy to see waves over the pier the first few days after we arrived to nothing but calm. Procedure was always the same: One dm led the dive, one stayed on boat. After about 25 minutes the dm circled back to the boat and let everyone continue to dive their air while they returned to the boat to assist with divers returning to the boat. Generally stayed under about another 25-30 minutes. Staff was very friendly and helpful. They changed tanks between dives. Usually had as many as 16 divers on the boat. Boat was good size with room to move around.
Compass Point (located on the East End) and Ocean Frontiers are hard to separate. The staff that runs the resort also runs the dive op. The 2 bedroom unit we were in was nice with an ocean view. A couple of repairs that were needed were taken care of with no problem.
After checking in, a plastic basket with our names was placed outside our door for us to put any dive gear we wanted to be on the boat in. They picked it up and it was returned after our last day of diving. The procedure was the same as Reef Divers in that the dm led the dive for about 25 minutes and then, when under the boat, would leave the divers to use their air while they returned to the boat to assist returning divers. They didn't do that in 2010. They also changed the tanks over. They had 2 boats that went out each day. Each boat had anywhere from 8-16 divers on it. Not positive, but I think the boat I wasn't on had students on it. The staff was great. Didn't have a dive package here either but dives were US $109.
Dive sites were great on both ends of the island. More swim throughs were on the East End. Amazingly the water became calm on the West End (and on 7 mile beach) while the water became a little choppy a couple of days with current on the East End.
Had contacted Divetech before arrival to see about getting nitrox cert. They were charging $150 and would have picked me up at CC. Reef Divers would have been $160. Decided it wasn't important yet for me to get it. When at Ocean Frontiers, I just happened to think about asking when checking in, and it was $99. Did the course online and did final knowledge exam for OF. Finished on the 11th and my cert card was in my mailbox here in Indy on the 17th. That's fast!
Think both dive ops were great. Would stay at either resort again, but GC is one of the more expensive places to visit, so it'll probably be a few more years before we return.
