Trip Report - Cobalt Coast/DiveTech May 11-18, 2013

[Darren Dodge]

Hi Betty,
Noticed your post and the travel dates and had to take closer look at your pics.. Turns out Jerod and I were there that same week, we were staying in room 2. We did our courses ( refresher for me and OW course for Jerod )on Monday and Tuesday with Jeni. Didn't know you were from Canada. I'm sorry you didn't think CC quite measured up, we thought we had a great time and wished we had booked a longer stay as we flew out on Friday the 17th. Your pictures look great. We shot mostly video with our GoPro and Jerod has done a short edit of the highlights of our diving. He is in process of uploading it to YouTube if your interested in viewing it. I can post a link when its uploaded.
Read about your airport shuttle issue and I guess our experience went much better. I had emailed Arie in advance and even though our flight was delayed by almost 30 minutes and spent approx another 20-30 min in immigration line, Sid was waiting just outside for us and gave us the dime tour of Georgetown/7 Mile Beach, including a side trip to Hell to get our passports stamped and to the Bank of Cayman which I thought was considerate.
On the shuttle to the boats (I'm sure we shared a van trip at least once), IMHO I'd rather shuttle to the boats and have a short boat transit to the dive site vs a long bouncy ride through the chop, not to mention its more conservative on boat fuel to use the vans as much as possible, thus a little "greener" in the bargain.
When I was looking at trip destinations, I was down to Hawaii x YVR vs GCM x YYZ and cost wise CC was cheaper than I could find in Hawaii, so I think we received fair value for our $$. I will be looking at returning to Cobalt Coast in the future as would like to get some north side diving in as well.
All the best, maybe we will cross paths again some time in the future.
D

 

[BettyfromToronto]

Darren: Sorry we missed a fellow Canadian. We dove on the boat Sunday through Friday. What days were you on the boat with us. Thursday & Friday there were two boats but if you left on Friday did you dive Thursday morning? We were on Atatude (the bigger boat) all week.

Did you do the meal plan? And were you outside for dinner when Ari surprised us on our anniversary Tuesday night?

Betty

 

[Darren Dodge]

Hi Betty, we were on the Atatude Wednesday afternoon at Bonnie's Arch and the Kittiwake, and Thursday morning at Texas Hole and Kittiwake Reef followed by Stingray City that afternoon.

We didn't do the meal plan as I assumed that we would be eating off resort at least a few times, however in the end we took all our meals at there. In the end it came to $512 Cdn for 14 meals x 2 for two people for the week including evening premium drinks. That works out to $18.29 per meal which I thought was very reasonable for the quality and quantity of the servings.

I missed Arie playing the harmonica as I was in the shower, but Jerod said he heard it and looked out to see it. Lol.

Here's a short video Jerod put together from the GoPro footage we took,
Diving in Grand Cayman - YouTube

darren

 

[BettyfromToronto]

So we only were on the boat together Thursday morning at Texas Hole and Kittiwake Reef. Didn't you love Jo in her bikini & pink cowboy hat for the Texas Hole briefly?

Is that Jarod in the b/w shorts? I remember him. I think I saw you do a shore dive at CC with your go pro. Was it on a stick?

Betty

 

[Darren Dodge]

Jo was definitely in style with all her pink gear and accessories, lol. Jerod was wearing his white shorts with blue Hawaiian flowers pattern anytime he was in pool or water. We didn't shore dive at CC at all, but I did have my GoPro on a sort of short black plastic handle with quick link I used to hook it to my BC.

 

[BettyfromToronto]

OK then I do remember seeing you guys. Too bad we weren't together on the boat more than the one day and we may have met up. Tell Jerod he does stand out in those shorts. So much more noticeable than a black wetsuit.

Betty

 

[Sorrows]

Welcome home, Betty! I'm glad you had a good time and you gave Arie a 2nd chance--we thought he was very affable and helpful.

It sounds like your overall experience echoed mine, yes? Nice, but not nice enough to merit the high cost? There are places in the Caribbean where the diving is better and there are certainly places where it is less expensive!

I'd do the Kittiwake again, though. And Little Cayman.

 

[BettyfromToronto]

Sorrows: Yes the trip started off a bit rough but ended on a high note. I would highly recommend both CC & DiveTech if you want to try something new. I guess I am just spoiled by Scuba Club Cozumel. By the trip itself and definitely by the cost being 2.5x LOWER.

Betty

 

[Sorrows]

Yes, it's hard to get away from the high cost of Grand Cayman. Betty, you've been to Bonaire, right? I know you liked the shore dive at CC and Lighthouse. You're right that the house reef at Scuba leaves a bit to be desired.

 

[BettyfromToronto]

No I have never been to Bonaire. It is one of the very few places that we cannot fly to direct from Toronto. This is a requirement as we..

a) don't do connections with our dive bags (though we would consider a puddle jump like GC to LC)
b) don't fly through the USA

We are also not huge fans of doing shore dives as we prefer boat diving. First choice would be a place that offers 3 boat dives/day but next would be a place that has 2 morning boat dives and good shore diving in the afternoon.

Once we move to Cozumel in early 2014 I will have to look at how we get around without experiencing a) & b). I did just realize recently that we can drive to Belize. Yes DRIVE. To Chetumal, Mexico and catch a ferry to Ambergris Caye or elsewhere.

It seems like ages since we were diving but it is only been 2 weeks in reality. Now we have to wait until September but then things will move quickly as we go to Coz again in November and then move Feb or March. Once we move; we can dive any day we feel like it. Can't wait.

Betty