My husband and I are thinking about diving in Grand Cayman this fall. Actually going to Little Cayman this July. I realize many people like diving the east with Ocean Frontiers at Compass Point. However, Cobalt Coast has a great deal. My question is, how will the diving compare on one side versus the other. Is the diving near Cobalt good? Are the reefs in good shape? Are the reefs in the east that much better? Thanks.
I think that there is good diving on West, East, North, and South sides of GC - and a lot depends on the weather.
Cobalt Coast tends to dive the West Side and the North Wall, but it can be windy and rough on the North Side in the Fall - so the shore diving on the house reef may not be available when you are there. And if it is rough while you are there they will not depart from the dock at the resort - they will load you up in a van and take you to another dock, possibly in West Bay, but it's not far and a lot of dive ops may be departing from West Bay during the fall and winter.
The West side is usually calm and there's generally a lot of great fish life and nice reefs but the North Wall is much more dramatic and has beautiful coral structures.
The East End has some great diving and beautiful walls but it can get pretty rough also, if that happens the dive ops will go in either direction around the corners of the island to find good diving.
Both Cobalt Coast and Compass Point are in remote, less-developed parts of the island but the East End is a longer drive, about 45 minutes to and hour from the airport, and you will need to rent a car and be willing to drive on the left. During rush hours the traffic can be bad as you head away from the airport, but after you get passed Savannah the traffic turns light and it is easy driving for the rest of the trip to the East End. If you stay on the East End you will not be far from Rum Point on the North Side, which has a lovely beach and there is good snorkeling in that area and very little traffic.
If you stay at Cobalt Coast you don't have to rent a car because it is all-inclusive and airport transfers are included - but it is closer to Seven Mile Beach and George Town, so if you want to do some exploring you might want to rent a car for a few days. There's a lot of great places to eat on GC but if you are staying at CC you won't have much opportunity to sample various restaurants and eateries but it will be easy, a sleep, eat, and dive experience.
Compass Point has some onsite restaurant options and I believe that they offer meal packages - several people have mentioned that they have taken the breakfast package. They do offer condo accommodations with kitchens so you can pick up some groceries and prepare some simple meals. There are some places to eat on the East End but not many.
We have visited both of these resorts and dived with the ops, more recently with Reef Divers at Cobalt Coast, and they were both very good and both offer valet diving service. Neither of the resorts are on the Seven Mile Beach but they both have small beach areas.
One thing that I didn't care for about Cobalt Coast is that they do not have an indoor dining room at this time, but they gave us a tour and they have done some nice upgrades to the property recently. There's a renovated pool and deck area and a new hot tub and new shore diving and gear storage areas. I know that they have been renovating the rooms and they have upgraded the AC system throughout the resort.
So my experiences with both resorts and the onsite dive ops are limited, but I am sure that other ScubaBoard members that have stayed at the resorts and done more diving with them can give you more information.
Personally, I think that they are both good options and there are things that you might like more or less about each resort and that each op will do their very best to provide great diving opportunities!
