February Vacation Grand Cayman

[BiggyMeows]

Hi,

We're planning 2 weeks in Grand Cayman next February but have never been there before. We'd prefer to have a dive shop at our hotel but don't want to sacrifice having a beach either. Any recommendations on where to stay and what dive shops to use?

Thanks
BiggyMeows:kittykay:

 

[Damselfish]

By dive shop at your hotel, you mean you want to be able to have shore diving from your hotel, or the boat leaving from your hotel? Sounds like you probably realize that "beach" is often incompatible with diving from the hotel, since "beach" often equals "shallow bare sand a long way out." Cayman has some great diving but not so many options for diving on site as someplace like Bonaire. Lots of people's dive days simply start with hopping on a shuttle or driving someplace. (This is often desirable, say you want to go to the North Wall, they don't take boats all the way around from the other side, they will bus you the short relatively short distance across the island to a dock on the other side where they keep a boat, for shorter boat trips.)

I think there are a few ops on Seven Mile Beach where they pretty much pull the boat up on the beach to pick you up, but wouldn't be my choice - this is the more congested area of Cayman and they would be doing west wall diving from there which tends to be crowded and is not as good anymore as the other areas. And you don't shore dive from SMB hotels, too far to swim to anything. You can shore and boat dive from Sunset House, but its ironshore, no beach. You can usually shore dive and occasionally boat dive from Cobalt Coast, but again no beach. (Hanging out by the pool on the water is nice though.) IMO CC is a much nicer place and better dive op than SH, but more likely they will transport you to another dock for the boat and you will want to do more shore diving at their other shop down the road.

You can go to the East End and stay at Compass Point, they have something of a beach there, Ocean Frontiers is on site and their boats leave from there, but no shore diving. The Reef a few miles up the road has a beautiful beach, again no shore diving and no boats from there. There is an Ocean Frontiers "shop" at the Reef but they don't dive from there, it's more of a place to check in or buy suntan lotion. OF will pick you up for the short drive to Compass Point. There is also Morritts on the East End next door to the Reef, beach, no shore diving, Tortuga Divers on site but most don't seem to consider it nearly as good as OF.

 

[alashas]

BiggyMeows,

We stayed in a comfortable condo at http://www.lacovia.com/ on a very nice stretch of 7MB that my wife and children enjoyed while I dove. There's no dive shop there, but, as mentioned above, they will pick you up and take you to their boat(s). I had a very good time diving with http://www.diversdown.net/

I strongly urge you to spend at least part of your time on Little Cayman. The diving at Bloody Bay Wall is extraordinary and LC is a very safe, friendly island with around 100 inhabitants and 100 tourists. LC Beach Resort is a great place to stay. http://www.littlecayman.com/ I recommend staying there, but not doing the meal plan, so that you can dine at some of the other interesting resorts on LC - and they provide free transportation. We've been to over a dozen islands, and LC is near the top for all of us.

I have some photo albums here: http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/

Cheers, alashas

 

[fergusonjlf]

We are going to dive with Dive Tech and stay at Cobalt Coast - they are on the same property. Shore dives are also available from the hotel. Only thing missing is a beach.

We learned to dive with Dive Tech five years ago and are going back to introduce diving to some friends. I'll post a trip report when I return.


JoAn

 

[BiggyMeows]

Thanks for all the responses. We're looking forward to our trip, but still haven't booked a hotel/Condo. Oh My.

 

[DiveNerd]

BF and I stayed there for a week last October. We stayed at Sunset House. we LOVED it. The staff was great and dive shop on the premises. It IS a dive resort. So it's not fancy. But if you're looking for diving convenience, IMHO that's the place to stay. Dive lockers are provided so your gear need not be in your room. They have a sea pool you can dive from or snorkel from. They also dock their boats right off the property. There's a restaurant on site and the BEST part is My Bar is also on the premises. It's a popular local hangout and very lively everynight. We were there for halloween and really enjoyed the festivities. The shore dive from SH is really good. There is the amphitrite statue to go see, and frther out is a sunken landing craft, and beyond that the wall. Occasionally, on a late afternoon dive you could run into the Atlantis sub down there and wave to the passengers. You can get as many tanks as you want while you ar there to shore dive to your hearts content. There is no Beach but there is a pool overlooking the ocean. My Bar also overlooks the ocean. You really need not leave the resort to relax and enjoy your stay!

Good luck, I'm jealous. If you go say hi to Jackie. She is the most fun I ever had with a DM!

 

[stevephilanyc]

We were just at Sunset House a couple of weeks ago and I agree with everything DiveNerd said--great bar and wonderful dive op.

Steve

 

[scuba2345]

My husband, I, and our two teenagers just finished a week of diving--we stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott. They have a nice beach (across the street) and a dive shop (Red Sail) affiliated with the hotel. However, we dove with Neptune's Divers, who also leave from the same beach, because they take a maximum of 8 divers on a boat, so we got a lot more personal attention--they were terrific--very professional, and since we were only diving with one other couple or family, very accommodating. It was nice to have Red Sail at the hotel for the other water sports (kayaks, jet skis, sailing), as well as the pool when we got tired of the beach. We would do everything the same way next time.

 

[MANTA III]

We LOVE Sunset House! With all the dive amenities there and the dive staff are great! Mike, Pete, Jackie, Freddy, all of them are fun to hang out with and very knowledgeable!

 

[worlddiver]

Hi,

We're planning 2 weeks in Grand Cayman next February but have never been there before. We'd prefer to have a dive shop at our hotel but don't want to sacrifice having a beach either. Any recommendations on where to stay and what dive shops to use?

Thanks
BiggyMeows:kittykay:

We are a fan of Cobalt Coast Resort on the Norhwall. The shore diving out front has awesome marine life with beautiful soft corals because there is no beach to silt up the reef. Divetech is their dive operation and they run a free shuttle service to all the Hotels and Condo's so you can still have your beach fun. We stay at Aqua Bay Condo's when we take the whole family, but stay at Cobalt Coast if you really want to dive and dive. The shore diving is free with the boat package and night out front is just grand. Divetech will provide a free dive computer rental so you can dive their boat profile of 2 one hour dives. The boats have easy walk-off swim platform (which is important to my wife), freshwater shower, towels, fruit and bottled water. All their staff are great but we just love Gary and Eleanore.