Grand Cayman

[GameChanger]

Are you going to GC with non-divers? Kids? Teens? MIL???
If so, I highly suggest staying a couple miles down the road at Morritt's Grand Resort. While OF's accommodations are just fine, it can be a bit boring for non-divers. Morritt's on the other hand offers just about everything you would expect from a resort. Their very well maintained units all have kitchens, balconies, cable TV, wifi (extra cost) and more. They also have one of the best beaches in Grand Cayman. OF does not have a beach.

There is a dive shop at Morritt's, but I would go with Ocean Frontiers all day long. The more dives you do with OF, the lower the per-dive cost.

Regardless where you stay, you will not be disappointed with the East End. It's truly like being on a different island.

 

[scubadada]

Has anyone stayed at Ocean Frontiers Diving Adventures at Compass Point? Any info or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

As others have said, if you have specific questions, it would be easier to help you

I have stayed a week at Compass Point and dived with Ocean Frontiers twice, once in a 2 bedroom ocean front with my son and once in a 1 bedroom ocean front with my wife. The accommodations are very nice, full kitchen and comfortable living room. We did shopping on the way from the airport and had most breakfasts and lunches in the room. There are many fine options for dinner, including Eagle Ray's on site. There is a list of restaurants on the Compass Point website. A car comes with each rental an is absolutely needed.

I found the diving among the best on Grand Cayman and in the Caribbean. I have numerous dives on the West side and off the North wall. There are considerably fewer divers here and the I found more sea life, including sharks on several of the dives. Ocean Frontiers is probably the best land-based operator I've used, diving is effortless. Tanks are analyzed in the rack in front of you before each dive. They take care of all your equipment at the end of each day, including washing and drying your wetsuit. I took only my dive computers. You have the option of diving with the guide for the 1st half or so of the dive or you can dive with your buddy. Within reason, your dive time is only limited by your gas supply and your NDL. On my first trip, average dive time was 67 minutes, we has an 86 minute night dive at 23 feet. On my 2nd visit, average dive time was 62 minutes. We had one deep drift dive in moderate current that was only 38 minutes. The dive time was limited by the divers with the highest gas consumption and/or least NDL and we had to ascend as a group. Though, on the short side, this was an excellent dive and covered 3 dive sites. The deeper dives ranged from about 95-115 feet maximum with the 2nd part of the dive on top of the reef.

I found the more isolated East end very attractive and relaxing. As mentioned, it might not be the best location for non-divers if they want more activities as can be found in Georgetown and along Seven Mile Beach. I would return to Compass Point and Ocean Frontiers in a heartbeat.

 

[Azbuceadora]

I'm headed to Compass Point on Thursday! Do the condos have regular coffee makers, or just the kind that take the prepacked pods?

 

[tkaelin]

Mr. coffee type regular coffee makers, at least when I was there in June.

 

[Azbuceadora]

Thanks, tkaelin!

 

[jonhall]

Has anyone stayed at Ocean Frontiers Diving Adventures at Compass Point? Any info or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Staying 2nd week of Jan. at Compass Pt. Unless you have a deal, check prices through Compass Point and other travel companies such as hotels.com, travelocity, etc. We are paying $286 a night (staying 1 week) for a 2 bedroom condo through hotels.com. We will get a $$$$ rebate after our stay. Doesn't include diving and car rental though. (The bummer of it is, had it been available, we would have stayed at Morritts down the road for $209 for a week through timeshare)

We were already going to have a car rental as we are staying at Cobalt Coast the week before. Not sure how Compass Point car rental works other than from email I received from them stating it was through Avis and car would be picked up from and returned to airport, so it acts as a transfer also.

Did dive with Ocean Frontiers in 2010 (while staying at Morritts) and as mentioned above, it is a great dive op. Don't remember the boats being in bad shape then. Hope they aren't when we are there this time.

 

[GameChanger]

The main dive boat for OF is the Eastern Skies. I did several dives on it last month and it's in great shape!

 

[tkaelin]

I found the best deal is to book directly with them (assuming you are diving) and the package price with room, diving, car and cook to order breakfast each dive relatively reasonable. As far as picking up the car when booking a package, simply walk over to Avis and fill out the paper work. The car should already be booked under your name through OF/CP. You do pay for a temporary license to drive and whatever insurance you may to add. The small economy is perfect for two divers and the great gas mileage a plus.

 

[scubadada]

I also book through Ocean Frontiers. Prices include the accommodations, tax, 2 tank dives for 6 days, breakfast, and the car rental. All I have left is grocery shopping, dinners out, extra boat trips, nitrox (they have a deal for 12 or more dives at $8.25 per tank), and tips. I really like their 3 tank dive on Wednesday, the X-dive on Thursday afternoon, and the 2 night dives on Monday and Thursday.

They are currently running a special with 2016 Summer rates for January-April of 2017

 

[covediver]

I stayed there for a week in August 2016. The place is isolated and not very developed, downright rural compared to Georgetown and there is little transportation to that part of the island, which is why the rental car is provided in the package we had. With a rental car, getting around was quite easy (it is right hand drive with roundabouts instead of traffic lights) mostly to go to dinner, go to the grocery store, or drive to other dive operators/venues. That said, one could stay on site the whole time. Eagle Rays, the restaurant, is a nice place and Bombays (Indian fusion) is just across the way for dining and some local restaurants nearby. The condos have all the amenities including complete kitchens and washer dryer combos. Be prepared for a bit of sticker shock as the Caymans are an expensive destination. All trade we did was presented in both Cayman and US dollars.

We dived with Ocean Frontiers all week. All the diving is off the boat, there is not really any beach diving. The diving was fantastic. Lots of walls, lots of swim throughs. All the sites were well described (they provide a free dive guide of each site as part of the green shorts challenge) All dives are guided, meaning if you want to dive with a guide (which I would recommend) you went with one group or another. The guides were unobtrusive and left us pretty much to dive on our own as they led us around the site and back to the boat before leaving us to finish the dive on our own. I was diving with a group made up mostly of photographers who are notoriously independent of dive guides and each other and we all got along just fine. The dive guides and skippers are quite accommodating of requests on where to go and what to see. They are all very competent and professional. Our gear was transported to the boat, set up, taken apart and cleaned, just to repeat the procedure the next day. I dived on nitrox with a 7L (larger than standard) tank. The shop staff is very friendly and will work to correct any condition you think may be deficient or not up to what you thought it should be. I have never seen a harder working bunch of folks than I saw at Ocean Frontiers and they all seemed to enjoy it. I took advantage of the lion-hunting course and was allowed to hunt on nearly every dive after as we encountered the critter on our tour.

I have done a lot of diving in 30 years, although not much in the Caribbean except for Bonaire and Cozumel. That said, there are not a lot of places that I would go back to. I would go back to Ocean Frontiers/Compass Point. It is a resort run by divers for divers. If you are looking for a more diverse tourist experience, I am told that Seven Mile Beach may be the best bet. I hope you have as grand a time there as I did.