sdwho
Contributor
Got back Sunday night from 10 days in Grand and Little Cayman. Great trip.
Grand Cayman: We were in GC last January and it is heartening to see visible signs of progress in the island's post-Ivan recovery. There is still plenty left to do (particularly on the East End from what we were told) -- probably years worth -- but the improvements were noticeable. We stayed, as always, at Cobalt Coast and dove with Divetech. Arie and Dora are perfect hosts and Nancy and her dive staff are consummate professionals. Unlike our January trip, we were able to get in a lot of North Wall diving this time, which was great. The day before we arrived, a wayward Manta was spotted off the North Wall, but we weren't graced by its presence on any of our dives. Also didn't see any eagle rays, but plenty of turtles, eels, lobsters, trigger fish, etc etc. In addition to our boat dives, we did afternoon and night shore dives at Cobalt Coast and Turtle Reef. Turtle Reef was particularly nice. We were happy to see Papagallo Restaurant had re-opened, but saddened to find that the Cracked Conch has finally been sold and that the new owners have closed it to do a complete makeover of the restaurant. I don't have a particularly good feeling about this, but I'll keep an open mind.
Little Cayman: This was our second trip (last time was 2003) to the Little Cayman Beach Resort. LCBR is first-rate. There are more rooms and divers than at Cobalt Coast, so we don't have the same cozy relationship with the dive staff we have with Divetech on GC, but they are terrific to dive with. The visibility was outstanding and the dive sites in great shape. Finally did see an eagle ray as well a few sharks (including one being "attacked" by a skipjack -- hopefully we caught it on video). One of the big positives was the resurgence in the grouper population, which was in decline two years ago. We saw many groupers (nassau, tiger, yellowfin on every dive). Even saw a Goliath grouper. As in GC, the water temp was around 86 degrees -- didn't need the 3 mil, just used a skin.
There are so many places to dive, but when it is as easy, fun as satisfying as it is diving with Cobalt Coast/Divetech and with LCBR, its tough to make myself go anywhere else!!
sdwho
Grand Cayman: We were in GC last January and it is heartening to see visible signs of progress in the island's post-Ivan recovery. There is still plenty left to do (particularly on the East End from what we were told) -- probably years worth -- but the improvements were noticeable. We stayed, as always, at Cobalt Coast and dove with Divetech. Arie and Dora are perfect hosts and Nancy and her dive staff are consummate professionals. Unlike our January trip, we were able to get in a lot of North Wall diving this time, which was great. The day before we arrived, a wayward Manta was spotted off the North Wall, but we weren't graced by its presence on any of our dives. Also didn't see any eagle rays, but plenty of turtles, eels, lobsters, trigger fish, etc etc. In addition to our boat dives, we did afternoon and night shore dives at Cobalt Coast and Turtle Reef. Turtle Reef was particularly nice. We were happy to see Papagallo Restaurant had re-opened, but saddened to find that the Cracked Conch has finally been sold and that the new owners have closed it to do a complete makeover of the restaurant. I don't have a particularly good feeling about this, but I'll keep an open mind.
Little Cayman: This was our second trip (last time was 2003) to the Little Cayman Beach Resort. LCBR is first-rate. There are more rooms and divers than at Cobalt Coast, so we don't have the same cozy relationship with the dive staff we have with Divetech on GC, but they are terrific to dive with. The visibility was outstanding and the dive sites in great shape. Finally did see an eagle ray as well a few sharks (including one being "attacked" by a skipjack -- hopefully we caught it on video). One of the big positives was the resurgence in the grouper population, which was in decline two years ago. We saw many groupers (nassau, tiger, yellowfin on every dive). Even saw a Goliath grouper. As in GC, the water temp was around 86 degrees -- didn't need the 3 mil, just used a skin.
There are so many places to dive, but when it is as easy, fun as satisfying as it is diving with Cobalt Coast/Divetech and with LCBR, its tough to make myself go anywhere else!!
sdwho
