Reef Divers the new operator at Cobalt Coast

[scubadada]

Which raises the interesting question; for those who historically enjoyed Cobalt Coast (& especially those who returned to it), how much of what they liked was Cobalt Coast, & how much was Dive Tech?

Richard.

Hi Richard,

Two of my 10 trips to Grand Cayman were to Cobalt Coast/Divetech. Cobalt Coast is a fine resort and Divetech is a very good operator, I would imagine both will do just fine in their new iteration.

One of the shortcomings of Cobalt Coast/Divetech was the failure to offer afternoon boat dives. This is particularly important when the shore diving is unavailable due to conditions. I don't know what Reef Divers will do. On Little Cayman, they offer just a one tank afternoon dive, on both my visits to LCBR, I wished they had offered two dives as they do on GC at Compass Point/Ocean Frontiers. Divetech will apparently be offering two tank afternoon dives. Nancy Easterbrook tells me they are getting a 3rd boat and will have the flexibility of leaving from numerous sites to fit the conditions.

I have done shore mini-wall and main wall dives at Cobalt Coast, Lighthouse Point and Turtle Reef. All 3 sites are quite good and approximately equal in quality. Cobalt Coast will now have only it's own shore dive, Divetech will have Lighthouse Point, and Turtle Reef will remain separate from both. My favorite shore dive is probably Turtle Reef and I would dive it whether I was with Cobalt Coast or Divetech. The northernmost shore diving at Cobalt Coast may be the most sensitive to conditions.

Valet diving has been oft mentioned. It is much more difficult to offer a valet service when boat diving is combined with shore diving. If you want the ultimate in valet service, try it at Compass Point/Ocean Frontiers, where all of the diving is done off the boat. Apparently, Reef Divers and Divetech will both be offering some version of valet diving along with the shore diving option.

One of the things I enjoyed with Divetech were some of their specialty dives. My son and I did the West Bay Express, a fun point to point DPV dive on two occasions and we also did the rebreather experience. Divetech will continue these dives and also have a sidemount and and a tech (doubles) experience that I would like to try. I don't know if Reef Divers will have any special dives, particularly those that are tech oriented.

I would imagine that both Cobalt Coast/Reef Divers and Divetech will be very good operations, perhaps they will each have their own special nuances that appeal to a certain segments of the diving population. That flexibility and choice would be a good thing.

Good diving, Craig

 

[keyshunter]

Thanks KathyV.
I don't usually have trouble, but for some reason I could not open that link.