- TRIP: Grand Cayman for 7 nights - Thursday to Thursday
- DATES: March 28th to April 4th
- HOTEL: Cobalt Coast www.cobaltcoast.com (took meal & dive packages)
- DIVING: Divetech www.divetech.com and shore dives
Thursday: Travel troubles on the way to Grand Cayman.
Tried to catch my flight out of Newark, New Jersey at 7:45 AM on United
(got to the airport about 5:30).
Get put in luggage "hand-search" line because of the box-o-SCUBA-gear.
The college girl ahead of me had pot smell in/on luggage (oh oh...).
Well over an hour later, after the cops and dogs found nothing, they let
her go.
The next guy was another 30+ minutes. I finaly get to go into the search
room with less than 15 minutes to go till my flight (yes, I missed it).
The non-ofensive bag did make the flight, however (again, oh oh...).
No major problem. I still had my 68 pound, fully inspected,
box-o-SCUBA-gear! That's all that really matters, right?
Missing only my fins & the camera housing in the wayward bag (the rest
was clothes and stuff) I continued my treck...
United was able to get me on another flight out of JFK in New York at
2:45 on American.
I quickly went home and packed a small overnight bag of clothes, spare
tooth brush, etc. and headed out for Kenedy Airport.
I got to Grand Cayman several hours later than intended, minus 1 bag.
All in all, I'm sure it could have been lots worse.
The next 6 days made it _MORE_ than worth the trouble!
*************************
NOTE: All dives except the last day were on EAN32.
The first boat dive each day was to about 100 FSW and the second was
usualy 50 to 60 FSW.
All shore dives except the first night (70 FSW) were to 60 FSW or less
except for the last day.
DAY 1: Friday (4 dives)
-------------
2 tank boat (West wall & reef) rented fins as mine were in the missing bag.
Lots of sea-life but nothing out of the ordinary (for Cayman diving).
While gearing up for the afternoon shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock (we
rented scooters) the lost luggage arrived! I now had my fins and camera
housing. I returned the rental fins and divetech didn't charge me for
them - nice guys!
We then proceded with the dive. I had never used a scooter before (kinda fun)
Nite, shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock (only my budy and me) - Full
moon, clear sky, SUPER vis. I could read my wrist watch by moonlight at
70 FSW! Incredible dive! We sat on the bottom and looked up at the
moonlight patterns on the surface for a while. Waved our hands and
watched the phosperescent plankton sparkle... Very easy to track budy
with the lights off as finning created a glowing green, sparkling cloud
and, of course, we had small tank-lights on for safety.
DAY 2: Saturday (2 dives) (first time my new camera housing ever goes on a dive)
---------------
2 tank boat (West wall & reef)
A lone stingray wandered past us at the end of the second dive.
Attended budys wedding (on the beach) & reception (red-sail catameran
dinner cruise) for the rest of the day.
No nite dive as we had an open bar during the reception and it WAS, after
all, my budys wedding night...
DAY 3: Sunday (4 dives)
-------------
2 tank boat (West wall & reef)
Afternoon shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock - went with other guests at the
hotel.
Nite shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock - went with other guests at the hotel.
DAY 4: Monday (3 dives)
-------------
2 tank boat (West wall & reef) Two 8 foot hammerheads at 100 FSW!
Only got a picture of the 2nd one swiming away. My digital camera turns
itself off after a minute or two of no activity and takes a few seconds
to come back on... After this I started taking random pictures every
minute or so just to be sure it stayed on (deleted junk ones later).
Picked up my budys father & new father-in-law from a deep sea fishing trip.
They got a 50+ pound yellow fin tuna! We got the chef at the hotel to
prepare it for us and ate FRESH tuna sushi for lunch and dinner
appetisers (budy and I had 2 plate fulls each for lunch). Gave a whole
bunch away to other guests at the hotel just before dinner time.
Went out to a really nice dinner at Papa Gallos with everyone.
Nite shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock with other guests. My buddy sat
this one out as most of his new in-laws were leaving in the morning and
he wanted to spend the evening with them. We saw an eel catch and eat a
fish. I didn't get a picture but one of the other divers in the group
said he did.
DAY 5: Tuesday (3 dives)
--------------
2 tank boat (North wall & reef)
1st dive: Saw 2 eagle rays. I got a picture of them both passing a diver.
They were about the same size as him if not a bit bigger.
2nd dive: We had a minor goof in navagation (my budy was leading) wich
resulted in a _LONG_ surface swim back to the boat. I had checked our
heading as we left the boat and we were going due East into the
current... I didn't notice that we curved around to the north following
the reef so on the trip back going due West we missed the boat and ended
up quite a ways behind it. Oh well, still a great dive and the comment
was made by one of the 2 instructors in the group that we did it
"textbook". When we hit 40 minutes (the agreed upon profile for the
second dive), we made our ascent and safety stop and surfaced as a group
(6 divers). We made sure to yell at the crew for moving the boat on us
after we got back aboard.
afternoon snorkle with budys non-diving family members.
nite shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock - big lobsters - puffer fish -
eels - turtles.
DAY 6: Wednesday (1 dive)
----------------
Skipped the boat dive in favor of a 2 hour shore dive from Cobalt Coast
dock to 150 FSW off the north wall. The dive could have been shorter but
we decided to use up the deco gas at the 15 FSW stop because we were
flying home the next day. Twin 80s and 63 cf deco bottle - I rented
a backplate and wings at divetech as my BC is a vest type. We had
brought our own regs and all the other gear we needed with us.
Thursday: wonderfully uneventfull trip home (4 -> 10 pm - 1 stop in miami)
NOTE: Since the turtle farm got washed into the sea in the hurricain,
there are lots of turtles in the water. We saw 1 to 3 turtles on almost
every dive!
I got close to 500 pics of the trip using a digital camera with a 512 Mb
memory card (took the camera on 11 of the dives)
I'll try to get organized and post a few pics over the weekend - no promises
though. They are all in 1600x1200 res at the moment...
- DATES: March 28th to April 4th
- HOTEL: Cobalt Coast www.cobaltcoast.com (took meal & dive packages)
- DIVING: Divetech www.divetech.com and shore dives
Thursday: Travel troubles on the way to Grand Cayman.
Tried to catch my flight out of Newark, New Jersey at 7:45 AM on United
(got to the airport about 5:30).
Get put in luggage "hand-search" line because of the box-o-SCUBA-gear.
The college girl ahead of me had pot smell in/on luggage (oh oh...).
Well over an hour later, after the cops and dogs found nothing, they let
her go.
The next guy was another 30+ minutes. I finaly get to go into the search
room with less than 15 minutes to go till my flight (yes, I missed it).
The non-ofensive bag did make the flight, however (again, oh oh...).
No major problem. I still had my 68 pound, fully inspected,
box-o-SCUBA-gear! That's all that really matters, right?
Missing only my fins & the camera housing in the wayward bag (the rest
was clothes and stuff) I continued my treck...
United was able to get me on another flight out of JFK in New York at
2:45 on American.
I quickly went home and packed a small overnight bag of clothes, spare
tooth brush, etc. and headed out for Kenedy Airport.
I got to Grand Cayman several hours later than intended, minus 1 bag.
All in all, I'm sure it could have been lots worse.
The next 6 days made it _MORE_ than worth the trouble!
*************************
NOTE: All dives except the last day were on EAN32.
The first boat dive each day was to about 100 FSW and the second was
usualy 50 to 60 FSW.
All shore dives except the first night (70 FSW) were to 60 FSW or less
except for the last day.
DAY 1: Friday (4 dives)
-------------
2 tank boat (West wall & reef) rented fins as mine were in the missing bag.
Lots of sea-life but nothing out of the ordinary (for Cayman diving).
While gearing up for the afternoon shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock (we
rented scooters) the lost luggage arrived! I now had my fins and camera
housing. I returned the rental fins and divetech didn't charge me for
them - nice guys!
We then proceded with the dive. I had never used a scooter before (kinda fun)
Nite, shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock (only my budy and me) - Full
moon, clear sky, SUPER vis. I could read my wrist watch by moonlight at
70 FSW! Incredible dive! We sat on the bottom and looked up at the
moonlight patterns on the surface for a while. Waved our hands and
watched the phosperescent plankton sparkle... Very easy to track budy
with the lights off as finning created a glowing green, sparkling cloud
and, of course, we had small tank-lights on for safety.
DAY 2: Saturday (2 dives) (first time my new camera housing ever goes on a dive)
---------------
2 tank boat (West wall & reef)
A lone stingray wandered past us at the end of the second dive.
Attended budys wedding (on the beach) & reception (red-sail catameran
dinner cruise) for the rest of the day.
No nite dive as we had an open bar during the reception and it WAS, after
all, my budys wedding night...
DAY 3: Sunday (4 dives)
-------------
2 tank boat (West wall & reef)
Afternoon shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock - went with other guests at the
hotel.
Nite shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock - went with other guests at the hotel.
DAY 4: Monday (3 dives)
-------------
2 tank boat (West wall & reef) Two 8 foot hammerheads at 100 FSW!
Only got a picture of the 2nd one swiming away. My digital camera turns
itself off after a minute or two of no activity and takes a few seconds
to come back on... After this I started taking random pictures every
minute or so just to be sure it stayed on (deleted junk ones later).
Picked up my budys father & new father-in-law from a deep sea fishing trip.
They got a 50+ pound yellow fin tuna! We got the chef at the hotel to
prepare it for us and ate FRESH tuna sushi for lunch and dinner
appetisers (budy and I had 2 plate fulls each for lunch). Gave a whole
bunch away to other guests at the hotel just before dinner time.
Went out to a really nice dinner at Papa Gallos with everyone.
Nite shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock with other guests. My buddy sat
this one out as most of his new in-laws were leaving in the morning and
he wanted to spend the evening with them. We saw an eel catch and eat a
fish. I didn't get a picture but one of the other divers in the group
said he did.
DAY 5: Tuesday (3 dives)
--------------
2 tank boat (North wall & reef)
1st dive: Saw 2 eagle rays. I got a picture of them both passing a diver.
They were about the same size as him if not a bit bigger.
2nd dive: We had a minor goof in navagation (my budy was leading) wich
resulted in a _LONG_ surface swim back to the boat. I had checked our
heading as we left the boat and we were going due East into the
current... I didn't notice that we curved around to the north following
the reef so on the trip back going due West we missed the boat and ended
up quite a ways behind it. Oh well, still a great dive and the comment
was made by one of the 2 instructors in the group that we did it
"textbook". When we hit 40 minutes (the agreed upon profile for the
second dive), we made our ascent and safety stop and surfaced as a group
(6 divers). We made sure to yell at the crew for moving the boat on us
after we got back aboard.
afternoon snorkle with budys non-diving family members.
nite shore dive from Cobalt Coast dock - big lobsters - puffer fish -
eels - turtles.
DAY 6: Wednesday (1 dive)
----------------
Skipped the boat dive in favor of a 2 hour shore dive from Cobalt Coast
dock to 150 FSW off the north wall. The dive could have been shorter but
we decided to use up the deco gas at the 15 FSW stop because we were
flying home the next day. Twin 80s and 63 cf deco bottle - I rented
a backplate and wings at divetech as my BC is a vest type. We had
brought our own regs and all the other gear we needed with us.
Thursday: wonderfully uneventfull trip home (4 -> 10 pm - 1 stop in miami)
NOTE: Since the turtle farm got washed into the sea in the hurricain,
there are lots of turtles in the water. We saw 1 to 3 turtles on almost
every dive!
I got close to 500 pics of the trip using a digital camera with a 512 Mb
memory card (took the camera on 11 of the dives)
I'll try to get organized and post a few pics over the weekend - no promises
though. They are all in 1600x1200 res at the moment...
