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Dive Review of Divetech/Cobalt Coast Dive Resort in
Cayman Islands/Grand Cayman

Divetech/Cobalt Coast Dive Resort: "Diving Grand Cayman", Nov, 2014,

by Roger K. Marach, AZ, US (Reviewer Reviewer 3 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 8444.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 4 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments My Lovely Wife (Cathy) and I had a wonderful time diving the seven days we were in Grand Cayman. The Cobalt Coast Dive resort was excellent....great accommodations, food was very good, service terrific and just a lot of friendly people and an outstanding group of divers from all over the world were there the week we stayed at Cobalt Coast.

DiveTech is an excellent dive operator but they certainly should not be considered a "Valet Diving" operation. This group kind of reminded my wife and I of the old school way of diving where we, the divers, do everything themselves....which frankly is how we like it (to a certain degree this is okay but in some respects....as I get older I sure as hell like to get a little help getting back on the boat! I just turned 70 and I don't have the same offft I use to have! Ha!)

Anyway all of us vacationing divers had a good time, though at times some of the DiveTech guides appeared more interested in their own diving entertainment and enjoyment than that of the paying customers. My wife and I have experienced better dive operations. (Maybe the DiveTech owners have gotten a little jaded over the years and are taking their paying customers for granted? And probably ownership could have a bit more hands on management of the younger dive guides to ensure the customer comes first.)

As to OUR diving experience while in Grand Cayman, though we enjoyed just getting back in the water, we were a little disappointed with the underwater environment. Our expectations were high for clear blue water, outstanding visibility, hordes of fish and beautiful coral, and maybe seeing a pelagic or two to boot. Hey, why not have high expectations after most of us Baby Boomers have read Jacques Cousteau's books and viewed Old Jacques' movies on Grand Cayman and have come to believe Grand Cayman is the mecca of scuba diving.

Nobody has dispelled those expectations...certainly not the propaganda arm of the Grand Cayman Dive Association....the dive magazines.

But the week we were in Grand Cayman the seas were rough on the north end of the island, hence the vis wasn't as great as the Cayman diving association would lead you to believe. A lot of silt and other crap in the water cutting visibility and making for some disappointing underwater photographs. Nor did we see as much underwater life as we expected from the standpoint of fish and coral. In fact Cathy and I and most of the people we dived with, who like us were all new to the Grand Cayman dive scene weren't impressed whatsoever with the island's underwater environment. We all had experienced better. This especially held true for the "Old Pros" in the group who had been diving a number of years at an number of different dive locations around the world. I think its safe to say all of us felt there are better locations than Grand Cayman.
On the other hand, Cathy and I really did enjoy the wreck dives especially on Kittiwake. That was TERRIFIC.

But all in all we enjoyed the week in Grand Cayman. We can't say enough about the hospitality of the Cobalt Coast Dive Resort owners and staff. And for the most part though the diving was less than par from our standpoint, the dive masters and the guides were for the most part a pretty good group of people. I think its safe to say Grand Cayman is an "OK" place to dive but not a place I'd go back to. (And this place has gotten quite a bit more expensive since we first visited this island in '07. That's another story for another time.)
Websites Divetech   Cobalt Coast Dive Resort

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Aruba, Belize, Curacao, Bonaire, French Polynesia (Moorea and Bora Bora plus snorkeled off of Raiatea), Hawaii (3 of the islands), Mexico (San Carlos, Costa Maya, Cozumel), Roatan (Honduras), Bahamas, Grenada, St. Thomas, Christmas Island (Kiribati).
Closest Airport Owen Roberts Int'l AP in Georgetown, Grand Cayman Getting There No Problem; flew from Phoenix, AZ to Dallas Fort Worth and then direct to Grand Cayman on American Airlines

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy, dry Seas choppy
Water Temp 76-78°F / 24-26°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions [Unspecified]
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 3 stars
Small Critters 2 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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