Cobalt Coast Resort/Dive Tech Grand Cayman trip report

"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> wrote in message
news:41229a40$0$104$6c56adcd@news.qnet.com...
> "Chris Guynn" <chris.guynn@sbcglobal.N.O.S.P.A.M.net> wrote in message
> news:KgtUc.1660$mq3.73@newssvr23.news.prodigy.com. ..
>
> > Isn't that why they installed beaches and a breeze?
>
> Sometimes that can be enough. However, sometimes the best diving is in
the
> "off" season, when the sun bakes and the wind stops blowing.
>
> I fondly recall one night in Palau. We were sitting around the pool at
> close to midnight, drinking the ice-cold VB our Australian friends had the
> foresight to stash in a cooler behind the bar for after closing time.
> Though it was in the upper 90s, the breeze was enough to keep us cool even
> though the canned beer would acclimate to 'room temperature' within two
> minutes after removal from the ice. Then the wind suddenly stopped. The
> beads of sweat started dripping down my forehead even though the only
> motions I made were to put can to mouth and can to table and back again.
It
> was midnight and it was exceedingly uncomfortable. The party was over and
> we all went to bed in our air-conditioned rooms.

hopefully, someday, I can have fun stories like that of my adventures in
"paradise"

"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> wrote in message
news:41238e7a$0$106$6c56adcd@news.qnet.com...
> "Chris Guynn" <chris.guynn@sbcglobal.N.O.S.P.A.M.net> wrote in message
> news:3hKUc.1904$LP7.727@newssvr24.news.prodigy.com ...
>
> > > I fondly recall one night in Palau. We were sitting around the pool
at
> > > close to midnight, drinking the ice-cold VB our Australian friends had
> the
> > > foresight to stash in a cooler behind the bar for after closing time.
> > > Though it was in the upper 90s, the breeze was enough to keep us cool
> even
> > > though the canned beer would acclimate to 'room temperature' within
two
> > > minutes after removal from the ice. Then the wind suddenly stopped.
> The
> > > beads of sweat started dripping down my forehead even though the only
> > > motions I made were to put can to mouth and can to table and back
again.
> > It
> > > was midnight and it was exceedingly uncomfortable. The party was over
> and
> > > we all went to bed in our air-conditioned rooms.
> >
> > hopefully, someday, I can have fun stories like that of my adventures in
> > "paradise"
>
> Who needs paradise? You live in Texas where it's just as hot and humid.

Actually, the part of Texas I live in is nowhere near as humid (generally
around 20-30%). Besides, I don't get to get up after a night of drinking
and do an awesome dive. I'm stuck with muddy lakes and a shallow (25' max)
pool.

"Chris Guynn" <chris.guynn@sbcglobal.N.O.S.P.A.M.net> wrote in message
news:o0NUc.8638$ZQ.4207@newssvr22.news.prodigy.com ...

> Actually, the part of Texas I live in is nowhere near as humid (generally
> around 20-30%). Besides, I don't get to get up after a night of drinking
> and do an awesome dive. I'm stuck with muddy lakes and a shallow (25'
max)
> pool.

Trust me, if you're hungover enough it's all the same. Actually, some of
the really bad lake dives (out here we have beautiful Lake Perris) are much
better when severely hungover if you're hallucinating properly. I've seen
some weird shit down there, too shallow to be narced.

And before we did the awesome dive, we had to be in class at 7 a.m. for two
hours learning how to sell Palau to, say, people who live in non-humid parts
of Texas. It was a 'fam' trip and that was our penance for getting an
incredible cost on the package. Then we had to take a van to the dive shop,
lugging our gear all the way in the heat, then an hour-long boat ride to the
dive site (though, admittedly, there are worse boat rides than those that
course through the rock islands). And then after the tease of one
incredible dive, we were told we had to leave to snorkel with dolphins
rather than do a second dive there. Life isn't always easy. Did you know
that those dolphins crap on you while you're in the water with them?

"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:
: Did you know
:that those dolphins crap on you while you're in the water with them?

Not on all of us.

Dan Bracuk
If at first you don't succeed, you run the risk of failure.
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

"Dan Bracuk" <NOTbracuk@pathcom.com> wrote in message
news:09q7i0t3ofoo8qitlrj4jfrh0gddoitng9@4ax.com...
> "Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> pounded away at his keyboard
> resulting in:
> : Did you know
> :that those dolphins crap on you while you're in the water with them?
>
> Not on all of us.

You probably experienced starving oppressed dolphins. Mine were very well
fed.

"Dan Bracuk" <NOTbracuk@pathcom.com> wrote in message
news:i6q7i0dvrjemuml37vthggkoiimgca1qb8@4ax.com...
> "Chris Guynn" <chris.guynn@sbcglobal.N.O.S.P.A.M.net> pounded away at
> his keyboard resulting in:
> :hopefully, someday, I can have fun stories like that of my adventures in
> :"paradise"
>
> Jamaica isn't paradise?

ummm... maybe... I'm not experienced enough to say yet. I need to work on
fixing that.

Besides, the only funny stories I have about Jamaica didn't involve diving
so I'm sure no one here would be interested in hearing them.

>
> Dan Bracuk
> If at first you don't succeed, you run the risk of failure.
> The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/
>
>
> -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
> http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
> -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

"Chris Guynn" <chris.guynn@sbcglobal.N.O.S.P.A.M.net> wrote in message
news:X48Vc.9199$Mb.3199@newssvr22.news.prodigy.com ...

> Any idea how it compares to Lake Travis?

It's a pond in comparison. Lake Travis is big.

> I can't say that I've ever been hung over enough to hallucinate... I gotta
> try harder.

I suppose so.

> Who's the whiner now Mr. Tough Guy Who Can't Deal With a Little Dolphin
Poo?

I've never minded seeing parrotfish crap all over the place. But dolphins
are large animals. Just because you Texans walk around in manure all day
and all the septic tanks in Florida are overflowing doesn't mean the rest of
the U.S. appreciates it.

"Chris Guynn" <chris.guynn@sbcglobal.N.O.S.P.A.M.net> pounded away at
his keyboard resulting in:
:ummm... maybe... I'm not experienced enough to say yet. I need to work on
:fixing that.

I'm not experienced enough to know if I consider Jamaica a paradise.
That's because I've never been there.

What's your reason?

Dan Bracuk
If at first you don't succeed, you run the risk of failure.
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

Dan Bracuk wrote:

> I'm not experienced enough to know if I consider Jamaica a paradise.
> That's because I've never been there.
>
> What's your reason?

I'll offer my reason. The diving isn't nearly as good as plenty of other places you
could go, and if you leave the fortified compound of the resort many of the locals
will pester you for your money. Experiencing the culture of a foreign country is one
thing, but Jamaica was something else. Of course it's entirely possible that if we'd
been in someplace far from a resort we might have found the experience much different.

--
Steve

The above can be construed as personal opinion in the absence of a reasonable
belief that it was intended as a statement of fact.

If you want a reply to reach me, remove the SPAMTRAP from the address.

"Steve" <SPAMTRAPglawackus@hvc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:uSeVc.491$Ot3.325@twister.nyc.rr.com...

> How incredibly uncivilized. The 7 AM part, that is. Other than the crowds
and the
> full airplanes there's nothing uncivilized about learning to sell trips to
people
> from Texas.

At least the classroom (a meeting room at the PPR) was very air-conditioned.
And we got free water and chocolate candies.

> > Then we had to take a van to the dive shop,
>
> How barbaric. I thought you went out with Sam's, but I'm assuming they
wouldn't have
> made you take a van.

Nope. We used Neco Marine and it was actually more of a bus. We did visit
Sam's, the one day it was raining the hardest I've ever seen it rain in my
life (and I lived in Seattle over 5 years). The bus driver tried to fit the
bus under the overhead and almost made it as we ran out in the drenching
storm. But we dove with Neco and the day before we got to go out of the
lagoon to Blue Corner, watched a couple of Sam's boats make it through the
cut without flipping. Our Neco guides were too cautious, however, so we
stayed inside. Had the Sam's boats actually dumped their boats, I would be
filled with a little less remorse, but instead we jealously watched them
enjoying a 5-star dive site while we did a 3-star inside, and then had to
cut our dive day short the next day to see fecal-engorged dolphins when the
weather finally calmed enough for Neco to chance their boats outside the
reef.

> For at least the first 5 days the boat ride is almost as good as the
diving, though
> the ride back is far better. Of course I wasn't foolish enough to have a
hangover for
> the boat ride. Any chance you did Devilfish City? That's an hour north,
and the ride
> isn't nearly as scenic.

Nope. We stayed in the lagoon for the first three typhoon-ruined days,
doing German Channel, Turtle Cove, Ngemelis Wall, the Helmut wreck, Big Drop
Off, Short Drop Off, New Drop Off, Chandelier Cave, a snorkel in
Mandarinfish Lake (where I did a quick solo dive down to 70' to
unsuccessfully try to find my snorkel which had fallen off my mask), a
snorkel in Jellyfish Lake, and finally on the fourth day, a dive at Blue
Corner, after which we had lunch and snorkeled a bit over the Blue Holes,
and then hit the dolphin experience for a tour, feeding, and snorkel. In
between (and a lot on the fifth day) we managed to visit several hotels, a
couple liveaboards, a couple other dive ops, restaurants, museums, and have
dinner with the president. All in 6 days total. But since it was
practically free, who's counting?

Next time, which I'm hoping will be in 2006, I'll be a bit more relaxed and
hopefully typhoon-free. I might not get to eat with the prez again, though,
and it will certainly eat a bigger chunk out of my pocketbook.

> Spot, the dolphin we dove with in Cayman Brac, got a hard on while we were
3 feet
> apart. I didn't get anything on me, but I've heard stories <shudder>, and
it was a
> traumatic emotional experience.

I feel for you man. Somehow these creatures have to be stopped.