Cobalt Coast/Dive Tech Grand Cayman trip report

Full report with pictures is posted at
http://www.rummelraiders.com/webbies...n05/cindex.htm

TEXT of trip report:

In the summer of 1999, we made our first dive trip to the Cayman
Islands, visiting the sister island Cayman Brac. That trip report was
entitled, "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." This
summer, we made a return visit, this time to Grand Cayman, and I think
the title of that first trip report may actually be a theme for all of
our Cayman experiences.

Our travel experience this year was pleasantly less stressful than
most of our other adventures. All arrangements were handled by
Caribbean Dive Shop, and we once again had the pleasure of traveling
with our certifying dive masters, Dave and Sunday Delger. Airport
security, both in New Orleans and in Miami, seems to be handled more
professionally and courteously these days. Only on the return flight
check-in at Grand Cayman did we stumble on an inspector determined to
peruse every single compartment of our check luggage, from smelly
wetsuits to a week of dirty laundry. He was polite -- and maybe even
downright heroic considering his task. American Airlines and the
Miami airport are well known to us although not preferred. As with
most carriers these days, American offers no food and not much in the
way of beverages. Luckily, we do know about the great Cuban food in
the Miami airport, so we were able to have two delightful meals during
our layovers.

The arrangements from New Orleans to the Caymans placed us at the
resort for early afternoon, an unusual treat since we are used to
arriving late and struggling to make dinner before the resort
restaurant closes. Cobalt Coast Resort is located on the less visited
Northwest corner of the island. Our group of 28 guests took over most
of the property and the two dive boats for the entire week. The rooms
are primarily upper level ocean view, but a few rooms are ground level
on the parking lot side (they call these garden view). On both
corners of the resort main building, the upper and lower level
accommodations are actually suites. We had been told that we signed
on to the trip too late to get ocean view rooms, so we were very
pleased to see that our room was one of the lower level ocean view
suites. Our friends, Pat and Suzanne McKinney were envious because
they had been placed in a room with only one double bed, clearly
accommodations suitable for a single guest rather than two. A quick
switch was made with one of our single travelers and our friends,
although not as fortunate as we were, did end up in a more suitable
room.

My husband Ory and the McKinneys headed out for a quick shore dive,
mostly so that Pat, who had not been diving in a couple of years,
could check out his weights and review some skills before our first
boat dive. Since I never really feel I've arrived until every piece
of luggage is unpacked and stowed, I chose to remain behind in our
magnificent room. As I worked, I began to sweat, but I know Caribbean
hotel rooms are notoriously hot the first day until the
air-conditioning really kicks in. Then I really began to sweat, and
the air-conditioning had no controls or visible thermostat. At that
point, I had the first of many conversations with Arie, a lovely man
who manages the resort and truly tries to please everyone. He told me
that the compressor had been replaced the day before and that the
installer had just made a few adjustment which should make the room
cool off by morning. I was willing to give him the benefit of the
doubt. When Ory and the McKinneys returned from a rather difficult
shore dive, expecting to relax in our living room before dinner, they
noticed immediately that we had virtually no air-conditioning except
in the bedroom, and even that was minimal. So, I spoke with Arie
again and assured him that the room was not getting any cooler, and he
had the installer come back to the resort to set the thermostat even
lower.

After about thirty minutes in my tropical bedroom, my evil twin took
over and I tracked down poor Arie once again and voiced my
frustration. He showed me another room which we could sleep in for
the night, assuring me that he would have a real solution in the
morning. Exhaustion was setting in, so I chose instead to return to
my own room for the night, and I did manage to get some sleep. In the
morning, Arie offered to have our belongings moved to another full
suite on the opposite side of the property, where he knew the
air-conditioning was functioning at full force. We accepted the offer
and, for the remainder of our stay, enjoyed the most comfortable
accommodations we have ever had on a dive trip.

In fact, Cobalt Coast resort was truly a highlight of our Scuba trip.
Arie and Dora as well as their entire staff were anxious to fill our
every request. Since our package was an all-inclusive one, we ate all
of our meals at the resort. Breakfast was a buffet of scrambled eggs
with a variety of meat and/or bread accompaniments. Some days
pancakes or French toast added further choices to the morning fare.
Fresh fruit and juice were always present. The buffet was served
promptly at 7 a.m. with coffee available usually by 6:30. The room
also provided a fully equipped coffee maker. The buffet arrangement
or eating a quick continental breakfast was the only way to make the
first dive feasible.

Lunch alternated between buffet style or menu orders. This variation
expanded the somewhat limited menu items. Nevertheless, the Caesar
salad with chicken was so good I could have ordered it every day. On
days when we ordered from the menu for lunch, the evening meal was
served buffet style, usually with a hot soup, salad, plentiful entries
and side dishes with dessert. The last night we even had fine steaks
grilled to order included with the buffet meal. When we had a buffet
style lunch, ordering from the dinner menu afforded a choice of
appetizer/soup or salad with an entree and dessert. The chocolate
pecan cheesecake was a favorite of the guys. All of the fish
selections were excellent. We should have passed on the cold apple
soup, which sounded intriguing but which tasted dreadful.

Our dive arrangements included two boat dives in the morning with the
opportunity for shore dives at virtually any hour day or night. We
took advantage of a special Nitrox package on our boat dives, and
after a first day of short filled tanks, we were fairly satisfied with
the Nitrox arrangement. It should be mentioned that one day, the boat
had 4 Nitrox tanks very underfilled and not enough tanks were on board
for everyone to get a second dive with Nitrox. They did credit us for
the loss of one tank on our bill. The McKinneys have their own Nitrox
gauge for testing, so it did not bother us when the boat gauge pooped
out for lack of a fresh battery. The attention to details such as
this at Dive Tech ran the gamut from simple inconvenience to very
troublesome. One day, only one container of water was on board, and
we ran out of drinking water shortly after the first dive. The crew
tried to blame the situation on the number of divers who brought
bottles on board for refill rather than drinking from the tiny paper
cups provided. Our group is composed of experienced divers, many of
whom began diving in their late 40's or 50's. Hydration isn't just
something we read about in an instruction manual. We depend on it to
continue diving. It is not uncommon for me to drink two full liters
of water during a morning of diving. And, yes, I know what
dehydration feels like.

For me, the most annoying day diving with Dive Tech was that first
day. Besides the Nitrox problems, the boat was smoking badly,
obviously needing engine service. Before I realized it, I had inhaled
so many fumes I became nauseous and had to sit out the second dive.
Five other divers also donated breakfast to the fish and began popping
dramamine. The slightly rough surf and truly lousy ladder into the
boat did nothing to help the situation. Later in the week, the engine
finally overheated so much that they were forced to take the boat into
drydock for repairs. The day that happened, alarms went off and a mad
scramble ensued as the "camera table" had to be removed to provide
access to the badly overheated engine. We lucked out in more ways
than one that time because we got to use another dive operation's
boats. They had two excellent ladders, plenty of water and a gracious
crewman on board who actually helped us get out of the water.

Which brings me to the staff of Dive Tech... Now, I love the Brits as
much as anyone, but I have never been to a British influenced
Caribbean location without encountering the undeniable ATTITUDE. I
think our boat was even called the Attitude! At one point, our dive
master pointed out that the only time the Americans were friends with
the English was when we needed them to fight a war. I guess he forgot
about that little skirmish in the 1940's when we rescued their bloody
Royal asses. Why do I feel this way about the staff at Dive Tech?
I'll work at being brief.

Although I hate being dependent on anyone, I have been forced in
recent years to take special care not to strain the vertebrae in my
neck, so I take my gear off in the water. I told the dive staff in
advance that I would need assistance, and I am accustomed to tipping
for the extra service. Other dive resorts have led me to believe this
is a perfectly acceptable request as long as the staff is notified by
the diver in advance of the dive. When the DiveTech staff did
retrieve my BC and tank from the water, they dumped it on the end of
the boat and barked at me to move it out of the way once I was on
board. Duh!! There's a reason I had them lift it into the boat, and
that certainly precludes me hauling it to the other end of the boat.
On more than one occasion, other divers on the boat ended up providing
more service than the crew.

You macho types out there are probably reading this thinking Dive Tech
would be fine for you. Be prepared to limit your dives to 40 minutes;
that's right 40 minutes on the first dive and 50 on the second.
Actually, nearly every dive was less than 45 minutes, and I was
returning to the boat with 1500 psi or more. The shallow dives
offered virtually no areas shallower than 65 feet, so although you had
plenty of air and energy, you had loaded up on so much nitrogen on the
first dive of the day that your second dive was self-limiting. We
figure the shortened dive time was by design because you were spending
so much time on the morning dives that the crew struggled to get you
back in time for lunch at 1:00 or 1:30. What took so long? Well,
first there's the bus ride to the boat dock. That nice long dock off
the resort is useless. It's a shallow area and the sea can be quite
choppy on that end of the island, so every morning at 7:50 (remember
my comments about the need for a buffet style breakfast) you had to
bag up your own gear and load it in a pickup. Then you boarded a van
and trucked over to the real boat dock about 10 minutes away. Then
you hauled your own gear from the truck to the boat. That process
repeated itself at the end of the dive -- every day. Needless to say,
we slept quite well at the end of our dive day. And that doesn't even
take into account the day the van broke down before we could leave the
dock to return for lunch. Our ever so gracious dive master told us to
get out and wait for the other van to return. Meanwhile, he got a
push down the road and sat in the van under a shade tree. As for the
other facilities provided by Dive Tech, particular mention should be
made of the rinse tanks. Goodness, did I use a plural there? I
should have said TANK because there was one very tiny tank of dirty
water for all the divers at the resort to rinse their gear morning and
afternoon. A large trash can of water was their idea of a camera
rinse tank. Luckily, our room had a tub, which of course became our
personal rinse tank as the week wore on and our wetsuits became more
aromatic.

So how was the diving? Well, I was not overly impressed with Cayman
diving on my first trip, but I would have to say that Little Cayman
and even Cayman Brac are superior to Grand Cayman. As I've already
said, the diving tends to be deep and deeper, which isn't necessarily
the best environment for photography. We did see more Eagle Rays at
Gail's Pinnacle this trip than in our previous seven years of diving.
They swam close enough for photos, and we were suitably thrilled. On
one dive Ory and Pat stumbled on a Nurse Shark in a bit of a feeding
frenzy, competing with a Grouper for his share of another large fish.
The guys shot a barely distinguishable picture of the event and then
got the hell out of Dodge. Suzanne and I ventured out on our own on
one dive and spent far too much time watching a giant lobster scratch
his back on the coral -- that was way cool even if we did have to make
a long swim back to the boat only to be welcomed by our glaring dive
masters. My favorite Brit jumped into the water to rescue me when I
was about 10 yards from the boat. When he reached me, I told him I
was fine and I still had 1800 PSI of air, but if he wanted to feel
useful, he could haul my camera back to the boat. It was the most
assistance I got from him the entire trip. The rest of the fish life
was pretty standard fare, lots of Angelfish and the required number of
turtles. Turtle Reef and the reef outside the resort offered some of
the most lush coral vegetation and plentiful fishlife. We saw tarpon
and very large grouper at Turtle Reef, which should not be missed
although it is ridiculously crowded and proves to be a challenging
entry. We explored the reef outside the resort a few times, and were
never disappointed. Hauling the gear down the long dock took its toll
on my back, but I got my best pictures on those dives. My strobe
malfunctioned for most of the trip, so I was reduced to ambient light
on most shots. Luckily, my three companions were all shooting away
with their own digital cameras. We left some fairly bug-eyed fish on
those reefs.

We had fun in town on the last day, and yes we did buy duty-free J E W
E L R Y. We also got to hang out at the resort on our travel day and
have a leisurely breakfast before heading to the airport at
mid-morning. Our usual return arrangements involve a before dawn exit
with barely a cup of coffee and a crust of bread, so this was truly a
treat. Arie came out to tell us all farewell and invite us to pay a
return visit. Although I loved the resort and appreciated all of
Arie's efforts, I have decided that the Cayman Islands are a good
place for people to shelter their financial resources but not a good
place for me to see fish. The Caymans have joined the Bahamas on my
list of places where the attitude of personnel is too discouraging to
merit a return visit. Bonaire and Honduras are far more pleasant
venues and they will get a piece of my financial resources on future
dive trips.