Learning to Dive on Grand Cayman

> My husband and I are considering spending a long weekend (3-4 days)
> over Thanksgiving on Grand Cayman to take an intro scuba course. I'm a
> good swimmer and fairly experienced snorkeler, but while he's snorkeled
> a few times, and really wants to learn to dive, he's still pretty
> fearful of the water.

First, by "intro scuba" course, I hope you mean Open Water I or whatever its
equivalent is. Anything less will not teach you all you need to know to
dive safely and will not certify you to dive unassisted. There is at least
one and possibly two "intro" courses that do not lead to certification. Be
sure you know what you are getting for your money.

Having gotten past that, I strongly suggest you take your classroom and
confined water training at home and get a referral for the open water
portion of your course. I recommend this to anybody that wants to maximize
the value of a diving vacation. Nobody wants to spend a couple days of an
expensive vacation sitting in the sand doing mask clearing exercises. I
particularly recommend it because of your comments about your companion. If
he's fearful of water, it's a very good idea to do the course someplace
clearly safe (a pool in the US) and to take the time to get him over his
fear, or most of it, slowly and patiently, That's much more likely to
happen at home than in Grand Cayman.

Finally, a 3-4 day certification course is not a leisurely pace. Most entry
level certifications include classroom sessions, several confined water
sessions and four checkout dives, two of which really are checkout dives and
two of which are much closer to what you dive for. This is, of course,
another good reason to do as much of the course before you leave as
possible.

Lee

jvschmidt@msn.com wrote in news:1125343232.003370.171630
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> Can anyone recommend a mid to upscale resort/dive operator that we
> might use? We would ideally like an operator that works out of the
> hotel/resort we're staying at, and preferably some place there's shore
> diving.
....
>
> Any opinions on Cobalt Coast and Divetech?
>

Cobalt Coast and Divetech are both first-class operations. You benefit
from being away from the crowds and having a very personal atmosphere.
We would highly recommend going there. Tell Arie Alexander and Caroline
from Montreal sent you.

I am attaching a trip report from our stay there in 2003. Note that some
of the places were damaged in the hurricane last year and have not re-
opened (e.g. Lighthouse at Breakers). Cobalt Coast had almost no damage
at all (we were back last January) but the rest of the island is still
being rebuilt.

Rental cars were hard to come by last January. Not sure how the
situation is now, but if you do decide to go to Cobalt Coast, a rental
car is definitely recommended, if only to eat somewhere else for a
change.


*****

As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by the resort's owner, Arie, a
tall Dutchman, who has chosen to retire in Grand Cayman after long years
as a hotel manager in Las Vegas, and who built this resort a few years
ago. The resort, as well as the on-premises dive outfit, Divetech, are
purposely built away from the commotion of Seven Mile Beach, but are
easily reached by car if not staying on location.

The usual deal includes the room, as well as a full breakfast, a two-tank
dive in the morning, as well as unlimited shore diving at Divetech's two
locations. Both Arie and Dora, the assistant manager, were very helpful
in setting things up for us, and were quick to respond to our emails.
Their toll-free number was also useful, of course.

A meal plan is available at US$50 per person per day, with a 3-day
minimum, to add lunch and dinner to the breakfast, but this would only be
recommended if you have a really good appetite. Since we're used to more
normal-sized Canadian portions, we opted oftentimes simply to split an
appetizer and a main course, which was still ample for the two of us.
(We tried getting one of us only onto the meal plan, but that wasn't
allowed, as it obviously defeated the purpose!

They had generously upgraded us to a larger room given the length of our
stay, and so we found ourselves in a one-bedroom suite on the second
floor. The rooms are all quite generously proportioned, with a king bed,
large, modern bathroom, air conditioning, ceiling fans, TV, small fridge,
coffee maker, table, wicker furniture, etc. It is definitely easy to
feel comfortable here. We would have liked to see sheer curtains on the
windows to let some light in during the day, while blocking the view from
the outside, in addition to the very effective blackout curtains for the
night.

The bathroom had a full-size bottle of good quality shampoo and large
bars of soap, as well as a hair dryer. The towels were a little bit on
the small and thin side, not quite up to par with the rest of the
amenities, though there was an ample supply of extras in the cabinet.
Beach towels are provided, as are towels for use on the dive boat, so you
don't have to bring your own. (On the last day, the air conditioning
stopped working, and Arie immediately and generously offered us another
room to sleep in comfortably.)

After Arie helped to bring our luggage to the room, we went to check in
with the dive shop. They took note of our C cards, we signed the
required waiver, and were then free to go on our checkout dive. As we
had dived within the last few months, they let us go off and do our own
thing.

The morning boat dives were always done from the Yacht Club, a 10-minute
shuttle bus ride away, and the boat ride was usually under 30 minutes.
On their brochure, this does not come across, and one would believe the
boats leave from the dock on premises - not so, as the water is too
shallow to do so safely. However, this was only a minor inconvenience,
and it let us talk to the other divers on the bus before getting to the
boat. Our dive equipment, as well as replacement tanks for the boat, was
always carried in Divetech's pickup truck.

During the time we were there, for 6 days out of 7, diving took place on
the north wall, while we went to the west side of the island only on the
last day. They told us the water was unusually calm, and for the first
few days it was really very smooth, while on the second-last day, the
dive boat was rocking quite a bit, and a few whitecaps were forming on
the waves.

Some of the dive sites we visited included Hammerhead Reef, Lemon Drop,
Blue Pinnacle, Black Forest, Leslie's Curl, Tarpon Alley, Queen's Throne,
Dream Weaver, and Bonnie's Arch. This last one is a beautiful site, and
I could well imagine people planning an underwater wedding in this
setting!

Generally, the first dive of the morning is a guided dive to about 100
feet, while on the second dive you can do whatever you want, as long as
you go with a buddy. Usually they aim for 40-50 minutes total dive time
if you have a computer, quite a bit less if you're on tables.

The shore diving is also pretty good at Cobalt Coast, but it is a 15-
minute swim out to the main wall, though the mini-wall (60') can be
reached in about half that time. We even saw an 8' reef shark above the
outer wall on one dive - certainly makes your heart beat faster and air
consumption to go up slightly! Night diving is definitely recommended,
with many Caribbean reef octopi, lobsters out in the open, tarpons, free-
swimming morays, and so on.

Some of the fauna we saw included lots of green sea turtles, courting
orange filefish, flying gurnards, honeycomb cowfish, spotted drums, lots
of eagle rays, southern stingrays, and lemon stingrays, tarpon, large
angelfish (gray, French and royal), barracudas, impressive schools of
grunts, abundant parrotfish, and black durgeons and many more.

The dive staff at Divetech, as the name implies, are mostly technical
divers. This could partially explain their behavior toward "regular"
divers: friendly, helpful, but a bit reserved. On the dive boat, they
would mostly keep to themselves, and did not engage in much conversation
with the passengers, as we've seen them do on other trips. (Habitat
Bonaire or Curaçao or CocoView in Roatan come to mind, where there was
always animated conversation and even friendly joking around with the
divemasters on the boat.) When talked to, they were quite friendly, of
course, and willing to share their experience and knowledge. Perhaps
this is part of the island culture, as we noticed this in other places,
not just at the dive operation, and in fact, even among the divers on the
boat to some extent.

A trip to Stingray City is planned several times a week in the afternoon,
and is an experience not to be missed! This is $50 extra each, but well
worth it at least once in your life. Each diver is given a small portion
of squid in a container, and a dozen southern stingrays are all over you
while you first tease them with the food, and then feed them bit-by-bit.
Quite amazing! After 10-15 minutes the spectacle is over, and you
continue on a short, shallow dive. We played with a tame, large green
moray, which followed us for most of the dive.

We took one day off from diving, rented a car for the last four days of
our stay, and drove around the island.

A word of warning is in order here: do not rent from Budget on Grand
Cayman! The car we got was the filthiest one I have ever rented. It
must be that since we selected an Economy car (Hyundai Atos) they chose
to treat us as second-class citizens. The windshield had a layer of
grime on it that required several applications of Windex to get rid of,
and the steering wheel was actually sticky to the touch, and left black
marks on the paper towel when I cleaned it! Also, the windshield washer
container was completely empty and I had to fill it. The interior of the
car had not been cleaned for weeks, and was quite unpleasant too. At the
car rental return, the employees had an attitude of "I don't care, speak
to the manager", which was quite unfortunately unprofessional.

On the other hand, Arie told us that they rental company they recommend
(I don't know which one, but they can book it for you before or during
your vacation) is always very good, the cars are clean and well
maintained, and they're no more expensive than the major players.

The island of Grand Cayman is quite easy to drive around in half a day,
stopping here and there. We drove around counter-clockwise to Rum Point,
which is party central for many people of Seven Mile Beach, who take the
ferry there from the Hyatt hotel. Many sunbaked bodies could be seen
here enjoying their drinks and the sunshine.

We visited the Turtle Farm in West Bay, which, while interesting, is a
sad sight, too. Imagine a poultry farm, and substitute turtles for
chickens. I suppose it's part of the island's traditions and culture to
eat turtle, and it does help preserve those in the wild, but it is sad to
see hundreds of smaller and larger turtles piled into shallow tanks, with
nowhere to go but round and round in circles. The farm does also release
about 10-15% of its population into the wild every year.

We stopped for lunch at the Lighthouse at Breakers. Wow! What an
experience… Just the desserts alone are worth the visit, with such
selections as "Traditional Hot Sticky Toffee Pudding with Guinness Ice
Cream" or "Macadamia Coated Dark Chocolate Mousse on a Mudslide Sponge
Base with Fresh Berry Coulis". While everything here is pricy, lunch for
two at approximately US$60 was well worth it.

The restaurant at Cobalt Coast, "Duppies", is decent, but the choices get
repetitive if you have to eat there for a whole week. At lunchtime, the
jerk chicken sandwich, their cheeseburger or the BLT made good snacks
(they have several other choices, too), while in the evening, they have
Blackened Mahi Mahi, Chicken Parmigiana or Marinated Pork Tenderloin as
well as a number of other selections. Their Caesar salad is quite
delicious, and can certainly be used as a meal sometimes, and at US$8.15
it's a good deal. The Chef was also quite nice in preparing a vegetarian
selection or other things not on the menu when we requested this.
Generally a lunch item is around US$8-10, while an entree at dinner runs
US$17-28. The cheapest drink seems to be Stingray Beer at happy hour at
US$3.15, while anything stronger is quite expensive.

The staff at this restaurant, and at some of the others we visited, seem
to have a similar approach to their customers as the dive staff does: a
very laid-back, laissez-faire attitude. This is unfortunate, and may be
a product of the already-included 15% gratuity. We had the feeling the
staff was sometimes unhappy at our meager eating habits, as their
compensation was directly linked to it.

Breakfast was always very good (the pancakes and French toast with real
maple syrup are recommended) and generously proportioned. Their coffee
is very good, though probably strong for American tastes. You do have to
get down there early, however, as the bus for diving leaves at 8:00
sharp.

To conclude, the diving was quite amazing, with great visibility and a
variety of fish (though hardly as many as other places we were told
about, for example, the Maldives). The hotel is new, modern, clean, even
luxurious, although there is no beach, only a pool and a hot tub, and a
coral shore. Arie is a welcoming host, who makes an effort to get to
know his guests, and who will go out of his way to make you comfortable.
This was much appreciated. A rental car is recommended if you want to
get away for some meals and to have a look at the island. You could
possibly even do some diving elsewhere for more variety.

You can find more information on the hotel and dive operation at:

www.cobaltcoast.com
and
www.divetech.com.

jvschmidt@msn.com pounded away at his keyboard resulting in:

:Can anyone recommend a mid to upscale resort/dive operator that we
:might use? We would ideally like an operator that works out of the
:hotel/resort we're staying at, and preferably some place there's shore
:diving. We would need small class/trip sizes and an instructor that
:goes slowly and doesn't try to pressure him to go faster than he's
:comfortable with. It doesn't matter if we actually get certified this
:time out or not, although I don't want to spend the whole weekend in
:the pool. If there was also good snorkeling from the beach that would
:be a plus. Impossible?

It's not exactly upscale, but then again, it ain't a dump, but Sunset
House has a onsite dive shop, and reasonably decent shore diving.


Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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jvschmidt@msn.com wrote:
> My husband and I are considering spending a long weekend (3-4 days)
> over Thanksgiving on Grand Cayman to take an intro scuba course. I'm a
> good swimmer and fairly experienced snorkeler, but while he's snorkeled
> a few times, and really wants to learn to dive, he's still pretty
> fearful of the water.
>

Being fearful of the water is a MAJOR obstacle

My recommendation is to do the certification here (classes and water
instruction) then do the check out dives there. Why spend time on
vacation in class?

<jvschmidt@msn.com> wrote in message
news:1125343232.003370.171630@g43g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> My husband and I are considering spending a long weekend (3-4 days)
> over Thanksgiving on Grand Cayman to take an intro scuba course. I'm a
> good swimmer and fairly experienced snorkeler, but while he's snorkeled
> a few times, and really wants to learn to dive, he's still pretty
> fearful of the water.
>
> Can anyone recommend a mid to upscale resort/dive operator that we
> might use? We would ideally like an operator that works out of the
> hotel/resort we're staying at, and preferably some place there's shore
> diving. We would need small class/trip sizes and an instructor that
> goes slowly and doesn't try to pressure him to go faster than he's
> comfortable with. It doesn't matter if we actually get certified this
> time out or not, although I don't want to spend the whole weekend in
> the pool. If there was also good snorkeling from the beach that would
> be a plus. Impossible?
>
> Any opinions on Cobalt Coast and Divetech?
>
> Thanks for any suggestions,
>
> Jennifer
>

#1. Get a dive medical done here, it will be a lot cheaper.
#2. You need to prove that you can tread water for 10min or you can't take
the course.

If these two things are not required, I would not trust the opperator. The
trainning you recieve could save you life. Don't do it half-assed!

Also, the open water course is boring. You spend half your time in the
classroom learning the theory and writting tests. Then when you actually get
into the water, you practice what you've learned in class. Then you watch
other people do what you've done. Not exactly my idea of a vacation.

If you don't have time to do the course, just rent a boat and go "snorkel"
with the stingrays. The sandbar where they feed is ~5 feet deep (hence the
paretheses on snorkel). The sandbar does vary from 3-6 feet deep. You can go
with an opperator, but there will be heaps of people. Also try not to go
when the cruise ships are in dock.

Enjoy!

Dwayne

Thus spake jvschmidt@msn.com :

>My husband and I are considering spending a long weekend (3-4 days)
>over Thanksgiving on Grand Cayman to take an intro scuba course. I'm a
>good swimmer and fairly experienced snorkeler, but while he's snorkeled
>a few times, and really wants to learn to dive, he's still pretty
>fearful of the water.

I take, at a minimum, 4 1/2 days to teach a class. This will
definitely chew up your vacation. Plan on spending two very solid
days in class and pool.

I wouldn't do it. Get certified at home and take a real dive
vacation. If your husband is uncomfortable in the water, better to
find out at home than on an expensive vacation.

>
>Can anyone recommend a mid to upscale resort/dive operator that we
>might use? We would ideally like an operator that works out of the
>hotel/resort we're staying at, and preferably some place there's shore
>diving. We would need small class/trip sizes and an instructor that
>goes slowly and doesn't try to pressure him to go faster than he's
>comfortable with. It doesn't matter if we actually get certified this
>time out or not, although I don't want to spend the whole weekend in
>the pool. If there was also good snorkeling from the beach that would
>be a plus. Impossible?
>
>Any opinions on Cobalt Coast and Divetech?
>
>Thanks for any suggestions,
>
>Jennifer
--
dillon

Pain is Nature's way of saying "that was stupid"

My husband and I are considering spending a long weekend (3-4 days)
over Thanksgiving on Grand Cayman to take an intro scuba course. I'm a
good swimmer and fairly experienced snorkeler, but while he's snorkeled
a few times, and really wants to learn to dive, he's still pretty
fearful of the water.

Can anyone recommend a mid to upscale resort/dive operator that we
might use? We would ideally like an operator that works out of the
hotel/resort we're staying at, and preferably some place there's shore
diving. We would need small class/trip sizes and an instructor that
goes slowly and doesn't try to pressure him to go faster than he's
comfortable with. It doesn't matter if we actually get certified this
time out or not, although I don't want to spend the whole weekend in
the pool. If there was also good snorkeling from the beach that would
be a plus. Impossible?

Any opinions on Cobalt Coast and Divetech?

Thanks for any suggestions,

Jennifer

> My husband and I are considering spending a long weekend (3-4 days)
> over Thanksgiving on Grand Cayman to take an intro scuba course. I'm a
> good swimmer and fairly experienced snorkeler, but while he's snorkeled
> a few times, and really wants to learn to dive, he's still pretty
> fearful of the water.

First, by "intro scuba" course, I hope you mean Open Water I or whatever its
equivalent is. Anything less will not teach you all you need to know to
dive safely and will not certify you to dive unassisted. There is at least
one and possibly two "intro" courses that do not lead to certification. Be
sure you know what you are getting for your money.

Having gotten past that, I strongly suggest you take your classroom and
confined water training at home and get a referral for the open water
portion of your course. I recommend this to anybody that wants to maximize
the value of a diving vacation. Nobody wants to spend a couple days of an
expensive vacation sitting in the sand doing mask clearing exercises. I
particularly recommend it because of your comments about your companion. If
he's fearful of water, it's a very good idea to do the course someplace
clearly safe (a pool in the US) and to take the time to get him over his
fear, or most of it, slowly and patiently, That's much more likely to
happen at home than in Grand Cayman.

Finally, a 3-4 day certification course is not a leisurely pace. Most entry
level certifications include classroom sessions, several confined water
sessions and four checkout dives, two of which really are checkout dives and
two of which are much closer to what you dive for. This is, of course,
another good reason to do as much of the course before you leave as
possible.

Lee

jvschmidt@msn.com wrote in news:1125343232.003370.171630
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> Can anyone recommend a mid to upscale resort/dive operator that we
> might use? We would ideally like an operator that works out of the
> hotel/resort we're staying at, and preferably some place there's shore
> diving.
....
>
> Any opinions on Cobalt Coast and Divetech?
>

Cobalt Coast and Divetech are both first-class operations. You benefit
from being away from the crowds and having a very personal atmosphere.
We would highly recommend going there. Tell Arie Alexander and Caroline
from Montreal sent you.

I am attaching a trip report from our stay there in 2003. Note that some
of the places were damaged in the hurricane last year and have not re-
opened (e.g. Lighthouse at Breakers). Cobalt Coast had almost no damage
at all (we were back last January) but the rest of the island is still
being rebuilt.

Rental cars were hard to come by last January. Not sure how the
situation is now, but if you do decide to go to Cobalt Coast, a rental
car is definitely recommended, if only to eat somewhere else for a
change.


*****

As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by the resort's owner, Arie, a
tall Dutchman, who has chosen to retire in Grand Cayman after long years
as a hotel manager in Las Vegas, and who built this resort a few years
ago. The resort, as well as the on-premises dive outfit, Divetech, are
purposely built away from the commotion of Seven Mile Beach, but are
easily reached by car if not staying on location.

The usual deal includes the room, as well as a full breakfast, a two-tank
dive in the morning, as well as unlimited shore diving at Divetech's two
locations. Both Arie and Dora, the assistant manager, were very helpful
in setting things up for us, and were quick to respond to our emails.
Their toll-free number was also useful, of course.

A meal plan is available at US$50 per person per day, with a 3-day
minimum, to add lunch and dinner to the breakfast, but this would only be
recommended if you have a really good appetite. Since we're used to more
normal-sized Canadian portions, we opted oftentimes simply to split an
appetizer and a main course, which was still ample for the two of us.
(We tried getting one of us only onto the meal plan, but that wasn't
allowed, as it obviously defeated the purpose!

They had generously upgraded us to a larger room given the length of our
stay, and so we found ourselves in a one-bedroom suite on the second
floor. The rooms are all quite generously proportioned, with a king bed,
large, modern bathroom, air conditioning, ceiling fans, TV, small fridge,
coffee maker, table, wicker furniture, etc. It is definitely easy to
feel comfortable here. We would have liked to see sheer curtains on the
windows to let some light in during the day, while blocking the view from
the outside, in addition to the very effective blackout curtains for the
night.

The bathroom had a full-size bottle of good quality shampoo and large
bars of soap, as well as a hair dryer. The towels were a little bit on
the small and thin side, not quite up to par with the rest of the
amenities, though there was an ample supply of extras in the cabinet.
Beach towels are provided, as are towels for use on the dive boat, so you
don't have to bring your own. (On the last day, the air conditioning
stopped working, and Arie immediately and generously offered us another
room to sleep in comfortably.)

After Arie helped to bring our luggage to the room, we went to check in
with the dive shop. They took note of our C cards, we signed the
required waiver, and were then free to go on our checkout dive. As we
had dived within the last few months, they let us go off and do our own
thing.

The morning boat dives were always done from the Yacht Club, a 10-minute
shuttle bus ride away, and the boat ride was usually under 30 minutes.
On their brochure, this does not come across, and one would believe the
boats leave from the dock on premises - not so, as the water is too
shallow to do so safely. However, this was only a minor inconvenience,
and it let us talk to the other divers on the bus before getting to the
boat. Our dive equipment, as well as replacement tanks for the boat, was
always carried in Divetech's pickup truck.

During the time we were there, for 6 days out of 7, diving took place on
the north wall, while we went to the west side of the island only on the
last day. They told us the water was unusually calm, and for the first
few days it was really very smooth, while on the second-last day, the
dive boat was rocking quite a bit, and a few whitecaps were forming on
the waves.

Some of the dive sites we visited included Hammerhead Reef, Lemon Drop,
Blue Pinnacle, Black Forest, Leslie's Curl, Tarpon Alley, Queen's Throne,
Dream Weaver, and Bonnie's Arch. This last one is a beautiful site, and
I could well imagine people planning an underwater wedding in this
setting!

Generally, the first dive of the morning is a guided dive to about 100
feet, while on the second dive you can do whatever you want, as long as
you go with a buddy. Usually they aim for 40-50 minutes total dive time
if you have a computer, quite a bit less if you're on tables.

The shore diving is also pretty good at Cobalt Coast, but it is a 15-
minute swim out to the main wall, though the mini-wall (60') can be
reached in about half that time. We even saw an 8' reef shark above the
outer wall on one dive - certainly makes your heart beat faster and air
consumption to go up slightly! Night diving is definitely recommended,
with many Caribbean reef octopi, lobsters out in the open, tarpons, free-
swimming morays, and so on.

Some of the fauna we saw included lots of green sea turtles, courting
orange filefish, flying gurnards, honeycomb cowfish, spotted drums, lots
of eagle rays, southern stingrays, and lemon stingrays, tarpon, large
angelfish (gray, French and royal), barracudas, impressive schools of
grunts, abundant parrotfish, and black durgeons and many more.

The dive staff at Divetech, as the name implies, are mostly technical
divers. This could partially explain their behavior toward "regular"
divers: friendly, helpful, but a bit reserved. On the dive boat, they
would mostly keep to themselves, and did not engage in much conversation
with the passengers, as we've seen them do on other trips. (Habitat
Bonaire or Curaçao or CocoView in Roatan come to mind, where there was
always animated conversation and even friendly joking around with the
divemasters on the boat.) When talked to, they were quite friendly, of
course, and willing to share their experience and knowledge. Perhaps
this is part of the island culture, as we noticed this in other places,
not just at the dive operation, and in fact, even among the divers on the
boat to some extent.

A trip to Stingray City is planned several times a week in the afternoon,
and is an experience not to be missed! This is $50 extra each, but well
worth it at least once in your life. Each diver is given a small portion
of squid in a container, and a dozen southern stingrays are all over you
while you first tease them with the food, and then feed them bit-by-bit.
Quite amazing! After 10-15 minutes the spectacle is over, and you
continue on a short, shallow dive. We played with a tame, large green
moray, which followed us for most of the dive.

We took one day off from diving, rented a car for the last four days of
our stay, and drove around the island.

A word of warning is in order here: do not rent from Budget on Grand
Cayman! The car we got was the filthiest one I have ever rented. It
must be that since we selected an Economy car (Hyundai Atos) they chose
to treat us as second-class citizens. The windshield had a layer of
grime on it that required several applications of Windex to get rid of,
and the steering wheel was actually sticky to the touch, and left black
marks on the paper towel when I cleaned it! Also, the windshield washer
container was completely empty and I had to fill it. The interior of the
car had not been cleaned for weeks, and was quite unpleasant too. At the
car rental return, the employees had an attitude of "I don't care, speak
to the manager", which was quite unfortunately unprofessional.

On the other hand, Arie told us that they rental company they recommend
(I don't know which one, but they can book it for you before or during
your vacation) is always very good, the cars are clean and well
maintained, and they're no more expensive than the major players.

The island of Grand Cayman is quite easy to drive around in half a day,
stopping here and there. We drove around counter-clockwise to Rum Point,
which is party central for many people of Seven Mile Beach, who take the
ferry there from the Hyatt hotel. Many sunbaked bodies could be seen
here enjoying their drinks and the sunshine.

We visited the Turtle Farm in West Bay, which, while interesting, is a
sad sight, too. Imagine a poultry farm, and substitute turtles for
chickens. I suppose it's part of the island's traditions and culture to
eat turtle, and it does help preserve those in the wild, but it is sad to
see hundreds of smaller and larger turtles piled into shallow tanks, with
nowhere to go but round and round in circles. The farm does also release
about 10-15% of its population into the wild every year.

We stopped for lunch at the Lighthouse at Breakers. Wow! What an
experience… Just the desserts alone are worth the visit, with such
selections as "Traditional Hot Sticky Toffee Pudding with Guinness Ice
Cream" or "Macadamia Coated Dark Chocolate Mousse on a Mudslide Sponge
Base with Fresh Berry Coulis". While everything here is pricy, lunch for
two at approximately US$60 was well worth it.

The restaurant at Cobalt Coast, "Duppies", is decent, but the choices get
repetitive if you have to eat there for a whole week. At lunchtime, the
jerk chicken sandwich, their cheeseburger or the BLT made good snacks
(they have several other choices, too), while in the evening, they have
Blackened Mahi Mahi, Chicken Parmigiana or Marinated Pork Tenderloin as
well as a number of other selections. Their Caesar salad is quite
delicious, and can certainly be used as a meal sometimes, and at US$8.15
it's a good deal. The Chef was also quite nice in preparing a vegetarian
selection or other things not on the menu when we requested this.
Generally a lunch item is around US$8-10, while an entree at dinner runs
US$17-28. The cheapest drink seems to be Stingray Beer at happy hour at
US$3.15, while anything stronger is quite expensive.

The staff at this restaurant, and at some of the others we visited, seem
to have a similar approach to their customers as the dive staff does: a
very laid-back, laissez-faire attitude. This is unfortunate, and may be
a product of the already-included 15% gratuity. We had the feeling the
staff was sometimes unhappy at our meager eating habits, as their
compensation was directly linked to it.

Breakfast was always very good (the pancakes and French toast with real
maple syrup are recommended) and generously proportioned. Their coffee
is very good, though probably strong for American tastes. You do have to
get down there early, however, as the bus for diving leaves at 8:00
sharp.

To conclude, the diving was quite amazing, with great visibility and a
variety of fish (though hardly as many as other places we were told
about, for example, the Maldives). The hotel is new, modern, clean, even
luxurious, although there is no beach, only a pool and a hot tub, and a
coral shore. Arie is a welcoming host, who makes an effort to get to
know his guests, and who will go out of his way to make you comfortable.
This was much appreciated. A rental car is recommended if you want to
get away for some meals and to have a look at the island. You could
possibly even do some diving elsewhere for more variety.

You can find more information on the hotel and dive operation at:

www.cobaltcoast.com
and
www.divetech.com.

<jvschmidt@msn.com> wrote in message
news:1125343232.003370.171630@g43g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> My husband and I are considering spending a long weekend (3-4 days)
> over Thanksgiving on Grand Cayman to take an intro scuba course. I'm a
> good swimmer and fairly experienced snorkeler, but while he's snorkeled
> a few times, and really wants to learn to dive, he's still pretty
> fearful of the water.
>
> Can anyone recommend a mid to upscale resort/dive operator that we
> might use? We would ideally like an operator that works out of the
> hotel/resort we're staying at, and preferably some place there's shore
> diving. We would need small class/trip sizes and an instructor that
> goes slowly and doesn't try to pressure him to go faster than he's
> comfortable with. It doesn't matter if we actually get certified this
> time out or not, although I don't want to spend the whole weekend in
> the pool. If there was also good snorkeling from the beach that would
> be a plus. Impossible?
>
> Any opinions on Cobalt Coast and Divetech?
>
> Thanks for any suggestions,
>
> Jennifer
>

#1. Get a dive medical done here, it will be a lot cheaper.
#2. You need to prove that you can tread water for 10min or you can't take
the course.

If these two things are not required, I would not trust the opperator. The
trainning you recieve could save you life. Don't do it half-assed!

Also, the open water course is boring. You spend half your time in the
classroom learning the theory and writting tests. Then when you actually get
into the water, you practice what you've learned in class. Then you watch
other people do what you've done. Not exactly my idea of a vacation.

If you don't have time to do the course, just rent a boat and go "snorkel"
with the stingrays. The sandbar where they feed is ~5 feet deep (hence the
paretheses on snorkel). The sandbar does vary from 3-6 feet deep. You can go
with an opperator, but there will be heaps of people. Also try not to go
when the cruise ships are in dock.

Enjoy!

Dwayne