Cobalt Coast is a well maintained dedicated diver resort, located in West Bay beyond Seven Mile Beach and not far from the turtle farm. It is extremely well run, yet laid back where you can hang by the pool, or lounge on the beach. It is very comfortable for non-divers who may decide to accompany divers. Our trip included daily breakfast buffet, lunch and dinner were also available. The quality and variety of the meals was remarkable, the first night some of us dined on lionfish, prepared fresh from local waters.

Diving was provided by Dive Tech the onsite dive operation. Our trip included three days of two tank boat dives and unlimited shore diving on boat dive days. Unfortunately, there was a strong northeast wind that prevented us from diving in front of Cobalt Coast but more of shore diving later. The dive staff at Dive Tech was extremely friendly and attentive. Emma and Christian, to name just a couple, provided us with excellent dive briefings (the turtles were found exactly where they were drawn in relation to the boat) as well as generous bottom times (60 minutes). Diving was typical Cayman, 82 degree water with 80+ feet of visibility, walls, swim throughs, wrecks and reefs.

One of the highlights was the treasure hunt shore dive. In conjunction with Pirates Week, Dive Tech and Cobalt Coast sponsor an underwater treasure hunt as a charity fund raiser. Participation is an extra $25, Dive Tech provided us with transportation to Light House Point, their second shore dive site, as well as nitrox and weights. Approximately 70 divers participated, searching for metal disks with numbers written on them that ended up corresponding to prizes. This was shore diving at its finest, no need to trudge across sand and rocks. Benches under a protective covering provided a stable area to set up our gear and access to the water was via a giant stride from a concrete pier. Exiting the water was no problem due to the large, stable ladder provided at the end of the pier. The dive was in 30-60 feet of water to a mini wall where I was more distracted by the variety of sea life than the task of finding the prize disks. We were allowed to take two disks each thereby allowing others to also reap rewards. Needless to say, there were many more disks than divers/snorkelers and those of us who collected more than the allotted two were more than willing to share with those who couldn’t find any. The treasure hunt ended up at Cobalt Coast with the awarding of the prizes, no disappointments, everyone was a winner.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the pirate activities. On Friday night, my band of marauders, dressed in our pirate/wench garb, went into Georgetown to participate in the street festival/firework display. Much to our surprise, we were not the only pirates in town. Actually, we felt underdressed since some of the people we met spent a great deal of time and effort in getting the pirate/pirate wench costume just right. The fireworks display was first rate, much to our amazement. Food vendors were in abundance with a variety of palate pleasing offerings at a reasonable price. There were bands, singing contests and wenches strolling the street. It was quite a night! Not to be outdone, Saturday afternoon the pirates attacked Georgetown with two ships and the requisite cannonade. The governor and the red coats were taken captive and all spectators and participants cheered! Immediately following the enactment, the parade started. It was a wonderful afternoon.

What would a trip be without some terrific restaurants? We were fortunate to stumble upon a delightful beachfront place, The Tiki Bar, on Seven Mile Beach that provided us with a couple of evenings of relaxation and quality libations. The Calypso Grill, although conjuring up images of fried fish and chips, was anything but. A beautiful setting in Morgan’s Harbour, an extensive menu, and a well stocked wine cellar made it the surprise hit of the trip. Of course a trip to Grand Cayman would not be complete without an evening dining under the stars at The Wharf, a premier dining establishment.

Our weekend was jam packed with fun activities and all too soon came to an end. Divers and non-divers alike agreed that it was an exciting time and vowed to return next year for Pirates Week, although, next year we would invest more effort in our pirate/wench costumes so we could compete with the “regulars”.

Upon arrival to the resort, many of us we surprised to find out how large and spacious the villas were. They were 1,400 square feet with two completely separate bedrooms, each with their own private full bath, a full kitchen, living area, and outside patio. Each villa also was given a good size vehicle to accommodate tanks, gear and divers for the travel to the more than 60 named shore access dive sites.

Click here for the Oct. 2011 Bonaire Trip Photo Gallery.

Sunday started out with a shore check out dive in front of the resort to make sure of proper weighting and that all gear was in fine working order. The rest of the day divers split up into groups and did more shore dives either locally or travelling to other sites.

Monday started with the first of three days of two tank boat dives which were included in the package price. The group was split between the two dive boats, the Green Flash and the Blue Moon. We enjoyed some fabulous reef dives on Klein Bonaire and the north end of Bonaire, not to mention the and a wreck dive on the Helma Hooker in the clear 84 degree water.

Most afternoons divers split into small groups and headed out to distant locations to do shore dives such as Oil Slick Leap and the invisibles. Night dives in front of either the pool location or the Tipsey Seagull were a common theme and many did dives at 5:30 a.m., which started in the dark and ended at daylight when the reefs came alive with the morning light.

Thursday was a busy day of diving with shore dives in the morning, a 3 p.m. dive at the Salt Pier escorted by divemaster Jackson, and a boat night dive to Klein Bonaire or Small Wall, depending on which boat you were on. The night dives were also included in the trip package.

The diving was a great experience for both the newly certified and the more accomplished divers. Besides the usual beautiful coral reefs and marine life some more exotic discoveries were seen including a scalloped hammer head shark, a manta ray, seahorses, sharp tail eels, turtles, and two different colored frog fish were seen and documented by the many photographers on the trip. Friday night we celebrated the close of our diving with a nice dinner for 22 people at the “It Rains Fishes” restaurant. The Sailing Regatta was in town which is a big festive occasion for the local people with a street carnival and live music in the streets.

Special thanks go out to Ed Hayes, Joel Toohey, Forest Rothchild, and Gary Woods for organizing, planning, and making this trip safe and enjoyable. This was one of Scuba Shack’s best trips to date and another one is in the planning stages for the same time slot next year. Your suggestions and comments are always welcome.

Congratulations to each of these divers for the accomplishment!

Note: The email that went out had the wrong date, the correct date is Sunday, Oct. 2. This cost will be $15 for tickets (in advance) and $16 at the door. You can pick up tickets at Scuba Shack or Cadillac Ranch, and make additional donations of support if you’d like. If you’re unable to make it to the event, you still can make a donation. Contact us here at Scuba Shack if you have any questions.

One thing you can do very easily is write a message of support to Dennis by sending him an email using the form below, or follow Dennis’ progress on Caring Bridge.

Group at Shark Wall

It didn’t take long to acclimate to the warm weather, the cool pool, and a few cold beers and everyone was on vacation. We followed the tried and true format of great days of diving followed by delightful dinners alfresco at some of Nassau’s premier restaurants.

Diving highlights included a few new wrecks, swim throughs at Tunnel Wall, Hole in the Head, and Eagle Ray Wall (Exuma), and a few Hollywood movie sets. Adrenalin rushes were provided by numerous shark encounters as well as a few eels and rays.

Fortunately, the lionfish population seems to have leveled off. They aren’t gone, but we didn’t count 40 at one dive site as happened in the past. Once again the off island adventure to Exuma was the hit of the trip. The crew; Clee J, Ryan, Allison, Phillip, and photographer Dom worked tirelessly to provide us with a truly incredible experience. They found the swim through we did last year as well as a different wreck for us to dive (complete with sharks, rays, and a turtle).

Kalik time in Exuma

Once we hit Allen Cay, we took the lyrics of the Zac Brown Band’s song to heart and had our “toes in the water, our asses in the sand, nothing on our minds and cold beer in our hands”. Needless to say, our diving was over but the fun didn’t end. Kevin did his best as an iguana wrangler and assured us no animal was injured, but he did have a few scratches for his efforts. After fresh conch salad washed down with cold Kaliks, we reluctantly left the Exumas and had a smooth ride back to New Providence Island.

Our dining experiences included the incredible calamari at Café Matisse followed by an alleged Sean Connery (or his double) sighting in a corner of the garden. It was an unconfirmed sighting and may have been due to too much of the fine wine imbibed. A truly incredible experience was had at Luciano’s. The staff had us set up at three tables under a pergola on the water overlooking the Atlantis Resort. It was a beautiful night, warm with a gentle breeze, with terrific service and delicious food. After two of the tables decided to leave, the wait staff surprised our table with a spontaneous a cappella performance of a number of island tunes. Their performance was topped off with a rendition of the Dollar Dance which got us on our feet and dancing! A truly memorable night for all involved.

Our last night was the traditional Orange Hill barbeque followed by a party for our divers and the Stuart Cove dive staff. As usual, Judy and the Orange Hill kitchen out did themselves and the get together with our old and new friends from Stuart Cove’s was bitter sweet since we were leaving the next day and wouldn’t be diving with them for a while.

And what would a trip to Nassau be without a trip to the Crystal Palace Casino? Although none of us could claim success at the blackjack tables, “Roulette Red”, played in honor of Bobby G., came through for us and helped recoup our losses. Needless to say, another successful trip to Nassau.

Easy fix – head over to the new Scuba Shack Facebook site and “Like” us there, or just click on the “Like” button below.

Very sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your support!

Check out the photo album from the trip!

Tuesday bright and early, we met at the dive shop, picked up six sets of double aluminimum 80’s and six aluminum 40 cf deco bottles and headed off to Jules Undersea Dive Lagoon for the start of training for GUE Recreational Diver Level 3 – Trimix Diver. Ed was the Instructor, Forest was our Divemaster and took care of videography, Tracy stayed home and fished, while the rest of us started our journey of mastering the following skills and goals:

• Enhanced personal and team capacity
• Increased situational awareness
• Develop the capacity for using diving equipment suitable for deeper recreational diving
• Develop the capacity to conduct a safe and efficient ascent
• Develop the ability to safely plan dives

The dive sessions are divided into eight dives designed to build diver capacity by gradually increasing depth and complexity. Gradually is underlined because when the four divers hit the water at Jules we immediately showed the skills of an entry level student diver entering the water for dive one. But to Ed’s credit, he massaged the ‘gradual’ to his advantage and improvement showed immediately and continually throughout the week. Gary, Nick, Jeff and Tim all realized that Ed had confidence in our abilities and so it should not be in our own minds any other way. Everyone’s realization of confidence enhanced the learning experience by taking any lack of self-confidence out of the equation. Now it was time for the students to learn, experience and acquire the increased skill sets necessary to complete the dives. Tuesday afternoon we left for the first of many boat rides at 3:30 pm and it ended as a dusk-dive. Dinner was at Gilbert’s Resort and the food was fulfilling.

Wednesday we all met again, bright and early for another long training day. Dives three through six gradually increased depths and complexities as promised and all students were pushed to new levels. Wednesday evening the rest of the divers arrived, Dave Blackwell and daughter, Mary Claire for Buoyancy One (accompanied by our bubblewatcher, Mrs. Kathy Blackwell), and Jim Epperson, Guy Bolduc and son Aaron for Advanced Open Water Diver. Dinner for 13 at DiGiorgio’s was delicious but a bit long. All the divers who logged four training dives today chose bed over dessert when the time came.

Thursday morning called for two deep experience dives on the Spiegel Grove for the GUE Rec-3 divers. Two dives to 120 feet breathing normoxic trimix (21/35) with 13 minutes of decompression obligation on Nitrox 32 planned for each dive. That was the end of the Rec-3 training dives and Gary, Tim and Nick successfully completed their dives and are one step closer to completion.

Thursday afternoon, the Buoyancy One and Advanced Open Water divers got wet for their first experiences on the reefs of the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary, part of the third largest barrier reef in the world. One of the best parts of the job at Scuba Shack is to train divers in New England, then be able to participate in their first experience in tropical waters. Although it’s still winter and the water temperature is only 72 degrees, it’s nice to be able to dive this warm blue water after only diving in New England beforehand. Smiles were definitely in abundance. And if the new dive experience wasn’t enough, we all had dinner at Rib Daddy’s and had probably the best meal, service, and atmosphere of the whole week. We’re not done with that restaurant yet!

Friday morning was another two experience dives for the Buoyancy One and Advanced Open Water Divers before the Blackwells had to leave to return to Orlando. Friday afternoon gave everyone a chance to off-gas and dry their gear in natural light for a change. Everyone was on their own for dinner.

Saturday morning Ed, Nick and Forest took Jim, Guy and Aaron for their first deep dive experience on the Spiegel Grove. All three had a nice dive but the first dive was the platform for an even better dive back on the Spiegel Grove for the second dive. All three students showed improvement in buoyancy, gas consumption, awareness and basic team skills. Saturday night, we couldn’t break our promise to visit Rib Daddy’s again and Daddy didn’t disappoint. We were met at the restaurant by Paul and Elena, owners of Scubaboard.com and had a great evening with them.

Sunday was our last dive day of the trip and we took the students to Jules Undersea Lagoon for all their navigation and mapping skills. Jim, Guy and Aaron all got worked to the max as they gathered data and took notes underwater in preparation for submitting a detailed map of their dive. At the end of dive two we got to wash and dry our gear for the flight home. We can’t afford to carry any water weight in our checked luggage.

Our last night in Key Largo; Ed, Forest, Nick and Tracy ate at the Fish House and Sushi Bar, while Jim, Guy and Aaron headed south to Key West for the ‘sunset party’.

Thanks to Ed Hayes and Forest Rothchild for all their leadership, experience, assistance and patience throughout the entire week. Gary, Tim and Nick are a final exam away from completing GUE Rec-3, Jeff is now accomplished in descents, ascents, gas strategies and other specialty skills, Dave and Mary-Claire are a pool session away from completing Buoyancy One and Jim, Guy and Aaron are a map and a debrief session away from their Advanced Open Water Diver certification. A special thanks goes to Captain Zach and Mate Madison who took great care of us all week.

In spite of Tracy wrenching her back, which prevented her from diving, she had the most relaxing time fishing and trying so hard all week to catch enough Red Snappers to feed the whole crew. The week was a complete success for Scuba Shack. Ed, Forest and Nick all logged 18 dives while the rest of the divers completed between six and eight dives each. The Florida weather cooperated, the restaurants were all fantastic and everyone had too much fun!

The weather cooperated for us. It was a bit rough the day we arrived and the day we left. The rest of the week was absolutely beautiful, enabling us to get to some of the premiere dive sites

The service at Scuba Club Cozumel was outstanding. The entire staff took great care of us and even hosted a Mexican beach party. Diving was provided by the on-site dive center, Scuba Cozumel. We enjoyed five days of two tank boat dives with our dive masters Luis (Chocky) and Francisco aboard the Dive Cat. We also enjoyed unlimited shore diving (great night dives). In addition to the house reef, dive sites we visited were Dalila, Columbia Wall, Tormentos, Santa Rosa Wall, Villa Blanca, Palancar Garden, Chankanaab, Palancar Caves and San Francisco Wall. Most of us even managed to squeeze in the wreck of the C-53 and a full moon night dive on Paradise Reef. Check out the video below!

We made some new friends from Canada, Michigan, California, North Dakota and Arizona while diving aboard the Dive Cat and staying at Scuba Club Cozumel. It’s a diver’s resort so you can’t help but meet some nice people who share our passion for diving.

Five of us wrapped up the week with a day trip to Playa Del Carmen on the Yucatan peninsula where we met up with Dive Aventuras. They brought us a short ride south and into the jungle a bit for a couple of dives in the Chac Mool conote. That was quite an experience!

If you haven’t tried drift diving, you really should; and this is the place to do it. Scuba Club Cozumel is a special place for divers. I’m already making plans to go back next year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd7dskPaSNw

In January, Stacy Rothchild and Naomi Levine completed the GUE Recreational Diver Level 1 – Nitrox program with Ed Hayes during a visit to central Florida. The course is designed to develop the essential skills required in all sound diving practice. The course provides the non-diver with an opportunity to develop fundamental diving skills that will support comfort, confidence, and competence in the water.

After completing this comprehensive program, Stacy and Naomi are ready for the PADI Rescue Diver program and plenty of diving adventures. Check out the photo gallery from the Florida trip in January.

Scuba Shack’s next trip to the fresh-water springs in central Florida is scheduled for Feb. 18 – 27, and a second trip is planned for March 26 – April 2.