Grand Cayman · Cayman Islands · Reef · Wall · Night
Cobalt Coast
Ladder off the dock, then a long critter hunt to a coral-topped mini wall
Photo: (c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0
Cobalt Coast is a shore dive off the Cobalt Coast resort's dock in West Bay, where a long, gentle slope of hard pan and scattered coral leads out to a mini wall topped with soft and hard corals and schooling fish. Its ladder entry and gentle slope make night dives here very easy.
Where it is and how deep
19.3907° N, 81.4056° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Divers enter from the ladder at the end of the dock and set off on an easy swim over hard pan, looking for little critters around the scattered coral. The bottom slopes gently away from shore for about 213 m (700 ft), from 6-8 m (20-25 ft) to the top of the mini wall at 12-15 m (40-50 ft).
The top of the wall is a landscape of soft and hard coral with schooling fish everywhere. Beyond it the wall drops away into wide and narrow channels with deep overhangs, reaching the sandy floor at around 20-23 m (65-75 ft).
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime |
Season follows Grand Cayman: December to April is drier and calm enough for the exposed south side; August to October is hurricane season, and the rain peaks in October.
Photos from Cobalt Coast
(c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0
Dan Schofield · CC BY 4.0
Questions divers ask
Is Cobalt Coast a good night dive?+
Yes. The ladder entry and the gentle slope out to the mini wall make night dives here very easy.
Sources
- Shore Diving — Divetech
- Cobalt Coast Resort, West Bay — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- Two blue-grey surgeonfish with yellow tail spines swim one above the other in open blue water. by (c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A slender fish with blue-green and white stripes along its body swims over a dark reef. by (c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Two yellow spiral plumes of a tube worm rise from a rounded brown coral head. by Dan Schofield, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More dive sites in Grand Cayman
Reef
Massive sponges on the drop at 21 m (70 ft)
Wall
A pinnacle rising off the North Wall into the Cayman Trench
Cave & cavern
Two long tunnels that empty out onto the open blue
Wall
A coral arch on the wall, named for a Cayman photographer
Cave & cavern
Coral chimneys that fill with silversides in high summer
Sponge-crusted cable winches on a ship named for the island's chamber doctor
Wall
An elephant sculpture on a ledge at 26 m (85 ft)
Cave & cavern
Long tunnels full of tarpon, straight off the shore
Similar dives elsewhere
Barracuda over a volcanic mini-wall, in groups of five to twenty
A small coral island with a vertical wall, to 19 m
Reef
Drake Island
Portobelo · Panama
Sponge-covered reef where legend puts Francis Drake's lost ship
A coral pillar standing in a square cut in the reef wall