A Brief Review Of Sunset House
My wife and I are experienced divers (15+ years each) and have visited/dived many locations in the Caribbean. Grand Cayman has always been a favorite destination primarily for the ease of travel there and the gin-clear, bath-temperature water. Like any diver, we've always been well aware of Sunset House, yet, it was never on our radar screen. We finally decided to give it a try this month.
It was such an overall pleasant experience we are determined to go back again and again.
First, the resort. It is not the Ritz, the Hyatt or even the Marriott. Nonetheless, it is very clean, well-maintained and the staff extremely pleasant and customer-service oriented. We stayed in one of the apartments. The floor plan is much like any resort apartment -- a full kitchen (stove, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker), dining room, living room with cable TV, bedroom with two double beds and a porch facing the ocean. The entire apartment is cleaned each day, dishes washed and the bath room stocked with fresh towels. The resort is amazingly quiet at night. I suspect because it is full of divers who are exhausted from a full day of diving! Seriously, it struck me as quite serene, in the day and evening. While My Bar can be a center of activity on some evenings, it was never at a level that guests could hear it (I never did).
The restaurant was a pleasent surprise. Breakfast, which is included in most of the packages, was prompt and quite good, as were the ocassional lunch and one dinner we had there. Because the resort is so close to George Town and Seven Mile Beach, we ate off site most nights.
The diving was also a wonderful surprise. Truth be told, at this stage of our lives, my wife and I cannot turn down good shore diving. Waking up early on vacation, tossing down breakfast, then racing to a dive boat and jockeying for a seat reminds me too much of what I do each morning in the real world. So, we were pleased to experience how diverse and enjoyable the shore diving was, particularly after the "masses" left the resort in the three dive boats around 8:15 am. Perhaps I shouldn't give away this secret, but around 8:30 am or so, we were part of a small, second shift of vacationing divers who slowly shuffled out of their rooms for breakfast, then suiting up for shore diving at a near deserted resort. Now, that's a diving vacation.
As for the shore diving, I never knew about the resort's Sea Pool where you can casually gear-up away from the breaking waves, checking bouyancy/equipment, and then slowly kick out to sea. What a brillant idea. Other days, just a few feet away from the Sea Pool you are able to simply do a giant stride right into the sea.
The other surprise was the size and diversity of Sunset Reef just a few kicks from shore. While we did our share of boat dives with Sunset Divers (a superb group), it was the shore diving that truly got us hooked on Sunset House. Even if you're a die hard two-tank morning dive boat person (I can easily do that, as well!), the easy going 24/7 shore diving is a nice treat in the afternoon or evenings after the dive boats are done for the day. And of course everything is within steps -- the shore entry points, rinse tanks, dive shop, fresh tanks, lockers, fresh water showers and of course My Bar, for an end-of-day brew after breathing compressed air all day.
I'm writing this short review for the benefit of folks like me who may have overlooked Sunset House thinking they needed something different on a vacation. Well, if you're going on vacation to dive, then Sunset House is the place to be. It is all about diving. And in a pleasent, clean, quiet surrounding. A hotel "for divers by divers," is how it very accurately promotes itself.
Some last notes. I'd recommend a rental car. Also, the dive operator, Sunset Divers, is first rate. I was impressed with how they managed to accomodate the novice and most seasoned veteran. And the front desk team is quite responsive and wonderfully friendly and gracious.
My wife and I are experienced divers (15+ years each) and have visited/dived many locations in the Caribbean. Grand Cayman has always been a favorite destination primarily for the ease of travel there and the gin-clear, bath-temperature water. Like any diver, we've always been well aware of Sunset House, yet, it was never on our radar screen. We finally decided to give it a try this month.
It was such an overall pleasant experience we are determined to go back again and again.
First, the resort. It is not the Ritz, the Hyatt or even the Marriott. Nonetheless, it is very clean, well-maintained and the staff extremely pleasant and customer-service oriented. We stayed in one of the apartments. The floor plan is much like any resort apartment -- a full kitchen (stove, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker), dining room, living room with cable TV, bedroom with two double beds and a porch facing the ocean. The entire apartment is cleaned each day, dishes washed and the bath room stocked with fresh towels. The resort is amazingly quiet at night. I suspect because it is full of divers who are exhausted from a full day of diving! Seriously, it struck me as quite serene, in the day and evening. While My Bar can be a center of activity on some evenings, it was never at a level that guests could hear it (I never did).
The restaurant was a pleasent surprise. Breakfast, which is included in most of the packages, was prompt and quite good, as were the ocassional lunch and one dinner we had there. Because the resort is so close to George Town and Seven Mile Beach, we ate off site most nights.
The diving was also a wonderful surprise. Truth be told, at this stage of our lives, my wife and I cannot turn down good shore diving. Waking up early on vacation, tossing down breakfast, then racing to a dive boat and jockeying for a seat reminds me too much of what I do each morning in the real world. So, we were pleased to experience how diverse and enjoyable the shore diving was, particularly after the "masses" left the resort in the three dive boats around 8:15 am. Perhaps I shouldn't give away this secret, but around 8:30 am or so, we were part of a small, second shift of vacationing divers who slowly shuffled out of their rooms for breakfast, then suiting up for shore diving at a near deserted resort. Now, that's a diving vacation.
As for the shore diving, I never knew about the resort's Sea Pool where you can casually gear-up away from the breaking waves, checking bouyancy/equipment, and then slowly kick out to sea. What a brillant idea. Other days, just a few feet away from the Sea Pool you are able to simply do a giant stride right into the sea.
The other surprise was the size and diversity of Sunset Reef just a few kicks from shore. While we did our share of boat dives with Sunset Divers (a superb group), it was the shore diving that truly got us hooked on Sunset House. Even if you're a die hard two-tank morning dive boat person (I can easily do that, as well!), the easy going 24/7 shore diving is a nice treat in the afternoon or evenings after the dive boats are done for the day. And of course everything is within steps -- the shore entry points, rinse tanks, dive shop, fresh tanks, lockers, fresh water showers and of course My Bar, for an end-of-day brew after breathing compressed air all day.
I'm writing this short review for the benefit of folks like me who may have overlooked Sunset House thinking they needed something different on a vacation. Well, if you're going on vacation to dive, then Sunset House is the place to be. It is all about diving. And in a pleasent, clean, quiet surrounding. A hotel "for divers by divers," is how it very accurately promotes itself.
Some last notes. I'd recommend a rental car. Also, the dive operator, Sunset Divers, is first rate. I was impressed with how they managed to accomodate the novice and most seasoned veteran. And the front desk team is quite responsive and wonderfully friendly and gracious.
