Sunset House Hotel & Dive Center

My wife and I love Sunset House and Sunset Divers. It has everything a diver needs. Wonderful food. Great shore diving since it's built against a reef! For photographers, there is the renowned Cathy Church Photographers, always ready with help or a class. Check out their week-long Photofest in May. No need to rent a car—you are only a short 15-minute walk from George Town. Just bring a flashlight if you are returning at night. There are places where you share the road with cars. You should note that if there are no ships in port (you can see them from Sunset House), a lot is closed down. Ask about their photographer-themed rooms—you are surrounded by pictures from renowned underwater photographers. We've stayed at Sunset House three times and plan more.

This review is actually concerning Cathy Church's Photo Center, which is located at Sunset House. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay at Sunset House, as I was the only diver in a family party of six, so we instead rented a 7MB condo through VRBO. As I had recently purchased the $500 E-PM1 bundle, which had grown to $2,500 with accessories, I was anxious to improve my results, as my photos to that point were disappointing, to say the least. Previous to my trip, I booked a private lesson with one of Cathy's staff instructors. I arrived early for my morning lesson, so the desk staff invited me to have breakfast in the dining room. Food was good and reasonably priced. Down in the Photo Center, I was met by Theunis Neethling (Tee), who was my instructor for the day. Tee was friendly and easy to talk to, asking questions about my experience and goals while looking over my equipment. He quickly became familiar with my gear setup and, after assessing my abilities and desired objectives, began a lesson that was very entertaining as well as informative... after all, I was on vacation—I didn't want to feel like I was back in school. We spent the entire morning in the classroom before heading out for a shore dive just after noon. We swam out a ways before descending to the Landing Craft David Nicholson, where we began the practical part of the lessons. Shortly after we began, we were buzzed several times by an Atlantis tourist submarine—kinda interesting. After thoroughly shooting the wreck, we moved over to some reef shots, then over to the 9' bronze mermaid sculpture of Amphitrite, the consort of Poseidon. This provided a good subject for learning exercises. From here, we worked our way back through the reefs towards shore, photographing various corals. After the dive, we went back into the classroom, where we downloaded my pics to review and discuss the results and the settings and techniques that I used to achieve them. The one obvious weakness to my setup was the very short strobe arm, which was demonstrated by hand-holding the strobe. Of course, they were able to sell me a much better solution. Overall, it was an enjoyable and very informative day. While it was pricey, I felt I got full value, as I now had a very good foundation on which to build. Throughout the remainder of the week, diving on my own, my photo results got to the point where I was consistently shooting pics that I was very happy with. If I was lucky enough to travel with other divers in my family, I would not hesitate to stay at Sunset House, but most of all, I recommend that any new underwater photographers take advantage of Cathy's instruction while staying there.

We had a great time at Sunset House. The rooms were basic and simple but perfect forus because we were there to dive. We dived 3 times a day--two boatdives then we did a night dive, afternoon Kittiwake, and shore divesthe other days. We also rented an underwater camera from Cathy Church.Food was good and we really loved sitting at the restaurant or My-Barwatching the sun go down every evening. Really fantastic.The dive operation was very professional and very helpful. The gavedetailed briefings before every dive and the diving was reallybeautiful. Great visibility (100 feet or more) and tons of marinelife--especially turtles. We saw Hawksbill sea turtles every singleday. We would highly recommend Sunset House on Grand Cayman for people focused ondiving.

SUNSET HOUSE REVIEWSunset House is located on Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman. It is a dive resort known for its remarkable shore diving, which is why we chose this resort. We were not disappointed. Marine life was plentiful, including octopuses, sea turtles and large grouper along with the expected tropical fish. The best part of the resort was the staff of the dive shop. They were exceptionally friendly and helpful.We visited Sting Ray City and the shipwreck Kittiwake. Also noteworthy is My Bar, located overlooking the sunset that the resort is aptly named for. My Bar specializes is Indian cuisine, but the menu is varied and the drinks were always refreshing. The only thing negative to be said about Sunset House is that it is not a "luxury" resort. The rooms are tidy but don't expect 5 star quality here.

Traveled solo and stayed at Sunset House for 4 days with them, it felt like home right away! The front desk staff and restaurant staff make you feel welcome as soon as you step inside. The dive staff are amazing, they are super attentive to the the divers and care to establish a relationship with everyone, they all learn the divers' names and are genuinely happy to work there. You get a dive locker with a lock assigned where you keep your gear throughout your stay, and they have wheelbarrows that you can use to take the gear down to the dock. The boats are big and comfortable, the dive and boat briefings are super thorough and well done. Shore diving is available any time of the day, you just need to check out a tank before the dive center closes and go with your buddy or sign up for the scheduled night dive. Diving the Kittiwake was amazing! You get to dive in and around it, it's a shallow dive but so interesting and full of life! The reefs are full of fish and the wall is very impressive to look at dropping down hundreds of meters down! Lots of tiny critters, stay close to the dive instructors, they will show them to you throughout the whole dive! Half of the dive is guided, half is free to discover the area. They have a limit of 750 PSI or 60 minute bottom time, it goes by so fast! The rooms are big, with a safe, mini fridge, and coffee machine, they are either facing the garden or the ocean, the views are amazing from the balconies and the beds are super comfortable. Both restaurants on site have delicious food and even locals go eat there! Being so close to the airport and town makes it a great place to get off the plane and start diving ASAP! It's comfortable, clean, convenient, has a great vibe and the sunsets are stunning!

The Sunset House is a decent spot for people who want to dive in decent spots with a decent crew.The hotel offers rooms offer great views with newer decor. Each spot has a balcony but you don't want to leave things out due to theft. The rooms come with microwaves and fridges so you can stock up on food. This worked well as we didn't want to spend a crazy amount at the resort's restaurant.The food was ok. The breakfast was included (juice or coffee, cold cereal, a warm entree and fruit) which was great but the lunch and dinner options were a) only meh and b) quite expensive. We opted to shop at the local market in town and make our lunches/dinners or eat out at local restaurants.The resort is simple but nice as are the resort staff. There's a pool and spa, outdoor showers, and dive lockers. You must rent a lock from them for a returnable fee. Make sure to check your gear before grabbing it from the locker as crabs love to make this their home for the night. I would recommend bringing a simple mesh divebag for your items. Otherwise you're hauling everything on you/in your hands to/from the dive boat to the lockers.The Sunset House is a no-frills type of dive resort. No one brings your stuff down to the boat, no one gets your gear together, and the guide is only with you for the half the dive. They give you a quick tour and then they head to the boat and let you finish the remainder of your dive on your own. Personally, I enjoy being pampered on a trip by having my gear hauled for me and assembled. Oranges, water and towels are provided on the boat for you.Their house reef is decent with lots of area to explore. The dive resort gives you good maps and information on what you can see and where. You do need to pick up tanks if you plan to do a night dive as the dive center closes and they lock up their tanks. We found that if you night dive int he area right next to the boats you'll see amazing stuff. Cuttlefish, HUGE porcupine fish, massive rays, a beautiful octopus. All just 10-20' from where you giant stride in.There is a great art gallery and photo center on site which makes this place key for underwater photography enthusiasts.The sunsets are phenomenal here. That was a plus.