Grand Cayman is Perfect for Beginning Divers
Apr 28 '01
The Bottom Line Grand Cayman offers some of the best entry level diving in the world. Warm, clear water (100' visibility), beautiful reefs, and abundant marine life make this a diver's paradise.
Grand Cayman is one of the best and most popular diving destinations in the Caribbean. Steep walls, wrecks, beautiful coral gardens... and even Stingray City. Grand Cayman offers it all. Just because Grand Cayman offers world-class diving, beginners should not feel intimidated. There are many great dives that are perfect for novices or those who haven't gone diving in a while and feel a bit rusty.
Warm, Clear Water with a Variety of Dives
Grand Cayman is famous for its incredible wall and reef dives and extremely high visibility. Normally visibility is 100 feet or better on the walls. It's considered poor visibility in Grand Cayman when you can only see 60-80 feet.
Water temperatures range from 77-82 degrees F. I've never needed a wet suit to dive in Grand Cayman; just a light lycra dive skin for protection against scrapes has served me well.
Protected Reefs
The Caymanians are rightfully protective of their beautiful reefs. You are not allowed to dive in gloves, as that can sometimes be an invitation to touch. There are dive buoys situated around the island to protect the reefs from dive boat anchors.
There are a variety of dives to accommodate the novice through advanced diver. The West End offers the greatest number of dive sites, most of them suitable for the novice diver. If you're staying on 7-Mile Beach, the dives on the West End of the island will be in the vicinity of your hotel, making them a fairly quick boat ride away. Because of the number of dive sites available in this area, you might not need to venture any further during your first visit to Grand Cayman.
West End
The Balboa Wreck
The Balboa provides a boat accessible dive, with depths ranging from 24-35 feet. This huge freighter lies in pieces on the sandy bottom. This is an easy dive with plenty of photo opportunities. You'll likely find some frisky sergeant majors here. Be careful if you feed them, you might get covered up!
This is also an excellent night dive site. Look out for an octopus or moray eel.
The Aquarium
The is a fun, easy boat dive ranging from 30-40 feet. In fact,it was my first dive at Grand Cayman. You'll find a wide variety of fish, including snappers, trunkfish, parrotfish, wrasse, and goatfish. The water is very clear and the fish are quite used to divers -- much like diving in an aquarium.
Two other shallow, novice dives in this area are Peter's Reef and Victoria House Reef.
The Oro Verde Wreck
This small freighter was sunk in 1980 as a dive reef. It was stripped of hatches and sharp edges and sunk about a quarter mile off Seven Mile Beach near Holiday Inn. The freighter was once used by Miami drug smugglers. Oro Verde means Green Gold. It ran aground in the Caymans and was purchased by a group of divers, supported by local hotels and organizations.
Devil's Grotto
This unusual dive is an easy beach or boat dive. This series of coral swim-throughs provides some interesting photo opportunities with the light streaming through the openings. Legend has it that an evil pirate was killed by his crew, stuffed into a trunk and tossed overboard here.
If you dive from a cruise ship on a tight schedule, this will probably be your second dive. It's the closest site to the cruise ship area and right behind Soto's Diving.
Eden Rocks
This dive site is in the same area as Devil's Grotto. You might find a trumpetfish among the schools of herring in this area.
Unfortunately, both of these areas are showing signs of coral damage because they are such accessible and often frequented dive sites.
Bonnie's Arch
This is really a beautiful dive site, with fantastic coral gardens about 30-50 feet deep.
There is a great photo opportunity beneath an arch that you can swim through. You've probably seen a lot of photos of this area in dive magazines. My first thought as I looked up in the area was "Wow, I've seen this before!" It is truly gorgeous.
There are also some giant basket sponges nearby. I have a picture of my husband posing beside one and he looks positively petite (he is 6'5").
There can occasionally be currents in this area. Your divemaster will be aware of current conditions and advise you.
Intermediate Dives Near West Bay
For those of you with more experience there are also some more challenging dives in the area.
Paul's Reef
Depth: 50 feet
Occasional strong currents
Trinity Caves
Depth: 45 feet
Orange Canyon
Depth: 45 Feet
The Tunnel
Depth: 45 Feet
Pinnacle Rock
Depth: Wall dive -- there is no bottom!
Stingray City
Most first time visitors to Grand Cayman have to experience Stingray City. Our divemaster called it an hour long rest stop. You actually sit on the sandy bottom at 15 feet and play with the friendly Stringrays. These rays have been so well-fed in this area and are so accustomed to divers and snorkelers that they are like big puppies wanting to come play.
When you get tired of feeding them fish morsels you can swim over and explore the shallow reef. You might find the moray eel hiding in the reef or see a peacock flounder trying to cover itself up on the sandy bottom.
Grand Cayman is a great introduction to diving. You can start with the novice dives, then as you feel more comfortable you can work you way up to some incredible wall dives on the North Side.
Wall Dives
Eagle Ray Alley, Pete's Ravine, and No-Name Reef offer some incredibly beautiful wall dives.
It is totally amazing to look down into the deep blue and realize there is no bottom to be seen beneath you. We were told the ocean bottom was about 4,000 feet in this area.
You must be very cautious on these dives because the water is so clear it is deceptive and you may not realize you have gone deeper than you intended. It can be very tempting to keep descending. You never know what you might find hidden in some of the reefs. Bring a flashlight to shine inside the crevices. We saw several lobsters and lots of very colorful tiny fish swimming around.
100 Foot Limit
The divemasters will enforce the 100 foot recreational dive limit and make you sit out the next dive if you go too deep. I was very careful to watch my depth gauge at No-Name Reef. It seemed like we had reached 98 feet in no time! After the deepest part of the dive you can swim over to a sandy area about 50 feet deep. Here we saw several huge eagle rays.
Something for Everyone
Whether you're a beginning diver or have been diving for years, the great variety of dives will offer something for everyone. Even if you don't dive at all, the snorkeling opportunities are abundant!
I can't wait to go back!
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Member: Pam
Location: Collierville, TN
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~~~~So many oceans...so little time!~~~~
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