Grand Cayman island is an easy flight from Florida and a great place to practice your diving skills, with varied dive sites and a wide range of marine life. The first 2 days we did the Padi Advanced Open Water course with Divetech followed by 2 days of recreational diving with the same company.
The 2 dive morning boat trips meet at the Divetech shop at 7:30, load the gear and drive 5 minutes to the boat dock on the northwest side of the island. We returned to the dive shop at lunch time.
Dive Boat
The sizable boat (16 divers) had both covered and open spaces to set up your gear. We were about 12 divers plus crew on the first day and 15 on the second. Conditions were a little tight but ample room for everyone. Fresh water and orange wedges are provided as well as a hot rinse shower and a large garbage can size bucket of water to soak camera equipment. No toilet on board.
Dive Guides and Crew
The dive guides and crew are courteous and professional but you are expected to know what you are doing if you are not on a specific training dive.
Dive Sites
Sentinel Rock
A rock formation that juts up from the sea floor, something like a hoodoo. Located in a current channel, the Sentinel is covered in plant life and attracts fish and other sea creatures, making it a popular dive site when the currents aren’t too strong. The top of the formation is at 90ft and was not the best dive to test my new camera configuration but the photo will give you an idea of its size. In the surrounding area there are reef fingers that jut out creating narrow valleys. This was Don’s favorite dive site of the trip.
Angel Fish Reef
The second site of the day was much shallower with a maximum depth of 50ft. The reef looked to be in better condition than others we’ve seen on the island, with a healthy mix of plant life and a greater number and variety of fish. We didn’t see any Angel Fish but we did see two lobsters, several turtles, and a ray.
Slaughterhouse Wall
The wall is named for the first killing place of the invasive Lion Fish. The undulating wall has numerous swim-throughs and crevices to explore.
The big surprise of the dive is when a green moray eel slithered by just beneath me. Beautiful to watch the vivid green ribbon fluttering in the water.
At around 80ft there was a good variety of fish.
The Aquarium
A shallower reef at 30 to 45ft with an abundance of fish species it does feel like swimming in an aquarium. Fingers of coral reef run perpendicular to the shore with plenty of nooks and crannies to explore.
More Photos:
January 17-18, 2019
For links to all the posts on diving destinations see the Diving page.