The Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands: Wall to Wall

You hesitate at the edge of the sheer cliff face, peer into the depths, then commit to a slow, gliding descent. A colorful patch of coral catches your eye. You arrest your controlled free fall with the touch of a button and hover weightless, suspended against a massive coral.

The Cayman Islands have earned a reputation not only as the Caribbean's premier dive destination, but also as one of the world's best locations for wall diving.

Indeed, these three small islands are actually the tips of underwater mountains that rise up from the abyssal plain, thousands of feet below. Nourished by clear ocean water, these undersea ramparts are covered in a rich carpet of life. They also offer some of the consistently best underwater visibility in the Caribbean.

A line of vertical walls of spectacular beauty rings each of the three Islands -- Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. With more than 100 named wall-diving sites, these islands offer a tremendous variety of drop-off diving experiences. And, thanks to favorable geography, divers usually can find calm, protected waters regardless of wind and sea conditions.

 In addition to walls, Grand Cayman offers a number of unique attractions. One of the most exhilarating is an underwater encounter with spotted eagle rays. These elegant creatures have an extremely long tail and a distinctive pattern of bright spots on the top portion of their bodies.

Sightings are an almost daily occurrence along Grand Cayman's North Wall. Divers often see them cruising along the face of the wall or up in the sand flats above the drop-off.

Grand Cayman is also known for its friendly tarpon. Schools of 10 to 20 of these silvery monarchs can be seen floating in the coral canyons and archways along the island's West Wall, North Wall and East End.

Measuring 3 to 6 feet in length, these great fish are accustomed to the presence of divers and they may allow you to swim quietly to within close-up range for photos and video.

Perhaps the most distinctive undersea phenomenon of Grand Cayman is the congregating stingrays found at several locations within the island's North Sound. At shallow sites such as Stingray City and Sandbar, Southern stingrays cluster in groups of 20 or more, encircling divers in hopes of being fed morsels of squid. The stingrays are extremely friendly and the dive is very safe.

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