Cayman Peaks

by Kirk Brown

Easing around a towering pinnacle, I venture hesitantly into the bottomless blue.

There is nothing below me now except a vast undersea canyon that plummets more than four miles to the Caribbean Sea's deepest point. This stark realization causes my pulse to quicken.

My eyes are drawn to amber sunbeams rotating hypnotically in the warm, clear water. A shimmering cloud of Creole wrasse appears at a depth of 100 feet, adding a fluorescent element to the light show. My short-lived anxiety melts beneath a blissful wave of serenity.

The thrill of diving on walls and their associated pinnacles stems from the sensation of defying gravity. It's impossible to suspend yourself in mid-air above snow-capped peaks, yet divers can soar fearlessly over mountainous terrain as rugged and dramatic as any terrestrial landscape.

And thanks to their distinctive geology, no place tops the Cayman Islands when it comes to sensational wall diving.

Most first-time visitors don't realize that the three low-lying Cayman Islands are actually peaks of mighty mountains that would dwarf North America's highest summits in a side-by-side comparison.

The geology lesson goes like this: Grand Cayman and the sister islands of Little Cayman and Cayman Brac are part of an undersea mountain range that runs from Cuba to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Just south of the islands is the Caribbean's Grand Canyon - the Cayman Trench, which drops to unfathomable depths of 23,000 to 25,000 feet. Directly north is the Yucatan Channel, which also plunges several thousand feet.

So what does all this mean for divers? They get to explore the mountaintops, which is truly a peak experience.

Unlike rock climbers who must struggle to conquer barren cliffs, in these mountains you can glide effortlessly along breathtaking walls, Technicolor canyons and lush shallow reefs. There's no threat of an avalanche or grizzly bears, but watch out for frequent encounters with sea turtles, stingrays and a healthy assortment of tropical fish.

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