SCUBA DIVING Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands Diving in a Nutshell
Boasting strong diving infrastructure, diverse types of diving, incredible walls and wrecks, and great visibility, the Cayman Islands--Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac--have been attracting scuba divers for decades, including beginners!
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Marine Life & Environment - Top Dive Spots - Diving Conditions
How to Get There - How to Dive Cayman Islands - Best Time to Dive
NEW! Find a Liveaboard - Practical Information - Book a Trip
Intro to the Caymans and Overview of Areas
View Location on Google Map
- GRAND CAYMAN - Grand Cayman is a sophisticated Caribbean island with great nightlife, great resort options, and the wonderful attraction of stingray city, and very good wall diving. Grand Cayman is the most commercial island, with cruise ships visiting, but it has some wrecks wall dives are close boat rides. Stingray city, where stingrays can be hand-fed squid, is in only 12ft of water, and is a huge draw for divers and underwater photographers.
- CAYMAN BRAC - Great wall diving at a tiny, secluded island. It is less traveled with marvelous wall diving. It also has a famous must-dive Russian destroyer wreck. The wreck was formerly called Destroyer 356, but has been renamed the
- MV Capt. Keith Tibbetts. There are some very friendly groupers in Cayman Brac. Cayman Brac is just 5 miles from Little Cayman.
- LITTLE CAYMAN - The least developed of the 3 islands, Little Cayman is 80 miles east of Grand Cayman, and boasts over 50 dives sites. Dive sites can plunge down to over 6,000ft deep, with Bloody Bay being the most famous wall dive on the island. Its lack of topside development attracts people looking to get away. Little Cayman also has some friendly groupers, and Cayman Brac is about 40-minute boat ride away. Eating out here can get expensive, so try to get a meal package if possible.
Diving Information
Marine Life & Photography Subjects
Cayman Islands has a lot of large sponges, some good macro, and some tiny fish. For big animals - you can find a good number of turtles and groupers, tarpon, nurse sharks, great barracuda, and stingrays. Stingray city has very large, friendly stingrays that are used to getting fed. For macro subjects - jawfish, angelfish, morays, gobies, pufferfish, lettuce slug nudibranchs and lionfish can all be readily found.
This short well-shot video shows the highlights of Grand Cayman diving - reefs, Stingray city, the Kittiwake wreck, and some turtles.
Diving Conditions
- Water Temperatures: Between 78-82°F (26-28°C)
- Visibility: Between 60 and 100 feet (18-30 meters)
- Depth Range: 20 - 699 ft (6 - 213 m)
Dive Sites
Travel Information
How to Get There
A direct flight from Miami to Grand Cayman takes only 70 minutes. From Grand Cayman, you can transfer to Little Cayman or Cayman Brac. There are also usually direct flights from Boston, Chicago and New York.
How to Dive Cayman Islands
There are plenty of great dive resorts available, but liveaboard is the best option if you want to dive around all three islands.
cayman island dive resorts
Some of the nicest dive resorts in the caribbean are in the Cayman Islands, and many of them have great shore diving and boat diving. The dive resorts are more expensive than places like Roatan or Belize, but given the reputation of the islands and the quality and ease of the diving, we find the prices reasonable.
Best Time to Dive Cayman Islands
Diving is available year-round. "High Season" at the hotels is mid-December to mid-April, so rates will be higher then. September can bring rougher waters if there is a tropical storm, and that is also the month with a higher chance of a hurricane, although hurricanes are not common. June to October brings higher topside temperatures (up to 33C, 91F).
Topside & Non-Diving Activities
- Stingray City: you can see, touch, and even hold a stingray
- Great beaches
- Hiking
- Amazing festivals
- Tours: walking tours eco tours or historical tours
Liveaboard availability
Other Useful Information
Practical Information
- Currency: USD
- Electricity: 110V, same as the US
- Vaccines recommended: Hep A; Typhoid if you will travel to rural areas
- Visa: None needed for US citizens or European Union
- Language: English
- Safety: Generally safe but petty theft can occur
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