Grand Cayman is a beautiful dive destination with many options for accommodations and for diving. We dived 3 days in February 2014, and they were all excellent and memorable dives. The dive schedule would include a deep wall dive followed by a shallower reef or wreck. They were all guided dives. Dive conditions could not have been more perfect, flat seas (the north side is supposed to be more choppy but the day we dived Eagle Ray pass, it was just 2 feet seas, the rest of the dives were on the west side, where the sea was flat both days), warm water (80 degrees for our stay), clear water with awesome 90-100+ feet visibility (great for wide angle photography). I would like to mention 2 points though, one that it is a bit expensive, both the accommodations and the diving, and secondly, it looks like they allow open water divers to do the deeper wall dives, where you can be as deep as 100 feet, just an FYI, in case you’re not comfortable at that depth. The most striking and common marine life for me were the brightly yellow colored tube sponges. We did see some nurse sharks, sea turtles and a few rays. Having done a lot of dives in Florida, one thing we did notice was that there were not as many fishes on the reefs in Grand Cayman as in south Florida, but after looking at my pictures after this trip I did notice many small fishes and critters. I guess that’s one drawback of guided dives, everyone is constantly on the move, not ideal for photography, especially macro photography. I know there are shore dives that can be done, and we plan to do some of those next time. We did not make it to Stingray city, but did get to the other must do dive in Grand Cayman - the USS Kittiwake, a submarine rescue vessel. There is a separate fee to dive this wreck that goes towards conservation, and you also get a nice yellow diver medallion to keep. It was quite crowded with dive and snorkel boats when we got there, but it was no big deal once we got in the water. It’s a very easy and fun dive, we saw some angelfish and eagle rays. There are lots of options for great photography and for posing for memorable photos, such as by the Kittiwake sign, swimming by the prop, or pretending to steer the helm on the bridge. The ship has been opened up with large access holes so that you can swim through the interior of the ship. There is also an air pocket in a decompression chamber that you can pop into and chat with your buddy!! The most interesting topside activities for us were exploring the island in a rental car and driving on the left side of the road. Would also recommend spending an afternoon at Rum Point, where you can relax and also do some snorkeling if you like. The people of the island are friendly and culturally diverse.

The Cayman Islands certainly offer diversity without a long trip from the states.

GRAND CAYMAN

Grand Cayman has beautiful beaches and probably the most topside activities or restaurants anyone would want. There is shopping, bars to hang out in, and live music. Cathy Church has a shop at Sunset House where you can often meet her and see her beautiful underwater photos from the area. The seven mile beach area is beautiful for walking and photo opportunities. You can even make a side trip to "Hell", a small area with black volcanic rocks, a few curio shops, and an actual post office you can send mail from with a postmark from Hell. For diving, the reefs are easy to reach from many dive operators and offer a diversity of schooling fish, sponges, turtles, rays, and even sharks. The Kittiwake wreck as well as other wrecks in the close vicinity add variety and interesting structure which I really enjoyed. We were lucky enough to see the tail end of silversides on the wreck of the Balboa right in the Harbor too. StingRay City on scuba with a small group was so much fun feeding the rays. You need to protect your fingers from the eager snappers though. Grand Cayman makes a good dive vacation, but for us it was a great stop with plenty of good diving over 3 days on the way home from Cayman Brac.

CAYMAN BRAC

Cayman Brac offered multiple relaxed dive spots on reefs all along the edge of the island. As a photographer, I never lacked for subjects both wide angle and macro and anything in between. Schools of bright snappers brightened the reefs among colorful sponges. Turtles munched on big sponges with no worries about divers hanging about. My favorite were the groupers who followed us like pets. It seems the dive guides hunt the lionfish and then feed the groupers, so they joined us right away each dive. My poker stick resembled the dive guides spears, so they followed me closely and would even "show" me where the lion fish were, confused when I didn't feed them. I quickly learned that if I poked at an area with my stick, the groupers would go right there, a great tool to get them to pose right where i wanted them in my reef scenes. The boat dives were offered mostly in the mornings, and we were on our own in the afternoons. A highlight dive is the Tibbets wreck with great structure and lots of life. The shore diving was really easy to access with actual ladders or stairs and even showers at some sites. We could easily get to reefs and wrecks by ourselves from shore and take as much time as our tanks allowed. The dive boat did make the excursion across to Little Cayman's Bloody Bay wall one day which is very achievable from Cayman Brac. The amazing strawberry sponges were in abundance there. They look dark brown without light but the first time my strobes lit one up I was amazed at the super bright rich red color. They became my favorite focus on the reef. I like the idea of being able to dive off both islands while staying on one.

It is easily possible to visit all 3 of the Cayman Islands in a single dive trip and be able to enjoy the diversity they provide.