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Cayman Islands / Special Interests / Scuba Diving

By Tim Ecott

Cayman’s crystal clear warm waters make it an ideal destination for divers of all levels. There are over 40 dive centres on the islands and over two hundred dive sites. The islands are especially suited for anyone wanting to learn to dive as the extremely good visibility makes the very prospect of going underwater less intimidating. The reefs of the Cayman Islands are also generally free of strong currents, making them easy to dive. Cayman’s distinguishing characteristic is its wall-diving – where the shallow reef plummets straight down into the vast deep blue providing a spectacular sensation that’s as close to sky-diving as you can get without jumping out of an aeroplane. The walls are covered in an abundance of marine life – and especially rich in sponges – ranging in colour from black and brown to deep purple, orange and vivid yellow.

The reefs, especially on the Sister Islands, are amongst the healthiest remaining in the region and are popular with underwater photographers who relish the colour and variety of life here. Angelfish, yellow snappers, stingrays, Nassau groupers and Caribbean reef sharks are commonly seen. The reefs are also home to a wealth of small intriguing creatures like seahorses, blennies and nudibranchs (a colourful type of sea slug).

On Grand Cayman there are deep wall dives, shallow reefs and shipwrecks to explore including the recently sunk Kittiwake, a former US Coastguard vessel. As well as good reef and wall dive sites offering regular encounters turtles, eagle rays and dozens of fish species  Cayman Brac boasts the wreck of the Keith Tibbets – 330 foot long former Russian frigate which was deliberately sunk as an artificial reef in 1996. Little Cayman is home to the Bloody Bay Marine Park – one of the oldest established marine reserves in the Caribbean, and a truly stunning deep wall that plunges into one of the deepest parts of the Caribbean.

Browse Diving on other islands

Anguilla | Antigua and Barbuda | Barbados | British Virgin Islands | Dominica | Dominican Republic | Grenada & Carriacou | Jamaica | Nevis | Saba | St Barthélemy | St Eustatius | St Kitts | St Lucia | St Martin/St Maarten | St Vincent and the Grenadines | Tobago | Trinidad

Or read our other island guides

Anguilla | Antigua | Aruba | Bahamas | Barbados | Bermuda | Bonaire | British Virgin Islands | Cayman Islands | Cuba | Curacao | Dominica | Dominican Republic | Grenada and Carriacou | Guadeloupe | Haiti | Jamaica | Martinique | Montserrat | Nevis | Puerto Rico | Saba | St Barthélemy | St Eustatius | St Kitts | St Lucia | St Martin/St Maarten | St Vincent and the Grenadines | Tobago | Trinidad | Turks & Caicos Islands | US Virgin Islands

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Cayman Islands’s weather

Cayman Islands weather chart

When to go and weather

Looking for inspiration?

  1. Take a day sail to Stingray City
  2. Walk the length of Seven Mile Beach
  3. Dive the many sites off Little Cayman
  4. Enjoy a guided tour of Cayman Brac
  5. Choose from three excellent restaurants in Osetra Bay

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