Cruising The Cayman Islands

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHELE WESTMORLAND

I sleepily opened my eyes to the sight of clear turquoise water and sandy beaches extending in every direction. “Fabulous!” I exclaimed from my window seat on approach to Grand Cayman. Even though I was a little blurry-eyed, or should I say red-eyed, from my overnight flight from the Pacific Northwest, it was a lovely sight to wake up to. The Cayman Islands are one of the top diving destinations in the world and although I had been to Grand Cayman once before, I was excited to cover new ground this visit at the other two islands that make up the territory - Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.

After decades of diving, friends are surprised when I reveal I have only dived in the Cayman Islands once. This is largely because the history of the country goes far back by diving standards, beginning in the late-1950s when the first dive shop appeared. More shops opened as news of the excellent diving spread. Liveaboard dive boats were not seen in the Caymans until 1984. The late-Wayne Hasson, along with his wife Anne, commissioned the first yacht to explore these islands and reefs in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. After partnering with Wayne Brown, an experienced businessman and avid diver, in 2007, the Aggressor fleet (www.aggressor.com) has grown remarkably. One of the newest members is the Cayman Aggressor V. All I could say as I boarded was ‘Wow, what a beauty!’ I could not wait to set my gear up on the spacious dive deck and get back in the water.

Jumping into Randy’s Gazebo is deceiving. After dropping into about 12- 15m of water, we entered a wonderful chimney reef formation only to exit deeper to bright red rope sponges and black coral

Diver with red sponge

Vibrant vase sponge

A welcome drink in the salon

It is safe for divers to glide in and out of the different corridors, the mess, the bridge and even a hyperbaric chamber

WRECKS, REEFS AND RAINBOW COLOURS The trip begins and ends around the biggest of the three islands – Grand Cayman. The first two locations are highly regarded and are a great warm up to what will come next. The wreck of the Doc Poulson might be tiny in comparison to other artificial reefs, but it is quaint, colourful and a pure joy to photograph. The next site is an absolute must for anyone visiting Grand Cayman – Stingray City! You will not regret visiting this famous location when you bombarded in just 4m of water by a horde of southern stingrays while they search for their squid treat.

OFF TO THE SISTER ISLANDS Sitting in the wonderful separate dining salon at dinner, the Captain addressed the group. “We will be leaving the mooring right after our meal and heading to Little Cayman,” he announced. Everyone immediately broke into a wide smile. The trip to Little Cayman is weather dependent but the winds were calm, so our nine-hour crossing would happen while we were all tucked into our staterooms drifting off to sleep. The smell of coffee the next morning lured all the divers out of their cabins to a glorious sight – a major lagoon with a variety of dive sites to explore within it. Bloody Bay Wall is the most-recognized name in Little Cayman, but the Captain had a wide grin on his face as he was drawing the first dive site on the board. Three of his ‘Favourite Five’ dive sites are located in this sprawling reef system, including The Meadows, Lea Lea’s Lookout and Three Fathoms Wall. I think he was saving those three for last as we started with Randy’s Gazebo and Bus Stop.

The Cayman Aggressor V

Jumping into Randy’s Gazebo is deceiving. After dropping into about 12-15m of water, we entered a wonderful chimney reef formation only to exit deeper to bright red rope sponges and black coral. Turning away to look out into the blue was a reminder that this is just a small part of the famous Blood Bay Wall system. There was more to see as we wound in and out of crevices lined with a variety of sponges and noticed eyes peering out of the cracks. Plenty of crustaceans such as arrow crab, reef crab and shrimp could be seen, if you could take your eyes off the dramatic behaviour being displayed by the predator species. Grouper love the opportunity to be cleaned by the smaller shrimp, while cleaner wrasses darted in and out of mouths and gills of fish that could care less about our presence.

The Meadows has so much going on that it was hard to leave even after multiple dives. It has everything!

Healthy hard corals on the walls

By day three we were ready to tackle a few of the ‘Fab Five’ dives. First up was Lea Lea’s Lookout, which turned out to be absolutely spectacular. The reef structure allows for endless investigation on the 900m wall. We covered a smaller area by entering around 30m and exiting through an amazing chimney at 12m. The number of grouper, reef crab, snapper, big-eye squirrelfish and angelfish were the perfect compliment to the variety of colourful sponges and coral structures.

Cayman Brac (a Gaelic word for bluff) is only nine miles from Little Cayman. Captain Manny pulled anchor and we did a quick crossing to one of the more-notable wrecks in the Cayman Islands. The 100-metre-long Russian destroyer MV Captain Keith Tibbets was sunk as an artificial reef and has then broken and twisted into several sections. Although it is not a wreck you can or want to infiltrate, the superstructure still has the signature twin gun barrels at the bow. It is a great photo op for photographers to shoot with their dive partner. I preferred the colourful sponge-covered steering wheel and could not help but imagine that, in its time, this destroyer was a proud warship.

We headed back to Little Cayman during our lunch break. There we lingered at yet another Captain Manny’s Top Five – The Meadows. Located along the north shore of Little Cayman, The Meadows has just about everything. Dropping over the wall it can get deep quickly, but it is not uncommon to have reef sharks or eagle rays out in the blue. We stayed at around 25m enjoying all the sights and activity, then worked our way through The Maze at a slow pace to observe all the plethora of marine life. The Meadows has so much going on that it was hard to leave even after multiple dives. The highlight was a turtle munching on sponge with a few angelfish sidekicks hanging around to pick up the morsels. It was the cherry on top of a magical dive.

The Keith Tibbetts Turtle exploring a Cayman wreck

Three Fathoms Wall has everything you could want in a dive site in Little Cayman - the vertical depths of a wall, sloping reefs and sandy flats. Decorated in a patchwork of colour, Three Fathoms Wall was one of the few times I had a macro lens on my camera. I was not disappointed as I discovered some beautiful detail in the reef system and the sandy top. There, I spent time watching yellow-head jawfish pop in and out of their dens, cleaning behaviours, and tube worms swaying among a colourful sponge area. The star of the show was a seahorse that tucked into his little protected area made it clear he was not going to allow for a perfect shot.

Silversides swarm to avoid predators

It was time for us to leave and make the crossing back to Grand Cayman. It was sad knowing the trip was coming to a close. I knew there was one more signature wreck dive I have been on before and I was anxious to see it again. The USS Kittiwake is the newest artificial reef system in the area, having been created in 2011. There is a lot to love about the physical layout of the vessel and it will have you keen to know more of its history when you get home. When I saw her last, the Kittiwake was sitting upright. Tropical Storm Nate had made changes to her resting place when it broke the anchor chains and she fell onto her port side. Only a few metres away from the main reef, the Kittiwake still was beautiful and could be entered. It is safe for divers to glide in and out of the different corridors, the mess, the bridge and even a hyperbaric chamber. The wreck has been efficiently cleaned of dangerous lines and debris that could be a danger to divers. Over the years, this iconic ship has become home to incredible numbers of marine species just as intended. From overhead, you can see barracuda, schools of jacks, turtles and grouper swim by. Shrimp, eels, and clusters of feather tube worms find perfect hiding spaces in the pipes and structures.

Jawfish

There were several other dive sites to be experienced when returning to Grand Cayman. At the right time of year, Devil’s Grotto contains an explosion of ailversides with monstersized tarpon coming in to feed off the schools of small silvery fish. Big Tunnel, Aquarium and one more wreck, the Oro Verde, round out the diving. This ex-drug-smuggling vessel serves a better purpose these days as a nursery to build the populations of many species all around the Cayman Islands. n

Vivid yellow sponges