The Cayman Islands are world renowned for their incredible scuba diving and snorkeling. The underwater visibility is second to none, the seas are calm and there are virtually no currents. A host of dive operators can teach you how to dive, improve your skills, take you snorkeling with friendly stingrays and even turn your passion into a career. Indeed the Cayman Islands offer a wealth of opportunity for anyone interested in getting in, under or on the water, at every level of experience. Our newest underwater park, the ex-USS Kittiwake is a must see for all divers and snorkelers.
New Wreck Dive - The Kittiwake After seven years of planning a long awaited new dive site, the Kittiwake has been created! In January 2011, in association with the CI Government and Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA), the 251ft decommissioned military ship the USS Kittiwake was sunk as Cayman’s newest wreck dive. The ship now rests on a sandy patch in 62ft of water off the northern end of Seven Mile Beach. The bridge and smoke stack lie less than 15 feet from the surface making it ideal for snorkellers as well as divers. The Kittiwake is situated in a marine park that is protected under law in Cayman, which means that nothing can be touched or removed, no gloves can be worn and no fishing is allowed on the wreck site (other than lionfish). There is a small marine park entry fee to snorkel or dive the site and all vessels, commercial or private, are required to be licensed. Dive visitors are given a medallion to wear to show that their entry fee has been paid and snorkellers receive a wristband. You can contact the CITA or a dive company to arrange a trip to the wreck. The fees are CI$8 per day to dive and CI$4 per day to snorkel. You can also get an annual pass for CI$25 or a lifetime pass for CI$400. See the official Kittiwake website: www.kittiwakecayman.com for complete dive site details and information.
Dive 365 Dive 365 is an exciting and unique programme designed to develop and maintain a total of 365 seperate dive site moorings around the Cayman Islands, giving divers a unique dive site for every day of the year. Over the next few years 65 new dive sites will be introduced to explore the magnificent underwater world, and at the same time, the programme supports an important environmental initiative that will allow certain sites to be rested. You can get involved by sponsoring a new dive site. The ‘name a site’ programme allows individuals or groups to choose a site and have it named after them. Call the CITA on (345) 949 8522 or email them at info@cita.ky.
Lionfish – An invasive marine species It is generally thought that during Hurricane Andrew in 1992, damage to an aquarium allowed captive lionfish to be released into the ocean. These venomous fish have no natural predators in the Caribbean and now pose a serious threat to our coral reefs. They are voracious predators. It is thought that in five weeks they can consume all the small fish on a reef. This, coupled with the fact that they reach reproductive maturity within a year and can then lay 30,000 eggs per month, makes them a major problem in Cayman waters. The DoE encourages licensed divers (and fishermen) to catch lionfish and remove them from the sea. They run a three-hour course and will then issue you with a licence to safely remove lionfish from the reef. For more detailed information or to report a sighting, call the DoE on (345) 949 8469 or (345) 916 4271 or doe@gov.ky
LEARNING TO DIVE
Learning to dive is essential for many new arrivals. Without question, the most popular form of diver education and certification is offered by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and is available through a variety of dive operators in Cayman. Having said that, many people try an experimental dive prior to committing to a full certification programme, and this is an excellent way of testing the waters, so to speak. Commonly known on-Island as a Resort Course, this “mini-course” consists of a short theory session where you’ll learn the simple dos and don’ts, get an introduction to the equipment and be given an explanation of some very basic skills. You will then get to dive in a swimming pool to become acclimatised to being underwater before finally taking a real ocean dive with your instructor. This programme normally takes about four hours and is a great way to see if diving is for you.
While the Resort Course is a fantastic introduction, it does have limitations: you have to go with an instructor, you are limited to a shallow depth and you can only dive again with the dive shop that completed your course. If you want to go further, the next step is to complete the Open Water Certification course, get certified and go diving.
The Open Water Course is often completed in as little as three days and is the licence you need to dive. Completion of this training is the minimum qualification required to rent equipment, go on excursions and basically get you in and out of the water safely. Many dive stores/operators on the Island will offer weekend courses designed to suit your schedule. This extremely popular course is open to those aged 15 and up. Children aged 10 and up may become certified to Junior Open Water level at the instructor’s discretion, so we advise you to discuss this option with your dive centre. Options even exist for you to be taught at home in your own pool! In today’s computer age, options exist to take the classroom session online in the comfort of your home or office.
For little ones, there are lots of educational and fun water-based scuba/snorkel activities to participate in while parents are out diving. Programmes include SASY (from age five), Rangers or Seals (from age eight), Junior Open Water Diver (from age 10) and of course, guided diving excursions to the shallow reefs, Stingray City and the Kittiwake.
Programmes range from pool sessions to ocean adventures, with kids learning about marine life, fish identification, coral reefs and underwater photography or cruising on an underwater scooter. As young ambassadors to the marine environment, the kids will delight you with the knowledge they gain while learning to dive.
Once you are certified and have joined the diving family, there are endless opportunities to go diving on the Island. Shore diving is a very popular weekend pursuit and you’ll find new diving friends at various locations. Sunset House, Don Fosters and DiveTech, some of the oldest dive resorts on the Island, all boast great shore diving. You can also ask for discounted rates for residents.
Once you have gained your initial certification, not only can you shore dive at various locations, you can also go on arranged excursions. This is the best way to discover the walls of Cayman. For many, the main reason to dive in Cayman is to explore the most amazing walls and drop-offs surrounding the Island. You will soon have your own favourite sites and your conversations will turn to North West Point, Tarpon Alley, Great House Wall, Orange Canyon and other coral covered swim-throughs leading out to the crystal blue, where you’ll cruise alongside eagle rays, horse-eyed jacks and hawksbill turtles. The only disappointment will be the realization that you should have learned to dive years ago!
Before long, you will be taking two-tank (two dive) trips to explore the renowned beauty of the West Wall, which runs parallel to Seven Mile Beach, the breath-taking North Wall and East End, where the scenery is some of the most dramatic and encounters with large fish are frequent. Generally, dive boats will leave early and get you home for lunch. The first dive will probably be one of the wall dives you have heard so much about. Experienced divers will have the opportunity to explore with their dive buddy, while novices often choose to be guided. The best thing about guided dives is the instructors know where they are going and will show you the best any particular site has to offer. After a short surface interval, you will be back on a second dive on one of Cayman’s shallow reefs or wrecks. Exploring the nooks and crannies of the reef will enable you to see a host of amazing creatures, including lobsters, eels, soft coral, sea anemones and more. The colours will amaze you and are more vibrant due to the increased level of light in shallower water.
Sunset House operates just south of George Town and provides great shore diving as well as boat dives. DiveTech is located both at Cobalt Coast (northwest Cayman), and also at Lighthouse Point, a brand new and hardly dived location in West Bay. Diving the North wall, they also offer great shore and boat dives to the walls and have extremely experienced staff offering a number of courses, including advanced/technical programmes and Rebreathers. DiveTech’s mini-wall is a must see! Finally, you should also head out to visit Ocean Frontiers in East End to experience some dramatic wall dives with bigger fish. (Editor’s Note: I saw a nurse shark, reef shark and a hammerhead in a single dive there!)
Once you have caught the dive bug, head over to the Sister Islands for a few days of relaxing into the slower pace of life and diving some of Cayman’s pristine dive sites - all only a 30-minute flight away. You will not be disappointed with Bloody Bay Wall in Little Cayman, with its beautiful drop-offs, corals and marine life. Off Cayman Brac you will find one of the Caribbean’s most unusual shipwrecks: a 330-foot Russian frigate, one of only a few sunken Soviet Naval vessels in the Western Hemisphere, and the only one that is easily dived, now named the Captain Keith Tibbetts after a local politician and diver. This vessel was sunk in the spring of 1998 at a maximum depth of 110 feet by the Cayman Islands Government but in 2004 a serious storm broke the ship in two, and her bow now lists at a 45 degree angle, while her midships have become a debris field. She is still a very popular dive site.
ADVANCED DIVING
Advanced Dive Courses You may want to complete further courses to build on your experience. The Advanced course is next, and introduces you to deep diving, night diving and navigation. There is very little classroom study and the majority of the course is completed in the water. Various advance courses include: underwater photography/videography classes, search and recovery, stingray interaction, reef awareness, technical applications and the extremely popular Enriched Air (Nitrox) course.
Technical Diving If you are truly adventurous, you can learn to use Rebreathers, (devices originally designed by the military that emit no bubbles or noise), mixed gases and techniques for extended-range diving. While DiveTech is by no means a purely technical operation, as owner Nancy will tell you, they can offer all the deep diving equipment and advice you need. It helps that Nancy is one of the world’s most technically experienced female divers. Rebreathers have progressed a long way over the past decade, and many options exist for recreational divers just looking for longer bottom times.
Technical dives by definition, are: dives conducted beyond the 130-foot depth limit for recreational diving; dives requiring a decompression stop; dives beyond the light zone; or dives into an overhead environment. Obviously this type of advanced, extended-range diving is not for everyone, and requires a commitment to safe, responsible, self-disciplined diving. Technical diving is a challenging recreational sport, and like skiing a black diamond run or climbing Mount Everest, diving at this level cannot be accomplished overnight. It takes a love of the sport, a lot of training and practice and an adventurous spirit to get you there.
Courses in Nitrox, Advanced Nitrox, Normoxic, Trimix and Advanced Trimix enable divers to safely explore greater depths.Nitrox diving is open to anyone and is basically diving with 32% oxygen (regular air has 21% oxygen). This allows divers to dive to the same depths as normal scuba divers, but for a longer time before reaching decompression limits. Nitrox has the added bonus of making one feel less tired after a dive. A Nitrox course costs CI$125, and one tank of Nitrox will only cost about CI$5 more than a regular tank of air. If you like diving between 100 and 150 feet, Advanced Nitrox enables you to stay safely at these depths for about 45 minutes instead of the usual 10–20 minutes. Basically, you dive with double tanks, including a side mounted deco bottle, and have to learn the fundamentals of decompression diving.
Normoxic Trimix takes divers to the 200-foot range, reducing oxygen content to about 18% and adding some helium to buffer the effects of narcosis. For those wishing to go deeper (330 feet+), Advanced Trimix and Expedition courses are also available.
Rebreather diving (Closed Circuit Rebreathers, or CCR) is another form of diving that has become very popular in the last decade. CCR equipment allows you to massively extend your dive time. You could spend three hours at 100 feet! The advantage of using a rebreather is that there are no bubbles, so you get up close and personal with the marine life; the air you breathe is warmer and more moist, so you stay warmer and your dive is more comfortable and of course, you get extended bottom times with limited decompression issues. However, this form of diving is for the dedicated enthusiast, as courses typically cost CI$900 and you will probably need to purchase your own scuba diving equipment.
At some point, you may wish to turn your passion for the undersea world into a career. Becoming a dive master is the first step. This training develops your skills to a professional level. You work alongside full-time instructors working with real students. Best of all, at this level you can get paid too!
DiveTech Tel: (345) 946 5658 www.divetech.com Located at their new dive shop at Lighthouse Point, North West Point Road, West Bay and at Cobalt Coast Dive Resort, West Bay. They offer classes from beginner to technical, along with equipment rental and boat dives.
Ocean Frontiers, Ltd. Compass Point, East End Tel: (345) 947 7500 Boutique-style diving in East End.
Sunset Divers at Sunset House Hotel South Church Street, South Sound Tel: (345) 949 7111 www.sunsethouse.com Weekly and weekend resident courses, equipment rental and boat dives, VIP programmes (train at home).
Wall to Wall Diving Tel: (345) 916 6408 www.walltowalldiving.com They offer flexible and personalised scuba diving.
Underwater Photography Lessons Cathy Church Underwater Photo Centre At Sunset House, South Church Street Tel: (345) 949 7415 They offer daily private underwater photography courses in the classroom and on a shore dive. The fee with Cathy Church is only CI$102.50 per hour, and CI$49 with the staff. They also rent and sell a full range of underwater cameras, all with a free mini-lesson. Call for an appointment.
Diving Areas East End Dramatic coral and wall diving. Reef sharks, nurse sharks and even hammerheads can occasionally be seen.
George Town Coral, caves and tunnels at Eden Rock and a mermaid at Sunset House, just south of George Town. Look out for the huge tarpon! Also, there are various wrecks in the area.
North Sound Lots of dive sites on ‘The Wall’. Only accessible by boat. Expect to see incredible coral wall formations and occasionally eagle rays, nurse sharks, moray eels and all sorts of other underwater wonders. Inside the reef is the world famous Stingray City, where you can interact with multiple stingrays in 20 feet of water.
Sister Islands Fabulous unspoiled diving for all levels of dive ability, from shallow reefs and breathtaking walls to some incredible wrecks. In Little Cayman, the Bloody Bay Marine Park, with its untouched and beautiful walls, is a must. The Russian frigate MV Captain Keith Tibbetts off the Brac is also well worth the trip.
West Bay Great shore dives from Lighthouse Point and Cobalt Coast. You can access ‘The Wall’ via boat trips or underwater scooters, or the mini-wall from the shore.
Snorkelling Areas George Town Just south of George Town you will find a mass of coral heads, caves and abundant fish life, while further north is the wreck of the Calie, an old four-masted schooner.
North Sound Here you will find the world famous Sandbar and Stingray City, where you can feed and interact with stingrays in only three to four feet of water. Your crew will take some squid to feed the stingrays. The Coral Gardens are nearby, where you will find corals and fish in about 10 feet of water. Both sites are only accessible by boat.
Seven Mile Beach The main snorkelling area here can be found at the north end of Seven Mile Beach at Cemetery Reef, which is about 100 yards offshore, but often in less than 10 feet of water. A good site for fish life.
West Bay Down the road from the Cayman Turtle Farm is Lighthouse Point, a good dive and snorkel site to find elusive sea turtles.

Copyright 2011 The Resident Magazine 2012. All rights reserved. Acorn Publishing Co, PO Box 31403, Grand Cayman KY1-1206, Cayman Islands, Tel: (345) 946 3200 Fax: (345) 946 2830 Email:info@acorn.ky
