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O
nce again, my buddy beckons me over
to the large black coral bush. “Why is
he so keen on that one?” I think. It looks
no different than all the others littered
about the site. Slightly irritated, I start to
swim over and it dawns on me I should not have doubted
him. Of course he knew I was chasing critters, and he’s
come up trumps with a pair of tiny wire coral shrimp
nestled in the huge bush.
We’re at a site called
Babylon
, where a large pinnacle
sits alongside Grand Cayman’s north wall. The wall here
rises to within 30 feet of the surface, but my favorite spot
is down in the canyon between the pinnacle and the wall.
There, light streams in from above, spotlighting colorful
sponges and silhouetting the intricate shapes of black
coral bushes hanging from both walls.
We go on to find a dozen more wire coral shrimps plus
five other species of shrimp. Among these are the rarely seen
whitefoot shrimp, which makes its home in the aptly named
touch-me-not sponge. We also find my favorite miniature
predator, the arrow blenny, and several colonies of the reef ’s
cheekiest chaps, secretary blennies, which waggle about
from their holes as if tickled. But the highlight is a pair of red
clingfish living together on a deepwater seafan.
With its impressive formations of corals, seafans and
sponges, Babylon is rightly celebrated as a breathtaking
scenic dive. From this spot I have seen squadrons of eagle
rays and several Caribbean reef sharks. I’ve been buzzed
by a great hammerhead, and on every dive here somebody
befriends a hawksbill turtle. But as is the case with Grand
Cayman diving in general, it is wise not to be too hasty to
categorize Babylon. One of the island’s most famous wall
dives is a first-class critter dive as well.
Twenty-two-mile-long Grand Cayman island sits in the
open Caribbean, just south of Cuba and only a 70-minute
flight from Miami. It offers year-round clear, warm waters and
benign diving conditions, so it’s no surprise Grand Cayman
has been attracting divers for decades. Whether you make the
trip regularly, have visited recently or have not yet had the
pleasure, this magnificent island always offers something new.
ClassiC Cayman
Grand Cayman’s genetic code is most evident in the famous
sites of its west side. For decades, sites like
Big Tunnel,
Aquarium, Royal Palm’s Ledge, Little Tunnel, Trinity
Caves
and many more enthralled Jacques Cousteau, Hans Hass
and the other members of the Cayman Islands’ International
Scuba Diving Hall of Fame. Today I’m at
Orange Canyon,
where the top of the wall is cut with deep grooves. The sides
of these gullies are plastered with colorful life, including many
impressive orange elephant ear sponges, which give the site its
name. I swim down and marvel as the color and life intensifies,
reaching a crescendo where the gullies meet the wall. A queen
angelfish browses among the sponges and almost looks a little
dowdy in comparison to its surroundings.
The next day I dive a nearby spot called
In Between
. It’s
not nearly as famous as the well-known Orange Canyon, but
I enjoy it just as much. The edge of the wall is a similar riot
of sponges and seafans, and we encounter two hawksbills.
The island has long had a policy of installing new moorings
regularly and resting classic sites. Both have their appeal,
but I often find the virgin sites more impressive than their
famous neighbors on the wall.
There are few better places to watch the sunset than due-
west-facing Seven Mile Beach. I drink in the last warm rays
and pull on my wetsuit for a night dive on the wreck of the
Oro Verde
. Contrary to stories you may have heard in dive
briefings, the “OV” was sunk as an attraction for divers. It’s
almost completely broken up now, and most people now pass
her by in favor of the younger, much larger
USS Kittiwake
.
But don’t discount the OV; she still makes for a great marine-
life or photo dive, especially at night.
I watch a lobster scramble over the wreck while I descend,
and I find a pair of banded cleaner shrimps beneath a fold of
metal as soon as I get close. The wreckage creates so many
hiding holes it seems to offer even more invertebrates than
the nearby reef. I see a diver’s torch flashing wildly from side
to side and swim toward it. I find the divemaster playing with
a bright blue octopus, which seems to be attracted to the
light’s glow. The end of the dive holds a final treat; tucked
beneath a sheet of metal are two large rainbow parrotfish.
I take a couple of pictures and leave them snoozing.
TEXT AND PHOTOS
BY ALEX MUSTARD, PH.D.
Grand
Cayman