Compass Point Dive Resort, Grand Cayman Island

Home to a staggering 240 dive sites, Grand Cayman Island is a haven for adventurous divers. In fact, you could dive every single day here for more than eight months, and still not see the same site twice! Plus, having such a long list of dive sites to choose from has helped operators minimise their impact on the underwater world, keeping every single site in great condition. Visitors will find plenty of straight-forward shore dives around Grand Cayman, and many of the most popular drop-zones lie less than five or ten minutes away by boat.

For both divers and snorkelers, one of Grand Cayman Island’s biggest draws is its exceptional stingray population. In fact, the western entrance to the island’s lagoon-like North Sound is home to a shallow sandbar known as Stingray City. In years past, this sandbank was used by fishermen to clean their catch, and the smart stingrays caught on quick. Today, divers can sit in just four metres of water, surrounded by gentle stingrays searching for free food.

But, there’s more than just the famous stingrays beneath the surface as the island is home to deep walls and a beautiful barrier reef. Located on the edge of the Bartlett Trough, which reaches depths of over seven kilometres in places, Grand Cayman Island has become famous among wall diving enthusiasts. The North Wall, particularly around Babylon Reef in the East End, is said to offer some of the island’s best wall diving but, in truth, you could descend almost anywhere around Grand Cayman and be humbled by the sheer size, depth, and beauty of these coral-covered underwater cliffs.

Wreck diving

There are several noteworthy wrecks in Grand Cayman, found mainly in the well-developed George Town and West Bay districts. The 77-metre Kittiwake was scuttled in 2011 and now sits upright in the northern end of West Bay at a depth of around 18-metres. Before it was scuttled, penetration routes inside the wreck were carefully planned and prepared, and today this impressive vessel can be dived by all. Divers can visit its five levels, inside and out, including the mess hall, hospital station, propulsion rooms, and ammunition lockers. 

Before the Kittiwake was sunk, the wreck of choice for many divers visiting the Caymans was the Oro Verde, located just offshore from Seven Mile Beach. Once an intact wreck sitting at around 18-metres, rough seas and strong winds have since taken their toll, and divers now explore the scattered wreckage. Other George Town and West Bay wrecks include the Doc Poulson, Cali, and Balboa sites.

George Town scuba diving

The shore diving around George Town is second to none, with sites such as Devils Grotto and Eden Rock frequently named as favourites. Separated by a sand gully, these two shallow sites are both easily accessible and feature beautiful coral heads rising vertically towards the surface and a spectacular labyrinth of tunnels. A designated grouper spawning site off George Town’s southwest tip is accessible by boat and features two worthwhile dive sites, Kent’s Caves and Big Table Rock. To the south, is a dive site known as Japanese Garden, named after the abundance of staghorn and elkhorn corals that resemble ornate bonsai trees. The surge that has pummeled this southern wall over the years has formed a wonderful network of tunnels and caves here that are particularly impressive in the summer months, as baitfish attract larger predators such as tarpon.