Cayman Islands Best Viewed From Underwater

C A Y M A N   B R A C, Cayman Islands, Jan. 9, 2004 -- There's not much reason to goto Cayman Brac. No casinos. Only a few restaurants. Not muchshopping. No golf.

So what do you do with a week to kill on a Caribbean island withone of the world's best reef systems?

S-C-U-B-A.

And snorkeling. And hiking, climbing and birding. And theall-important sitting on the beach.

If you want luxury, Grand Cayman is fine, but diving there canget crowded and expensive. If you prefer the type of place whereChocolate, the dive shop dog, plays hostess to her friends in lateafternoon romps on the beach, then consider this sister island.

Cayman Brac is much smaller than Grand Cayman. It has apopulation of under 1,300 on an island about 12 miles (20kilometers) by 2 miles (3 kilometers). The third sister, LittleCayman, is smaller still, with under 170 residents on a10-mile-by-1-mile (16-kilometer-by-1.6 kilometer) island. Bothislands are regularly ranked among the best dive locations in theworld by readers of Scuba Diving magazine. Reef Divers runs thedive operation at Brac Reef Resort on Cayman Brac, and the shop,boats and staff were all first-rate.

The Lure of Diverse Diving

Leila McWhorter, a 63-year-old American, has been diving for 20years with over 300 dives mostly in the Caribbean, Bahamas andFlorida. A retired librarian and former teacher from Georgia, shemakes at least one dive trip out of the country each year. Forland-based diving, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are her favoritespots; she's been to each three times.

"Bloody Bay Wall on Little Cayman is considered the best divesite in the world, but if you've been on it six days, it loses someof its luster," she said. "Cayman Brac has so much diversity.

"Every day that you make a dive, it's not like the day before.Every day it seemed to me that the dive was different," she added.

The visibility is excellent and water temperatures are acomfortable 86 F (30 C) in the summer and fall, a degree or twocooler in winter. The coral and sponges are healthy and diverse, so the fish andother sea life are plentiful. And the diving options are increasedwith the walls so close to shore.

The walls amount to an underwater cliff with the edge about 70feet (21 meters) to 80 feet (24 meters) down and the bottomthousands of feet (meters) below.

Some Shark Sightings

You descend, keeping a close eye on your depth gauge, and at,say, 110 feet (33 meters) down, you're looking at a vertical coralformation in front and a vast expanse of deep, deep blue withdarting fish, turtles and rays behind.

Since non-divers seem to ask about sharks, yes, we encounteredreef sharks and nurse sharks — both harmless to people who don'tannoy them and inclined to swim away from those who do.

There were plenty of turtles, barracuda and rays — sting, eagle,spotted eagle and southern. Smaller sightings included sea horses,jelly fish, flounder, scorpion fish, durgons and lobster.

The wreck M/V Keith Tibbetts, a Russian destroyer sunk fordiving purposes, is a popular site and good for tall tales of navalbattles and pirates.

McWhorter calls it "one of the best wreck dives I've ever done.… When you are diving the Tibbetts, it's a good idea to have twocameras, one with a wide-angle lens and one for macro," orclose-up shots of the rich sea life living on and around the wreck.

For the non-diver, there's plenty to do. Snorkeling is verypopular. Rock climbing attracts visitors to the limestone cliffs.

Much of Cayman Brac is open land. A nature preserve boasts 150species of birds. There are miles of cycling and hiking trails,rare animals to see and dramatic caves to explore. Bonefish, which have a reputation of being hard to catch, areplentiful. Tuna, wahoo and marlin are popular game fish. Snapper,grouper and jacks attract reef anglers. The Caymans are veryconservation-minded, and captains and guides will encourage releaseof any fish that is not going to be eaten.

During a recent visit, my wife and I stayed at Brac Reef BeachResort. We found nothing to complain about in the accommodations,which were comfortable with a helpful staff and good meals, and wegot good reports from guests of the island's other resort, DiviTiara Beach Resort.

You can expect the Cayman Brac experience to be different fromwhat you might find on other Caribbean islands. As McWhorter putit, "Because the Brac is not surrounded by businesses and homes,you get the feeling of being on a remote island."

If You Go …

LOCATION: Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are a few miles (severalkilometers) apart, northeast of Grand Cayman and less than 500miles (800 kilometers) from Miami. GETTING THERE: You can fly to Cayman Brac from Grand Cayman onCayman Airways or Island Air. British Airways flies to GrandCayman. So does Air Jamaica. WHERE TO STAY: Brac Reef Resort offers seven-day winter divingpackages including breakfast and dinner with pool-view rooms fromU.S.$1,654 (U.S.$1,114 for non-divers). Visithttp://www.divetrip.com CURRENCY: The Cayman Islands dollar is the official currency, but the U.S.dollar is universally accepted. The exchange rate is about 80Cayman cents to a U.S. dollar. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.caymanislands.ky