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Articles: Incredible Cayman
by Kathy Dickson
 WOW.
Many thanks to Phil for teaching me how
to dive! We just came home after a fantastic
trip diving at Paradise Divers on Little
Cayman Island. I went there as a complete
novice, having just completed the Open Water
Diver course at Sharkey's in July. I now
have 20 amazing dives recorded in my log
book!
My husband and sister, both seasoned divers,
were equally impressed. Not only with the
diving itself but with the great bunch of
people at Paradise Divers. The managers,
Marc and Sabine are great people, and dedicated
to making your visit enjoyable. The dive
instructors, Vincent and Rod, entertained
us on the short boat trips to and from the
dive sites on the world famous Bloody Bay
Wall and in Jackson's Bay, and were very
knowledgeable about the abundant marine
life.
Rod is my brother, so I may be a bit biased,
but I do believe they are excellent instructors!
In addition, they prepared all the diving
gear and had it ready on the boat, so you
only had to move yourself and your sunscreen
to the truck for the quick ride to the boat
launch.
I am a new diving addict, and can't understand
why I waited until the grand old age of
44 to take up this sport. The dive instructors
complimented me on my buoyancy control,
saying that I must have had a good instructor.
Of course, I already knew that (thanks again,
Phil!). The water was warm (84 degrees)
so we dove in short wetsuits, but many other
divers dove directly in their bathing suits.
At most dive sites the depth of water under
the boat was only 20 - 40 feet. A short
kick of a couple of minutes took you to
the top and over the vertical wall, and
with visibility of 70 - 100 feet it felt
like sensory overload.
 On
my first dive I was just in awe of the great
diversity of marine life - and that feeling
didn't change over the 19 dives that followed.
There were multitudes of beautiful reef
fish; several species of parrotfish, including
a group of three 4-foot rainbow parrotfish,
many types of groupers, all kinds of damselfish
and angelfish, well camouflaged scorpionfish,
balloonfish, squirrelfish, spotted drums,
and innumerable wrasse, gobies and jacks
of various kinds, to name a few! There was
also an abundance of corals and sponges
and other reef invertebrates like crinoids,
sea stars, sea goddesses, shrimp, flamingo
tongues, and spiny lobsters. Well, you name
it and we saw it!
The highlights for us were the reef and
nurse sharks, the innumerable hawksbill
turtles, the Caribbean reef squid, the spotted
eagle rays and the tiny pipehorse. Rod and
Vincent are experts at pointing out the
tiniest creatures that we would never have
found on our own. They have made friends
with 3 Nassau Groupers (Ben, Jerry and Albert)
who love to play "catch the squirrelfish"
- when you snap your fingers to get their
attention and point at a squirrelfish, they
chase off after it until it finds a good
hiding place in the coral.
The boat, Havanna Daydreamin', is one of
those wide flat boats with lots of room
to store your gear and move around. I think
it takes a maximum of 16 divers; there were
12 divers there during our visit, and the
boat seemed very spacious. It is also kind
to those who suffer from motion sickness.
And at the end of this month they expect
to have an additional boat, a brand new
custom built V-hull called "Banana
Wind" that will carry a maximum of
16 divers and be able to tackle the rougher
winter seas, when necessary.
The beachfront accommodations were beautiful,
and each villa comes complete with a kitchenette,
hammocks out front, bicycles and your very
own iguanas and curly-tailed lizards. For
birdwatchers like us, there are lots of
Caribbean birds to see easily from your
porch or on a quick bike ride around the
island, as well as the many migrant species
making their way south from Canada for the
winter.
If you go, we recommend taking a few foodstuffs
(coffee, cereal and lunch materials). The
local store is supplied by a weekly barge
from Grand Cayman, and it quickly runs out
of items which, when available, are somewhat
pricey. Dinner or drinks on the deck at
the adjacent Hungry Iguana are a very pleasant
way to wind down after a day of diving,
bicycling and snorkeling.
The downside? Only the travel, which involved
a journey of four legs each direction. We
flew from Ottawa to Toronto to Miami to
Grand Cayman and finally on a little Navajo
plane to Little Cayman. However, at the
end of October Air Canada began a non-stop
flight from Toronto to Grand Cayman, which
would make the journey itself a lot easier
to take, and the price looks pretty good
too. For those who just can't wait to go
diving, Paradise Divers also has a fall
special in effect until 15 December - check
out their multilingual web site at http://www.paradise-divers.com.
We just can't stop talking about our trip,
but I think we have now bored most of our
friends, so if anyone else would like hear
more, let us know! You can email me at Kathy.Dickson@ec.gc.ca.
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