West Bay, 15 November 1996
Hello there! I’m glad you stopped by today.
I was just telling my friend, the Webmaster, how fortunate we are to have such beautiful
walls to dive here in Cayman. You know, this old wench has had the opportunity to travel a
bit and dive in various parts of the world (Bonaire, Galapagos, Hawaii, St. Lucia), and I can
truthfully say that I have never encountered walls that can compare with what we have here.
When we say "walls" in the Cayman Islands, we mean WALLS! We’re talking about underwater
mountainsides that tumble anywhere from 12-70’ below the water’s surface down to at least
3000’
(Which is probably why I feel cheated when I make a wall dive somewhere else and can
see the bottom.)
We mean massive pillars of coral rising from the depths to form
free-standing pinnacles adorned with fantastic shapes and colors. We mean rivers of sand
pouring down the mountainside like underwater ski slopes, overhung with brilliant red and orange and yellow sponges from the massive coral buttresses on either side. We mean meandering tunnels and caverns where thousands of silversides swirl and part like a glittering curtain as you pass through. We mean breathtaking windows whose blue water views are edged with black coral and gorgonians. We mean graceful coral arches spanning canyons that snake between spurs of coral and rock before spilling over the lip of the wall and into the impenetrable depths below. We mean chimneys that lure you down, down, down, to the fantasy land that awaits discovery just out of sight. THAT’S what we mean when we talk about walls in Cayman!
How anyone could resist the siren song of those incomparable walls is beyond me. I’ve heard some say they prefer the shallow dives and longer bottom times, and while I certainly wish I could stay down there longer, I wouldn’t trade those magical moments on those majestic walls for anything! Besides, if you’re doing multi-level diving, you can still get plenty of bottom time on the wall. The top of the wall is usually in 50-60’ of water, and in places on Bloody Bay Wall in Little Cayman, it’s only 20’ down! But don’t tell those shallow dive aficionados, or they’ll be all over our walls! They can be happy diving all those great reefs, wrecks, grottos, and caverns that abound in Cayman’s shallower depths, so let’s just keep those exceptional walls to ourselves. They’re buried where no pirate ever thought to look, and they’re a treasure greater than any chest of gold.
Stop by the next time you’re in Cayman, and I’ll be happy to share my favorite wall dives with you - if I can decide which are my favorites, that is. They’re all so good, it’s hard to pick, but I’ll think on it. Let’s see, there’s . . .
In addition to these essays, the wench also posts frequent short writings about her
View from West Bay.
Check out the latest post!
