by Nadia Al from Scuba Life

In late November 2012, we ventured off to the Cayman Islands to experience all that the diving there has in store. We were lucky to have Wayne Hasson, President of the Aggressor fleet, onboard with us for the entire week of our liveaboard trip. His knowledge of the Cayman Islands was vast and informative since he actually lived on Grand Cayman for many years.

The trip out to Grand Cayman from the west coast was quite easy. We left from LAX for the flight to Newark and made one connection from there to Grand Cayman.

I was the first diver to arrive in the middle of town on Grand Cayman, where the Aggressor liveaboard was docked, and I was greeted by Captain Allan and the crew. They welcomed me on board and gave me a tour of the boat. Soon after, the rest of the divers arrived and we were briefed as a group about the week’s diving and the boat.

The next morning, we set off to do some diving around the Caymans. And the first thing that I immediately enjoyed was the fact that I could dive right from the back of the Aggressor.  As long as you have a buddy, you can dive independently of the group or follow one of the DMs on a guided dive. On most days, we were able to do four dives. As a group, we’d decide if we wanted to do a sunset dive or a night dive, and the captain would adjust our schedule accordingly.

My favorite dive sites that we visited were Stingray City and the wreck of the Kittiwake.

Stingray City 

This dive site is a series of shallow sandbars found in Grand Cayman’s North Sound. And the dive here was the most amazing 12-foot-deep dive I’ve ever experienced. We jumped from the boat into the water and the stingrays made their way to us. The crew had fresh squid to feed the rays. Within less than five minutes of entering the water, we were surrounded by at least 15 stingrays. At first I was a bit timid around the creatures, as thoughts of Steve Irwin’s unfortunate death popped into my head. After watching them interact with the divers, however, it was easy to see just how friendly these animals are.

During the dive, the resident moray eels, attracted by the scent of the squid carried by the crew, came out to see what was going on. These morays were extremely friendly and obviously used to being around divers, and they just added to the amazing dive by allowing us to get even more awesome photos.

I would have been happy to dive this site twice, but an hour in the water with the creatures was definitely more than enough time to enjoy them.

The Kittiwake

This wreck is a newer wreck in the Cayman Islands. The Kittiwake has five decks and is 47 feet tall and 251 feet long. It was sunk to its current position, just off the coast of Grand Cayman, in January 2011, with the intent that the wreck would become a permanent artificial reef. This site is great for diving and snorkeling, too, as the shallowest part of the boat sits in just 15 feet of water. My favorite part of the dive was discovering the recompression chambers on the side of the boat. We went inside them and were able to pop our heads out into air pockets. Since we wanted to capture as much as we could, we did at least three dives on the wreck.

Weather conditions prevented us from visiting Little Cayman, but we still had an amazing time diving the area. The above video sums up our experience and really showcases Cayman diving and the experience that awaits divers aboard the Aggressor.

To book a trip on this dive adventure, visit the Aggressor’s online reservation system.

-Nadia

Note: All photographs are the property of Nadia Al