Grand Cayman Island 2012

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The Cayman Islands are a chain of three small islands just south of Cuba. We are just 90 miles north of Cuba as I am creating this page. I know this because I look out my window I see Key West below. Soon we will fly directly over the island of Cuba and land on Grand Cayman.

Kim and I found a week that we could get away to slip down to Grand Cayman Island for some relaxation and diving. Wally and Robin were just down here a couple of weeks ago but we could not get away to join them and this week did not work out for their schedule. Timing is everything in life, just as it is in comedy. This is Kim's first trip to the Cayman Islands. It is my fourth.

To see a short video trailer that I put together from the video I shot on this trip click on the button below:

Video Grand Cayman 2012

Check out the pictures below by clicking on the thumbnail on the left to see a full sized picture. Then use your browser's 'back' button to return to this page.

   
Kim surrounded by sergeant major fish.
The mermaid on Sunset House house reef is one of the most photographed underwater statues.
Divers return to the boat after a great dive. Notice the lead diver carrying a dead lionfish that he speared.
You know it's going to be a good day when this is the view out of your door at 8:00 AM.
A Rock beauty. These guys are usually very camera shy. It can be a challenge to get a picture.
Face to face with a gray Angelfish.
This tarpon was hiding out in a swim-through.
Big eye squirrel fish. These fish are usually active at night. Their large eyes help them see in the near-darkness of the reef at night.
A full picture of the mermaid. She is over 9 feet tall. She sits at about 55 feet under the surface.
Kim and I on the Kittiwake. This is ship that was used rescue or salvage submarine wrecks. Now it is an artificial reef with lots of nice areas to swim through.
Kim swims between the propeller and the rudder of the Kittiwake.
A gray angel fish comes up to say hello.
Lionfish hiding under a ledge of coral. No one on this dive had a spear so this fish will live another day.
A large green moray eel swims over the reef at 70 feet below the surface. We saw several large green morays on this dive trip. Most were hiding in the coral so I could not get a good picture of them. This guy was swimming free on the reef but we were pretty deep on a cloudy day so without a flash, the picture is a little dark.
Can you find the tiny harlequin shrimp hiding behind the anemone?
A blue tang enjoying an afternoon meal.
A turtle swims along side me as Kim and Pam look on.
The same turtle and that is still Pam and Kim in the background.  
Another gray angelfish at the landing craft.  
A queen angelfish.  
A Nassau grouper at a cleaning station.  
A flamingo tongue snail crawling up on some coral.  
A very tiny secretary blenny pokes its head out of the coral head to see if there is anything good to eat floating by.  
Beautiful coral and fish.  
Two puffer fish in a courting ceremony.  
Lobster hiding under a ledge.  
Turtle swimming through the coral.  
Kim with a pirate ship docked in the harbor at sunset.  
The last night we ate dinner at seaside restaurant.  
The view, service and meal were all great.  
The people who live across the road from the Sunset House really go all out with their Christmas decorations.  
Sunset at the harbor.  
     
This is a list our dives on this trip. Most boat dives were limited to 50 minutes.
Date Location Dive Site Maximum Depth Bottom Time
12/7/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 60 35
12/8/2012 Grand Cayman Slaughterhouse Wall 78 52
12/8/2012 Grand Cayman Wreck of the Balboa 35 57
12/8/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 64 51
12/9/2012 Grand Cayman Orange Wall 89 50
12/9/2012 Grand Cayman Devil's Grotto 41 60
12/9/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 62 55
12/9/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 34 50
12/9/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 26 47
12/10/2012 Grand Cayman Dragon's Hole 81 50
12/10/2012 Grand Cayman La Mesa 50 52
12/10/2012 Grand Cayman Kittiwake 60 55
12/10/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 38 48
12/10/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 35 48
12/11/2012 Grand Cayman Trinity Caves 77 52
12/11/2012 Grand Cayman Pageant Beach Reef 31 62
12/11/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 63 53
12/11/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 34 55
12/11/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 34 70
12/12/2012 Grand Cayman Eagle Ray Reef 72 51
12/12/2012 Grand Cayman Blackie's Reef 53 56
12/12/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 55 63
12/12/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 36 54
12/12/2012 Grand Cayman Sunset Reef 34 63
12/13/2012 Grand Cayman Great House Wall 83 55
12/13/2012 Grand Cayman Three Trees 48 63

 

  
To see pictures from other dive trips, click on the button below to go to my SCUBA page. It has links to other pages of pictures and dive reports from many different dive trips over the years. 

                         Scuba Diving Page
 
         

www.drizz.com

Photo Albums Where Is Mike? Interests Scuba Page

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