"If you call these flippers, I'll fine you a four-pack. Flipper is a dolphin." So warned Steve, my dive instructor, as he handed me a pair of fins prior to the scuba-diving lesson that would set me free to explore the Caymans' coral kingdoms. These extensive, unspoilt reefs are the best reason to visit this corner of the Caribbean - and even a complete novice can dive among them after just a morning's lesson. The three islands, Grand Cayman, Cayman Brae and Little Cayman, are the peaks of mountains with coral reefs on their submerged 'shoulders'. So, instead of taking costly boat trips to a distant reef, divers need only step off a jetty to discover a vast array of corals, sponges, fish and other sealife a few metres below the surface of some of theclearest water I've ever seen. The added bonus is that the sea bed drops away suddenly beyond the reefs to a depth of some 2,000 metres, creating an epic underwater cliff known as 'the Wall'. Here, cold, nutrient-rich waters well up from the depths, attracting a cast of creatures that changes every few metres of your descent.
展开▼
