Aquatic Eden: Diving in the Caymans

(Index Stock/Stephen Frink)

Think of the Cayman Islands as Jacque Cousteau's playground. Three separate islands linked by a forest of coral teeming with thousands of fish, spur-and-groove reefs, feed-the-stingray dives, 3,000-foot vertical walls, and ship wrecks—all in Visine-clear water.

Grand Cayman Island, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman each offer something different. Grand Cayman yields up the full package: prime coral reefs, fabulous wall dives, rollicking nightlife, 800-foot submarine descents, Stingray City, and the lazy intoxication of Seven Mile Beach. Cayman Brac surprises the uninitiated with sponge-flocked 3,000-foot vertical walls; over 50 current-free dive sites, some just 150 yards off the coast; a submerged 300-foot frigate; and, back on land, climbing routes along the island's tall limestone spine. Little Cayman is no-frills diving at its best: crystal waters, deep walls, and an infinite number of tunnels, chimneys, and canyons. The scarcely inhabited island also has world-class bone fishing and the Caribbean's largest bird sanctuary. And it doesn't hurt that the Caymans are only 70 minutes from Miami.