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Top Grand Cayman Snorkeling places

This page is dedicated to Grand Cayman snorkeling places and who can help you see them. First let's look at where to snorkel at Grand Cayman.

Thanks to the reef that shelters most of the shoreline, snorkeling is a safe way enjoying the sea from almost any beach, with the exception of the area around Breakers, which as the name suggests has powerful waves rolling in most days, and Frank Sound, where the blowholes squirt spray out of the ironshore.

You'll definitely see these guys, Parrot Fish There are lots of good places off Seven Mile Beach, including Cemetery Beach (not a name marketing folks would have come up with) and Public Beach at the north end. Public Beach is signposted from West Bay road and it's a popular spot with local folk. Cemetery Beach is also off the same road, just farther north.

Surprisingly, there are a number of good places right around George Town harbour. Eden Rock is one. It's ideal for beginners - being only a few yards off-shore from the Paradise Bar & Grill.

A little further south along Eden Rock is the Devil's Grotto, a reef with caves and tunnels for those brave enough to explore them.

On the other side of the harbour is the wreck, Cali. A spectacular site and one the semi-submersible takes in as part of its tour, which is a good way to get your bearings if you're considering snorkeling at this site.

The Cali was a sailing ship carrying grain and rice that took in water, swelling the grain and breaking the hull apart so the story goes. It now lies in about twenty feet of water and is easily reached from Rackhams's or Hammerhead's pub on the waterfront.

Cheeseburger or Soto's reef is another George Town snorkeling site. It's famous for Tarpon, a silver predator that lives off the brightly colored fish we go miles to see, and also for its colorful coral. Like Eden Rock/Devil's Grotto, it also has caves and tunnels to explore.

Two areas further afield, but considered 'spectacular', are:

Turtle Farm, Boatswain's Bay

Old Man Bay, at Northside

The place most folks think of when they think Grand Cayman snorkeling is Stingray City and Sandbar, out in North Sound. You can learn more about them on our page Stingray City. 'Coral Gardens' is another popular Grand Cayman snorkeling site. It's part of the barrier reef and snorkeling here is accessible only by boat. However, it's usually part of the Stingray City and Sandbar tours so you won't need to rent -- unless you want more time at the reef. Our trip only allowed about 30 minutes here and much of the time was taken up by getting everyone off and back on the boat.

Damsel and Parrot fish And finally, we mustn't forget Rum Point at the end of Northside Road. Rum Point is another fine place for beginners to learn snorkeling. You can go straight from the beach around the small rocky headland in front of the hotel. The water is shallow, calm and crystal-clear even close in to the beach.

For more pictures of the underwater life around Grand Cayman, visit our page of Underwater Pictures or our page of Underwater Photography.

Just as there are dozens of great Grand Cayman snorkeling places, so there are plenty of companies who can help you get there, at least for those places where you need a boat. Here are some of the companies who offer Grand Cayman snorkel trips.

Red Sail Sports is one, their Sandbar tour takes in Coral Gardens, and they also rent boats or other water craft. See our scuba diving page for their contact details.

Soto's Cruises is another. For CI$28 they'll take you out to Sandbar and Stingray City. Call (345) 945-4576 for more information.

Grand Cayman snorkeling is a good way to see why the island is regularly voted in the world's top three dive sites. If you're ready to move on from snorkeling, visit our scuba diving page. Many of the companies listed there also do snorkeling trips.

If you like to travel to the Caribbean, you might like to try snorkeling in Bonaire. Bonaire is found in the Lesser Antilles and the fringing coral reefs that surround the little island are often called a Diver's Paradise.

If snorkeling is something you like doing, you probably also have loads of images to share. Maybe you've considered a website, maybe not. If you have but need some help to start our About Us page shows you how we did it. It worked for us. From no idea to a running site in weeks and to making money at it a year later (others have done much better than that, we're just slow learners:)

And further below is a way for you to share your stories of snorkeling in Grand Cayman.