Day 5 began just like the others, a 7 am breakfast, on the boat by 8, and a journey to our first dive site. Our first dive site was called Hepp’s Pipeline. Excited to start our first dive we jumped on in.
Hepp’s Pipeline gets its name from its half pipe shape. The walls on the coral fingers curve up and around, creating the appearance of a pipe. The reef reached around 75 feet deep and had multiple trenches along the reef. While swimming, I noticed an abundance of French Angelfish. I recognized the French Angelfish due to their very unique navy and yellow scales along their sides. The have a very flat shape that also helped me identify them. They stayed close to the coral and mainly hid from us, swimming away whenever we got near. So far this has been the only Angelfish I have seen which I find to be surprising. I did however see a Trumpet Fish later on in the dive. I recognized the Trumpet Fish after our divemaster had explained to us what the looked like and their special behavior. The Trumpet Fish is a long skinny fish that has the ability to change its color in order to camouflage itself. It does this to escape predators and get closer to its own prey. It’s incredible to watch and seeing it swim with other fish is quite off putting. I saw this while on the way back up to the boat and seeing it was one of the greatest experiences yet. This was however topped by the second dive.
The second dive took place at the Spanish Bay Reef. This reef gets its name from the late Spanish Bay dive resort which was destroyed by hurricane Ivan in 2004. The hotel was never rebuilt and has a flourishing reef right of the land. This reef contained multiple coral heads and a shallow wall around 30 feet deep. The coral wall had many nooks and caves for fish and sea life to hide. On the tops of the wall however, I saw multiple French Grunts hiding in the coral. The medium sized yellow and white fish didn’t seem afraid of humans and seemed to mind their own business. Their distinct coloring made the interesting to look at and fun to watch. Later in the dive, while swimming along the wall, I saw a multiple Juvenile Spotted Drum swimming in a slight nook. I didn’t initially recognize the fish, but I was interested by the tiny black and white fish that seemed to flow through the water. Their long, slim fins and slender bodies seemed weightless. I learned about the name later by asking our divemaster. After rising to the surface, we headed back to the resort for lunch.
The filling lunch fueled us for our next adventure, Stingray City. A 45 boat ride away, I was excited to be able to play with the Atlantic Stingray. Due to the debate we had a few days earlier, I was even more critical and hesitant about the experience. I did however confirm my view about how Stingray City is humane and a wonderful way to play with Stingray. The 13 foot deep sandbar was filled with Stingray and they swam all over and around us. They didn’t seem to mind us petting them and their outer skin felt like a fine grit sandpaper. Their smooth underbelly however was almost slimy yet soft. These Stingray didn’t visit for us sadly, they came for the squid. This has been going on since the 80’s when fisherman would put their fish scraps in the water attracting the Rays. That later created the largest tourist attraction on the Caymans and an amazing way for us to enjoy the Stingray.
Day 5 overall was a very full day, and will be very hard to top in the coming days. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s USS Kittiwake dive and the further experiences of this trip.
