On Grand Cayman, a half-hour flight from the Brac, lies diving equally spectacular. Geographically, Grand Cayman is 22 miles long and 7 miles wide at its widest point. The drive from the West End, where Georgetown and most of the hotels are located, to the East End takes about 45 minutes. Having said that, it is a must do.

Snapper Hole, East End – Grand Cayman

The Frinks, our production team, and even the Ocean Frontiers dive crew agreed that our dive at Snapper Hole on the East End was indescribably spectacular. Or maybe dazzling is the right word for it. In their book, The Unofficial Guide to the World’s Best Diving Vacations (John Wiley & Sons, 2001), Jeanne Pierce and Brenda Fine describe the diving here perfectly: “Think of kicking effortlessly through the Grand Canyon...

As we descend from the boat, Frink points to a glittering, anamorphic mass overflowing from the canyons below. This giant organism turns out to be a school of tens-of-thousands of silversides, moving in gradual and perfect unison. We sink past the canyon crests and the school of silversides literally swallows us. Darkness overtakes us and we realize we’re in a bubble of fish—a perfect sphere that the silversides have formed around us. The bubble bursts when three tarpon slice through to investigate our arrival. Once we’re beneath the school, we look up to a sparkling sky of fish.

Lexy scrambles with her own camera to capture the majestic scene.

“The silversides were really cool!” Lexy exclaims after the dive. “I followed Dad into the cave and all at once I couldn’t even see his fins anymore. That was kind of dark and scary. But then the big school of fish just opened up, and there were the divers again. I swam up through this big chimney, right out to the top of the reef!”

Karen, our Ocean Frontiers divemaster, tells us after the dive, “I’ve never seen anything like it! It was kind of daunting in a way—not being able to see the end of the swimthrough, because of all the fish.”

Ah, the swimthroughs. In addition to its monstrous canyons, Snapper Hole has an intricate system of caverns, caves, and chimneys. Diving with an experienced divemaster like we had is essential here, since they know all the best swimthroughs and caves, as well as all the ones not to explore.

The reef’s chimneys, which often connect to caves, are also remarkable. Imagine swimming up a 20 foot tube lined with bright orange sponges and small corals, not to mention all the fish who call the chimney home. It is magnificent, dramatic, and something that makes Cayman’s East End a “must dive.”

Even when the silversides are absent, the reef is spectacular. Turtles, groupers, eels, and sharks are not uncommon here. Steve Broadbelt, co-owner and manager of Ocean Frontiers, tells us that this dive is his favorite. “The corals, the caves, the large anchor there, the silversides, I love it.”

Like the rest of Grand Cayman, East End has plenty of other dive sites, many of which are in shallow water just outside the barrier reef. On our way back to the dock, Frink asks the captain to make an unplanned stop at The Ridgefield, a partially submerged wreck which covers and uncovers with the change of the tide and waves. The signature of this dive is a giant three bladed prop that Frink wanted to make sure he had in his portfolio.