Does anyone have any underwater pictures of the Cayman Islands? I was wondering what the underwater world looks like now since the big hurricane. We will be taking pictures of our own in June but until then I was just curious what things look like and would love to see some pictures.
Anyone Have Any Recent Underwater Pictures
- Thread starter chickmama
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
caymaniac
Contributor
Last April:
What were you expecting?
Wasnt sure. I know there was alot of devistation on the Island I was just curious about the underwater world. Your pictures are good Do you have anymore? How deep were you when you took these?
Don't worry about it. You will barely notice the effects of Hurricane Ivan on land. Under water, there are still some sand deposits on parts of the reefs, but I doubt you will have cause for complaint. The shallow sites along 7 Mile Beach are pretty beat up, but that is from diver traffic (IMHO) not hurricane damage. Try to dive in other areas such as the E end, the N Wall, and S Sound.
caymaniac
Contributor
Actually my thoughts are that there has been alot of building with run off above and below(sewage seepage)that has caused the reef to weaken in its ability to rebound from damage. Some of the mangrove (alot) has dissapeared, this too has affected what the reefs can handle when it comes to pollution. It might seem to you as diver damage but I think it's the counties gov't decisions - trying to find a balance with a economy that leans heavily on diving and those that would have a busy business island economy. I think the loser in this dilema is the reefs, and is not the divers fault.
When we were in Cozumel we noticed that the finger coral was all broken but there was some new growth. And we also noticed that the shallow reefs had alot of sand on them but the deeper dives were very nice. There were even some new places to swim through where the sand was shifted. We were there 3 months after their hurricane. So I figured that there was alot of shallow reef damage also. I was also surprised that there was so much new growth.. I agree with caymanic that there probably is damage from the environment and not the divers.
divesergeant
Contributor
Hi Chickmama,
We dived Grand Cayman, (East End, North and SMB areas) in January 2007. I posted quite a few U/W pictures on the Cayman Activity Guide. The CAG has tons of trip reports on it, (including a humble effort by yours truly!
). You might havre to register to see the reprts, but it is free and they don't sell your info for spamming!
The East is always great. Some even said that the storm scoured some reef areas clean of runoff sediment. I couldn't tell as it'd been a while since I had been there. We'll be back there in two weeks, so stay tuned....
DS
We dived Grand Cayman, (East End, North and SMB areas) in January 2007. I posted quite a few U/W pictures on the Cayman Activity Guide. The CAG has tons of trip reports on it, (including a humble effort by yours truly!
). You might havre to register to see the reprts, but it is free and they don't sell your info for spamming!The East is always great. Some even said that the storm scoured some reef areas clean of runoff sediment. I couldn't tell as it'd been a while since I had been there. We'll be back there in two weeks, so stay tuned....
DS
Hi Chickmama,
We dived Grand Cayman, (East End, North and SMB areas) in January 2007. I posted quite a few U/W pictures on the Cayman Activity Guide. The CAG has tons of trip reports on it, (including a humble effort by yours truly!
The East is always great. Some even said that the storm scoured some reef areas clean of runoff sediment. I couldn't tell as it'd been a while since I had been there. We'll be back there in two weeks, so stay tuned....
DS
DS thanks so much i will check them out. Kathy
Reef changes post-Ivan varied quite a bit. Shallow sites which were exposed to the east and south were most heavily affected. I noticed a lot of elkhorn coral broken on the 4 dive sites on the east tip of the island. That would be on the tops of the reefs in depths of about 20 feet or less.
Deeper down the changes are slight, and probably not noticable.
Deeper down the changes are slight, and probably not noticable.
This is good to know. Thanks I did find alot of pictures in the activity guide. Makes me glad I dive and dont just snorkel because i know hurricanes do cause alot of shallow water damage. kathy
Similar threads
- Sticky
- Article
