Depth of top of the reef in Little Cayman?

[mbs]

Starting to think about our fall/winter trip. Friends may be coming along and one of them likes to hang at the top of the reef. Been a few years since we have been to Little Cayman. Can someone remind me of the depth of the top of the reef/drop-off on most of the dives?
Thanks!

 

[caymaniac]

The top of the reef is somewhere between 20 to 40ft, I think the most shallow spot is 18, but of course it is possible to swim in closer to the shore but I'm talking about where the edge of the wall starts.

 

[mbs]

Wow, thats fantastic! I don't recall it that shallow. But of course I was there for the wall diving I'll have to dig up my old photos... Thanks!!!

 

[diversteve]

The most popular dive site areas, Bloody Bay and Jackson's Bight, are both located on the north side of the island, just west of its midpoint. The deeper sites on its south side are generally visited on winter days when the north side is too rough. Little Cayman features dive sites as shallow as 20 feet and its walls are deep enough to effectively be infinite.[2]

Bloody Bay in particular is consistently ranked as one of the world's top dive sites. Many dive operations claim the late Philippe Cousteau declared its wall to be one of the three best dives in the world, although this story may be apocryphal. At its shallowest point, the drop-off begins at a depth of 18 feet, allowing divers who plan carefully to achieve maximum depth of over 100 feet but still enjoy exceptionally long dive times

Little Cayman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[farsidefan1]

Many of the dive sites along bloody bay wall actually have 2 walls. a "little wall at about 20 feet then a long stretch (maybe 50 - 100 yards) before the real dropoff. Great diving throughout. We were there in February and I got great shots everywhere. Love the natural light.

 

[Doctorfish]

The site that typically is described as being 20 feet is Mixing Bowl, AKA 3 Fathom Wall. The main wall truly does start at that depth. Great Wall East and West is much the same. Most of the other sites along Bloody bay and Jacksons are a bit deeper. Jacksons, about 40 feet and Bloody bay seems to get deeper as you head west out of the park.

There are some sites Like Randy's Gazebo, where you need to be at about 60-70 feet to truly appreciate and also some swim throughs that open out on the wall at 80-90. It is certainly possible to enjoy LC diving on the North without going below 50 feet and therefore having long safe bottom times as well as lots of ambient light for photography.
If the weather is bad and you end up south, the wall is more gradual and deeper than Bloody Bay but still very nice diving.

 

[mbs]

Thanks all! My foggy memory is clearing now