The Cayman Islands Snorkeling Environment
The Cayman Islands have been selected as one of our “Best Caribbean Snorkeling Destinations” for several sound reasons.
Not the least of these is the superb Marine Park system that manages and protects most of the surrounding waters, coral reefs, and associated marine life through a set of sophisticated regulations and laws which are strictly enforced.
Another real plus for Cayman Islands diving is that the location of the island group is relatively close to the center of the Tropical Western Atlantic biogeographic region. This means that Cayman Islands snorkeling will reveal a higher diversity of corals, fishes, and other forms of marine life than more distant areas of the region.
Also, the extensive and well developed fringing reefs surrounding each of these islands provides a good variety of easily accessible shallow snorkeling sites with plenty of coral reef habitat. Water temperatures average a comfortable 79 to 83 F.degrees, and the underwater visibility often exceeds 100 feet.
It is unfortunate, considering the superb and extensive Marine Parks system of the Cayman Islands, that one of the few areas exempted from these regulations (“Stingray City”) has become the most highly publicised icon of Cayman Islands snorkeling tourism.
This shallow sand area is far removed from coral reef habitat, and what happens here has little or no impact on the island’s reef system itself. Nonetheless, the feeding and manhandling of these peaceful marine creatures by tourists encourages less informed visitors to believe that its OK to do the same things to any marine life, anywhere else in the ocean (big mistake, bad impression).
For those who wish to learn more about Caribbean coral reefs in general, a separate page of this web site is devoted to that topic.