Tucked away in the center of the island, the wonderfully lush botanic park is definitely worth a visit. Getting there from Seven Mile Beach requires an easy drive along the coast and around the south shore past Bodden town.

Upon entering the park, a number of posted signs caution against feeding the reclusive blue iguanas, which we were told were domesticated due to being bred in captivity. Feeding them apparently encourages aggressive behavior, and after spotting a few sizable fellows lounging across the paths, I did not fancy losing any fingers.

The park is divided into several different areas, the orchid garden (which blooms late May through June), the colour garden, the sand garden, and the woodland trail, to name a few. Walking through the park made me think of Jurassic Park in certain areas where I recognized a few plant varieties found in Texas, but they were fifty times the size here. Quite spectacular.

Tips for your visit: bring bottled water, comfortable walking shoes and sunblock or a hat if you are planning on visiting in the heat of day.

While exploring the Wreck of the Gamma, a sunken old freighter sitting just off the shore of 7-Mile Beach, my snorkeling buddy spotted this amazing fish. It looked like a dried up dead fish carcass, since it was the exact same color as the sandy shelf it laid upon, not to mention seriously ugly, except that its lips were moving. This crazy-looking brilliant creature turned out to be a type of flatfish called the peacock founder.

Not only did this camouflage genius have both eyes on the dorsal fin (left) side of its body, each eye moves independently on little stumps...how alien is that? They are born with eyes on both sides, but then one migrates over the top of their head to the other side as they reach adulthood. If you look closely, they have large dots all over their body which change colors to match the surroundings--scientists have conducted experiments where they are able to duplicate the patterns of a checkerboard even.

When the peacock founders swim, they wriggle fluidly on their side like sound waves. They normally inhabit the warmer Pacific regions, so we were lucky to come across one here. These predators in disguise are my new favorite fish!

As a testament to the popularity of the Cayman Islands as a diving destination, over 30,000 visitors have taken advantage of the Kittiwake Marine Park to dive and snorkel the sunken ship that has become a great artificial reef. The park opened in January 2011, after much effort to prepare the Kittiwake for diving after its donation by the Maritime Administration of the United States (MARAD) to the Cayman government. The ship sits in about 65 feet of water and measures 251 feet in length, with the top about 15 feet below the surface.

Seeing a shipwreck is always a surreal experience, conjuring up images of the sailors who once stood on the decks or behind the wheel. These thoughts were quickly replaced the moment I spot a school of fish circling the mast. They and other sea life have eagerly taken up residence and offer a rebirth to a vessel that is no longer in service. For a good twenty minutes I had the rare opportunity to snorkel the entire site by myself, watching the divers from above. Other boats joined ours shortly after, so I took advantage of the other swimmers to add perspective to my shots. Yes, the water really is that crystal clear and gorgeous sapphire blue.

What a fun trip and a superb reincarnation for the Kittiwake!

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Took a visit to Stingray City as part of a boat tour. This is where you take a ten-minute boat ride and anchor at a sandbar. Then you get out and stand in the waist-deep water, offer up some squid, and wait for the hoard of stingrays to arrive. 

It started from when local fisherman would stop here to clean their daily catch, throwing their scraps overboard. The stingrays caught on pretty quickly, and now it's a big tourist attraction. Apparently stingrays aren't the only ones who have figured out the free lunch. We were told that just off the sandbar, a dozen yards out, helicopters flying overhead have snapped photos of circling sharks and hammerheads. I was hoping for a glimpse of a shark fin or two, but was thrilled with just the stingrays!

Mama and Baby Stingray
This little baby followed mom around to learn the ropes. The stingrays aren't shy, and would swim up and nudge you for treats -- a bit of raw squid, rubbing their smooth underbellies against your arms and legs. Their top side is rough like sandpaper and their tails are spiky.

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Tested out with my new Panasonic Lumix G fisheye lens for the first time. Let me tell you, I LOVE this lens. I paired it up with the Nauticam dome port for my OMD E-M5 underwater housing, Simple and easy to use.

I explored the shoreline again, hoping for a few good shots of the man-made reef that I wasn't quite able to capture using my normal lens. You can see the results in the pic here, where I was floating about a foot above the structure.

Playing with the over-under shot just a few feet off the shore. The waters are pristine!

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Today we explored the snorkeling just off the shore. In front of the Marriot resort, a man-made reef attracted smaller colorful tropical fish like angelfish, trumpet fish, parrot fish, damsel fish, and a myriad of others. Just beyond the man-made reef, a school of sailor's choice followed us around, probably hoping for some handouts. One curious 3-4 foot long fish that I'm guessing was a cubera snapper or maybe a grouper swam right up to my camera to get a closer look.

On my first trip to the Cayman Islands -- we ventured down the road to Rackam's  Pub around midday to snorkel the wreck of the Cali just off the shore there. The bartender at Rackam's was really friendly, and in exchange for a promise to have  lunch afterwards (which we were planning to do anyway), we were able to park our  considerable amount of gear and ourselves on their nice cushy lounge chairs.


From the pub's deck, we were able take their ladder down to our first dip in the 80 degree Cayman waters. I was comfortable in my long-sleeved 1.5mm wetsuit. My buddy only wore a 1.5mm short-sleeved top, and was chilly after about 45 minutes. The wreck was about a 75 yard swim off the shore and was sprawled out over a 200 foot area, much larger than expected. Very interesting to see and worth the trek I think. The weather was a bit cloudy after a heavy shower in the morning, so visibility was not as great as it could have been. We grabbed lunch after our short swim--food was nice. Will post some wreck pics once my camera housing has dried off.
 
On the way back to the hotel, we came across a bakery / grill called Captain's and they had the best ice cream! I happily devoured a mix of coconut (divine), bailey's and dolce de leche. My colleague had cookies and cream, which he raved about.

Scuba diving shops offer day trips to the Wreck of the Rhone site in the British Virgin Islands. 

This is a great dive for both beginners as well as more experienced divers. The trip we went on consisted of 2 dives--one dive for the two halves of the ship, the RMS Rhone which split and went down in a hurricane in 1867 with about 123 people on board.



Photo taken with Olympus OMD E-M5
Nauticam OMD housing
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Saw this amazing spotted eagle ray in Waterlemon Bay

One of us is not like the other...
Photo taken while scuba diving off Salt Island, British Virgin Islands.