Bloody Bay, Little Cayman, Ilhas Cayman

Mixing Bowl

Mixing Bowl is one of the most celebrated dives on Little Cayman, sitting at the boundary point where the Bloody Bay Wall Marine Park merges into the Jackson's Bight wall system on the island's protected north shore. The site is named for the way swirling currents from both walls converge here, mixing nutrients and concentrating reef life. Divers descend from a mooring on the reef plateau in roughly 6 to 8 metres and head out to the wall lip, which begins as shallow as 6 metres — among the shallowest wall dives in the Caribbean — before plunging straight down beyond 1,800 metres. The reef top is a healthy coral garden of brain coral, boulder coral, sea plumes and sea fans, and the wall face is covered in giant barrel sponges, orange elephant-ear sponges, deepwater sea fans, black coral and rope sponges. Resident wildlife is exceptional: Nassau grouper, midnight parrotfish, hawksbill and green turtles, eagle rays, Caribbean reef sharks, schools of horse-eye jacks, Creole wrasse, queen and French angelfish. Visibility commonly exceeds 30 metres year-round in the protected MPA. Best conditions December to May.