Three Fathom Wall

Three Fathom Wall is one of the defining dives of the Bloody Bay Wall Marine Park on Little Cayman, named for the wall lip beginning at just three fathoms — about 5.5 metres — making it among the shallowest vertical wall dives in the entire Caribbean. The mooring sits in roughly 5 to 8 metres of water on a healthy reef plateau of brain coral, boulder coral, sea plumes and sea fans. Divers swim a short distance over the reef top before the bottom drops vertically beyond 1,800 metres, allowing recreational divers to hover at safe stop depths and still gaze straight down into the abyss. The wall face is covered in massive orange elephant-ear sponges, giant barrel sponges, deepwater sea fans, black coral bushes, sheet corals, rope sponges and tube sponges. Resident wildlife is exceptional: Nassau grouper, midnight parrotfish, hawksbill and green turtles, eagle rays, Caribbean reef sharks, schools of horse-eye jacks, blue chromis, Creole wrasse, queen and French angelfish, and the occasional spotted eagle ray. The Marine Park's strict protection keeps visibility above 30 metres year-round.