Best "shallow water" snorkelling?

Newbie Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 5 Location: San Diego

Where would the best "shallow water" (4 to 5 feet) snorkeling be? I want to take underwater pictures and when you are in 7 foot and over the fish look like postage stamp size fish in the picture

Thanks

Barry

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 4:46 am Post subject:

Out to the barrier reef. Take the Sotos stingray city trip and ask if they will make the snorkel stop at the barrier.

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 7:07 am Post subject:

You didn't mention if you were getting in from the shore or not. While there is no comparison between the barrier reef and what you see from the shore...from the shore I would suggest Smith's Cove or Cemetery Beach for shallow snorkeling.

sm

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 10:32 am Post subject:

Add a couple of days on to your trip, or split up your time, and head over to Little Cayman. The famous Bloody Bay Wall comes to within feet of the surface and as such you see all sorts of things that only Divers usually get to experience.

gd Diving

Newbie Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 5 Location: San Diego

BY cemetery beach I am assuming (you know what happens when you assume something) it is the one in Bodden Town.

Thanks

Newbie Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 5 Location: San Diego

Unfortunately this is a one day deal with a drop off from the cruise ship.

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 9:54 pm Post subject:

No, Cemetary Beach is not at the cemetary in Bodden Town. It's way up the West Bay Road that runs along the 7 Mile Beach. It's almost up to the town of West Bay. All the cab drivers will know where it is........

Smith Cove is just a short hike south of where you will get off the ship's tender in the harbor. We have a map posted in one of the forums showing the way. That's a great shallow snorkeling site, as long as the waves are calm.

Char

Edited By : Ravenchylde Sat, 11 Aug 2007 09:40:50 -0400

kelsey wrote:

BY cemetery beach I am assuming (you know what happens when you assume something) it is the one in Bodden Town.

Thanks

Scubachar is right, however there is a small cemetery on the way out toward the East End, it is not to be mistaken for Cemetery beach on 7MB...not sure what that area of beach is referred to, Confused

and I have not snorkeled there either, just got out and took some pictures...it is not far from the spot where Joe took the photo of what appears to be a palm tree growing out of a wooden boat. Possibly Joe or a local may be able to tell us more about this site. spin

Is this what you are referring to Kelsey? This is the only cemetery I know of on the water side in Boddentown...

RC sun

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 10:42 am Post subject:

Cemetery Beach is indeed great snorkeling. But you asked where to find great snorkeling in 4 to 5 ft. of water and not over 7 feet. Cemetery Beach is definitely well over 7 ft. deep for the snorkeling areas. Or at least I didn't find any snorkeling in that shallow of water there. However, the Sergeant Majors will swim all around you and practically surround you there. Some have stated this is because they are used to being fed. You can definitely get close up pictures of these critters! It is a fun place to snorkel.

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 1:50 pm Post subject:

My experience at Cemetery Beach was lots of reef in 4 to 7 feet of water. If you are looking at the water you will see the dark area just off the shore to your left. That reef starts in about 4 feet of water. I had to hold my feet up most of the time so that my fins would not hit the reef. Obviously the reef there changes dept 3 to 5 to 7 feet very quickly. I think the jest of the question was to get photos of fish and Cemetery Beach is great for that.

Smith Cove's dept is relative to the swell of the surf at any given time whereas Cemetery Beach is a little more protected by the shape of the shoreline and seems to have calming seas more often. The reefs at Smith Cove have more signs of life in the reef and more life swimming around the area but the dept can run to 10 to 12 feet pretty quick. We certainly saw more color and life at Smith Cove while snorkeling in pretty rough seas.

From the Cruise ship area Smith Cove would be the best option for snorkeling.

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 3:05 pm Post subject:

Good to know spiritman! We apparently didn't go far enough to the left. We were more on the rightish side if looking out from the beach. We were the only ones there at the time so we just picked a spot and started swimming out. Something to look forward to for next time. Wink

Newbie Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 5 Location: San Diego

Thanks to all for your input. Every bit helps to "get the big picture". And thanks for taking the time to add the nice pictures. There is a snorkeling guide on the internet for Grand Cayman snorkeling and they had listed Cemetery beach in Bodden Town as one of the snorkeling sites there and they provide a map that shows it in Bodden Town. Put in Grand Cayman snorkeling in Google and I think it is the first one that comes up. Shows all the sites on Grand Cayman. This one caught my eye because it lists the depth of each and it was one of the shallowist sic? ones listed. But... Maybe there are no fish there, I don't know.

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 7:55 am Post subject:

Kelsey,

I'm just like you......I try to read as much as I can on the Internet about a place before I visit, even if just for a day on a cruise ship. Good for you for being prepared clap

. However, in this case, I can see how you got confused. Yes, the snorkeling off the cemetary in Bodden Town would indeed be shallow (almost TOO shallow, at least at the entry.....you either have to walk through turtle grass and rocks a ways till it gets deep enough to swim or start floating on your stomach as soon as you can and hope you don't hit bottom). Anyway, I can see where that would be described as a shallow spot, but I guarantee you that the Cemetery Beach snorkeling site that would be the first to come up on an Internet search would be the one up at West Bay. Have you seen this thread, which actually has a little map.....

Also, since you're visiting from a cruise ship, you wouldn't want to travel all the way to Bodden Town for the snorkeling, since there are too many prime spots much closer to the ship, leaving you more time to do other things.

I find your question about shallow spots interesting, because when my parents used to come to Cayman with us, I was always looking for a shallow spot to snorkel with my Mom, cause she only felt comfortable if she could occasionally stand up! That's pretty hard to do, especially since you never want to stand on coral of any kind. But, if I understand your question right, you aren't necessarily looking for a shallow spot for that reason, but instead for a site where the coral heads (and the fish) will be close enough to the surface for you to photograph them. I think Cemetery Reef is perfect for that!

I hope that you are not going to miss going to Stingray City while you visit Grand Cayman, cause that's something you just can't do anywhere else in the world. You'll get great "up close and personal" pictures there! We highly recommend Soto's Cruises for a nice two hour excursion with no more than 20 people on the boat. They can pick you up at the cruise terminal at about 8:30 a.m. for a 9:30 trip, ending at 11:30. Then, as Captain Jack suggested, ask them to go to the Barrier Reef for the second snorkeling stop. That would be great for "shallow" snorkeling. Usually they go to the Coral Gardens, but it never hurts to ask. Tell them you're an Activity Guide member Wink

. When the trip is over, they don't have to take you back to town.......I don't think they would take you up to the Cemetary Beach afterwards, but they will take you to the Royal Palms for a quick lunch and then you could catch a cab from there up to the Cemetery Beach and then cab it back to Georgetown to catch your tender.

Just a thought!

Char

Newbie Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 5 Location: San Diego

Thanks so much for all the trouble of writing a lot and putting a click here link to a thread on Cemetery beach. Boy the reef is a loooooong way out there. I was looking for a closer to the shore spot. I have been snorkeling on Oahu, Maui, St. John & St. Thomas and have found close to shore spots that were perfect for the under water pictures. You didn't have to paddle out a long ways and were in shallow water.

Thanks

We staid at the Westin which is next door to the Governor's House. Beyond that a little ways is a public beach. About 200yd offshore there and coming back towards the Westin there are some good coral beds in 8-10ft of water. Almost no where we found was there much in 4ft of water.

Plenty of Blue Damsels, Sergeant Majors, Mango Snapper, Lobsters, Cow Fish, Parrot fish, rays (spotted eagle rays and southern sting rays) and the occasional turtle.

Have a look! This post details the Governor's Reef and my impressions of Cemetery Beach. I'd try the public beach at GR first. The beach is much cleaner there with less grass close to shore.