Scuba Diving Grand Cayman - Eagle Ray Pass

Overall Rating 4.0 out of 5

Access - Moderate; boat only and 45 minutes from West Side via North Sound. The water can be rough outside of the sound so if you tend to get seasick take something like Bonine or ginger before this trip

Depth to 100+ ft
Visibility - variable - average to excellent (not good typically after a rainstorm)
Current - variable, minimal to strong
Marine Species variety - Good
Reef health - Good to very good

Eagle Ray Pass is another great wall dive on the North side of Grand Cayman. This scuba diving site, as the name suggests, usually has Spotted Eagle Rays "flying" along the walls from 40 to 120+ feet. These beautiful rays are always great to watch as they gracefully swim along the walls and interact with you. If you are careful and move slowly you can often approach fairly closely to these magnificent creatures.

The dive site at the mooring is over a sand chute that leads to the wall. There is a deep crevice or gap in the wall which forms the "pass". You will enter this wide gap and swim slowly down and exit the wall at approximately 100 ft. Pay close attention as you go through the pass as there will probably be Spiny Lobster and other crustaceans on the walls. You can also find grouper cleaning stations, moray eels and a wide variety of marine life. The hard corals and soft corals are healthy here due to the current along the wall.

This site can be fairly turbid with greatly reduced visibility after rains. This scuba diving site is close to the cut in the coral reef where dive boats exit from North Sound. The runoff from the mangroves will tend to turn the North Sound green around Stingray City and will cloud the scuba diving sites near the main channel and other openings in the reef. And although this is normally a great site, it is not very good after continued or heavy rains.

Once you have exited exited the pass you will cruise along the wall and begin to gradually make your way back to the top of the wall where you will finish your dive. Scuba divers will enjoy the variety of marine life on this site and the soft and hard corals and sponges are very nice on top of the wall. You can also find stingrays quite often swimming in one of the "fingers" or resting on top of the wall in one of the sand chutes.

On my last dive I had just started down when I saw five Spotted Eagle Rays flying just above the top of the wall around 60 feet. These rays swam back and forth along the wall for the entire dive and made for some great underwater photographs. View other underwater photography on my website or view other dive site reviews and photos on my blog or follow me on Twitter @ images2inspire. The pool is open...