Pick Your Pleasure

Action Island: GRAND CAYMAN
When it comes to underwater experiences, Grand Cayman is unquestionably the island of endless options.Of the three Caymans, it is the only one with four distinct sides: West Wall, South Wall, North Wall and East End. Each region offers a sweeping array of vertical walls, awesome pinnacles, coral grottoes, caves and caverns. Add to this mix a selection of shipwrecks, coral gardens and shore dives. Should you wish to go beyond scuba, there are a touring submarine (dry cabin) and deep submersibles.

Grand Cayman has achieved worldwide acclaim as the home of Stingray City, the most entertaining fish phenomenon in the Caribbean. Wall diving or shallow photo-opportunity dives are only moments from shore Tarpon Alley, Japanese Garden and Stingray City, just to name a few sites.

The North Wall offers sheer walls; the West Wall has extremely large sponge life; the South Wall sports elkhorn forests for you to navigate; the East End has tunnels leading out and over the wall. Shore diving is the little known glory of Grand Cayman, and most packages include unlimited shore tanks with Reef Divers.

The choices don't stop with your choice of islands or dive sites. Reef Divers, a PADI 5-Star Instructor Development Center, also provides customer options that allow you pick your pleasure. For example, on Grand Cayman, Bob Soto's Reef Divers goes out of its way to match the customer's skill level with a choice of dive trips. New divers might select a ?double shallowboat trip, while more experienced divers would select a dive-computer-assisted "double deep" boat trip. Other options include night dives, wreck dives and three-tank safari trips.

Grand Cayman is also regarded as the "action island" when it comes to on-island activities. It is perfect for the diver who wants to dive in the morning and shop or sightsee in the afternoon. There are more fours-star restaurants per capita on this 28-mile island than any other place in the Caribbean. Dancing, dining or shopping the options are only limited by your imagination.

Wilderness Island: CAYMAN BRAC
In the Sister Islands, both Reef Diver operations offers valet diving service, in which you are pampered as the staff picks up your gear, transfers it to the boat, sets up your tank and helps you into the water. At your request, they also will set you up for the second dive, break down your gear afterward and wash it. Dry towels and refreshments are available between dives.

In Cayman Brac, Reef Divers is located at Brac Reef Beach Resort. The Brac is home of the 330-foot Russian Destroyer wreck, and has two vertical walls running the length of the north and south shores. These stunning walls cascade down the side of the underwater mountainous terrain, reminiscent of an underwater Grand Canyon.

Wilderness Wall on the south side opens up into a horseshoe-shaped chamber before practically pouring you out into the deep blue of the wall. The north side has the extraordinarily dramatic East Chute, so called because of its location. The chute lets you traverse through the wall, and you end up swimming out the mouth as if you were coming through a picture window.

After diving, the Brac's rural countryside has caves and bluffs to explore. There are great walking hikes that take you up to the top of the bluff, down a narrow rocky road or up the side of a cliff to sit in a cave at the top, which overlooks the ocean. Bat lovers can discover caves boasting the flying mammals tucked in to sleep deep inside the backs of the cave. Guest accommodations range from small hotels to modern condos, all with convenient dive operations.

Nature Island: LITTLE CAYMAN
The smallest of the three Caymans, Little Cayman is the "Nature Island." It has few cars, except the one that picks you up at the airport?s grass landing strip. The only traffic consists of an occasional large iguana crossing the road. Nature parks, bird sanctuaries and deserted beaches beckon to the few visitors lucky enough to discover this undisturbed paradise.

Reef Divers is located at upscale Little Cayman Beach Resort, where both the service and the diving are world-class. With walls starting their plunge at only 18 feet, Bloody Bay Wall is as good as you have read. The Mixing Bowl and The Meadows are sites that offer both shallow and wall diving in one dive. Shark sightings are not uncommon either. The dive starts by going over the edge of the abyss and then spending your safety stop, still on the reef, floating eye to eye with a grouper. Jackson Point is another spectacular area for diving. The reef chimneys you enter at the top of the reef meander down and open out into the open ocean like portholes.

After the day's diving, a hammock under a palm tree is the main entertainment. There is, of course, a bar where you can wet your whistle and share evening "fish stories" and music.

With Reef Diver's high standards of customer service and the Caymans choice of island options, you can create a custom vacation that fits your personal interests.