Men – even macho dive instructors – are the snorkelers most likely to be seen weeping after an attack by the Caribbean piranha: the fish-food addicted Grand Cayman sergeant major. These stubby, striped terrors gang up for assault, plucking out leg hairs bunch by bunch. Women, fortunately, are used to hair-removal-associated torture. Luckily, the harassment happens only to those harboring tasty treats. Jump into any of the island’s famed snorkeling spots, and the sergeants will swarm, but if they don’t smell squid or ballyhoo or snack cakes or whatever else you might have put in your bathing-suit pocket, they’ll move on. If you did decide to carry some Scooby Snacks, though, they’ll dog you until you deliver or leave the water. For those wanting to come away from their snorkeling vacation with a YouTube comedy video, this offers an ideal photo op. Just secretly fill your friend’s pockets with food, and then swim off to a safe distance and start the camera rolling.
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These hungry hordes of reef fish are a testament to the popularity of Cayman’s snorkeling. Awash in ideal conditions – calm, clear, warm water – the westside reefs draw nearly as many snorkelers as fish. Aside from the fish feeders’ masochistic mustering of sergeants major at places like Cemetery Reef, Coral Gardens and Cheeseburger Reef, snorkelers can see giant tarpon cruising the caves and splitting vast clouds of silverside at Eden Rock and Devil’s Grotto, experience close encounters with barracuda and morays at Sunset House Reef, and play seek and find for interesting invertebrates like octopi and arrow crabs along Turtle Reef’s rocky walls.
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And on the north end, of course, there’s Grand Cayman’s most celebrated snorkeling spot, Stingray City. Friendly southern stingrays are actually found at two adjacent spots, Stingray City and Sandbar. Snorkelers primarily go to Sandbar, where they can stand and snorkel in just a few feet of water, surrounded by the silky smooth and sociable rays. Guides control the fish food here — and thus they’re the ones pestered by yellowtail and sergeants major – but they dole out the squid and fish bits so you can hand-feed the rays without feeling like you’re the unlucky explorer in every 1940s jungle movie, the one who slipped and fell into the Amazon.
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