Bloody Bay Wall

Bloody Bay Wall is regularly ranked among the finest wall dives on earth, and its geometry explains why: the reef top sits at around six metres, then the seabed simply ends and drops vertically for hundreds of metres into blue. Divers swim out over the edge with the sensation of flying, past sponges, black coral and sea fans growing straight out of the face, with turtles, eagle rays and reef sharks passing along it. The wall runs the length of Little Cayman's north shore inside a marine park, and the island's other headline site, Jackson Bight, holds a spawning aggregation of Nassau groupers protected since the 2000s.

What you actually see

• The wall drop-off - the near-vertical face beginning in shallow water.
• Sponges and black coral - dense growth on the face itself.
• Nassau grouper aggregation - the protected spawning site at Jackson Bight.
• Little Cayman's quiet - an island of a couple of hundred residents.

When to go

Diving runs year round with the calmest north-shore conditions generally from March to June. Grouper spawning happens on winter full moons and is strictly protected with access rules. Hurricane season runs June to November.

Honest expectations

Reaching Little Cayman means a small-plane hop, and the island has minimal facilities - a handful of dive resorts, one road and an airstrip where the terminal is a shed. Non-divers will find very little to do. North-shore diving is weather-dependent and operators move to the south side when swell arrives. Costs are high, as with everything in the Caymans.

Nearby

Cayman Brac's bluff and caves, and Grand Cayman by air.