Bloody Bay Wall

Day Six of my diving career. Bloody Bay Wall, one of the most spectacular dives in the world and on every diver’s bucket list.

We left the dock, headed out to sea and anchored. Although the sea was picture-postcard turquoise, it was deep. There was also enough wind to make significant waves and a slight current.  Diving was making me face my fears and taking a lot of courage. I felt the butterflies fluttering in my tummy and my dry mouth.

I was still getting familiar with the gear – pulling on a tight fitting wetsuit, adding my buoyancy jacket, fastening buckles, Velcro, belts and adding the right weights. There seemed to be so much to remember. How to do it correctly and in what order seemed, like anything new often does, very complicated. 

However, I was learning that slow attention to detail helped to quieten my anxiety. If I checked my tank pressure and gauges, turned off my air tank, made sure I’d put Frog Spit in my mask, this helped to make my nerves feel steadier and I could then try to give full attention to pre-dive briefing. This involved us gathering on the deck around a white board on which Antony, our dive master, sketched a map of the sea-bed, our planned route including a ‘swim through’ and the marine life to look out for. He was hopeful that this was going to be spectacular.

I put my feet into my fins, shuffled unsteadily to the side of the boat where the crew were ready with a helping hand and stepped out. 

I let the air out of my jacket, the weights took me down and once I reached 16 feet, instead of concentrating on a laboured pirouette to the bottom I turned upside down, faced the sandy bottom below, kicked my fins skyward and descended. I had no ear problems! If only every dive since had been as successful! For those of you who think I got it sussed – every dive is different and although today (2020) I’ve got over seventy dives under my belt I’m still practising my techniques and experimenting with the weights. That seems for me to be part of the deal and challenge of exploring the oceans and seeing amazing marine life!

As we headed off along the bottom, we looked carefully under the ledges. Lobsters peered out, astonished and ferocious as torch light shone into their caves. At one point there were lots of small upright sticks protruding from the sand. They mysteriously shot downwards as we approached. They reminded me of stick-like meerkats – I found out later they are garden eels.
 It’s a good memory test to remember fish shapes, colours, stripes and spots to be able to ask “What was that ..?” when you’re back on dry land.

As we neared the coral rock face Antony dipped down, swam towards a hole in the rock and disappeared into a tunnel. We followed him. At first, I found it a bit disconcerting – I’m comfortable when I know I have a way out (!) but, as I kept up with my buddy, it became the most magical experience. The swim through ‘tunnel’ was a reasonable size and despite my reservations didn’t feel at all claustrophobic. It was also light, so it was easy to see the marine life everywhere. The overhanging rocks were rich with corals and alive with tiny fish dashing in and out of the crevices. Antony kept moving gently on and we dutifully followed in a swimming crocodile. It was a breath-taking experience – my first swim through.

And, there was more to come.  We eventually swam through another hole to discover we were on the Ocean side of Bloody Bay Wall. Here the colour of the sea had changed to a dark and slightly menacing indigo blue quite different to the glorious turquoise blue inside the reef. Here, the Wall dropped vertically two thousand feet below us and the marine life in the deep dark water was shadowy. This barrier reef stretches along the Cayman Islands and is renowned for its awe-inspiring grandeur and amazing marine life. 

I turned to look at the Bloody Bay Wall. It was awesome. A huge, solid edifice festooned with brilliantly coloured corals of every shape and size. Multi-coloured fish in their thousands swam along the wall, darting in and out of the overhangs carrying on their business quite unperturbed by our presence. A solitary
 turtle paddled purposefully towards his next grazing spot on the corals. As I watched, more divers popped out of the swim-through hole. They looked like miniature puppets abseiling on the Wall. 

I hovered quietly. (Quite a new technique, but one that allowed me to experience what was a very special moment.) I looked down into the depths wondering how many thousands of feet lay below me?  I then looked up through the pale shimmering water towards the bright blue sky and sunshine above me. It felt as if I was suspended in infinity – infinity above and infinity below.  I allowed myself to quietly ‘be’ at one with the universe.  It was such a moving and humbling experience and put all my fear into perspective.

The swim back to the boat was harder. We swam along the wall against a few currents and a few dark, shark shadows watched our progress. Then, as we reached the top of the Wall, we came across a trio of shining tarpon who certainly knew it was their territory and watched us from a distance with disdain.  A lobster peered out, myriads of damsel fish surrounded us, a small puffer chugged on his way and a Southern Sting Ray whisked along the bottom –  all occupied with their busy lives. 

What a dive! Only six days as a diver and already Bloody Bay Wall is off my bucket list !