Photos: snorkeling the Gamma wreck

[Bob7]

In Grand Cayman we wanted to snorkel a shallow wreck, and two are walkable from the pier, the Cali and the Gamma, and we picked the Gamma over the Cali because the Cali has been broken up, and its site can be crowded with ship tours. We rented equipment including inflatable vests at Divers Down beside Hammerhead’s Bar, a 5 minute walk left of the dock (when facing inland). Then we walked 15 minutes further north to the Gamma which is at The Wharf restaurant. We could have taken a $2 p.p. cab or a $1.50 bus, but decided to walk. We took the path at the right side of The Wharf down towards the beach, and then took the path along the beach through the trees to the Gamma freighter, some of it visible out of the water. It’s visible from the ship if you have good eyes.

 

The best entry point is a little square sandy beach with concrete edges on the cruise ship side of the Gamma, which a dive or kayaking tour might also be using, and where they leave their water containers. This beach faces away from the wreck, so after entering you swim about 25 yards toward the cruise ships, then turn right and swim through a rocky channel (lots to look at there), and when out of the channel turn right again toward the wreck. Lots of interesting underwater sights on the way. This is a shot of the entry beach:

 

The Gamma is about 25 yards off the beach, a stone’s throw, listing with one side above water and the other side submerged, which is the snorkelling part. The shot below is from the side of the Gamma above the surface, cruise ships in the background:

 

The underwater side is interesting, parts of the deck shallow enough to stand on with your flippers if it’s calm enough, great for shots with a cheap $8 underwater camera from Walmart. The shot below is Billy diving down to check out the wreck, the side of the wreck is in the top left corner:

 

You can snorkel right into the middle of the wreck, but how close you get would depend on how calm the water is, you don’t want waves pushing you against the wreck, you could get cut. A 2-3 foot barracuda watched us for a bit, then wandered off. We heard the prop is still in place, and we wanted to get a shot of us with it, but the stern was in the shadow of the sun, bad for a shot, and it looked to be more than 20 feet down, and we couldn’t see the prop from the surface, so we gave that up. Took shots of each other along the wreck, easier to get down if you deflate the vest. It only takes 3 or 4 blows to re-inflate. Had lots of fun there. The shot below is me on the deck of the wreck in a death struggle with my inflatable vest:

 

Here’s the link to the rest of our shots on the Gamma, click on the Cayman album:

http://community.webshots.com/user/bob42ca

-Bob

[twinkletoes4445]

Wow, those are great pictures! We were there for a week, and I wished we would have taken the time to snorkle there. It's on my list for the our next visit.

[zydecocruiser]

Maybe next time I'll have to check out - was there anywhere nearby to store your stuff ?

[Bob7]

Zy, there was no storage on the beach. I expect The Wharf restaurant would let us leave some stuff on their deck if we were buying a beer.

Toes: If you are there for a few days a great snorkel would be going over to Cayman Brac for the Russian Frigage, intentionally sunk for divers and snorkelers several years ago, only 100 yds from shore, parts of it only 15 feet deep.

 

Also on our short list was the Ridgefield, GC east end, further to go. We tried to find out about the Geneva Kathleen but couldn't, also the David Nickolson.

 

Others that didn't make the list were Balboa (broken up, 30 feet), Oro Verde (too deep, 55 feet), Ten Sails (too old, 1700's), Doc Poulson (too deep, 40-60 feet.

Here's a closeup of the Gamma bow, we didn't want to get closer than this, didn't know how stable the wreck was:

 

and this is the stern, we were tempted to climb onto part of it for a King of the Wreck shot, but decided to stay alive:

 

and this is another shot of the deck showing the coral formations. You could get into the middle of the wreck from here, which others snorkelers told us about doing, but the swells were moving us around and we stayed out:

-Bob

[twinkletoes4445]

Toes: If you are there for a few days a great snorkel would be going over to Cayman Brac for the Russian Frigage, intentionally sunk for divers and snorkelers several years ago, only 100 yds from shore, parts of it only 15 feet deep.

 

Next time we are there, I think we're going to try and go to one of the other islands. I hadn't heard of the Russian Frigage...thanks for the information. It sounds perfect for us. We like the "closer to shore" snorkels and 100 yds. is pretty close. :)

[zydecocruiser]

I probably should have checked the Wharf out a little closer, I did make it that far.