Chubb Hole

Chubb Hole is an intermediate dive site on Grand Cayman's eastern reef system — a section of the island that sees significantly less diving traffic than the famous west side, where the wall diving and Stingray City have concentrated the attention of international dive tourism. The east side of Grand Cayman is correspondingly less worked, and sites like Chubb Hole have a quality of relative freshness that the heavily visited western sites inevitably lose over time: fish that are somewhat more wary, coral that has not been brushed by decades of diver fin wash, and the general character of a reef that is still developing its full relationship with the diving community that is beginning to discover it. Chubb Hole takes its name from a feature in the reef — a hole, cave opening, or depression that creates concentrated shelter for the fish and invertebrates that use it as territory and refuge. The Cayman reef system is riddled with such features, a product of the karstified limestone that underlies the islands and creates cavities and tunnels throughout the substrate. At Chubb Hole, the named feature is the focal point of the dive, though the surrounding reef community extends well beyond its immediate vicinity. The marine life at this east side site reflects the lower visiting pressure of the Cayman east coast. Grouper are present in good numbers and sizes. The fish communities around the hole feature display the slightly more cautious behaviour of animals that have not been habituated to daily diver visits — they approach and retreat with more natural wariness than the extremely accustomed fish of the heavily dived west side, which actually makes the observation of natural behaviour more authentic. Sea turtles are common on the east side, the relative calm of these waters and the lower boat traffic making it particularly suitable habitat. For intermediate divers who have experienced the classic west side sites and want to add the east coast perspective to their Cayman diving, Chubb Hole provides an introduction to a section of the island that rewards exploration with a quality of reef experience that the more commercial western sites can no longer offer in quite the same unspoiled form.