I was introduced to Grand Cayman through a workshop offered by Syracuse University’s Newhouse School in the Multimedia Photography and Design Department. Adjunct Professor and photographer Hal Silverman organized an extraordinary opportunity to learn from National Geographic photographer David Doubilet and underwater photographer and marine scientist Jennifer Hayes. This experience changed my outlook on underwater photography.

Whether entering these waters as a novice or as a more experienced diver, what is obvious is that Cayman waters have some of the clearest waters in the Caribbean, with very few currents they are the ideal destination for virtually guaranteed results. The group of islands sit atop three huge submarine mountains and have incredibly deep water all around, resulting in any sedimentation or particulate in the water to sink into the depths, keeping the coastal waters nice and clear all year round.

The stingray most commonly found in the Cayman Islands is the Southern Stingray (Dasyatis americana) and the two locations where the stingrays congregate in the largest numbers are Stingray City, which is around 3-5 metres deep (10-17ft) and the Sandbar, a natural sandy plateau around only one metre deep (3.25ft). Over 250 of the rays inhabit the North Sound, and these have now trained the humans to bring them plenty of free meals (usually frozen squid).
 

Since 1972, Church has been teaching underwater photography in the Caymans and has conducted seminars in most of the major cities in the US. She is one of the pioneers in the field of underwater photography and has been a contributing editor for SKIN DIVER magazine for 15 years in the 70s and early 80s.

The Cayman Islands were first sighted by Christopher Columbus on 10 May, 1503, when he was blown off course en route to the island of Hispaniola, now known as Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He decribed two very small and low islands which, like the surrounding sea, were full of turtles, and for this reason he named these islands Las Tortugas. The two islands were Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. A map from 1523, showing all three islands, gave them the name Lagartos, meaning alligators or large lizards. However, by 1530 the name Caymanas was being used.