The Silversides Are Arriving at Devils Grotto!

Devils Grotto A Must Dive

Ellen Cuylaerts one of my favorite Cayman photogrophers share that the Tarpons, jacks and groupers soon await a feast with the return of thousands of silvery fish showing up in coastal waters each year between June and August: the silversides. During the daytime, they rest in big schools inside of caverns, swim-throughs, grottoes and wrecks. Their massive schooling behavior makes the little fishes less vulnerable — as their continuous movement could give any lurking creature a headache.

Not only predators rejoice in their arrival but local dive operators tend to jump for joy! Cayman diving is always spectacular, but the silversides are pure magic. To be able to show this sight to underwater lovers gives a lot of fulfillment and happy faces all over.
For lucky residents like me, who are also avid divers and underwater photographers, the first messages about silversides appearing in social media, trigger my Pavlov reaction: "I need to see them now and often please".
Partly because swimming through the silver curtains is pure magic, but also because it's a huge challenge for an underwater photographer to play with light in the grottoes and caves filled with reflecting fish. My favorite dive site offers this experience with silversides: Devil's Grotto (part of the Eden Rock shore-diving location).

I Talked to Stuart from Eden Rock Dive Center and the silver wonders are starting to fill up the caves as we speak! This is such an awesome experience and they stay through August most oft the time. It is hard to predict when they will arrive and when they will leave. Many operators can take you to this site. Eden Rock shore dive is a great location to rent then swim out to Devils Grotto.

My Favorite pick of this amazing group of fish, Ellen calls it a moody picture, She joined her husband Michael, who was at that time an upcoming videographer, at Devil's Grotto, just off Eden Rock Dive Center.

They had heard the silversides had arrived and after experiencing that phenomenon a year earlier, they had to get in the water that day. They entered the water, made our way to the buoy at the main cathedral where we hoped to see them, descended, and yes bingo: Tarpon and silversides at the entrance of the cave signalled the silverside frenzy inside.

 Ellen shared "We worked on our settings and entered the grotto and were immediately overwhelmed by a thick curtain of little silvery fishes, a wonderful moment." Michael saw great video opportunity, turned on his very powerful SOLA lights and started shooting — blinding me and causing blow-outs in the pictures I tried to take.

She followed the PADI rule: Stop, Breathe, Think, Act — and then I let go of the pictures I had in mind. Instead, I entered a little sideways. Sunrays trickled through a hole in the cavern and formed beautiful patterns on the sand. A small bunch of silversides swam together in the unity that's so typical of their behavior. I watched the light, the unity, the movement, and then worked on my settings, tried some shots, corrected settings, waited patiently for the missing link until the little fish formed a dense ball in the scarce sunlight: Click!

Tarpon Looking for Lunch

www.passengerpicks.com list many awesome dive operators
Don't miss this dive opportunity!