Scuba Diving The Oro Verde

The Oro Verde shipwreck located in Grand Cayman has been a favorite site for divers since the ship was reefed on May 31, 1980 by the Cayman's government. The ship a cable laying freighter lies in about 15 meters of water a short distance off Seven Mile Beach. The shipwreck has deteriorated substantially from the time of her sinking, largely on account of a number of hurricanes that struck the Cayman's during the last 30 years. The debris field today is strewn over a extensive vicinity with only the bow section still intact.

You can read regarding the history and background of the Oro Verde on Steven Smeltzer's blog and check out the complete underwater picture gallery on Smeltzer's website.

Overview of the dive

The shipwreck along with the adjoining coral reefs house a array of marine life including, fishes, Sea Turtles, corals and crustaceans, creating among the most visited shallow dives in Grand Cayman, often frequented subsequent to a deep wall dive and quite often as a night dive. While it was in perfect shape at what time it was sunk along with resting on her starboard side in the sand next door to a piece of coral reef, the wreck's finer details have since succumbed to the passage of time; previous hurricanes have busted scattered the ship across a wide debris field nearer to the coral reef. In spite of everything, theOro Verderemains a great example of a thriving artificial reef. A buoy is attached to the bow portion of the ship which is the only remaining intact part of the wreck. There are no longer any ways to enter the shipwreck you can look through a couple of port holes into the bow section. The debris field flows primarily from the bow to the north along the coral reef. The diver can decide to spend all or part of the dive on the shipwreck and part of the dive exploring the reef. At this dive site there is a wide range of reef fish such as Parrotfish, Sergeant Majors, Angelfish, Silversides (seasonally), Schoolmasters, large groupers and moray eels as well as crustaceans such as the arrow crab and rough file clams.

This is a very worthwhile dive site and it can be particularly good as a night dive site due to the mix of fish and other marine animals that happen to be present. The Oro Verde lies about one hundred yards off shore therefore advanced divers in good physical shape could reach it as a shore dive but with the extended swim and requisite dive flags and floats due to offshore boat traffic, why bother? All of the local scuba diving operators will be happy to take you to the Oro Verde as your second half of a two tank west side boat dive, an afternoon dive or on a night dive. It is certainly recommended to dive the wreck whether or not it is the first time or if you have been diving on the shipwreck before. The dive site is regularly shifting and the fish and other marine animals at the site always make for an excellent dive.

Review images of other wrecks in The Cayman's including the Doc Poulson and the USS Kittiwake.

See Smeltzer's website or blog for more underwater photos and other data. The pool is open...