Tuesday, May 28th, 2013, Joy’s Joy dive site, Little Cayman
Jane and I spent a few days on Little Cayman. We did a few organized dives during which we saw the occasional friendly-seeming Nassau Grouper, but nothing like the one at Joy’s Joy.
We stopped on our way from Little Cayman to Cayman Brac at a dive site called Joy’s Joy on the Bloody Bay Wall on the north shore of Little Cayman. It has a a nice coral garden, a mini-wall between ~40 and 70 ft and then a drop off to 6000 ft. The two of us dove the site three times (including one night dive). On each dive, while I was below ~40 ft, a grouper followed me around for the duration of the dive (Jane said that as soon as it saw me it started following like a puppy, swimming a couple of feet away). It seemed to enjoy being petted (see video). I have seen Nassau groupers before, and they are pretty standoffish. These ones are clearly habituated to divers, but there are strict no feeding rules. I can think of no explanation for this behavior.
Oh my Goodness!! That was AWESOME!!! Music and all! Friendly lil creatures they are!! Loved it!
Wow!!!
Tony Cousteau!!!
Clearly, a case of Tony Day Groupies! Who knew you had such friendly fans in the Cayman’s? 🙂
Really enjoyed!
Groupers in the Caribbean are often friendly and curious. A 4-ft one followed us around on a dive off Cozumel in December 2011. I didn’t try to tickle it, though.
So cool and I agree with Gary – Tony Day Groupies!
Next time try scratching the inside of his mouth…they let little fish clean inside.