When it comes to diving, the Cayman Islands leave no doubts. For starters, the airport terminal is plastered with tourism posters of frolicking divers and rainbow-colored coral reefs surrounded by fish and sea turtles. Plus, it’s home to the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame and promotes its “365 Dive Sites — One for Each Day of the Year” slogan.

That’s the Caymans, where recreational diving got its start in the Caribbean 60 years ago; diving is embedded in the collective consciousness like few places around the globe. Of its three islands, Grand Cayman sees the most divers. With calm waters, near-limitless visibility and a reef perfect for shore access, diving rarely gets much easier or better than this.

Grand Cayman had delivered superb diving for a week, and on our last water day, my gal and I nix the early-morning dive-boat excursions to check out two fabled dive sites accessible from shore. Devil’s Grotto and Eden Rock are a twofer right off George Town, the capital. Shallow and close to shore, it’s an easy duo we felt comfortable with on our own.

We immediately get off to a lively start when we corkscrew our way though a passive school of 3-foot tarpon hovering like shimmering missiles ready to launch. In a minute, we fi n our way to the buoyed sites and drop 46 feet into the wonderful coral mazes, ledges and tunnels of Devil’s Grotto.

There’s nothing devilish here, we soon discover. Navigating the swim-throughs, bright shafts of sunlight stream through overhead coral skylights, illuminating brilliant schools of silversides, more tarpon, coral-munching parrotfish and soft corals swaying in the current like hula dancers. Every square inch of the reef sprouts life, from invertebrates to French angelfish, blue tangs and moray eels. We fi n across a sand gully to the adjacent buoyed site of Eden Rock, and get all giddy exploring a playground of swim throughs where we follow grouper and eagle rays.

This was our final dive, and we drink in every last drop the spectacle affords, pirouetting 360 degrees during our ascent to take in the dramatic honeycombed reef and its myriad marine residents. It’s a visual imprint you’ll always remember — the kind that makes you swear you’ll return someday, somehow. Like a first love, the Caymans never lets you forget.

SURFACE INTERVALS

EAT Taking the “can’t beat ’em, eat ’em” stance on invasive lionfish, the Tukka Restaurant & Bar prepares daily catches that include lionfish tacos and ceviche.

DRINK Don’t miss a distillery tour at Cayman Spirits Co., home to the delicious Seven Fathoms Premium Rum aged in oak bourbon casks gently rocked in the current at 42 feet.

SLEEP Besides spacious rooms, a great bar and beach restaurant, Cobalt Coast Grand Cayman Resort serves up shore and “chauffeured” diving through its Reef Divers shop.

DIVES NOT TO MISS

KITTIWAKE
This 251-foot, five-deck naval ship is flipper friendly at just 60 feet deep, and has cutouts enabling easy entry into sunlit rooms. Local grouper, turtles, jacks and rays offer plenty of critter encounters.

TRINITY CAVES
A swim-through trifecta, the breathtaking coral canyons of this Seven Mile Beach site have sun-drenched nooks and crannies that are home to an enchanting ensemble of lobsters, eels and nurse sharks.

BIG TUNNELS
This five-star dive sprouts a giant coral archway above a wall lit up with a multitude of colorful corals and sponges. Poke along and check out the winding channel’s numerous canyons, crevices and overhangs.

STINGRAY CITY
Ditch the tanks for this snorkeling experience. Scores of large Southern stingrays, habituated to humans through years of interaction, populate an offshore sandbar where feeding and touching are A-OK.

DIVE GUIDE

AVERAGE WATER CONDITIONS
Water temps range from 78 to 84 degrees, and viz is generally 100-plus feet.

WHAT TO WEAR
A 3 mm fullsuit is the most you’ll need; shorties and dive skins are commonly used.

TRAVEL TIP
As an offshore banking haven with a high standard of living, the lifestyle in Grand Cayman is plush. Tack on 20 percent to what you think is expensive back home.

WHEN TO GO
Year-round; October through mid-April sees northern winds that can shut down some northern shore-dive sites.