By Stephen Weir

Loading tanks at the brac Reef Hotel's Reef Dwellers boat.

Exploring the caves of Cayman Brac.

Living is easy on the shores of Cayman Brac seaside at Brac Reef Hotel.

Divers' sign post at Brac Reef Hotel.

Cayman Brac is a small, underpopulated Caribbean island that makes up one third of the Cayman Islands; arguably collectively the world's most famous dive destination. The Brac is a spot of green in a sea of blue; the island is almost equidistant between Grand Cayman (the largest and most popular stop in this three island British Colony) and the island of Cuba (90 miles to the north) and just four miles east of the spectacular reefs which surround Little Cayman (the smallest island in the Colony).

Although there are daily flights from the United States to Grand Cayman with direct jet and commuter service to Cayman Brac, most Canadian families tend to stay on the big island for their scuba vacations. Pity, this is a dive haven that has child-friendly written all over it.

For a parent, Cayman Brac puts the calm back into holidaying. It is one of those rare places that has it all. The diving is stressless and the two major dive hotels (Brac Reef Hotel and the Divi Tiara Beach Resort) and the Caribbean Beach Village (condominium resort) are well equipped to accommodate families.

What makes the Brac a place to consider for that next vacation can be said in just one wordSafety. This is a place that has no crime, no child-eating wild animals, no road traffic, no dangerous beachside undertows, no video parlours and no theme parks.

What it does have is protected beaches, straight flat paved roads that are made for bike riding, mysterious seaside caves for the adventurous, and a bluff that just has to be walked. Cayman Brac (Gaelic for "Bluff") gets its name from the huge bluff rising from sea level to a height of 140 feet. The limestone cliff is a nature preserve, home for more than 150 species of birds and an awesome variety of wild flowers and exotic plant life.

The Brac itself is about 12 miles long and little more than a mile wide. With a population of only 2,000, the pace is quiet and everything is done informally. No need to dress up the family for dinner, even wearing a watch is optional.

Although a desert island, the Brac, thanks to a reverse osmosis system, has pure drinking water. The electricity is 110 AC, 60 cycle just what we get in Canadaso every gadget, be it bottle warmers or battery rechargers, works. Stakes Bay, the island's only hamlet has a few well stocked stores that carry everything a family needs, albeit at a hefty price (The Cayman Island dollar equals US $1.20; which makes the Canadian dollar worth only about 50 cents Cayman) and at small town business hours. Brac's Faith Hospital, a nearby denture clinic and a seemingly endless number of churches welcome visitors.

DIVER Magazine stayed at the Brac Reef Hotel on the south shore. This two storey structure is built around a fresh water swimming pool. Trees abound giving much needed shade from the hot sun. Hammocks are strung between the coconut trees that line the waterfront, giving parents a bird's eye view of the white sand beach. No need to fret too much, there is a barrier reef along the south shore making the inside waters warm and calm, ideal for shelling and snorkelling.

Care for the children was arranged with the Hotel's Front Desk. Our two children, then 10 and 8, were looked after by Dianne Scott, a grandmother of seemingly everyone on the island. Not only did they get a behind the scenes tour of our hotel, they got to see inside the Tiara where one of her grandsons works. Knowing the children's fascination with shipwrecks and pirates, she brought them a ballast stone from a 17th century sailing ship.

Next door is the Divi Tiara, an all inclusive club. This popular dive resort has an active children's program and a full children's menu in the restaurant. Brac Caribbean Beach Village, on the north shore, has 16 suites with kitchens that are perfect for families. There are also several other properties on the island offering a variety of services and accommodations.

Cayman Brac covers the flip side to children's safety issues. For every worried parent who can't relax and marvel at the sight of sleek dolphins whooshing past the anchor line, there is a concerned child sitting around the pool wondering if Mommy and Daddy are going to come home safe and sound.

Both Divi Tiara Dive and Brac Reef Hotel's Reef Dwellers take the worry out of diving. They have modern, well maintained boats and dive equipment. Reef Dwellers run three boats, Twin Sister, Little Sister and Marlin. The two Sisters are powered by twin Caterpillar 300 hp diesel engines and are 42 feet long and 16 feet wide with a cruising speed of 25 mph. They feature over 500 square feet of floor and deck space, dual ladders, stand up showers and a padded camera table. The Marlin is a Super Pro 42 dive boat powered by Caterpillar 300 hp diesel engines, coupled to a propeller-less water jet drive. It is 42 feet long and 12 feet wide with a cruising speed of 16 mph. The Divi has a fleet of five modern boats capable of reaching nearby Little Cayman in comfort.

Divers at both shops are pre-screened for their dive history and C-cards are mandatory. Divers must dive in pairs and bottom times and computer profiles are monitored. Nitrox is now available on the island and both operations run a full photo shop service.

There are more than 50 moored dive sites around the Brac. The remote location of the island means that reefs have been spared the perils of pollution, with the result that the visibility is superb most of the year. And, there is no large fishery on Brac so the fish are plentiful and BIG.

Diving on the north side of Brac, there is a never ending wall to explore. At depths approaching 100 feet, divers will cruise atop a sunken cliff of living coral. Wall sites vie with each other for uniqueness, but, dive guides agree that Wilderness Wall is the liveliest spot for pelagic sightings.

Wherever the dive boats stop along the northern wall divers will encounter sand chutes that have cut through the coral. It is at Tarpon Reef that divers will encounter these shy shiny fish (tarpon) as they hide in grottoes and coral caves that line the chute.

The south side of Cayman Bracwhere the beach and hotels areoffers completely different diving. Provided the seas are not too rough, dive boats like to anchor close to the barrier reef and allow divers to explore a bottom that is covered in rolling coral hills and living sponge lined canyons.

The newest attraction for divers is the wreck of the 330 ft. M/V Captain Keith Tibbetts, a Russian destroyer which was sunk off the island's northwest coast in September 1996. It is already the home for a variety of marine life. Although reachable from the shore, because of the boat traffic, the Tibbetts is best visited off a dive boat.

Make sure you see it soon. The Brac dive shops are learning first hand how flimsily the Soviets built their ships. When toured by DIVER Magazine, many of the interior deckways are now impassable because the corrugated metal used as wall material has collapsed. The metal fatigue coupled with an apparent shifting of the ship's location, may have the island looking for more abandoned Russian warships in the near future. There are two other known wrecks off the island's south shore.

The boats depart each day at 8:30 a.m. and again at 2:00 p.m. Night dives and shore dives are available. Water temperature ranges from 78° in the winter to 86° in the summer.

When the weather is good, hotel dive shops and the independent Brac Aquatics will take divers to Little Cayman for a day long visit to the most stunning drop-offs in the Caribbean.

Little Cayman features a total of nearly 30 moored dive sites, ranging from medium depths to the sheer plunging wall of Bloody Bay and the more rugged Jackson Bay area. The Super Bowl of diving begins and ends on the walls of Little Cayman.

Depending on the age of your children and the location where the dive boat is headed, snorkellers are welcomed. But, if you are going to take your family all the way to Cayman Brac, consider getting them certified. Both Dive Tiara and Reef Divers offer instruction to children over the age of twelve.

Little Cayman Diver II (800) 544-2722 (in U.S.)