The Grotto

Diving in paradise

Some of the Passages we swam through that leads into the Ocean

This is the entrance into the Grotto. You start descending into the cavern here. The snorkelers watch you from above as you descend.

We have made some new friends to dive with. Tammi and Mark took Missy, Layla, Brit and me on a dive with them to the famous dive site called the Grotto. The grotto is a beautiful sunken pool connected to the ocean by underwater passages. It is a underwater cave that the roof fell in on. You hike down about a hundred stairs with your gear on where you enter the water. The sunlight shining on the ocean outside the cave gives the water its amazing deep blue color with typical visability of 100 plus feet. The Saipan Grotto is one of Saipan's best diving spots. Considered by many as one of the best shore cavern dives in the world. After entering the water through a large limestone hole, divers realize they are in a huge cavern. From here, there are three different exit holes to the sea. Once outside, there are beautiful walls, swim-throughs, and caves to explore. Turtles, sharks, and wrasse, are some of the many types of sea life to be seen at this magnificent dive site.

I was alittle nervous at first because the grotto is considered an advanced diving site. But if you go with people who know the site well then you shouldn't get lost in the underwater passages. We descended about 80ft below and swam through underwater passageways and entered into the ocean! It was amazing! I think the highlight of the dive was seeing baby sharks sleeping in the rocks below. They were probably were about 4-5ft long. Not as scary as I thought. I had a hard time equalizing my ears at first descending down, so I stopped at about 80ft. This dive is far my most favorite dive spot so far! Enjoy the pics courtesy of Mark James.