Thunderball Grotto

A small limestone cavern half a kilometre west of Staniel Cay, opened to the sky by collapse and to the sea by underwater entrances. At slack tide you swim through one of the side openings, surface inside the cathedral-shaped chamber, and find yourself in a column of green light filtering down through holes in the roof. Schools of sergeant majors and yellowtails treat the place like a community pool.

Go at slack low tide; the current pushing through the cuts at other times is strong enough to make exit difficult. Local boats from the Staniel Cay Yacht Club will drop you off and pick you up, or you can swim from a moored dinghy. Bring underwater bread to attract fish.

things to do sight snorkelling
A story
The grotto takes its name from the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball, which used it for an underwater sequence. Later 007 outings, the Walt Disney version of Splash, and a Pierce Brosnan film all returned to the same hollow rock.