In the sun-parched, rocky desert landscape around Las Vegas, the closest you can get to water wonderment are the Fountains of Bellagio. Beyond this, your water options consist of running through golf course sprinklers, diving into beautiful, light-blue tiled swimming pools, or driving to deep, dark Lake Mead.

But for every ying there is a yang, and there could be no truer opposite to Las Vegas than Grand Cayman, a Caribbean isle south of Cuba. Here the water is liquid light, dancing and sparkling in the sunshine with the same brilliance as the lights of the Strip at night. The sea is as clear as the Grey Goose vodka martinis at MGM Grand’s Zuri lounge, providing 200- foot visibility of the underwater coral gardens. And the water colors, in every hue of blue and green, would frustrate even the masters in Bellagio’s Gallery of Fine Art in their attempt to capture them in paint.

With the stunning underwater clarity and profuse marine life, it’s no wonder that this island was the birthplace of recreational scuba diving in the Caribbean in 1957. Grand Cayman is now renowned as one of the top dive destinations in the world,and this year The Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac) were named both the Caribbean’s best diving destinations and best snorkeling destinations by Caribbean Travel & Life magazine.