Huge Batwing Coral Crab

It’s great that after countless snorkel trips out here on the East End of Grand Cayman, we can still find things that get us really excited.  We came across this crab while doing a drift snorkel along the barrier reef as part of our 2 Stop Snorkel Tour.  While it’s hard to tell from the video, he was HUGE; about the size of a dinner plate!!
 What makes this crab so interesting though is not just it’s size, but how brave it was.  Normally Batwing Coral Crabs are nocturnal so during the day time they seek shelter in the protective recesses of the reef.  This guy was not afraid of anything, as you can tell by how close I was able to film.  In many parts of the Caribbean these crabs have been over-harvested and as a result are very rare and hard to find.  Thankfully for us, we get to snorkel around the very pristine and untouched reefs of the Cayman Islands so we see all sorts of creatures and critters.  You never know what you are going to see on our tours!