About Nigel Coles

Hi my name is Nigel Coles. I used to live in Bristol, England but after a change in direction we moved overseas to work in the scuba diving industry. After a time in Thailand, for the last 8 years I have been living with my wife Deby, in the East End of Grand Cayman, The Cayman Islands. I’m a dive instructor, working for Tortuga Divers, part of the Red Sail group. I spend my day on dive boats, training students and taking our guests on dive trips. It’s a hard life but someone has to do it

How many days did it take me to catch each 1000 lionfish

In the last year or so we have seen a remarkable drop in the number of lionfish here on Cayman reefs. So I thought I would go back through my Excel spreadsheets to gather some data, to see how many days it took me to catch each 1000 of the 10,000 lionfish that I have caught so far. I started killing lionfish here on Grand Cayman back in October 2009 but I did not actually … Continue reading

Save Your Breath – dive and hunt for longer!

  It has taken a long time to get here, but at last, I’m pleased to announce the release of my book “Save Your Breath”. Improve your air consumption. Get longer dive times. Customers have been suggesting for years that I write this book because I’m regularly suggesting tips for how to improve their air consumption and a lot of them have really benefited, and enjoy their vacations so much more. With the help of … Continue reading

Lionfish culling milestone – 10,000 lionfish killed

After seeing our first lionfish here on the East End of Grand Cayman in September 2009, I caught lionfish number 10,000 on the 30th July 2017. TEN THOUSAND!. So I have caught about 3.5 lionfish every single day since September 2009, all the way up to the 30th July 2017. I cull the lionfish at work with Tortuga Divers and on my days off using my own small 17 foot Logic fishing boat. Having a … Continue reading

The McToob – a new lionfish container

The McToob is the latest lionfish containment device to hit the market. It was invented by James McVey who lives here locally on Grand Cayman, where I live. I got to test out a McToob recently on a couple of dives and I was most impressed. The McToob is a very sturdy containment device made from PVC. The rectangular box is 22 inches long and will hold 50% more volume than a 6.5 inch diameter, … Continue reading

Lionfish polespears

So what is a polespear? It’s an underwater tool for catching (spearing) fish. If you look at the picture of me above you will see the one I use.  A polespear is basically made up of a pole, a spear tip and a rubber loop. The pole is usually between 2.5-feet and 10-feet long and made of fiberglass, carbon fibre, aluminium or graphite. The longer versions often break down into several pieces that screw together. The … Continue reading

More evidence of sharks eating lionfish

We had a great day diving today with Tortuga Divers in Grand Cayman, seeing sharks on both dives in the morning, and on the dive in the afternoon. We are used to often seeing sharks on the east end of Grand Cayman. Mainly we see Caribbean grey reef sharks as well as a few Nurse sharks and if we are really lucky maybe a Hammerhead or Tiger shark. Well, today we saw 6 Caribbean grey reef … Continue reading

Nutritional value of lionfish

Lionfish is a healthy choice of fish to eat as they are shown to have a higher concentration of heart healthy Omega 3 fatty acids and a lower concentration of Omega 6 fatty acids. This all helps your cholesterol as the fatty acids in lionfish help to lower your bad cholesterol (LDL) and raise your good cholesterol (HDL). Nutritional studies have also found lionfish to be high in lean protein, and that lionfish, compared to … Continue reading

Killer robot to kill lionfish?

I was absolutely fascinated by this article from the Huffington Post, and to see what scientists from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) are doing with killer robots on the Great Barrier reef. Simply click on the picture below and the original article will open in a separate window. How amazing is that submersible robot, which the scientists at QUT  have named COTSbot.  Blown away that technology on this sort of level can operate underwater in a 3d … Continue reading

Lionfish fighting it out like Mike Tyson

Since 2009 when lionfish came to Grand Cayman I have dived with them many times with or without my pole spear. Most of the time I see a single lionfish trying to hide itself somewhere on a mini-wall. Or I see one hanging around pointing its tail and therefore spines in my direction. Or I see a whole group together, my record for that is about 17 together in one small area. I am led … Continue reading

How to cook lionfish

Restaurants that serve lionfish in Grand Cayman

So you want to know how to cook lionfish. Well like there are many ways to cook fish, there are many ways to cook lionfish. Here are some of the ways you can turn lionfish into a tasty meal: Make them into a fishcake and pan fry (skillet) them Make them into a rosti and pan fry them Batter them and deep fry them, and have them as a fritter Cover them in breadcrumbs and pan … Continue reading