lsmith@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (lsmith) (07/03/85)
As requested, here's a review of our trip to Grand Cayman. Summary: a paradise for diving and snorkeling, but very expensive. I should start with an orientation, but's it's hard without a map. The island is about 7x20 miles, and is somewhere between a rectangle and a triangle in shape. The longer side is to the west and the shorter side, or the lopped-off point of the triangle, is to the east. The western shore is where the action is. The center of it is 7-mile beach. Georgetown is on the sw corner, and the "west end" is the nw corner. Behind 7-mile beach (but not visible) is a large shallow bay that opens up to the north. So I could say the island is shaped like an ice-cream scoop with a very fat handle. Got that? The hotels are on 7-mile beach, and the main road (two lane) goes behind the hotels from the West End to Georgetown. It continues on around the island and ends up at Rum Point, which is across the bay from the west end. There's a short cut across the middle of the island, across the handle of the ice cream scoop. There are two stop lights on the island, a block apart by the harbor in Georgetown. The Caymans are a British colony. This means everyone speaks English. It's a prosperous island compared to Jamaica. There are small frame houses, but no real poverty. They make their money in two ways, tourists and banking. They set up their banking laws like Switzerland, so they have a population of 17,000 people and 400 banks. The people are extremely freindly and helpful. One couple said they planned to take the bus around, but they never got a chance. Whenever they stood at a bus stop a local would stop .and offer them a ride. The Cayman dollar is linked to the US dollar at $US 1.25 = $CI 1.00. This is to make you think things are cheaper than they really are. The bad news is that everything is extremely expensive, especially food. A Whopper at the Burger King is $US 3.50. Rent a Hobie 16 for $CI 20 per hour (which made me so mad I never rented one). Ride a para-sail for $CI 35 for 15 minutes. The prices definitely cramped our style. You can get along without a car, but I recommend renting one from Coconut rentals. For $15 a day, you get a very basic auto, standard shift, no air conditioning, no radio, worn-looking. Unlimited milage, and we filled the tank only once. Oh, yes, you drive on the left, but we didn't have any real problem. We team-drive the first couple of days, This being the off season, very few hotels were open. The biggest and most expensive is the Holiday Inn, starting about $100 a night. It was an ordinary nice Holiday Inn, on the beach. Stay away from the Cayman Islander, which is a hotel down the way. It's a long walk down a busy road to the beach and is rather sleazy looking. We stayed at the Beach Club Colony, which is about 1/4 mile down the beach from the Holiday Inn. We paid $70 per night. It's an older place, past its prime, with character. Our room was not on the beach, but around the corner. No TV, no pool. The bed was so soft we ended up putting the mattress on the floor. It has the only restaurant with a beachfront patio, which was very nice, but we couldn't afford to eat out there or anywhere else. (They also played very annoying musac, very loud. I got tired of hearing a droning musac version of "Age of Aquarius" every night.) If you have a choice, rent a condo with a kitchen, because, again, eating out is an increadable rip-off. I thought I was smart taking my little playmate cooler. We kept milk and fruit in it for breakfast. When we got off the plane there were several people hauling coffin-sized igloos with full supplies for a week. Looks tacky, but I highly recommend it. There is a supermarket in Goergetown about three blocks inland from the southern of the stoplights. It has a nice deli. We bought a BBQ chicken there and salad fixings and had a wonderful picnic on the beach. The next night we had pate' and cheese and another salad. There is a chain of smaller grocery stores that is more expensive. I recommend the Wholesome Cafeteria downtown. The entire island is surrounded with beautiful diving sites. If you don't dive or at least snorkel, you will probably be bored. There are many dive tour companies. We weren't told to stay away from any in particular, so I'd just shop for prices. I should add that we only did scuba once, and shallow that time. This was because of our special circumstances, but it limits my ability to reveiw. The favorite place is "The Wall," which is where the shelf drops off. The tours will give you two tanks of air, boat you out to the site, and lead you down for two dives of 100 and 40 feet, for $ci40. Gear is extra. You leave about 8 and get back about 2. There's a place called Spanish Cove that has what looks like a good deal. They give you boat, three dives, lunch, t-shirts, and use of the condo facilities for $90 a couple. This is to get you to look over their condos. I was told you can also just swim off the beach there and see very nice stuff. Spanich cove is up at the West End. The must place to snorkel (scuba also, but only ~30 feet) is Eden Rock. This is right in the middle of the harbor downtown, so you think it would be trashed, but it's not. You can swim about 100 yards off shore and find the most incredible coral and fish life. If you hold out you hands and wiggle your fingers, the fish will swarm up to you, because they've been fed so much. Another similar place nearby is Soto's reef, which is off Soto's dive shop next to the Burger King. We found a really nice spot at the West End. GO past the Turtle farm, and pass a small paved road to the left. Turn at the second small paved road. A fence along the small road is wire for one lot and stone for the next. It turns to dirt and ends at the beach. There is a shallow (5-10 feet) but wonderful reef off shore. Oh, yes, the 7-mile beach is beautiful, soft sand, and since the wind is from the other way, the surf is under control. Snorkeling is slim there because of the sand, but the hotels mark small reefs with bouys and I saw some nice things off the hotel. Other things to do: I'd recommend the drive around the island. The free tour books tell you all these wonderful things to do along the way, but don't believe them. The "Pirate's Cave" Is a hole in the ground surrounded with trash and with some plastic bones laying around. Pedro's castle is the oldest building on the island, but it buned down twice and all you can see now is a cheap plywood building build around it. The shore there is worth it, though, because the waves crash over the rocks. At the east end is a shipwreck you can see off shore. (I think it's the one they blew up on purpose so divers could swim around. Yes they did.) There's a tiny shop called the "Wreck View" that is full of local color and serves food only on Sunday. Rum Point is interesting. It's a pretty spot anyway, and rich people have built a community of fancy vacation houses there. I mentioned the Turtle Farm. This is a bunch of large tanks where they grow sea turtles. They planned to sell turtle meat to the US, then the US put the turtles on the endangered species list and stopped that. It's worth 15 minutes. Also at the West End is the community of Hell, named for a nearby rock formation. It consists of a post office where all the tourists mail post cards, a gift shop with "I've been to Hell" T-shirts, and the Inferno dance hall. Wanted to go to the Inferno, but naver made it. There's very little night life. "The Barefoot Man" played every night at the Holiday Inn. If you know Hawaii's Don Ho, here's the same. He takes native folk songs and waters them down appropriate to the Holiday Inn. Up the beach a ways is an old hotel that recently changed names, and I can't remember either name. There's a big party there every thus. night where the locals hang out. One last thing: Unlike everything else, camera equipment is a good buy here, because everything is duty free and tax free. Our first day there, our camera broke. We took it in to Cayman Camera (on the harbor) and the guy couldn't fix it. But since it was an Olympus and we sounded like people who knew what we were doing, he offered to loan us (not rent) his own camera for a few days! But we noticed his prices and ended up buying one instead. Oh yes. On the short cut road across the island are many wild mango trees, and we pigged out.