Cruise
Ships
Glas Bottom
Boat
Sting Ray
City
Luxury
Hotel
Seven Mile
Beach
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Personal
Impressions
The Cayman Islands are mainly known as an
offshore tax haven, and people at home
might think you are going there to hide
your money. Is it worth to go there for
holidays? The beaches are nice, but nothing
special, and budget accommodation is not
available. Sometimes more than nine mega ships are docked in the
harbour at the same time. About
25,000 cruise ship passangers visit Grand
Cayman every day. If you visit Grand Cayman on a cruise ship, take a tour to Stingray City.
I do recommend the Cayman Islands as a
good holiday destination only for scuba
divers. Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and
Little Cayman are the exposed top of an
underwater mountain. Wall diving
provides something extraordinary for
scuba divers. The variety of fish,
corals, sponges and caves on the wall is
truly amazing. The Cayman Islands are an ideal
destination for scuba divers of all
experience and skill levels. Scuba
diving can be done by boat, or at many
dive sites, directly from shore.
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History
The
first known inhabitants of the Cayman Islands were the Taino people,
who arrived on the islands around 1500 BC. These indigenous groups
lived off the land and sea and left behind a rich cultural legacy of
art and music.
In 1503, the islands were discovered by
Christopher Columbus, who named them "Las Tortugas" due to the large
number of turtles in the area. Over the next few centuries, the islands
became a popular spot for pirates and privateers, who used them as a
base for their operations.
In the 17th century, the British
began to establish settlements on the islands, with the first permanent
settlement being established on Grand Cayman in 1734. The islands
remained under British control throughout the colonial period, and they
played a strategic role in the Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars and
World War II.
In the 20th century, the Cayman Islands underwent
a period of rapid development, with a booming tourism industry and a
growing financial services sector. The islands are known for their
tax-free status and their reputation as a center for offshore banking
and investment.
Today, the Cayman Islands are a thriving and
prosperous nation, with a strong economy and a rich cultural heritage.
The islands are home to a diverse population of people from all over
the world, and they remain a popular destination for tourists and
investors alike.
Despite their small size, the Cayman Islands
have had a significant impact on the history and culture of the
Caribbean, and they continue to play an important role in the region's
economy and politics.
Overview
Grand
Cayman
Cosmopolitan Grand Cayman is the largest
and most developed of the
three Cayman Islands. It is the
location of the nation's capital, George
Town, and of the Owen Roberts
International
Airport. Grand Cayman
is known for its reputation as a leading
international offshore banking centre
with about six hunded banks and
trust companies. There are lots of fast
food restaurants, night clubs, and
resorts on the western side of the island
down to George Town.
Cayman
Brac
"Brac" (pronounced
Brack) is the middle sister of the
three Cayman Islands and offers miles of
uncrowded beaches. It is a coral island
surrounded by reef with a population of
about 1,200 residents. The island is
named for the "brac", Gaelic for bluff,
which "soars" 140 feet up from the sea on
the island's east end. Cayman Brac offers
eco-tourism for divers and nature-lovers.
The promotion text sounds great: No
Pollution, No Traffic, No Crime, No
Taxis.
Little Cayman
The smallest and least developed of the
three Cayman Islands is so flat that
bicycling is effortless. It is dotted
with pristine lagoons, mangrove forests,
orchid strewn swamps, and salt
ponds. With a population of less
than 100, visitors will find total
relaxation and privacy along the island's
quiet, romantic shores.
Attractions
Cayman Islands
National Museum
The Old Courts Building contains many
historical and natural artefacts of
Caymanian life. The
Museum can trace its roots to the 1930's
when Mister Ira Thompson began collecting
Caymanian artefacts as a hobby.
The Museum building is the oldest public
building in the Cayman Islands. It was
used as a jail, courthouse, dancehall,
and postal office. It is located on the
waterfront in Georgetown.
The
National Gallery
Located at Grand Cayman's Harbour Place,
the National Gallery is dedicated to the
preservation, research and display of all
aspects of Caymanian heritage. It houses
over 8,000 items and artefacts of
Caymanian artwork as well as more than a
half-dozen local and international
exhibits each year.
Seven
Mile Beach
With sand stretching as far as the eyes
can see, the Seven Mile Beach is the most
well-known beach on the
islands. Located on the western
shore of Grand Cayman, it has the largest
concentration of visitors and tourists on
the island. Along the beach you will find
the majority of the islands luxury
resorts and hotels.
Stingray
City
The Grand Cayman sandbank, dubbed
Stingray City, is a natural
attraction off the North coast. First
fisherman an later divers started feeding
squid to the stingrays, who forgot their
normally shy dispositions and began
to associate the sound of a motor boat
with food.
Today hordes of tourists come to snorkel
with the huge stingrays. Sometimes twenty
boats and more than three hundred
visitors appear simultaneously at the
small spot. Standing in only one
meter (3 feet) of water you will be
surrounded by more than two dozen
handsome stingrays. It would be an
awesome experience, but there are too
many visitors.
A new study has revealed that the
stingrays are suffering from contact
with tourists, study finds Blood tests
show that the stingrays have weaker immune
systems and are in poorer health than those
left undisturbed.
Turtle
Farm
Established more than 40 years ago,
this marine park offers an array of
attractions devoted to the Caymans'
marine and terrestrial wildlife. The farm
became successful in breeding and
researching the Green Sea Turtle and also of the Kemp's ridley sea turtle. The
current park in West Bay still has turtle
exhibits but as well a cultural district, touch tanks, an
aviary, a Predator Reef
filled with sharks, a
pair of swimming lagoons, groupers and eels, a nature trail,
and a restaurant and bar. The
government-run turtle
farm is home to over 16,000 sea
turtles. The farm is one of
the most successful tourist attractions
in the Caymans. More than half a million people come every year.
Recently, the Cayman Turtle Farm has come
under attack for poor water quality,
overcrowding, unsupervised human
handling, heightened levels of disease
and congenital defects amongst the
captive bred creatures.
The Turtle Farm sells farmed turtle meat
to the public and local restaurants.
Scientists say, the captive farming of
turtles arguably increases the threat to
health, in particular from bacteria, due
to the practice of housing many turtles
in a relatively confined space and under
intensive conditions.
Blowholes
A blowhole is a cavity formed in the
ground at the inland end of a sea cave.
Blowholes are created by the water moving
through natural tunnels cut in the rock
by the coast. As the tunnels get closer
to the coast, they turn upwards, creating
a fountain. This can create quite a
spectacular show when the weather
conditions are right. In Grand Cayman the
Blow holes are located on Frank Sound
Road on your way to the Eastern
Districts. In Cayman Brac you can find
them scattered Island wide. Depending on
the weather, the blow holes blast huge
torrents of water high into the air. The
best time to watch them is during a storm
from the north-west in the winter months.
Pedro St. James
Historic Site
This is the restored centre-piece of a
national historic site overlooking the
Caribbean Sea with the best view in Grand
Cayman. Visitors can stroll through the
edifice built along the lines of the
Caribbean plantation Great Houses
containing antique furniture and
interesting artefacts from that long-lost
time. Visit the gift shop and don't miss
the site's multimedia show (it runs every
hour). Rated the best in the
Caribbean, it's an experience you will
long remember!
Cayman Craft
Market
Located within walking distance of the
Grand Cayman cruise ship dock in
central George Town this market place
offers locally made wood & leathering
products, thatch and straw work and local
visual arts. Find yourself immersed in a
unique Caymanian atmosphere where you can
purchase a real part of Cayman whilst
learning about our past and one of a kind
culture.
Hell
Just outside of West Bay, on the
North-West tip of Seven Mile Beach, lies
the community of Hell. Hell is host to
one of the most colourfully-named post
offices in the world. Many visitors stop
by in order to send a postcard, franked
"Hell, Grand Cayman". They have been to
Hell.
The creepy, 1.5 million years old
limestone formations gave this West
Bay town its name. A souvenir and gift
shop called the Devil's Hang-Out is owned
by Ivan Farrington, who will greet you in
a devil's costume and regale you with
jokes.
Rum Point
Beach
On the scenic North coast of Grand Cayman
lies the beautiful Rum Point Beach.
It is a lively beach with white
sand shaded by palm trees and a
popular spot for volleyball, windsurfing,
parasailing and water sports.
The Wreck Bar is one of the most famous
beach bars in the Cayman Islands, in part
because it's the place where the frozen
mudslide was invented.
Queen Elizabeth
II Botanic Park
This botanical garden features 40 acres
of local flora and fauna, including the
rare blue iguana. Attractions include
flower and native gardens, a woodland
trail, orchid exhibit, a picturesque
lakeside gazebo, and dozens of species of
birds and butterflies. Located on the
North Side of Grand Cayman the Visitors
Centre, Heritage Garden and Floral Garden
are spectacular additions.
Camana
Bay Observation Tower
The centerpiece of Grand Cayman's new
Camana Bay development is a 75-foot
observation tower that visitors can climb
(for free) to enjoy 360-degree views of
Seven Mile Beach, George Town, and the
North Sound. As you climb the
double-helix staircase you can check out
the details on a huge mosaic depicting
Cayman reefs and marine life: the artwork
includes more than 3 million tiles. Cool
off afterwards with a drink at one of
Camana Bay's new bars and restaurants or
check out the local entertainment and
shopping options, including a cinema and
live music performances.
Activities
Scuba
Diving
With over two hundred and fifty dive
sites to choose from, Grand Cayman offers
some of the greatest underwater diversity
anywhere in the Caribbean. Grand Cayman
offers more than one hundred and sixty of
the best Caribbean diving sites. The
reefs offer a variety of marine life
encounters. There are steep, deep walls
adorned with sponges and corals, shallow
reefs filled with small fish and
invertebrates, and photogenic old
wrecks.
Cayman Brac offers more than fifty dive
sites, 11 sites can be reached by
shore. Its legendary walls and
breath-taking marine life have thrilled
many of the world's most famous
underwater photographers for decades.
Little Cayman has a vast underwater
world. The most famous dive site
areas, Bloody Bay and Jackson's Bight,
are both located on the north side of the
island. Bloody Bay is consistently ranked
as one of the world's top wall dives with
the ocean floor, which was purportedly
based on a claim made by the late Philipe
Cousteau. Colourful coral gardens,
wavering sea plumes and exotic tropical
fish thrive among more than fifty unique
dive sites.
Birding
The Cayman Islands are home to fifty
resident species of birds, including
colonies of the native brown booby,
red-footed booby, least tern, and
white-tailed tropicbird The West Indian
woodpecker and stripe-headed tanager can
also be seen in Cayman. Cayman
Brac's most famous resident is the Brac
Parrot (Amazona leucocephala hesterna) a
small shy bird with brilliant green, red
and black plumage.
Grand Cayman has seven protected bird
sanctuaries, including the QE II Botanic
Park, Colliers Pond, Salina Reserve, and
the Majestic Reserve. Cayman Brac is home
to a 180-acre parrot reserve, while
Little Cayman's Booby Pond Reserve
protects the habitat of the brown and
red-footed boobies.
Hiking
in Cayman Brac
In Cayman Brac well-marked trails lacing
the island range from easy strolls to a
series of caves on the southern shoreline
to two miles of nature trails through a
reserve set aside for the rare Cayman
parrot on the island's bluff. The
reserve is also home to some 150 other
bird species. You need sturdy hiking
boots, because the limestone on the bluff
is rugged ' and the panoramic views of
the sea from the edge of the bluff, which
reaches an elevation of 140 feet, is well
worth a little exercise
Orchids and parrots burst with colour,
doves and woodpeckers hover overhead,
snakes and lizards wander the footpaths.
Grand Cayman's Mastic Trail serves up all
this wildlife, plus a lush forest of
cedar, mahogany, and palms, along with
lowlands dense with mangrove. Of course,
much of the Caribbean once looked like
this, but colonisation and the subsequent
clearing wiped out much of the native
habitat. Even on Grand Cayman, which is a
low, coral-formed island, nature once
displayed astounding diversity. Now,
through the efforts of the National Trust
for the Cayman Islands, the Mastic
Reserve has been established in the
steamy interior of the island, featuring
trails through portions of the original
dry, subtropical forests.
If you like caves there are lots to
explore on Cayman Brac. Some are not
marked on the map and can only be found
by climbing the bluff. Once inside, many
may seem small but have tiny openings
that you have to crawl into to
explore.
Over the past 200 years the residents of
Cayman Brac have sought shelter in these
caves through some rare but severe storms
that have crossed the islands. The caves
also serve as home to a unique group of
plant and animal inhabitants including
small bats that feed on the insects.
Peter's Cave offers a spectacular view
overlooking the South Side
bluffs. The Great Cave is an amazing
formation of stalagmites and stalactites
near the old Light house. The Bat's Cave,
which is a well-lit, large cave where you
may see some small bats "hanging out" in
plain view. The best is Nani Cave,
opposite the Mosquito Research Centre.
Don't forget to take a torch!
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Bank in George
Town
Fountain in
Gerorge Town
Downtown George
Town
Luxury
Resort
Seven Mile
Beach
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