AttractionsThe capital,
George Town, can easily be explored in an afternoon; stop by
for its restaurants and shops (and banks!)--not sights. The town
does offer a clock monument to King George V and the oldest
government building in use in the Caymans today, the post office
on Edward Street. Stamps sold here are avidly sought by
collectors.
The island's premier museum, the
Cayman Islands National Museum, Harbor Drive, in George Town
(tel. 345/949-8368), is in a much-restored
clapboard-sided antique building directly on the water. (The
veranda-fronted building served until recently as the island's
courthouse.) The formal exhibits include a collection of
Caymanian artifacts collected by Ira Thompson beginning in the
1930s. Today the museum incorporates a gift shop, theater, cafe,
and more than 2,000 items portraying the natural, social, and
cultural history of the Caymans. Admission is CI$4 (U.S.$5) for
adults and CI$2 (U.S.$2.50) for children 7 to 12 and seniors,
free for children 6 and under. It's open Monday to Friday from
9am to 5pm and on Saturday from 10am to 2pm (last admission is
half an hour prior to closing).
Elsewhere on the island, you might go
to Hell! That's at the north end of West Bay Beach, a jagged
piece of rock named Hell by a former commissioner. There the
postmistress will stamp "Hell, Grand Cayman" on your postcard to
send back to the States.
The * Cayman Turtle Farm,
Northwest Point (tel. 345/949-3893), is the only green
sea-turtle farm of its kind in the world. Once the islands had a
multitude of turtles in the surrounding waters (which is why
Columbus called the islands "Las Tortugas"), but today these
creatures are sadly few in number, and the green sea turtle has
been designated an endangered species (you cannot bring turtle
products into the United States). The turtle farm exists to
provide the local market with edible turtle meat (preventing the
need to hunt them in the wild) and to replenish the waters with
hatchling and yearling turtles. Visitors today can look at 100
circular concrete tanks in which these sea creatures can be
observed in every stage of development; the hope is that one day
their population in the sea will regain its former status.
Turtles here range in size from 6 ounces to 600 pounds. At a
snack bar and restaurant, you can sample turtle dishes. The
turtle farm is open daily from 8:30am to 5pm. Admission is $6
for adults, $3 for children 6 to 12, free for children 5 and
under.
At Batabano, on the North Sound,
fishers tie up with their catch, much to the delight of
photographers. You can buy lobster (in season), fresh fish, even
conch. A large barrier reef protects the sound, which is
surrounded on three sides by the island and is a mecca for
diving and sports fishing.
If you're driving, you might want to go
along South Sound Road, which is lined with pines and, in
places, old wooden Caymanian houses. After leaving the houses
behind, you'll find good spots for a picnic.
Pedro St. James National Historic
Site, Savannah (tel.
345/947-3329), is a restored great house dating from 1780,
when only 400 people lived on the island. It outlasted all the
hurricanes until 1970 but was destroyed by fire that year. Now
it's been rebuilt and is the centerpiece of a new heritage park
with a visitor center and an audiovisual theater with a laser
light show. Because of its size, the great house was called "the
Castle" by generations of Caymanians. Its primary historic
importance dates from December 5, 1831, when residents met here
to elect Cayman's first legislative assembly. Therefore, Pedro
St. James is the cradle of the island's democracy. The great
house sits atop a limestone bluff with a panoramic view of the
sea. Guests enter via a $1.5 million visitors center with a
landscaped courtyard, a gift shop, and a cafe. Self-guided tours
are possible. You can explore the house's wide verandas,
rough-hewn timber beams, gabled framework, mahogany floors and
staircases, and wide-beam wooden ceilings. Guides in
18th-century costumes are on hand to answer questions. Admission
is $8 for adults and $4 for children (free for those 5 and
under). Hours are daily from 9am to 5pm.
On the road again, you reach Bodden
Town, once the largest settlement on the island. At Gun
Square, two cannons commanded the channel through the reef. They
are now stuck muzzle-first into the ground.
On the way to the East End, just
before Old Isaac Village, you'll see the onshore sprays of water
shooting up like geysers. These are called blowholes, and they
sound like the roar of a lion.
Later, you'll spot the fluke of an
anchor sticking up from the ocean floor. As the story goes, this
is a relic of the famous "Wreck of the Ten Sails" in 1788. A
more recent wreck can also be seen--the Ridgefield, a
7,500-ton Liberty ship from New England, which struck the reef
in 1943.
Old Man Bay
is reached by a road that opened in 1983. From here you can
travel along the north shore of the island to Rum Point,
which has a good beach and is a fine place to end your island
tour. Rum Point got its name from barrels of rum that once
washed ashore here after a shipwreck. Today, it is dreamy and
quaint, surrounded by towering causarina trees blowing in the
trade winds. Most of these trees have hammocks hanging from
their trunks, inviting you to enjoy the leisurely life. With its
cays, reefs, mangroves, and shallows, Rum Point is a refuge that
extends west and south for 7 miles. It divides the two "arms" of
Grand Cayman. The sound's many spits of land and its plentiful
lagoons are ideal for snorkeling, swimming, wading, and birding.
It you get hungry, drop in to the Wreck Bar for a juicy burger.
After visiting Rum Point, you can head back toward Old Man
Village, where you can go south along a cross-island road
through savanna country that will eventually lead you west to
George Town.
On 60 acres of rugged wooded land off
Frank Sound Road, North Side, the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic
Park (tel. 345/947-9462) offers visitors a short walk
through wetland, swamp, dry thicket, mahogany trees, orchids,
and bromeliads. The trail is [8/10] mile long. You'll likely see
chickatees, the freshwater turtles found only on the Caymans and
in Cuba. Occasionally you'll spot the rare Grand Cayman parrot,
or perhaps the anole lizard, with its cobalt-blue throat pouch.
Even rarer is the endangered blue iguana. The park is open daily
from 9:30am to 5:30pm. Admission is CI$6 (U.S.$7.50) for adults,
CI$4 (U.S.$5) for children; free for children 6 and under.
There's a visitor center with changing exhibitions, plus a
canteen for food and refreshments. It's set in a botanic park
adjacent to the woodland trail and includes a heritage garden
with a re-creation of a traditional Cayman home, garden, and
farm; a floral garden with 11/2 acres of flowering plants; and a
2-acre lake with three islands, home to many native birds.
Nightlife
The Lone Star Bar & Grill, West
Bay Road (tel. 345/945-5175), is a transplanted corner of
the Texas Panhandle. You can enjoy juicy burgers in the dining
room or head immediately for the bar in back. Here, beneath
murals of Lone Star beauties, you can sip lime and strawberry
margaritas and watch several sports events simultaneously on 15
different TV screens. Monday and Thursday are fajita nights,
all-you-can-eat affairs at CI$12 (U.S.$15), and Tuesday is
all-you-can-eat lobster at CI$35.95 (U.S.$45). There's also a
new volleyball court.
Coconuts Comedy Club,
Cayman Falls Plaza, across from the Westin (tel. 345/949-6887),
is the chief comedy club in the island archipelago. There's a
cover of $12; doors open Wednesday to Saturday at 9pm. Comedic
talents are imported from all over the world. Seating is on a
first-come, first-served basis.
Sharkey's,
Fall Shopping Center, Seven Mile Beach (tel. 345/947-5366),
is filled with rock-and-roll paraphernalia from the 1950s. Music
here ranges from karaoke to the big hits of the 1970s.
