I was raised in the U.S Virgin Islands and have travelled to Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and plan on visiting Saint Lucia and Dominica later this year, but Grand Cayman was the first British Territory that I’ve ever visited. In the Caribbean chain of islands there are a few islands that are very well known like the ones I listed above. Grand Cayman gets talked about but it’s most likely because some businessmen and women create shell companies in the Cayman Islands. Other than that, we really don’t hear much about Grand Cayman. I went to Grand Cayman on a vacation to see what it was like on the island. Here are some things to know about the island that I learned during my experience.
1. Be Prepared to spend a little more because the Island uses the Euro.
The Euro is the currency used in Grand Cayman. They do accept the U.S. dollar, but they will charge you the conversion rate which will be a couple dollars more. I was somewhat caught off guard about that because I had never been anywhere where the U.S. dollar was not worth more than the local currency. So, if you are shopping and spending money around the island you need to keep in mind that you will be spending a little more.
2. Seven Mile Beach
Seven Mile Beach is a very beautiful beach. The water is crystal clear, and the sand is Lily white. There was a bar right on the beach called Calico Jacks where they had some nice drinks. The Lime Daiquiri is their award-winning drink. If you visit, try it, and let me know what you think.
3. I visited Hell
So, there’s a place in Grand Cayman called Hell. It did kind of look like the area went through Hell…haha. I didn’t get a clear explanation of what happened in that area, but when I looked at the area it seems like there was a volcanic episode hundreds of years ago. Hell is actually a formation of black colored limestone. Next time you are there, check it out! You can even get your passport book stamped saying that you “went to Hell.” HAHA
4. The Cuisine
The Cuisine in Grand Cayman was okay. I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t wowed by the food on the island. To be honest, my family is Caribbean, so I am a little more critical than the average tourist. I ordered a snapper dinner and the fish was just okay. In my opinion, it didn’t compare to the food that I had in Jamaica. I’m going to assume that the higher-end hotels have better food options rather than some of the local restaurants in town.
5. Tortuga
If you love rum, you will love Tortuga. There were some rum and other liquor options available that you can’t buy in the States. One of the popular options is White Hennessy. There was also another type of rum that is not sold in the U.S and it was funny to see that there were a lot of people trying to figure out how to smuggle them on the cruise ships and planes.
6. Shopping
I’m not much of a shopper, but there were some stores near Georgetown. There was a diamond store, a few cigar businesses, and some souvenir shops. The only luxury stores I saw were a Cartier store and a Breitling Watch store. The rest of the stores sold non-luxury brand clothes and some jewelry.
7. Things to do besides hang out at the beach
One really cool thing to check out in Grand Cayman is Stingray City. There’s an area just off the coast that has a lot of stingrays. You can feed them and even swim with them! Additionally, there are parasailing options, and an area on Seven-Mile Beach where you can rent a jet ski. I visited the Dolphin Discovery and Grand Cayman Turtle Center. It was fun to see the dolphins do tricks. You can swim with the dolphins and take pictures with them as well. Another thing you can do in Grand Cayman is visit the Cayman Spirits Distillery and learn about the process of how the spirits on the island are made.
Well, that was a recap of my experience in Grand Cayman. The Island isn’t that large, so if you are flying instead of cruising, I wouldn’t recommend that you stay on the island for more than 3-4 days. I believe all of the activities I suggested above can be done in that amount of time. I hope this post was helpful to anyone who is planning on visiting Grand Cayman. What are some things that you are planning on doing when you visit the island? Are you planning to do some of the things I listed above, or will you be doing something different? Please share your experience visiting the Grand Caymans with us. If this post can be helpful to someone interested in traveling to the Cayman Islands, please feel free to share. If you are new to my website, please subscribe so you can be notified when I have a new post 😊.