bobdenver 4 years ago.FIRST AND FOREMOST…Don’t forget to get Travel Insurance and check it out well before you buy. It can be important. (See item 13 below for more details.)
Grand Cayman trip May 10 to May 20, 2008.
In spite of some issues we really did have a FANTASTIC time on GC.
This trip report covers numerous items such as:
1)Cayman Dollars verses American Dollars
2)Places to eat that we (my wife & I) visited and sometimes why we liked/disliked it.
3)Andy’s Car Rental and driving on the “other” side of the road.
4)Shopping in George Town,
5)Cathy Church’s camera shop,
6)Sea Trek,
7)Butterfly Farm,
8)Atlantis Submarine night cruise,
9)String Ray sandbar with Sato’s,
10)Starfish near Rum Point,
11)Botanical Gardens,
12)Boatswain’s Beach (pronounced like bow and suns as one word) with its turtle farm, lagoons, and small aviary. (Across the street a dolphin encounter area is under construction, but I don’t know if it is associated with Boatswain’s Beach.)
13)Seldom discussed subjects such as travel insurance
One item worth mentioning right away is that you should always check your restaurant bill to see if the tip has been included already. Most add a 15% gratuity, so check your receipt before paying. Add to it if your service deserves it. Some places take your CAG coupon and others just need to see it so you will return again.
Always ask your waiter/waitress or sales person if they provide a CAG discount. We found some places that said they did not, but that they would provide one regardless. (I wish I could remember which ones so Joe could approach them for a regular discount in CAG. I wrote ‘em down, but the paper got wet, smudged, & thus unreadable.)
We stayed at the Marriott Beach Resort on Seven Mile Beach (SMB). Unfortunately, our budget meant we had to settle on a courtyard room. The room was adequate as we didn’t plan on being in it excessively long, except to sleep. After all, we were on vacation! (BTW…The AC was VERY satisfactory.) We did not eat at the Marriott restaurants as we wanted to explore other places. The staff at the Marriott was outstanding and helped us on numerous occasions. For those interested, the rooms have a small fridge & a safe large enough for a woman’s purse, our return ticket pouch and a fair size camera case with still a little room to spare for more. Colorful sunsets shots were difficult to get during our trip.
1) Money Conversion
At the time of our trip $100 US equaled $80 Cayman Island (CI). If you pay for something in USD you should anticipate receiving change in CI money. We used credit cards whenever possible.
2) Eating out
You can print extra coupons online in advance at CAG. Prices mentioned below are for two adults. In no particular order, places we ate at were:
Pizza Hut
Coconut Joe’s
Eats
Champion House
Cimboco
Café Mediterraneo
Burger King
Quiznos
Casanova
Dairy Queen
One restaurant I will not call out by name
3) Car rental & driving tips
Across the street from the Marriott is Andy’s Car rental on SMB. I ordered the rental online some time ago and asked for the CAG discount when I arrived. I was told that the amount provided by ordering it online was the same as getting the CAG discount. Be sure to fill the tank on return. The only time we had to get gas it cost $5.75 US per gallon. We got about 10 gallons. We were charged an extra fee as by the time we returned the car it no longer had a full tank.
Renting a Pontiac Sunfire for 9 days cost us $466 US, which also includes Andy’s rental damage insurance cost of $130. I have doubts that I would use their insurance if I had this to do all over again. There are good and bad points either way, so it comes down to what your comfort level is.
For those concerned with getting the local driving permit it is very simple. No test to take. Just pay $7.50.
Andy’s ran out of right-side driving vehicles by the time we arrived so I took what I was used to. (This ended up fitting my comfort zone better so I didn’t press the issue.) Driving isn’t bad once you get used to cars coming at you on the “wrong” side of the road. My biggest problem was in parking lots and entrance/exits to parking lots, which are reversed in position to what I’m used to. Also in a parking lot I often found myself driving on the wrong side while looking for a parking place. Just be sure to look right first instead of left, as that’s the way traffic comes at you.
It appears that all rental cars have a prominent sticker on the front and back of the car. I think it’s less for advertising and more likely to warn the locals that a foreigner is amongst them and to therefore watch out.
Watch out for bicycle riders as they are hard to see, especially when it’s getting dark. I don’t think I saw any with reflectors, let alone lights.
Remember to enter a Round-About in a clockwise direction and vehicles in them have the right-of-way.
4) Shopping in George Town
We saw lots of nice things in the stores but only a few that we wished we had bought. There are a fair number of jewelry stores in town but there wasn’t much variety of gem stones to select from. The best time to shop is when the cruise ships are not in port. If you do shop on those days it helps to casually let the sales person know early on that you “might be back tomorrow”. Then they realize you aren’t from the ships and will treat you a little differently. At least that’s how I found it to be. From my limited cruise ship experience I realize that people from the ships have a much tighter schedule and can get pushy.
5) Cathy Church’s Photo Shop
I wanted an underwater camera to replace all those throw-away ones I’ve used in the past. Cathy Church’s had the best price in town for what I wanted. Their prices easily beat prices I found elsewhere and the camera is tax and duty free. They don’t have the fancy store front the other stores have, but their prices are great. They’re located in Sunset House about .5 to .75 mile south of Atlantis Submarine dock in George Town.
I bought an underwater camera good for a depth of 33 feet. I also got an upgraded chip, extra battery, arm holster for swimming with it secured, plus other items, all for less than just the basic camera here in the States.
6) Sea Trek
This is a walk on the bottom about 20 to 30 feet deep without getting your hair wet. The air is supplied to you from the surface. One major drawback is that there are no signs that indicate where to park or even which dock to use. (For us it was the middle of 3 docks just north of the Lobster Pot.) We eventually made it to the dive platform and were joined by 4 others folks from a cruise ship. My wife & I were the last to go down the long ladder.
For this to work for you it is necessary that you are able to equalize pressure for both ears. This is essentially the same as having your ears “pop” when gaining elevation, only in the reverse direction. While descending the ladder you equalize the pressure by slipping your hand under the helmet edge, squeeze the sides of your nose shut and blow with your mouth closed. This equalizes the pressure in the ears. You might have to repeat the process until you’re on the sand.
During the tour you walk along the sand within a roped-off area. The guide points out some items in the coral and you eventually end up back near the ladder. Then as a group you try to toss a device to each other. It is not as easy as it sounds. I tried to toss the object 3 or 4 times and it went very high or very low. The object is not too easy to catch either. However, rather than playing this game I would rather have spent the time seeing more of the coral.
While all of this is happening another scuba diver is taking pictures with a digital camera in an underwater housing. Unfortunately, most shots were rather poor we later discovered. This was primarily due to everyone stirring up the bottom sand. It was compounded by the chum used to bring in fish. As it turned out my new underwater camera took better shots as I was not shooting into all the disturbed sand that was trying to settle back to the bottom. As a result of stirring the bottom sand and chumming, the water was not as clear as I hoped it would be. This was not a snorkel spot so I can’t base the water clarity on this area.
Overall, I am glad we did the tour as I might not get the opportunity again. This was supposed to be a CAG discounted tour but we did not get it, even though I specifically mentioned it. We paid $150 US for 2 adults. edited by scubachar (per request from OP) to add that Sea Trek actually DID grant the CAG discount after all.
7) Butterfly Farm
The best time to get to the farm is when they’re opening for the day at about 8:30. The butterflies are gorgeous and some will be emerging as butterflies for the first time. Our guide happened to be the manager and she did an excellent job of explaining. Entrance fee was $15 US for each and, as a tourist, you can return as often as you like during your stay on the island. It was so interesting that we went a second day.
8) Atlantis Submarine – night tour
There are 2 submarine runs on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The story is that the colors are supposed to be more vibrant at night and that creatures that hide by day come out at night and you might be fortunate and see some. We did not find the colors to be exceptional. We did see a puff fish and a good size crab. There were game fish that came into view from time to time. I understand that it is a large operation to run a submersible, but even with the CAG discount, $160 for us both was not the best use of our funds.
9) Sting Ray Sandbar with Satos
This was one of the highlights of the trip. I do not recall the price, but remember that it was quite reasonable. You hold your tour spot by using a credit card and then must pay with cash or travelers checks and then the credit slip is returned. (I believe we were taken to the Sting Ray Sandbar as everyone could stand. I recall someone saying that Sting Ray City had deeper water.) The water was very clear. To say that the stingrays were awesome is an understatement. This is something that I would do again and already regret not doing so. I do recall that the CAG discount was accepted. Satos even arranged to pick us up at our hotel as their boarding location is not easy to find.
10) Rum Point & Starfish
You can drive to Rum Point, but it’s about 45 minutes from George Town using the Frank Sound Drive shortcut. I was planning to give detailed driving directions, but decided the fragile coral there needed a little protection.
On the island’s windward side we found shells washed ashore by storms.
11) Queen Elizabeth II – Botanic Park
The Botanic Park is near the middle of Frank Sound Drive. The park is hot and humid, with little breeze, but well worth the trip and $10 US for each of us. There are many flowers in bloom and they are set out along the path by color groups. Eventually we headed toward the endangered species Blue Iguana Habitat. On the way we discovered this male Blue Iguana and 2 females out loose. Later on we came to the actual habitat location.
12) Boatswain’s Beach
This cost us $44 US each, provided we used our American Express card for the entry fees. This was for full access all day. The park consists of a nice sized gift center, 3 major lagoons, a small aviary, and the turtle breeding areas. It was very interesting to swim in their irregularly shaped sea water lagoon. The bottom was designed to resemble the coral world just a short distance away. The lagoons have varying depths. Unfortunately, we came on the day they were cleaning the sea water lagoon. On our first dip it wasn’t that noticeable. By the time we took our second dip the debris floating at the one end was not pleasant to swim through. Once beyond that area it was OK again. There are 3 lagoons end-to-end. Both of the end lagoons has a large viewing window that looks into the middle (predator) lagoon. We were in the sea water lagoon with sharks swimming only a few feet away. The fresh water lagoon is more like an irregular swimming pool, but we didn’t enter that area. It also looks into the predator lagoon with its own window. A third window is for folks to walk up to and not get wet.
13 One Reason for Travel Insurance
Unfortunately, sometimes not all goes as planned on a vacation. On my birthday I got to swim with the sting rays in the morning and must have relaxed too much and got careless. A beach chair & I had an argument, and it won. When I looked down I saw my little toe was at an odd angle. Since it did not hurt I figured I must have just dislocated it. To make a long story short, I broke it. This is when you learn about why you get trip insurance.
I had to contact the insurance agent right away and then fax backbut no message
We have the medical expenses of the hospital, x-rays, and pharmacy to pay ourselves. Now that we’re home we have to submit the bills to our own insurance. Whatever they do not pay (and we expect none due to our high deductible) we then have to send the bills and the “Refuse to Pay” statement to the travel insurance company. If they do not pay then AAA Travel and Apple Vacations will hear from us loud and long. Any guesses as to how long this is all going to take?
Yet another item I failed to mention earlier…We were going to rent our snorkel equipment for the duration of the trip.
One disheartening thing that we noticed during our driving around was the rather high number of homes for sale. It’s sad to see so many homes just rebuilt from the hurricane and for sale signs going up. – Grand Cayman
