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Grand Cayman Island |
Favorite first-time visitor question: "How much is a taxi ride to Stingray City?" |
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Like anyone who has known Grand Cayman for any period of time, I've developed a love-hate relationship with the island, largest of the Cayman Islands group. I'm still very much attracted to Grand Cayman's many interesting sites such as the Mastic Trail and Stingray City, one of my favorite underwater photo places, and all the other sites listed below. But Grand Cayman is being loved to death. George Town, Cayman's main city and the country's capital is a wintertime dumping ground for cruise ship passengers. As many as 10 large ships may dock here on the same day, disgorging between 20,000 and 25,000 people. It's sheer bedlam. George Town simply is too small to handle such a massive influx. And people who are paying
hundreds of dollars a day to stay in a resort are inconvenienced by
the traffic. They have to avoid George Town, fight the increased traffic
and hope their particular hotel beach won't be overrun. All beaches,
even those of the exclusive Ritz-Carlton, are public. To me, what
makes it all worthwhile is Stingray
City, where people and southern stingrays gather in mutual
feeding frenzy. And although it may seem Stingray City was set up to lure tourists, it wasn't. Capt. Marvin Ebanks helped start it may many decades ago, as he told me. Being on island
for only a few hours, most cruisers don't realize Grand Cayman has one
of the Best 100 Bars in the World as rated by Newsweek magazine
readers. It's the Lone Star Bar &
Grill on the West Bay Road next to the Hyatt Regency. Cayman
Background Facts & Map
From NOAA Major Attractions
Atlantis, RSL and other submarines Cayman
Turtle Farm The
sites, the dive operators Kayaking
Grand Cayman Lone Star Bar & Grill Grand Cayman's world famous bar Mastic
Trail Pedro
St. James Queen
Elizabeth II Botanic Park Rum Point Wreck Bar Return to Cayman Islands Homepage
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