Grand Cayman web album

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Hey, thanks for checking out my Grand Cayman page! We've been taking lots of vacations in the Caribbean, and Grand Cayman was a place we hadn't been yet. It seemed like a logical next destination, plus I was extremely intrigued at the idea of going to Stingray City. Grand Cayman is located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica... and it's a gorgeous flight over the Caribbean with its scattered archipelagos and turquoise expanses of shallow sea! Here's a map of the Caribbean. Grand Cayman is the largest of three Cayman Islands, and basically it's a high-lying reef of "ironshore" (limestone fringes with numerous marine fossils), with a highest elevation of roughly 24 meters above sea level. There is no natural fresh water (lakes, rivers, etc) on the island, so any fresh water needs must be met by catchments or desalination of seawater. Grand Cayman's economy depends mainly on tourism, and it's a colorful mixture of its own indigenous culture, African, and European culture born of conquest, slavery, and warfare. But now it's a beautiful, peaceful, serene place to dive, snorkel, beach comb, wander around asking people for directions, or accidentally drive on the wrong side of the road. We never did anything as dumb as that, though... no honking or yelling or swerving into the oncoming lane in our teeny rental car. Yeah, nothing embarrassing like that.

We went to Stingray City on our third day in Grand Cayman, and it was so unbelievably fun!! For me, having new experiences in these exotic places and being around wildlife is what's it's all about, and Stingray City certainly had all of that. We got to swim with the rays, hold them, run our hands along them as they swam by us, enjoy the warm, waist-deep water, and take lots o' photos! Here's my Stingray City video, too. There was a nice man there to take pictures for us, but they had no problem with us taking our own, too. Alot of people ask me if this is dangerous but I didn't feel in any danger at all when we were there, not even when I was right up close to the rays, holding them and kissing one on the mouth. They were gentle, playful, curious, and just as relaxed as we were from what I could see. They felt so amazing to the touch too, like gigantic, squishy, wet, slippery pancakes. They looked very healthy. Honestly, I think they liked us. One ray just rested on my arms and let me hold it for several minutes. However, with any wild animal encounter you should always be respectful of the animal's space, gentle, cautious, and handle with care if that's an option. These rays are obviously used to people but that doesn't mean all stingrays are. I certainly wouldn't assume it's always safe to approach and touch a wild stingray. It was far out, though. We played with rays in Bora Bora, too,

and they were also friendly, docile, and curious. So basically, it's best to go with an ethical, experienced guide who knows the animals. We went to Rum Point after our stingray frolic... Rum Point is this gorgeous little beach hideout with a rustic beach restaurant, bright colors everywhere, and perfect sand and water. Blue skies, warm breezes, and lots of clear, warm water to snorkel and play in. Beautiful boat ride there! Our boat crew were lots of fun, too.

We stayed at this nice but laid back resort on the East end of the island where it's very quiet and there's not much industrial development. Georgetown, the capitol of the Cayman Islands, is located on Grand Cayman's west end close to the airport and it's famed 7 Mile Beach. We spent a day or so there at Seven Mile Beach which was very pretty. Here's my Seven Mile Beach video. We also did this 1/2 mile drift snorkel about 50 feet off shore near our resort. That was such a delightful ride... see my video here. We walked up the beach about a 1/2 mile, sat down in the surf, put our fins and masks on and just went with the flow. That was such an amazing, free feeling and so stimulating. We saw lots of pretty fish, blue tang, bluehead wrasse, ocean surgeon fish, blue-striped grunts, fairy basslets, sergeant majors, squirrelfish, what looked like a baby spotted moray, lots of corals and sea grass, and we even bumped into a school of Caribbean reef squid! That was my favorite thing we saw, especially since I'd never seen reef squid right in front of me in the water before. I immediately got the sense that they were very curious about us and wanted to just observe us like we were observing them. Their movements in the water were such pretty, effortless glides. They were about 8-9 inches long. They didn't seem afraid of us... in fact, they let us float with them for about 15-20 minutes.

We did a dive at this place called 'Dragon's Lair' off the East End of the island. Grand Cayman is known for it's amazing wall dives and we went down to about 109 feet on this dive. It was really beautiful. I felt beautiful just being there... it's almost as if the beauty of the ocean down there lives inside you. I don't know how else to describe the feeling. Maybe it's easier to understand if you see it here. My sweetie took this one. The people at Ocean Frontiers were great, too, very enthusiastic and helpful when I had to vomit from seasickness. That was the real high point right there. Good thing I hadn't eaten any breakfast. One thing's for sure: I've learned to take seasickness meds before diving in the future. I bumped into this cute, big blue parrotfish on a wall that seemed to like eating coral. That was quite a treat (the fish, not the coral... I don't really think I'd enjoy eating coral). It had such a striking, blue iridescent skin. We also saw lots of fascinating coral formations, tunnels, and caverns on this dive. It was fun to just coast right through them, being careful not to bump into anything, of course. I think I bumped my head a couple of times. Grand Cayman has the most intriguing oceanic topography of any travel destination we've dove yet. And we only saw a small fraction of it. Here's a dive video. We'd definitely like to dive Grand Cayman again, without the vomiting next time, though.

We also visited 'Hell' on our way back from Stingray City. It's a gigantic field of jagged, black, columnar rocks off a roadside and honestly, it looks like Hell... without the fire and the red guy with horns and cloven hooves, of course. He must have been on vacation in the real Hell. I hear it's quite lovely this time of year. Grand Cayman was great and the Caymanian people were so friendly and hospitable. I'm glad we stayed on the quieter East End, too. Enjoy!

Photos are below... click any image to make it larger: