Cayman Islands

Travel Dates: July 2022

Hotel: The Locale Hotel Grand Cayman

Very convenient location–close to several restaurants, walking distance to Camana Bay (see activities section for more details), and accessible to the public beach. It’s one of the cheaper hotels on the Seven Mile Beach strip, and has free parking and free breakfast. The hotel also provides beach towels, beach chairs and umbrellas free of charge.

The Locale Hotel is about 10 minutes from the airport, and taxi (there’s no Uber or Lyft) is $22 – $25.

Food:

Ms. Piper’s Kitchen & Garden Cayman – located at the Hampton hotel, this “garden” restaurant was a bit pricey but well worth it with delicious food/drinks and cute ambiance. We ordered the Branzino filet and seafood tagliatelle, along with the summer trifle for dessert. Everything was super tasty, and the service was exceptional. There’s also live music in the evening.

You can make a reservation on Open Table, but it’s not really needed. We went around 5:30p and were probably the first ones there. It did start to get busier around 7p though.

Craft F&B Co. – if you need a quick bite, this gastropub is nice. What we enjoyed the most was the Happy Hour from 4-6pm where they have delicious cocktails for $5 Cayman Island Dollar.

Saltwater Grill – mid-priced seafood restaurant with decent food (their seafood pappardelle was good). No reservations needed; we went around 6:30p and it wasn’t busy.

Activities:

Stingray City Tour – Cayman Islands is known for scuba diving and snorkeling, and it definitely did not disappoint. We booked the Stingray City, Starfish, Reef Snorkel, & Turtle Lagoon grand tour with the Stingray City Cayman Islands tour company at $120 per person. It includes hotel pick up and drop off, water/soft drinks on board, and snorkel gear rental.

We were picked up around 8:50am and the bus dropped us off at the pier. After checking in and signing a waiver, we got on the boat and headed out. The tour group was about 20 people, and it was a 20 – 30 minute, smooth boat ride to the first stop: coral reef gardens for snorkeling, where we saw a lot of fish. Water depths are 8 – 10 feet there, but if you can’t swim they do have life jackets.

Afterwards we went to see the stingrays, which was the highlight of the trip. Water depth is 3 – 5 feet here and swimming is not allowed to prevent a Steve Irwin incident from happening. Just be calm and watch where you are stepping, otherwise the stingrays are relatively gentle and just swim around you. They range from small to large depending on how old they are, and are all female. There will also be an opportunity to feed them.

The third stop is also in shallow waters to see starfish, and some of them were huge! To handle the starfish properly, keep them in the water (they will die if they are out of the water for too long) and make sure you do not drop them back but place them right side up on the ocean floor (their breathing hole is at the top so if they are upside down, it will suffocate them).

We then headed back to the pier, and then they took us to the Cayman Turtle Centre, a conservation facility where you can see sharks and other marine life, birds, a crocodile and even swim with turtles. We had a little less than 1.5 hours here so we immediately went to the Turtle Lagoon where you can snorkel. You can borrow snorkel gear and everyone is required to wear inflatable life jackets (which you have to blow into a tube to inflate). The lagoon starts off shallow and gradually gets deeper, dropping to 10 feet. You do need to swim towards the deeper parts of the lagoon to see the turtles. Be aware, there’s a lot of algae in the water. Besides turtles, we also saw an iguana and white peacock near the lagoon.

Overall, the tour was about 5.5 hours and for all that you see, the price is well worth it. Do remember to bring your own towel and snacks since those are not provided on the trip, and a waterproof phone case to take all the pictures.

Seven Mile Beach – parts of the beach are public access, while other parts are on private resort property, but you can still walk past it. At our hotel, there is an access point around the corner that is 2 – 3 minutes from the beach, but it’s a bit narrow and between houses. There were a lot of small lizards along the path. Once you get to the beach, there are chairs and umbrellas that seem like they are for public use (or else they were part of the condominium right behind it, but people were just using it).

If you walk in the opposite direction for just a few minutes longer (towards Camana Bay direction), there’s a wide-open pathway by a public parking lot and it leads you to Royal Palms Beach Front where you can rent jet skis, kayaks, etc. There were also beach chairs here that usually cost money, but I guess the weather wasn’t that great and there weren’t that many people when we went so we just used the chairs for free. There’s also a bar and restaurant right next to water sport rentals.

Seven Mile Beach is pretty rocky, with a slight drop when you wade into the water. But once you go into the ocean further, there’s a sandy area, although if you go too far it gets rocky again (water shoes will definitely improve your experience). The waves don’t seem to be big, and parts of the beach you can see fish in the water and small white crabs in the sand.

On our first day there, the weather wasn’t that great and we saw a watersprout (water tornado). It was pretty cool–since they’re out in the ocean, you’ll be fine but just check that it doesn’t start coming towards the mainland.

Camana Bay – a retail & entertainment district that is a 12 minute walk from our hotel. They have a pedestrian walkway to get to the area in order to bypass the highway right next to it. There are also scooters you can rent by using the Bird – Ride Electric app.

There’s a large Whole Foods-like supermarket, liquor store, Starbucks, restaurants, movie theater, and shops here. They also have a free 75-foot observation tower with beautiful mosaics and a small marina if you need to kill time.

Other travel tips:

The currency is the Cayman Islands Dollar and is fixed to the US dollar at $1.25 US Dollars to $1.00 Cayman Islands Dollar. USD is widely accepted, and anywhere you go, the receipts will show you two options in paying CI or USD. If you pay credit card, they will always charge it against USD. One thing to note is if you’re paying USD and need change, they will most likely return it back in CI. One other thing to note is that they do tipping, and it is generally included on the bills.

Because the Cayman Islands is a British Oversees Territory, they do drive on the left so be mindful if you’re crossing the street or thinking about renting a car.

There’s wild hen and roosters everywhere so be prepared they might be loud and wake you up in the early morning!