Grand Cayman info

[vikaero]

Heading off to MWCR early Feb for about a week looking for some recommendations on the following:

1. Good hotel to stay at.
2. Restaurants - local ones not the chain crap
3. Things to do
4. Any other pertinent tips that any of you feel are important.

Thx

 

[vikaero]

bump......

 

[masedogg19]

not sure if it exists because it was a while back that I went...but Chef Tell's Grand Old House was a good restaurant....7 mile beach seems to be the place to hang too....do the Stingray City snorkeling tour (you get to hand feed them and pet them) or take a scuba tour

 

[viking737]

Marriott is quite nice (AA crew stays there).
Across the street there are 2 bar/restaurants with local flavor,
Coconut Joes and Aqua Beach.

 

[staledog]

if you are into the younger (20something) crowd try OBar. cool place. also you could ride the bus up the road to the town called Hell just to say you've been there. it's kinda neat but you wouldn't want to stay more than about 15 minutes. i haven't swam with the stingrays yet in stingray city but everybody says it's amazing and costs maybe 20 bucks or so.

 

[CL600Pilot]

There is a seafood restaurant out by the Turtle Farm that is really good - it's been a few years since I've been there but I believe it's called The Cracked Conch maybe.

 

[errfoil]

I've always stayed at Spanish Bay Reef, which is on the extreme northern tip of the main island. It's more of a couples hangout, probably not suitable for crew (very quite compared to 7 mile beach), but it would be worth looking up if you want to do some diving. You can shore dive the Cayman Trench from the resort dive shop, spend your surface interval on shore, then jump back in at your leisure. No chain gang diving. It's my favorite place to dive if I'm coming from the US.

There is a great local restaurant out near Spanish Bay, can't remember the name, but there isn't much on that part of the island. It's one of the better restaurants on the island. Just ask a taxi about the "really good seafood restaurant near Spanish Bay".

Another fun trip is to run out to Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. It's a great change of pace to spend at least an overnight if you're not 'on call'. The smaller islands still feel like the big island did 20 years ago. Also great diving.

Ditto the earlier comment on Stingray City. It's very much a tourist trap event, but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing!

The bar in the Holiday Inn used to be quite the hot spot, but it was wiped out by the hurricane. I'm not sure if they rebuilt the bar, or if it's happening.

One more item, if your expense system covers taxi's I'd choose that over rental cars. The traffic parallel to 7 mile beach has become horrible the last few years. Parking in Georgetown is next to impossible. A car is more trouble than it's worth if you're staying in Georgetown or along 7 Mile Beach.

Have fun!