The Cayman Islands Alive! 2nd Edition (Hunter Travel Guides) PDF
Preview The Cayman Islands Alive! 2nd Edition (Hunter Travel Guides)
Cayman Islands AA LL II VV EE !! 2nd Edition ParisPermenter&JohnBigley HunterPublishing,Inc. 130CampusDrive Edison,NJ08818-7816 (cid:1)732-225-1900/800-255-0343/Fax732-417-1744 www.hunterpublishing.com [email protected] INCANADA UlyssesTravelPublications 4176Saint-Denis,Montréal,Québec CanadaH2W2M5 (cid:1)514-843-9882ext.2232/Fax514-843-9448 INTHEUK WindsorBooksInternational TheBoundary,WheatleyRoad Garsington,OxfordOX449EJEngland (cid:1)01865-361122/Fax01865-361133 ISBN1-58843-371-4 ©2004,HunterPublishing,Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro- duced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyform, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, record- ing, or otherwise, without the written permission of the pub- lisher. Thisguidefocusesonrecreationalactivities.Asallsuchactivi- tiescontainelementsofrisk,thepublisher,author,affiliatedin- dividuals and companies disclaim any responsibility for any injury,harm,orillnessthatmayoccurtoanyonethrough,orby useof,theinformationinthisbook.Everyeffortwasmadetoin- suretheaccuracyofinformationinthisbook,butthepublisher andauthordonotassume,andherebydisclaim,anyliabilityfor lossordamagecausedbyerrors,omissions,misleadinginforma- tion or potential travel problems caused by this guide, even if sucherrorsoromissionsresultfromnegligence,accidentorany othercause. FrontCover:TheCaymanIslandsis oneofthebestdivedestinationsintheworld. BackCover:CruiseshipoffGrandCayman PhotoscourtesyoftheCaymanIslands DepartmentofTourism,unlessotherwisenoted. MapsbyKimAndréandToniWheeler,©2004HunterPublishing,Inc. IndexbyNancyWolff 4 3 2 1 About The Authors John Bigley and Paris Permenter fell in love with the Caribbean over a dozen years ago and have turnedtheirextensiveknowledgeoftheregioninto an occupation. As professional travel writers and photographers, the pair contribute travel articles and photographs on the US and the Caribbean to many national consumer and trade publications. The husband-and-wife team have also written nu- merousguidebooks. ParisandJohnareauthorsofseveralotherHunter guidebooks, including Adventure Guide to the Cay- man Islands, Adventure Guide to Jamaica, Jamai- ca:ATasteoftheIsland,JamaicaAlive!,Nassau& TheBestofTheBahamasAlive!,Antigua,Barbuda, St. Kitts & Nevis Alive!, and Romantic Escapes in theCaribbean. Paris and John are also frequent television and ra- dio talk show guests on the subject of travel. Both aremembersoftheSocietyofAmericanTravelWri- ters(SATW). More about Paris and John’s work can be found on their website, www.parisandjohn.com. The couple also edit Lovetripper.com Romantic Travel Maga- zine, www.lovetripper.com, featuring romantic and honeymoon destinations throughout the Caribbean andaroundtheglobe.Whenthey’renotontheroad, theteamresidesintheTexasHillCountrynearAus- tin. Contents Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ready,Set,Go! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 TheAttractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 TheBestIslandForYou . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 TheAlivePriceScales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Accommodations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Restaurants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 ACapsuleHistory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The16th&17thCenturies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The18th&19thCenturies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 TheIslandsToday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 ThePeople . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Flora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Fauna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Hurricanes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 PlanningYourTrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 WhentoVisit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 EntryRequirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Customs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 WhattoPack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 InformationSources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 ByAir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 ByCruiseShip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Inter-IslandTravel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Practicalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 MoneyMatters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Telephone&Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 TimeZone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 ElectricalCurrent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 vi CaymanIslandsAlive! Culture&Customs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 WhattoExpect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Weddings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Grand Cayman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 OffshoreBanking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 ACaymanBankAccount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 GettingHere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 ByAir. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 FindingYourHotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 GettingAround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 OnWheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 ExploringtheIsland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Orientation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 BestPlacesToStay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Resorts&Hotels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Condominiums&Villas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 GuestHouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Live-Aboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 BestPlacesToEat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 TraditionalCaymanianFoods . . . . . . . . . . . 103 FavoriteCaribbeanDishes. . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 PriceScale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 GeorgeTown&SevenMileBeach . . . . . . . . . 105 RumPoint. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 SunupToSundown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 In&OnTheWater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 OnLand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 InTheAir. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Day-Trips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 ShopTillYouDrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 MoneyMatters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 GeorgeTown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 WestBayRoad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 AfterDark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Bars&Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 EveningCruises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 NightDive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 TarponFeeding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Contents vii Theater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 WestIndiesShow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Cinema. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 GrandCaymanAtoZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 AmericanConsulate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 AmericanExpress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Babysitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Banks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 CurrencyExchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Dentists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 GroceryStores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Emergencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Hospitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 HyperbaricChamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 HousesofWorship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 OpticalServices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Pharmacies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 PhotoLabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 PostOffice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 ShoeRepair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Telephone&Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 VideoRentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Website. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Little Cayman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 ByAir. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 GettingAround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 OnWheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Orientation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 BestPlacesToStay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Resorts&Hotels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Condominiums&Villas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Live-Aboards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 BestPlacesToEat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 InformalDining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 ResortRestaurants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 SunupToSundown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Beaches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Contents ix CaymanBracAtoZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 Banks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 CreditCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 Dentists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 Emergencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 PhotoLabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Booklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Websites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 General. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 TripPlanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Airlines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Attractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Festivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 Historic&NaturalPreservation . . . . . . . . . . 266 Recreation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 RealEstate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 UnderwaterPhotography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Weddings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Maps TheCaribbean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 TheCaymanIslands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 GrandCayman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 GeorgeTown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 EastEnd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 WestBay&SevenMileBeach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 DiveGrandCayman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 LittleCayman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 DiveLittleCayman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 CaymanBrac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 DiveCaymanBrac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 About the Alive Guides Reliable, detailed and personally researched by knowl- edgeableauthors,theAlive!serieswasfoundedbyHarriet and Arnold Greenberg. This accomplished travel-writing team established the renowned bookstore, The Complete Traveller,at199MadisonAvenueinNewYorkCity.
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