Grand Cayman Island Vacation

This year my daughter was adamant that we travel together as a family because her brother was going to be in grade 12 next year. She thought this year would be ideal for everyone as they both are still younger and more willing to travel. I started looking as early as a month in advance and planned for a family vacation while celebrating my wife's birthday there at the same time. This post is about my trip to the Grand Cayman Islands, what worked and what didn't work. Here is a map of The island from one of the tourist stores.

I booked a rental car with Firefly and bought car insurance through Expedia because it was cheaper. I found out that the insurance was not honored by Firefly and if I opted out of purchasing further insurance on-site, they would have to hold $1500 of charges on my credit card. I ended up purchasing the additional insurance, invalidating what I bought online at Expedia. I made sure I was fully insured because they drive on the wrong side of the road there. They also have these complicated roundabouts instead of traffic lights which is supposed to be more efficient and reduces traffic. 

We booked our hotel at the Indigo Grand Cayman by IHG. This hotel was located right on Seven Mile Beach famous for its white sand and blue water. 

The hotel was high end with a resort fee of $65. The parking was free and there was a free bike rentals for guests. Vicki at the pool deck was very helpful at being our guide, recommending places to go and things to do as a tourist. Thanks for all the great local eatery suggestions.

We drove around and found Fosters, in George Town which is the equivalent of Costco or Fresh Street here in Vancouver. They had a buffet style food selection including jerk chicken. We stocked up on snacks and water for the hotel room.  We drove to Kirks Freeport and noticed that there were no fast food restaurants like McDonald’s or Burger King. I was actually pleased to find this out as I didn’t like fast food.

We also ate at two local eateries at the George Town port - Jerks BBQ Hut and Chibogs BBQ food park for lunch. They didn’t have halo halo for desert as it was very hot that day.

For breakfast next day, we headed out to Joe’s Coconut from Vicki’s recommendations. 

The next day, I booked our excursion to Stingray City, Sandbar Coral Snorkelling, and Starfish Island with Native Way Watersports. The hosts were great and we all had tons of fun with the stingrays particularly. I didn’t see much coral reef when we went snorkeling because we weren’t great swimmers and I was more afraid for my family’s safety that I didn’t quite enjoy it. The starfish was fine as well, hard to get excited about stationary starfishes. We did see other boats carrying what looked like instagram models.

That night we had dinner at a Peppers Bar and Grill local eatery with a live band who played many of the songs from Adam Sandler’s movie “50 First Dates”. 

It was my wife’s birthday so we celebrated at the hotel restaurant Catalina Kitchen and Bar. It was a little expensive with the kids sharing one order of jerk chicken and my wife ordering the salmon poke. The staff brought out a cake for her to make her birthday wishes on and they even included a signed card from all the staff there including the cooks. Much appreciated for the lovely thought.

The next day, we drove around the rest of the island. 

Drove east to Blowhole Escape to see water come up after  every wave, Lover's Wall to admire the view. Then we headed to Cayman Crystal Caves to see the bats l, loval mangos, and hike inside famous cave system. After that excursion we drove up to Rum Point to see more beaches.

For dinner we headed out to Bonny Moon Beach Club which was at the hotel and right on the water. They had a live dj and food was great. Walked back to hotel a little tipsy that night. The one thing I noticed was that the food establishments added an 18% gratuity every time so keep that in mind when the bill comes and they ask for additional tip. Also, there was an option to pay in local Cayman currency KYD or in US dollars. Both of which don’t look appetizing when converted to CAD dollars. I defaulted to paying in US.

The flight back was tiring as there was no direct flight and layovers in the US was necessary. To make sure there was enough time to get through security checkpoints, make sure the layover is at least 3 hours for international flights. Booking through Expedia is cheap but watch out for extras like seating arrangements or carry on luggage. I had to pay extra to sit together with my family and this negated the savings for the flight overall.