Grand Cayman Travel Guide

We stay at Cobalt Coast Resort for the diving. The resort is BEAUTIFUL and you will find no better host than owner Ari. We've stayed at CCR for at least three visits and on these visits, Ari has taken us to the medical clinic when our son Ben got an ear infection, driven us past Hell, bought pool toys for our son, bought a kite for our son, and taken our extended family into town to visit the turtle farm. Rooms have AC and TV (important when traveling with the youngsters!). Good reliable internet connection. Resort has a pool, iron-shore (dead coral) beach, long pier, small sandy area for sun-bathing. Summer has a great introduce-kids-to-water program. Resort also has a dog (Mojo) and cat (Ginger) and a bazillion hermit crabs to pick up and chase. Easy resort to get to (hop from Houston is about 2 hours). Plenty of diving: 2 boat dives each morning to beautiful finger reefs. Shore diving available but there is a long swim out to get past the iron shore. Resort is a little out of the way, but about a 7 to 10 minute drive away from 7-mile beach so rent a car if you want to do more than dive. Menu is limited: it has seven items on it but that's it. It doesn't rotate. Chef is willing to customize (we were able to easily get food Ben would eat). US dollar is accepted tho exchange rate is set so that the Cayman dollar is worth a quarter more than a US dollar so it's expensive. Everyone speaks English.

Hiring a Cab/Shuttle in Grand Cayman.

Drivers will negotiate the fair, if you have a large group then negotiate.  We got fare from $4/person to $3/person for party of 8 both ways - saved $16 US.

If they offer to give you lower fare on the way back, don't take it unless you are certain to get that same driver again.  Typically cruise ship passengers go to the same locations and when its time to head back to ship, there will be an over abundance of cabs/shuttles and they take the first people they get.  They won't wait around for you. 

We did hook up with our same shuttle driver and she tried to renig on the deal we made.  We told her to pound sand we'd take another cab just on principle, she then honored our original deal.

On the northwest part of the island, you will find a very small town called Hell. It is a great tourist trap with great little souveniers. The limestone formations in the area have left a craggy, gnarled landscape of rock which the locals call Hell. The Devil's Hideout is run by a very funny older gentleman who dresses like the Devil. You will have many picture opportunites here. They have a post office, a few shops, and a bar. Don't forget to send postcards to everyone you know from Hell!