Welcome to our blog! Please feel free to comment on our website, Cayman tourism, tourism in general or your experiences while visiting Cayman.
We’ve added this blog so we can help improve and sharpen the Cayman tourism product. This means, we will be writing articles that affect our tourism industry and articles that explain certain features about Cayman to help people who have never been here before. We’ll also let you know about deals and specials and unusual happenings and events. So it’s also a great place for people who have already visited here to check in and see what’s new since their last visit.
You, our valued visitor, can help by commenting on our posts. Do you agree? Disagree? Is there something you’d like us to write about? Do you have a favourite vendor on the island? Is there something you like about Cayman that is so special you want the whole world to know? Your feedback helps us know how to serve you better.
I was driving through town this past Sunday and there was a Cruise Ship in the distance. Of course that meant that there would be tourists in town. A lot of them where walking about and as my car came to a stop I heard a passerby saying, "Why are all the shops closed?!"
Tags: Untagged Read MoreWe gussied up on Saturday night and went out for the Parade of Lights at Camana Bay. Boat owners decorate their vessels in Christmas lights and parade around the harbour, vying for cash prizes. Camana Bay, one of our favourite places in Cayman, has a large promenade along the harbour, perfect for viewing this kind of event. And lots of people were there. It was one of the largest gatherings we have seen in recent years. Vendors selling food and gifts were set up in the courtyard, so there was a fun street fair vibe to the evening.
Sunset Divers, pictured here, won the commercial category and Lonnie Jackson won the private category. It was an especially beautiful evening as there was a full moon – what a lovely backdrop for a waterfront Christmas festival. After the choir singing Christmas carols and the parade of the boats, a 15-minute fireworks show capped the evening. If you haven’t seen fireworks over the water, you really should treat yourself – it’s just so beautiful.
Tags: Untagged Read MoreThere are many things that Cayman does very well and one of them is Christmas light displays. The decorations start going up in early December. By mid-month the island is ablaze. House after house after condo after condo after shopping mall after hotel – dense strings of lights are shaped around palm trees, buildings and structures to create brilliant colourful displays. An evening drive through residential neighbourhoods and along Seven Mile Beach is a quick way to get in the holiday spirit.
Cayman Islands Helicopters gives aerial tours of our islands which give fantastic views of the water and reefs and mangroves. Have you ever looked out the airplane window on arrival and wished the plane would slow down so you could see more from on high? A helicopter tour allows that.
Exciting news is that CIH has opened up a new launch and landing pad in downtown George Town. Previously flights were out of the airport. But now you can board the helicopter from the waterfront area. This is great for cruise ship passengers as the new location is just a few blocks from the cruise ship terminals, only a 5-minute walk.
Fireworks are very popular in the Cayman Islands – they are routine at Pirates Week, the Christmas boat parade of lights, New Year’s and for many private celebrations such as weddings, grand openings and birthday parties. A friend of ours is the local fireworks operator and invited us to a private function recently for an insider’s view. The party was held at Pedro Castle, one of Cayman’s best tourism attractions, site of an 18th century plantation with great house and expansive grounds and gardens on the bluff overlooking the south coast.
We were in Boca Raton, FL recently, on a vacation of sorts (visiting friends). It was interesting to notice the differences and similarities between Boca Raton and the Cayman Islands.
Boca, as the locals call it, is an affluent community filled with high-end living and shopping. Just like Cayman. Boca’s Town Center mall had Cartier, Tous, Swarovski, Tiffany, and MAC cosmetics boutiques. Just like Cayman. There was a wide range of restaurants from family diners and fast food to fine dining. Just like Cayman. Just a few miles south in Deerfield Beach there was a lovely public beach with easy swimming and picnic cabanas. Just like Cayman. There was also a wide variety of internationals in the population. Just like Cayman. And there seemed to be a mix in many places of professionals, families and tourists. Just like Cayman.
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We've been exploring ways to make sure our Voting feature is completely accurate and bug-proof. What better way than to tie it to Facebook. If you haven't already voted for your favorite dive operation, restaurant, spa or wedding photographer, do it now!
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We are in the process of tying our Voting feature to Facebook. One Facebook account will equal one vote – this will ensure that the votes are legitimate. The previous function tied up the voting component to an IP address. One IP = One vote but since the IP's in the Cayman Islands are dynamic, it just made more sense to tie up the votes with Facebook profiles.
Please be patient with us while we customize this new voting component. We dont really have a time frame as this is the first time we are attempting to do it but we hope to have it done in the earliest possible time.
A few weeks ago, our local swimming association put on an 800m open water sea swim. Our sea swim season runs March through November and the association organizes a total of 6 swims ranging from 800m to 5k, all along Seven Mile Beach. This recent swim, sponsored for many years by one of our grocery stores, Fosters Food Fair, is used by many swimmers and triathletes as a build up race to the Olympic distance triathlon and the Pirates Week 5k swim, both held in November. These distance events mostly attract locals. But more and more tourists are finding their way to our sporting events. Indeed, some visitors come to Cayman specifically to compete in our premier athletic events. Competition here is very friendly and very easy. Bringing home an age group trophy is quite a memento for your Cayman visit.
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Many of you have responded to our notices about voting for the Top Ten in several of our categories. In fact, a whole lot of you have. We are using our Facebook page as a channel to bring in more votes. And it’s working – a testament to the power of social media.
At first we were suspicious of the results because the voting was so heavy we thought that readers might be cheating the system. We allow only 1 vote per IP address to guard against vote stuffing. So when we saw the dramatic numbers we investigated. We are pleased to say that our system is safe and that each one of the votes is authentic. It seems our readers really love their dive operators, restaurants and bars.
The Caymanian Compass, our local newspaper, reports today that Cayman has once again featured well in several tourism related awards. Scuba Diving magazine ranks Grand Cayman #9 worldwide for shore diving. Cayman’s reefs are very easy swimming distance from shore, so all dive operations located on the water have dive ladders and maps indicating the nearby dive sites.
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