Falling for the Cayman Islands

Jean Pierce

Eeny, Meeny, Miney ...
Three islands, three choices, and only one trip. Which to choose? Our advice -- see them all if you possibly can. They're as different as New York, New Jersey and Vermont.

On Grand Cayman (22 miles by 7 miles), you'll drive along Seven Mile Beach, home to luxury resorts, condos, shopping centers and plenty of traffic. Getting into George Town, the capital and center of commerce, cruise ships loom in the harbor and multinational banks intermingle with duty-free shops. But this is hardly a metropolis, and within minutes, you're on an ironshore beach watching spewing blowholes, visiting Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park or exploring the West Indian Great House. You can enjoy a relaxing lunch at any number of attractive restaurants facing out to sea. Then you'll drive to Rum Point, order a refreshing mudslide and watch the sun drop below the horizon.

Next, hop 90 miles to Cayman Brac where you'll find streets like Bluff Boulevard and Mango Tree Road. The pace is slower and tourism is least evident: no traffic, no cruise ships and no duty-free shops. Islanders, who number about 1,500, will stop to chat. In Stake Bay you visit Eddie Scott, who uses a dentist drill to craft jewelry from local caymanite. Then you pick up fresh sugarcane at a little market and munch on it while exploring some of the huge natural caves that are carved into the limestone bluff on the East End. On the way home, you stop by La Esperanza for spicy jerk chicken barbecued outdoors.

Finally, 5 miles away on Little Cayman, you'll probably opt for a bicycle rather than a car. You travel unpaved, rutted roads and pass by signs warning to brake for iguanas. Just a few small dive and fishing resorts dot the island, and, except for the employees who work them, there are few islanders. In your spare time you can visit the largest breeding colony of red-footed boobies in the Western Hemisphere, buy a handmade basket from Mrs. Reilly or make a driftwood sign to leave for posterity. Then again, an empty hammock might be too impossible to resist. 

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