A Tranquil Oasis - Little Cayman

Since I’ve been to Grand Cayman six times now, I thought it was time to visit one of the other Cayman Islands, which include Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. I decided that I would fly over to Little Cayman, about an hour away and see what all the fuss was about. Turns out, there is no fuss in Little Cayman – there is no stress, no traffic, no noise; there aren’t nine cruise ships in the harbour, and in fact, with only about 150 permanent residents, it’s a pretty low-key destination. If you’re looking for an action packed island, this is NOT the place for you, however, if you like to dive, snorkel or just laze in the sun with a good book, Little Cayman would come highly recommended!

Our 12-seater plane landed at Little Cayman’s airport – and I use the term loosely; it is really just a grassy field with a paved strip running the length of it next to a one-room shack. I hopped off the plane and proceeded to walk into “town”, which is really one long road running along the beach, with a few small resorts and a couple of small shops. I was the only one on the road, aside from a few lone iguanas – which apparently have the right of way at all times on the island. I cut over to the beach, which was a mile or so long and lined with royal palms and the colourful pastels of the Caribbean. My friends from Cayman had sent me over to visit a friend of theirs who worked at one of the resorts, so I headed down to find it. Fifteen minutes later, I had met their friend, had been served breakfast and had committed to a dive in the afternoon! Not much arm twisting needed there…

I borrowed one of the kayaks from the resort and paddled out to a small nearby island to snorkel. It was scorching hot and the water was that amazing aquamarine blue and crystal clear – the kind you only find in the tropics. After an adequate amount of frying time, I headed back to the mainland, had a quick lunch and jumped aboard the dive boat and we headed out to the reef on the north side of Little Cayman.

There were about 15 divers aboard and as is always the case, when I dive, I’m a little anxious at first, trying to remember to check everything (always helpful to ensure the oxygen is turned on!) but the minute I get under the surface of the water, it all comes back and suddenly the stillness and silence of the deep blue are instantly calming.

We dove a site called the Mixing Bowl, where two coral reefs intersected – and it was truly a mixing bowl – many different types of coral and thousands of colourful tropical fish, from angel to parrot, and I even saw a big moray eel, with it’s fangs bared! The visibility was truly amazing, probably about 200 ft and crystal clear, so easy to see everything, almost like watching television, it was so clear. The water was about 87 degrees so a nice temperature for diving, although it’s amazing that you still get quite cold after a while.

I surfaced to a crazy rainstorm, that had suddenly descended upon us – a bit unusual and it made the trip back a bit rough, with 4-5 ft waves pouring over the boat. By the time we got to the pier, it was sunny and clear as though it had never happened.

I ended up staying overnight on the island, given the no-flying for 18 hours after diving rule, so met many of the locals, enjoyed a gorgeous sunset, a few drinks and a quick trip back to Cayman the next day. Definitely a journey worth taking, Little Cayman is the ideal place to slow down and really experience life in the tropics.

Paradise Found in Grand Cayman

What better time to flee to the tropics than at the onset of the dreary Michigan winter? I left on Dec 29 for my annual pilgrammage to Grand Cayman, to visit some good friends who have lived there for 15 years. As always, the minute you step off the plane, you realize that you've left winter far behind. Like most places in the Caribbean the temperature is shockingly constant, a fact that never seems to register when I'm packing and thinking maybe I should throw in a pair of jeans - that I never wear because it's way too hot. In any case, it was a lovely 29-30 degrees (or 85-90F) the entire trip and not too humid yet, although apparently they were having one of the hottest winters on record this year.

Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and definitely the busiest. It's an international banking center, so there are a ton of ex-pats living there and it's a very expensive place to visit and to live. However, having friends who live there certainly makes this aspect more manageable and I get to experience more of a realistic picture of what it's like to actually live on the island and not just visit it.

As far as GC goes, it's not the most interesting of the Caribbean islands - it's very flat, not that big and there isn't a lot of unique culture or history to explore like there is on many other islands. It is very commercalized and in recent years, the traffic from the cruise ships has made it even more so. On any given day there are numerous ships in the Georgetown harbour, sometimes as many as nine! Those are the days the locals totally avoid going anywhere near the capital city. I don't care whether it's a tropical island or not, what is the deal with the cruise shippers strolling around town in their bikinis and sarongs??

The island sustained severe damage from Hurricane Ivan, which ripped through it a year ago and wreaked havoc on many of the homes and lush vegetation. The coastline, which previously had been lined with massive tropical trees and bushes is completely stripped bare in many places and there is tons of construction and rebuilding going on.

We spent New Year's chilling out in the backyard with a few drinks and at midnight we were treated to a fabulous display of fireworks courtesy of a neighbour across the canal. There were nearly a half hour of fantastic fireworks and it was amazing to watch them in the dark sky, since there isn't much artificial light. On New Year's Day (also my 39th birthday), I played a round of golf at the Britannia course at the Hyatt. This would normally have been a unique first (to golf on my birthday), however it might have been a little more enjoyable had we not all been hungover and boiling hot... However, it was still a treat to get out on my birthday so I enjoyed it, regardless of the consequences! We celebrated the new year with dinner out at a great English pub that recently opened, the Triple Crown - nothing like sturdy British pub food to cure an ailing head!