Cayman Islands '97
These pictures are from our vacation to the Cayman Islands, August 5-14, 1997.
We flew first class (what a treat!) to Miami, with a brief stop in Las Vegas, on
America West. We then flew from Miami to Grand Cayman on Cayman Airways.
We did a package deal with
Don Foster's Dive Cayman,
which included airfare
from Miami, accomodations at the Holiday Inn, and a lot of SCUBA diving!
The Holiday Inn was "nice". You give up a little in the luxury department
in exchange for a beautiful beach. Don Foster's has a dive shop right on
the beach, and the dive boats picked us up there. It was nice to wake up,
grab a danish, and be on the dive boat in minutes.
The diving in Cayman was absolutely terrific. We shot four rolls of film in an underwater Camera we rented, pictures and details are on my Cayman SCUBA page. The water was perfectly clear, and visibility was often 100'.
While outgassing (not diving), we spent most of our time on the beach and by the pool, or sleeping (diving really makes you tiried). The beach was very nice and the pool was pretty cool, although a little small. We usually ate at nearby restuarants, which were pretty good. Food is very expensive in Cayman. The Cayman dollar has a fixed exchange rate of $0.80 Cayman to $1.00 US. Since all prices are in Cayman, they're even more expensive than they look. Our most expensive dinner was at Thai Orchids, at $75 for two (no drinks).
We did venture down to George Town, but was very disappointed. There were only a few restaurants, and half were closed between lunch and dinner. George Town is where all the cruise ships dock for the day, and I really can't figure out where all those people go! Maybe they stay on the boat.
Overall Cayman is absolutely terrific for SCUBA diving, and the prices for diving are much cheaper than Maui. If you're not SCUBA diving, there are some snorkeling and boating activities, but not much else to do. We had a great time, and I'm sure we'll return some day.
Here's the pictures, and don't forget to look at the underwater pictures.
All pictures were taken with my
Sanyo VPC-G200 digital camera and are
unedited.