Recreation

Golf enthusiasts can opt for one of the two golf courses in the Cayman Islands, both of which are situated on Grand Cayman. The Britannia, with par 3's and 4's is an exclusive 18-hole executive golf course. The course is played in the Executive format or as a 9-hole regulation course. Golf is usually played with regular golf balls, but the Cayman Ball (that moves half the distance of a normal ball) was particularly developed, considering the executive course. This was to give golf enthusiasts an experience of playing a regulation course on an executive layout. The Links at Safe Haven, an 18-hole championship golf course, is a par 71, stretching across 6,525 yards and offers picturesque views of the North Sound. This golf course is the winner of the 1998 Best Golf Course, awarded by the Caribbean World magazine. The Britannia Golf Course as well as the Links Golf Course are open for play to public every day, and also provide clubhouse facilities and full bar. Apart from golf, there are also plenty of activities on land such as tennis, squash, or other outdoor sports.

Cayman also offers tourists excellent water sport activities. It is considered as one of the best scuba diving destinations in the world. Wreck and reef diving tours are arranged every day by more than 30 specialized diving organizations. Grand Cayman is regarded one of the 10 most excellent dive spots in the world. Grand Cayman is extremely famous because of the visibility its waters have to offer, beautiful coral formations, marine life, and even sunken ships. The Cayman Islands are well known all over the world for their wall dives. The most notable location in Grand Cayman for scuba diving is the Great Wall, where you can see a colorful mix of Caribbean coral and exotic fish. You can even go scuba diving with stingrays at Stingray City. For shallow water diving in Grand Cayman, you can go to Orange Canyon off the west coast, whereas Trinity Caves, in close proximity, is an excellent deep-water location with canyons.

Other water sports popular on the Cayman Islands are sport fishing, snorkeling, parasailing, boardsailing, and skiing.

If you are not a diving enthusiast, beach and shore snorkeling are also wonderful recreational activities. For snorkeling, you can go to Eden Rock and Devil's Grotto, which lie close to each other, and are around 4 minutes from the Cruise Ship Terminal. Here you will find a wonderful coral formation at a depth of about 10 to 30 feet apart from a variety of fish.

You can also think about taking a trip on the Atlantis Deep Explorer. This submarine carries two people at one time, down to a depth of 1000ft (330m).

In the Cayman Islands, you will find private operators who can take you for many of the snorkeling, scuba diving or fishing trips. Even though no license is necessary for deep-sea fishing, rules require the angler to use only that bait which can be eaten. Fishes such as tarpon and bonefish are merely for sport and hence must be released.

When you go fishing, tourists will mainly have to keep in mind the cost of chartering a boat. Boat rents for deep-sea fishing start at around US $ 400 for a half-day, and a full day may cost you as much as US $1,000. Offshore charters are somewhat more reasonably priced, ranging from US $ 325 to US $ 650 for a half day. An entire day of bone and reef fishing will usually cost you between US $300 and US $600, whereas a half-day will cost about US $200 to US $400. Bone-fishing guides will charge you about US $250 per half day, for two people.

With virtually 200 local bird species, the Cayman Islands are a bird watcher's delight. There is a Parrot Preserve in Cayman Brac and it is also home to yellow-bellied sapsuckers. The Booby Pond Nature Reserve is located in Little Cayman, and here you will usually find red-footed boobies, herons and egrets. On the southern coast of Grand Cayman, is Meagre Bay Pond, which is home to grebes, plovers, as well as snowy egrets.

VI. Shopping

Shopping in the Cayman Islands draws a lot of tourists because it is a duty-free destination and its capital, George Town, is one of the best shopping centers in the Caribbean. Apart from duty free shops, Cayman Islands also boast of more than 60 excellent jewelry and souvenir stores. Most shops in Georgetown remain closed on Sundays.

On Grand Cayman as well as at some shops on Cayman Brac, you will find a fine assortment of traditional duty free items such as watches, perfumes and jewelry, including genuine treasure coin jewelry. You can get a discount of about 30% on perfumes, watches and a few specific luxury items.

Local merchandise shopping includes shell jewelry, woodcarvings, Caymanian-style birdhouses, Caymanite (Cayman's semi-precious stone) jewelry and statues, which can be bought from the local stores.

Along with traditional duty free shopping, diverse and attractive merchandise and beautiful local art is also available at specialty stores in George Town. These items are also available at boutiques in hotels and in shopping malls on West Bay Road. Some of the popular malls in the Cayman Islands include the Queen's Court Mall besides the Sleep Inn, Buckingham Square next to the Hyatt and The Strand and Cayman Falls Plaza opposite the Westin. The Queen's Court Shopping Center has stores selling everything from local art to the stylish products, although the Kirk Freeport Plaza, which sells superior luxury products, would be a better option for duty-free shopping. In George Town, your shopping trip must comprise of a visit to the boutique of Bernard Passman, an amazing coral artist whose works of art are owned by British royals and the Pope.

Apart from downtown George Town, you can do great shopping in Grand Cayman along Seven Mile Beach. For local art and craft goods, you can go to the galleries on Grand Cayman such as, Kennedy Gallery or Cayman Fine Art in Westshore and Island Art in Treasure Island resort. There are two small art and craft galleries on Cayman Brac, which sell local and Caribbean art. Exclusive handicrafts can also be found at the Heritage Crafts Shop in George Town, and at shopping complexes in Grand Cayman on Seven Mile Beach such as the Galleria Shopping Plaza and the West Shore Shopping Centre.

Cathy Church's Underwater Photo Center and Gallery (Sunset House) along with underwater photography facilities, also offer an outstanding variety of underwater photographs and prints framed in the form of art pieces.

The Tortuga Rum Company sells Tortuga Rum Cake, Tortuga label gourmet food and an extensive variety of Caribbean specialty foods, coffees and spices apart from the 10 blends of rum.

When shopping in Grand Cayman, you are likely to find fewer bargain-basement deals compared to other ports, particularly on imported merchandise like china, perfumes, and electronics.

Cardinal Avenue

Address

George Town,

Grand Cayman

Cayman Islands

This is George Town's main shopping district, and houses the well-known Kirk Jewelers, as well as several clothing boutiques and galleries selling local artwork.

Artifacts Ltd.

Address

Box 723, GT

Grand Cayman

British West Indies

Phone No.: (345) 949-2442

Fax: (345) 949-6442

Website: http://www.artifacts.com.ky

This store sells antiques; ancient Greek and Spanish shipwreck coins and coin jewelry on a retail basis. They also deal in Roman and Dutch shipwreck coins and jewelry. Halcyon days enamels and glassware and are also available here, along with ceramic items.

Tropical Trader II

Address

Anchorage Centre,

Downtown,

George Town

Phone No.: (345) 945-8425

Tropical Trader II offers you a large variety of reasonably priced and stylishly designed t-shirts and resort wear shirts. You can buy 2 t-shirts for US $ 24. Here you can also find a wide range of native art merchandise and handicrafts at very reasonable prices. Tropical Trader II also sells Caribbean coffee, native music, rum cakes and other goods.

Churchill's Cigar Store

Address

Anchorage Centre,

Downtown,

George Town

Phone No.: (345) 945-6141

Churchill's Cigar Store houses a large collection of the finest Cuban, Dominican and Honduran hand-rolled cigars. Some of the excellent cigar brands available here include Cohiba, Hoyo de Monterry and Romeo y Julieta. This store is also an agent for Davidoff, Cayman Premium cigars. Cigar accessories are also available here.

Brazilian Gems and Jewelry

Address

Anchorage Centre,

George Town

Phone No.: (345) 945-3122

A new store, Brazilian Gems and Jewelry deals in a wide variety of semi precious gemstone jewelry directly from Brazil. Here you can find beautiful gemstone jewelry at affordable prices. You can find everything from amethyst, peridot, blue topaz, and garnet among other precious and semi-precious stones and jewels. Prices start at US $ 92.

Tropical L'Attitude

Address

P.O. Box 687 GT

Grand Cayman

Cayman Islands.

Phone No.: 345-945-1233

Tropical L'Attitude is located in the middle of downtown George Town, facing the main Post Office, and houses an extensive variety of extraordinary gifts and souvenirs along with tropical attire. This store also boasts of the island's most excellent collection of beachwear and hand-painted batik sarongs. Here you can also buy hand-carved wooden merchandise, hand-woven baskets and bags, hand-painted batik work and much more.