Exploring Grand Cayman - The Eastern District

For almost fifteen years now we have been making an annual trip to Grand Cayman to go diving. We always stay out at the East End of Cayman away from the major tourist area of Seven Mile Beach and Georgetown. It takes about fifty minutes to drive there from the airport (keeping to the left side of the road, of course) and is well worth the trip. Along the way are some beautiful views of the ocean and colorful trees and bushes.

I always get a chuckle from the sign we pass that says, "Buy one jerk, get one free." Of course they are referring to the jerk seasoned chicken and pork the Caribbean is famous for. A bit closer to our destination, The Reef Resort, we pass my favorite sign--Elderly Crossing. It sits near the small old folks home but we've never seen anyone crossing the street there.

There is one place we pass called The Pirates Cave which we always jokingly say we're going to stop and see but never have. Our research indicates it is a hokey tourist stop but this year we thought it would be fun to do with our grandson. Unfortunately they were closed for remodeling. Maybe they were redressing the pirate mannequins.

We did do some exploring on our end of the island. We stopped at the little park that has a path to a viewing spot where you can look out at the Wreck of the Ten Sails. It's a spot out on the reef where ten large ships went aground on the rocks and coral in the late 1700s. No lives were lost and legend says that one of the survivors was of royalty and therefore the Cayman people were granted freedom from taxation. There is nothing to support that but it makes a good story.

One of the other points of interest in this area is the blowhole. Actually there are several but there is only one that you can actually walk down to. More about the blowhole in another post.

Restaurants of all sorts, a few small museums, some local shops, all add color and flavor to your stay on the east end of the island. But the best of the east end is the diving and the snorkeling and the time spent enjoying the seaside beaches and pools with a good book to read in the shade.