December 26th, 2003 we sail off Cuba to Great Cayman for 135 nautical miles and arrive in George Town, capital of Great Cayman on December 27th, 2003. Olga and Bruno aboard Sashay, already left to Honduras, shame, shame, shame !
Great Cayman, 22 miles length, 4 to 8 miles wide, is a rather flat island which, except its fiscal paradise and its diving kingdom, has not great interest. The inhabitants are mostly British, the expat. As in many British colonies, this biped can be observed each evening from 5 p.m. during the Happy hour, drinking two beers for the price of one, in one of the many open bars!.
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Cost of life here is terribly expensive if like me you own dollars and as every one noticed the dollar is not in a very good shape at the moment and here in the Caymans there is no parity with the US dollar ! Unfortunately one Cayman Dollar is equal to 1.25 US dollar ! ! As you can imagine it is no good spending your money there ! ! Better work there and save it to spend it somewhere else ! ! ! !
Luckily to visit the fishes in such a wonderful underwater world do not cost much to us as we have our own gear and a compressor on board. Up to 165 easily accessible dive sites are marked with heavy white buoys you are invited to take whenever you like. You just have to tie your boat to the big buoy. No dive boat will come to ask you to leave. Here the rules are first arrived, first served. The water temperature is up to 27°C during winter time and up to 28°C during summer time. Dives beginning onto the reef and getting along the wall takes you through wonderful labyrinths and caves with splendid lights effects. It is fun to get in one way and out from an other, meeting either a turtle, a big Nassau grouper, a stingray… Underwater flora and fauna are still relatively well preserved here, but for how long.
As it is impossible to anchor around Great Cayman you are more than welcome to moor on one of the big orange buoy placed there for sail boats, but there are only a few of them and it helps in preserving the reef. We found one free in George Town where there are only 4 ! The problem in being moored in George Town is the high number of cruise ships, not less than 6 a day, anchoring right on the reef as there are only 3 mooring buoys for them, or remaining onto their engine all day long and dropping 2000 tourists per ship on the tiny Great Cayman, where you only have around 50 000 inhabitants !
A never ending shuttle ballet takes place from morning to evening, as well as snorkel and dive boats which do not need to go too far to let the people enjoy the wonderful underwater life as you can even swim from the shore to reach dive sites.
Everything floating and able to carry people out on the great blue ocean is gathered here, as tiny submarine, glass bottom boat more or less sophisticated, all kind of dive boats, and even hookah underwater tours ! !
Ashore, some tourists rush to 7 miles beach which is in fact only 5 miles long, or shop in the many shopping mall. It seems that tourists are no more visiting a country but travelling for shopping around the world. The fact that Great Cayman is a free tax country, since February 8th, 1794, thank you George III !, is a kind of lure to let you think everything is going to be cheaper than home, but I have some doubt about it ! ! !
You can find here almost as many dive shops as resorts or hotels, offering every kind of diving stuff you dreamt about ! They are almost as big as diving supermarkets ! I loved it !
The one having money to drop in one of the many banks of this wonderful fiscal paradise island, can easily open an offshore company and the Cayman hold a record of 36 612 offshore corporations and companies registered.
In between two dives we watched at the cruise ships coming in and out for other Caribbean destinations or going back to United States. We thought Nassau was the place where we'd seen the highest number of cruise ships, but George Town-Great Cayman is winning far away ahead ! Isn't it funny when you realize there is no harbor for them in this island ?
During our stay in Great Cayman we got through two cold fronts. The first one brought such a swell in George Town we had to move to Spot's bay, as well as the cruise ships !, and found a few mooring buoys for sail boat, but we decided to take a dive buoy and enjoy the diving during the front as the underwater life there was even more protected than on the west coast.
For the second cold front, we got inside the lagoon up to Governor's creek close to the yacht club marina. This is a very quiet and calm anchoring and it is not too far to get back to the reef just outside the lagoon to enjoy more dives.
On our departure day as we wanted to see the main underwater attraction of the island and stopped at Stingray City. Located in the lagoon just close to the reef, lays a sandy bottom where a dozen boats anchor dropping their passengers in less than a meter of sea water. People rarely wear masks and fins and it seems the tour guide forget to tell them the show is underwater ! ! A dozen stingray rush to you looking for the frozen squid you are supposed to bring to feed them with.
All of us know that sting ray have a powerful sting which can be dangerous or even hurt you just with their tail. Nevertheless, these stingrays show such a non aggressiveness, let you touch them, stroke them, or even let the people step on them ! This very unique show is in some way fascinating and terrifying. The sting rays are not parked and are free to come and go as they want, nothing would stop them to leave for quiet underwater sites but they come back each day. We observed the rays a while and found out that they are not only relying onto the frozen squid ! They still keep digging in the sandy bottom around to find their own food, they are not totally dependant from the human being !
Cayman Islands are not a so called yachty place, but they are a real diver's paradise. No one ask you anything, nothing is forbidden, after the many Cuban frustrations it is a kind of dream to us. Clearing in with your sailing boat is free, but arriving like we did on a Saturday after 11am, will cost you 75 USD, which is nothing if you think of the free dives you have been doing during your stay ! As the whole Cayman waters are a Marine park, spear gun fishing is forbidden and your spear guns are confiscated and given back the day you leave.
I could not resist in buying there a digital underwater camera with macro lenses then we took plenty pictures for you to enjoy ! !
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