Transit Details - We took an early flight from San Jose, California on American Airlines to Dallas-Fort Worth. After a brief layover, we took a connecting flight to Miami, and then an hour-long flight to Grand Cayman. It was a long 14-hour day. Coming back, we again flew American to Miami - then to Chicago - and then back to San Jose. Whew.

Accomodations - We'd reserved a beachfront "deluxe" room at the Holiday Inn, Grand Cayman, right on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world - 7-mile Beach (see image above). The room was adequate, but as they say in the real estate game - LOCATION, LOCATION - LOCATION. The room was literally 2 steps away from the best part of the beach. We'd gotten a package that included the room, breakfast for two at the HI's breakfast buffet each day, champagne and a fruit platter, free admission for two to the Turtle Farm, admission to the HI's Coconuts Comedy Club, and 2 dinners for two at the HI's poolside dinner buffet. With food on Grand Cayman being so expensive, the package was in fact, a pretty good deal.

The Holiday Inn offered all the usual amenities including a free-form swimming pool (which was way over-heated), room service, beach bars (cocktail and snack), chaises on the beach, beach towels, etc. Comedians performed a couple nights a week at the comedy club, which was actually located inside the Wreck of the Ten Sails Pub inside the HI. The Wreck of the Ten Sails pub offered standard pub grub during the day and some good British beers, and some higher quality continental cuisine for dinner a couple nights a week, which we didn't try.

Don Foster's Diving is also located on the HI property, and offered numerous dive courses and watersports, including rentals of waverunners, aqua trikes, sun-kats (kind of floating louge chairs), snorkel equipment (US $10/day), kayaks, etc. They also offered snorkel and dive trips, private charters, parasailing, water skiiing, and dinner cruises. Anything that your little water- loving heart desires! The folks at Don Foster's were very helpful and friendly, although there was frequently a wait for service.

Sightseeing - After taking a day to recover from the trip and get accustomed to the time change, we decided to rent a car and go to Hell. The city of Hell, Grand Cayman, that is. Hell is so tiny, it barely qualifies as a "town", and is located on the northwest portion of the island. (And yes, it's true - the road to Hell IS paved with good intentions!) The area around hell features many deposits of a substance called ironshore, which looks a little like craggy lava rock formations. In Hell, we found a couple tourist shops, a gas station, and a post office. Our favorite stop was the Devil's Hangout Gift Shop, which is owned by a Caymanian named Ivan Farrington (aka "The Devil Himself"). When we walked in the shop, Ivan, a short older man wearing red horns and a red cape greeted us with "How the hell are you?!" We talked a little about Ivan's history, saw pictures of his daughters, and took pictures with him drinking ice water. Bought some postcards and T-shirts, and mailed the cards at the post office so that they'd be postmarked from Hell.

Down the road from Hell we found the Turtle Farm where turtles are raised for food and for repopulation purposes. Admission was $6 each (US), but we had free tickets. It was mildly interesting. Various sizes of sea turtles were being raised from 6" hatchlings to large 6' guys. There's a tank of smaller turtles that you can take your picture with. Once we got the pictures, we were out of there, as several busloads of cruise shippers began to surround us.

We also visited Cathy Church's Underwater Photo Center, both at the Coconut Plaza across from the HI, and at the original Sunset House location. Turns out that Cathy is from Bill's hometown of Gilroy, California, and in fact, Bill used to develop some of her film when he was in high school. We took her a bottle of California Reisling that we'd brought with us, and had a nice time chatting. Her photos are displayed at various places on the island, including the HI, and are fabulous shots of the underwater sealife. She's really done well!

A definite MUST-SEE on Grand Cayman is Sting Ray City. This is an area in the North Sound where sting rays congregate to be fed by hand. Actually, there are two areas where the rays gather. The best known is Sting Ray City where the water's about 12 feet deep. The other area is known as "the sandbar", and is only 3-4 feet deep. Divers prefer the former, while snorkelers prefer the latter, for obvious reasons.

The best way is to go out on a charter boat with a local who's familiar with the area and with the rays. (A multitude of half-day trips are available.) The trip recommended to us was Dexter Ebanks' Sting Ray City half day trip on his Fantasea catamaran. Trips range from $25-$45 (US) per person. However, we wanted to make the trip on a mono-hull sailboat, so we booked a half-day trip with Captain B.C., captain of a 40-foot Valiant cutter-rigged sailboat ($50 US per person including rum punch). We sailed from the Cayman Islands Yacht Club to the North Sound and back, with a pleasant wind driving us at about 6 knots. We anchored at Sting Ray City, and I immediately spotted two rays swimming around the boat - one large and one small. (The female rays are larger than the males, and are about 4 feet across when mature. The males are about 2 feet across.) B.C. gave us some instruction, and then jumped in. The larger of the two rays swam up to him, and he cradled it in his arms. Wow! We hadn't even offered them any food yet!

After donning our snorkel gear and grabbing some squid provided by B.C., we jumped into the water. Within a few minutes, we were surrounded by about a dozen rays, each of them lazily swooping up, over and around us, trying to get the squid from our hands. It was amazing. They would bump us and brush up against us like kittens, trying to get us to feed them. To feed a ray, you must position the food underneath its snout which is located on the underside of its body. Once the ray smells the food, it will slurp the food into its mouth (also on its underside) using a suctioning action. Dangling food in front a ray's eyes won't work because their sight is poor.

One of the jokes the local divers play on each other is to rub squid juice on one of their pals when they're not looking. The unlucky person ends up with a nice collection of sting ray "hickies".

The rays felt soft, like velvet, when we touched them. Bill made a special friend of one of the little males, who followed him around and around in a circle, trying to get to the squid in his hand. We got some great photos of the rays using a disposable underwater camera.

We also did some snorkeling near the reef that surrounds Sting Ray City. Saw several barracudas, gars, and blue tangs.

Near the end of our stay on Grand Cayman, we took an hour-long ride on the Atlantis XL Submarine, a high-tech, 48-passenger sub that descends to a depth of about 100 feet. We were taken to and from the sub on a double deck catamaran (about a 10 minute ride either way). The sub has seats and corresponding portholes for 48 people, but only about a dozen passengers were on our tour which was nice. The sub is pressurized and air conditioned.

A tour guide provided facts about the marine life and the sub itself during the rider. There are three different tours offered in the Atlantis XL, ranging in price from about $50 per person to $82 (US) per person. We took the $82 per person trip because it offers views of divers hand feeding the fish. We could also ask the divers questions since they had microphones on. (The $50 trip offers no fish feeding - just the tour, and on the $70 trip, automatic fish feeders are used.) I would recommend one of these trips, especially for non-divers to get a look at the ocean depths which they wouldn't otherwise be privy to. We saw HUGE sponges and corals, a number of sea turtles, and tons of fish. Atlantis also offers tours on their research sub which descends to about 800 feet.

Restaurants - ISLAND TASTE: Moderately priced (for Grand Cayman); excellent seafood, with the lobster recommended. All-you-can-eat deep fried shrimp is offered every night for $15.75. The outdoor deck dining area features a wonderful view of the harbor and sunset. Open for lunch also.

D.J.'s: Located in the Coconut Plaza, across the street from the Holiday Inn. Very reasonable prices for great seafood dishes. Open for lunch and dinner. Casual atmosphere.

Benjamin's Roof: Also located in the Coconut Plaza, upstairs. Avoid this place. It's overpriced, the seafood was overcooked, and the portions were small.

Holiday Inn Poolside Buffet: The HI's Poolside Buffet is offered every evening from 6-9 pm, and they're all a great deal. For $15.95, you can get all you can eat (except for certain special entrees like lobster which you'll pay extra for.) On Sundays, it's an Italian buffet. Mondays and Thursdays, they offer different "theme" buffets. Tuesdays and Fridays are "American Backyard Cookout" buffets featuring burgers, hot dogs, chicken, and mahi-mahi. Wednesdays and Saturdays are the "A La Carte" buffets where you get one entree, and all-you-can-eat salad bar. Entrees vary in price, and include grilled lobster, BBQ chicken and steak. Highly recommended. Casual atmosphere.

Holiday Inn Buffet Breakfast: Located in the Veranda Restaurant in the HI, this is another good deal. For $8 (Cayman dollars), you get an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with a fruit bar, yogurt bar, pancakes/waffles/French toast, made to order omelets, bacon, sausage (avoid the sausage), homefries, juices, oatmeal and cereals. Highly recommended.

Champion House: Located near Georgetown, Champion House offers native dishes at very reasonable prices. Locals eat here often. The conch chowder, marinated conch, and cracked (deep fried) conch were all excellent. The turtle steak was a little tough, but good. The rum cake is excellent. They were out of coconut pie, which I would've liked to have tried. Highly recommended. Casual atmosphere.

Liberty's: Located on the northeast side of the island near the Turtle Farm. Another favorite of the locals. For lunch, I had coconut shrimp (shrimp deep fried in a batter containing coconut) which was good, and Bill had the sampler plate, which had turtle steak, mahi-mahi and conch. The turtle steak was the best we had on the island. Liberty's offers a superb dinner buffet also featuring native dishes which is reasonably priced, and is all-you-can-eat. Recommended.

Cayman Arms: A pub located in downtown Georgetown that offers reasonably priced food that's a bit above pub grub. For dinner, I had Pork Chops Helene - 2 grilled chops in a tasty white sauce, accompanied by a hearty serving of mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. Bill had the fish 'n chips, which was also very good. There are several good British beers on tap here, including Stone's Extra Bitter. A nice place to sit back, enjoy the view of the harbor, and read the Daily Mail to catch up on what's happening in the Mother Country. Recommended.

The Links at Safehaven: This is the stomping ground of the rich and famous, and the prices reflect this fact. Therefore, we took advantage of the Friday night happy hour from 6-8pm on the downstairs outdoor patio. We enjoyed reduced-price drinks while rubbing elbows with Buffy, Tad and Madge, and ate dinner from the hot and cold appetizer table for the prices of drinks. Appetizers included delicious conch fritters, a delicate quiche, deep fried mushrooms, BBQ chicken wings, etc. Such a deal!

Lantana's: After "dinner" at Safehaven, we went down the road to Lantana's which is a rather pricey restaurant. We'd heard the desserts were fabulous, and so they were! Lantana's has a special dessert menu that includes THREE different kinds of creme brulee. I ordered the White Chocolate creme brulee, and Bill had the apple pie. It took awhile for our desserts to be delivered, but when I saw the apple pie, I understood why. They'd actually baked an "individual" sized pie for Bill which could've easily served 2-3. It was topped with vanilla bean ice cream. My extra-generous portion of creme brulee was smothered in white chocolate shavings, and I savored every bite (OK - I gave a bite to Bill to try). While the apple pie was delicious, the creme brulee was to die for. Highly recommended!

Fast Food Places: There are a myriad of fast food places on the island - Wendy's, Burger King, Taco Bell, and the ubiquitous Domino's Pizza. Cheap. Fast.

Shopping - Kirk-Freeport Plaza: Located in downtown Georgetown, This "plaza" has a few very pricey shops including Columbian Emeralds, Coach (for leather goods), a Perfume Store (can't remember the name (Parfumeria??), but it has great prices), and another jewelry store. I found everything too expensive for my tastes, except the perfume.

24K-Mon Jewelers: Several locations. Nice selection of gold jewelry, including caymanite and black coral. Some silver jewelry also. I bought a lovely sterling silver bracelet by Kabana at the Treasure Island location.

Mitzi's Coral Art Collections: A small jewelry store on West Bay Road, north of Georgetown. A small, but unique collection of gold, black coral, and precious gem jewelry, including coin jewelry. I got a great deal on an 18 karat necklace and a unique pendant which combined an 18K stingray with a 1783 Spanish coin from a recently discovered shipwreck. Recommended.

Venture Gallery: Located in West Shore Center on West Bay Road. Very good selection of shipwreck coins and coin jewelry. The director, Valerie Drummond, is extremely knowledgable about shipwreck coins, and is friendly and willing to help educate you. Reasonable prices.

The Gold Mine: West Bay Road, north of Georgetown. Avoid this place. Good selection of coins and gold chains, but extremely overpriced.

Tortuga Rum Company: Located on Eastern Road, north of Georgetown. Specializes in the famous Tortuga Rum Cake, which is excellent. Samples are offered. You can ship the cakes to just about anywhere on the planet. Mmmmm.

Big Daddy's: Two locations along West Bay Road, north of Georgetown. One location is just a small liquor store, and the other is a combination liquor store and restaurant (upstairs). Good place to buy Tortuga rum, Cuban cigars, and other liquid refreshments. I heard that the location with the restaurant has a happy hour on Friday and/or Saturday nights, with tons of free appetizers. We didn't try it though.

Churchill's Cigar Store: Located in downtown Georgetown in the Anchorage Center. A tiny store that offers cigars and accessories. Good selection of Cuban cigars, including Cohibas. CLUE: Only buy cigars when they're presented in their original box if you want to be sure they're genuine.

Pure Art: A WONDERFUL little gallery featuring native crafts and gifts. Lots of painted metal sculptures for hanging, conch shells, mobiles, paintings, and other unique items. Probably the best store on the island for arts and crafts.

Downtown Georgetown: We shopped at several other stores located on the waterfront in Georgetown, most of which were filled with the typical tourist items like T-shirts, island music CD's, rum cakes, and conch shells.

All in all we had a fabulous time in Grand Cayman!