Must Know Cayman Facts - Read this and Don't Learn the Hard Way!

Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 7:58 pm Post subject:

Speaking of packing, I've just started packing as well... Can anybody advise whether or not to bring beach towels? I hate the idea of bringing them, and I don't want to have to worry about washing them either, but as we'll be diving, I don't think the resort will like (or allow if they catch us) us taking their towels off resort premises. Has anybody found an answer to this dilemma?

Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 8:10 pm Post subject:

puttertat,

Don't worry! We do that ALL the time.....in fact, sometimes they will even give us extra towels to take diving with us. Depends on the place.

In any case, they do not care if you take them off premises. All they care about is that they get them back. If we come back from our dive after the maid has come in, we just walk the dirty towels down to the laundry and exchange them ourselves.

On our dive boats, it seems that everyone has the same color towels, cause they've all come from resorts and condos, so we have a heck of a time keeping it straight, but it works.

Don't bring your own.. Laughing

Char

Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:13 am Post subject:

Thank You! One less worry.

Edited By : Joe Stebbins Sat, 17 Jun 2006 15:31:11 -0400

Our last trip was so wonderful and we had such a great time. We had so many great things planned to do (as always) but because of weather or time constraints or whatever there were things we didn't get to do.

This got me to thinking. ( I know scary, huh?) I thought I would post a few of the things that over the years we have done differently that would allow us as much time as possible to do the things we really, really want to do. As much as you want to do everything on your list, is just simply isn't possble.

The first year we went we went through a travel agency and had our accomodations and diving booked thru them. This was fine, but I soon learned that there are cheaper ways of doing things. It just takes a little time and patience on the internet to find the good deals.

Because we had never been before, I picked up every publication known to man and read them front to back to find the cool things to do. (now I know there is truly only one I need, but then I didn't Confused

)

The next year we went, I knew there were things I really would like to do, so I made a list of them and where they were on the island so we could scout them out and do them. This really helped because then we could do the things that were in one area or atleast close together. This has really come to be a necessity because of rising gas prices.

On our third trip. We went to Brac. No need in planning anything there, not much to do, just dive and relax. You can find things to do but you just don't have to do much planning. If you are traveling with kids, smaller kids you may want to wait to experience The Brac until they are a little older. They could get somewhat bored.

Now on this trip. We (I) tried something a little different and became somewhat frustrated at myself. I tried planning out our days. This did not turn out as well as I had wanted.

Planning your days activity to activity just doesn't work folks. This is a good plan on paper, but in reality you can't stick to it do to unforseen circumstances. ie: flooded camera housing or rain or hubby sleeping or whatever might come up.

What I would suggest more so and what I will do in the future is make a list of all the activities that are a possibility of doing and sit down with hubby and then together decide what we would like to do . The botanical gardens was something I would have loved to do, but held no appeal to Ted. (why, I don't know) I know alot of you are not into the "touristy" things out there and that is fine, but there are alot of shops that would be wonderful to go into, but you have to know where they are and plan around that. We passed an Pure Art a dozen times and I kept saying " I want to go in there before we leave" It never happened.

My point is, if you are out driving around, and see somthing go ahead and stop in. Don't wait, it might not happen again do to those "unforseen circumstances" I also wanted to go to the new taffy factory, but we completely forgot. This was something I really wanted to do but because we weren't in that area much we simply forgot about it. This was something that we would have had to make a point to go do, and where a list would have been helpful. In my older age lists are my friends.

We always wait till the day before we leave to do any shopping for souvieners. This is mainly because we can't dive on that day and this is a good way to fill our day. We also stop by the dive shop and say goodbye to all our friends we have made over the years.

Something else we do differently now is that we don't do 5 full days of boat diving. We alternate days on boat and shore diving. This way if we want to go site seeing while we are out doing shore diving we can. This works out pretty well.

We had a wonderful trip and because we will be back, there is always next time to catcht he things we didn't get to do. I don't regret anything we did but I always look back and wonder what we could have done to make it better.

I hope that some of this babbling will be of help to some of you first timers and make things somewhat easier for you. The worst thing is to be clueless and if you do some homework before your trip then you will make for a much easier and much more fun trip.

Edit: Title changed, made sticky. - Joe

Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:37 am Post subject:

Jana - some wonderful advise and wisdom to share with our members here! Thank you! Babble away, I like it when you babble, it is filled with very good advice! Smile

Cindy Lou

Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 1:53 pm Post subject:

Great Ideas Jana! idea

Here's my top 10, based on a lot of common questions and concerns I've seen over the years:

1. Avoid booking anything through concierges or agents. Try to book directly with the establishments to get the very best prices and eliminate middle-man confusion. Whenever applicable, mention Activity Guide for discounts, perks, special seating, etc. Do not regard concierges as being an unbiased source of recommendations; in many cases, they are anything but.

2. Ignore the local weather forecast; it's wrong 90% of the time, unless there is a specific feature or development in the immediate area.

3. When choosing a particular area of the island for your accommodations, do not assign too much weight to what the snorkeling conditions may be in the immediate vicinity. Sea conditions throughout the island are subject to prevailing wind and sea conditions, which change constantly. Pick an accommodation that best suits your individual vacation lifestyle.

4. For cruise ship passengers — Never book any activity through the ship. They will always charge the highest rates and you will be assured of the most impersonal and crowded conditions. Do not be intimidated by their scare tactics such as: ?not getting back to the ship on time? or ?taking risks with unknown operations?. They employ these stratagems to gain enormous commissions from your activities. Every establishment you see recommended on this site is among the absolute best of its kind and has undergone an extensive evaluation and screening process to qualify for our endorsements.

5. Do not go to a restaurant with a large group of people and ask for separate checks when the bill comes.

6. Tip your divemasters the first day of a multi-day trip or indicate to them that you intend to add gratuity at the end.

7. Don't bother searching around for any really spectacular 'secret' spots where the locals eat. They do not exist. A broad range of all the best restaurants are listed in Activity Guide and you will see the majority of them frequented by many locals at any given time.

8. Avoid using the phones in most resorts and be aware that many condos block calls to cell phones. Rent a phone or get a calling card from Cable and Wireless for the best calling rates.

9. Avoid driving between 7am-9am and 5pm-6pm. Particularly, avoid driving from East End to Seven Mile beach in the morning and vise versa. Plan and consolidate your activities to the greatest extent possible so you spend the least amount of time driving in traffic.

10. Try to utilize Activity Guide recommended resources as often as possible. Not only will you be supporting the people making all of this available to you for free; but we have spent the better part of the last 10 years researching every conceivable visitor attraction to bring our readers and members only the very best of the Cayman Islands.

Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 5:34 pm Post subject:

I have to "second" Joe's #9. We got lost in Georgetown trying to find the Foster's by the airport and did three complete circles crazy

before finally stopping a nice local for directions. I bet you can guess who was driving!!! Bash

Oh, by the way, Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there!! Wink

I don't know how much time we wasted and, of course, we chose rush hour time after work traffic to do it in!!! So........that's my addition to the list, don't be afraid to stop and ask for directions. We did so on a few occasions and everyone was very happy to help. While they may not know street names, they can tell you how to get there by landmarks, etc.

Karen2

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 7:06 am Post subject:

After having been to GC something like 15 times, the one thing that I try to remember is that I'll never do everything that I've (actually we...) planned. Just make sure that you don't regret that. Coming home with that feeling is the worst. Go, enjoy, and RELAX. You can always come back!

Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:16 pm Post subject:

Do try a different resturant at least once, every time you come back to visit. I have my favorites which I am loyal to, but realize everytime I come back I have another to add to my list. Wink

Thanks everyone for the above! I agree 1000%

Edited because I type faster then my slow brain in spelling allows me to.

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:21 am Post subject:

About diving, let me add this:

When we dive, we do a 2-tank morning dive one day (and have the afternoon off), a 2-tank afternoon dive and night dive the next day (and have the morning free, then perhaps take a day off. Or reverse it (afternoon & night dive one day, morning dive the next, etc.). This seems to work well, and we get plenty of downtime.

Try not to fly into Cayman on a Sunday...grocery stores aren't open.

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:41 am Post subject:

Thought I'd add a quick tip to this thread:

If planning to head into George Town, check out the cruise itineraries first. Then avoid the busy days.

If you happen to be driving through there as a cruise ship is disgorging it's contents..try to beat them to the zebra crossing. Drive

If you stop to let them cross...make sure you have a good book handy! read

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:37 am Post subject:

Remember, most of the cruse ship passengers are from the US. This means that if they look for traffic at all, they'll look the wrong way.

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 11:06 am Post subject:

A good point there Bill.

From what I saw most didn't look at all though. Mind you, for the short time that they have in port you can understand the hurry.

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:30 pm Post subject:

I have learned not to plan activities for my husband. If I want to go shopping etc., I get in the car and go. I always ask him if he wants to come along, but some trips (Georgetown) are not on his agenda. Instead of wishing for what might have been, do your own thing and let others do theirs. We usually dive in the a.m. and he prefers to chill out in the afternoon. I don't like to sit around. (I also cannot sit and watch hours of cricket etc).

Newbie Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 6 Location: California

Britcay,

We all have spousal issues. Marriage is give and take, but I did not understand your post. We usually plan things together...not for each other. Am I missing something in that regard?

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