Cayman Islands

George Town Anchorage

Sailing to the Grand Cayman was not part of the agenda, but it was still worth to see another Caribbean Island. Caymans include of three islands, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac. Most activity and commerce is in George Town, Grand Cayman. The land is flat on these islands, which gives them many sunshine days a year. The islands are best for snorkeling and diving. The sea wall drops 100s of feet within ½ mile from shore. Earthling is attached to a mooring and underneath are many scattered reefs, which makes it to a marine park, the sea life is spectacular, there are fish everywhere. Submarines and glass bottom boats are circling tourists around here and many are snorkeling all day long. George Town is also known as a big cruise ship destination. There are 2-3 cruise ships anchored close to Earthling every morning and they leave by the evening. The town gets packed when the cruise ships come by!

Sunset over the Caribbean Sea

Anchored Cruise Ships

These cruise ships are enormous

Cruise Ship quest are tendered to shore

Governer's Harbor and Marina

Tourist activities all day long

More Luxury cars than any other Caribbean Island

Grand Cayman is the homeport for many mega yachts in the world, but you don’t see any of them here! Grand Cayman is one of the places where super rich people keep their wealth so they skip paying taxes. There is no income tax, capital gain, or corporation tax on the Caymans. Out of 50 largest banks in the world, 40 have a branch here. Additionally there are over 500 bank and trust companies located on the Island.  This little Island is a major international financial center and majority of the resident’s income comes from the financial services. These Islands are British colony and the Queen of Britain appoints their governor!  Their currency is Cayman dollar, which is one of the strongest in the world; $1US is equal to $0.80 Cayman dollar. In other words, everything is more expensive than the U.S and much more expensive than the rest of the Caribbean. The Caymans are very proud of their strong currency. Cayman Islands has the highest standard of living in the Caribbean with a GDP per capita of $50,000 a year (world bank 2011-2015). Most Caymans are originally from Jamaica and Honduras, some have been here for several generations and some are here just to work!

The bicycle was handy on this 20 miles east to west and 9 miles north to south flat island. Not so many cruising boats are anchored here but a few cruisers were at the two marinas in the north sound! The time in George Town was mostly spent on repairing Earthling.

Love from George Town, Grand Cayman