drew sailbum

...

Process in a British owned island maybe different though.

This is the key point of emphasis.

Let's just say that following accepted procedures has been a sticking point in the past.

This is certainly a major step forward... but no design has been chosen and no contract to construct it has yet been awarded.

In short, government has made a formal decision to build a berthing facility. Time will tell if such a facility actually gets built.

A Canadian passport with at least six months validity remaining is generally sufficient for entry into the Cayman Islands by air or sea. Cayman reserves the right to still refuse entry on grounds of criminal record, presence of a communicable disease, and other such issues which are not typically relevant to most tourists.

Cayman Islands Immigration will check passports of all inbound passengers at the airport for air arrivals.

For arrivals by cruise ship the cruise line will check your documentation upon boarding the ship. The ship electronically transmits information to the Immigration authorities prior to arrival. This means you do not have to stand in a line to have your passport checked when you arrive in Cayman.

Both Seven Mile Beach Public Beach and Smith Cove have concrete block constructed bathrooms which include sinks. Governor's Beach usually has a Port a Potty but nothing else.

SMB Public Beach would likely be more crowded than Smith Cove, though there is plenty of room to spread out. SMB Public Beach is easier to get to if you are going to the Turtle Farm and is more likely to have taxis waiting or a convenient bus passing by for the ride back to the port.

A Southern Stingray's stinger is nearer the base of the tail, not the tip.

Tour operators can show you the stinger if you ask. Easy enough.

For all you Americans used to Left hand Drive (driving on right side of road):

 

How hard is it to get used to driving on the left side of the road? Am I going to crash into someone at the first intersection, or will I get used to it after a bit?

 

I'd love to do this. (Keep left, keep left)

 

Thanks.

The bigger issue with with adjusting to a car with the the steering wheel on the right side. As Rudzig noted, the turn signal is then on the right side of the steering wheel and windshield wiper controls are on the left.

Fortunately Cayman has different coloured license plates for rental cars. So if we see a car with a white license plate turn on its wipers as it appraochs an intersection then we know it is about to make a turn. :D

Driving in traffic is pretty easy. Just keep following the car in front of you. It's when you are making a turn onto a road from a parking lot that you are more likely to make a mistake. Tragically there was a fatal accident a few years ago when tourists pulled out of a parking lot into the wrong lane on an empty road. When they rounded a bend in the road they collided head on into a car coming the other way. The wife of the tourist driver died as a result.

The car rental office at the airport in Grand Cayman is about a 4 mile drive from the port, maybe a touch less. With typical traffic it is less than a 10 minute ride.

Expect water temps around 83F in early December.

Cayman is home to some of the warmest water in the Caribbean. Not much current to bring upwellings of colder water to the surface here.

Private drivers are really not a thing in Cayman. Would be even more expensive than a taxi.

One-way taxi fare would be more than the cost of the rental car. And there are no taxis just hanging out at Rum Point looking for a fare going back to town. Risk of getting stranded should be taken into account.

There is a reason renting a car is the preferred way to go to Rum Point.

how far is the Hard Rock Cafe and the Harley Davidson shop from port?

The Hard Rock Cafe is a very short walk south of the tender piers at 43 South Church St.

Harley Davidson is at 55 South Church St, very close to the Hard Rock Cafe.

That map doesn't tell me a whole lot. Just looks like a bunch of buildings...LOL...I was looking for more specifics...restaurants (chains or local restaurants?), duty free shopping?, souvenir shops?

restaurants (chains or local restaurants?) Yes. Plenty.

duty free shopping? Absolutely

souvenir shops? All over the place

Importing a motor vehicle will be subject to duty at a rate starting at 27% of the C.I.F. cost. (Price of vehicle + Insurance + Shipping)

Net result is that it is usually cost prohibitive for an individual to ship a single vehicle from far away. Businesses that ship large quantities can get a more favorable shipping rate and bring the cost down.

Governor's Beach is a short walk north of the Westin Hotel. There are no services at Governor's Beach. Nothing, nada, zip, zilch, nuthin'.

Especially along the Seven Mile Beach stretch, they really don't go very fast. It's about the same level of scary as driving along the main street in a typical small or mid-size town in the U.S. (As in, not scary at all. I believe the speed limit on that stretch is 25mph, but due to traffic you never get up even close to that speed.)

 

Driving in NYC, Vegas or LA, or even Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, etc. is much scarier. :-)

Speed limit along West Bay Road is currently 40mph. It is slated to be reduced to 30mph soon.

And yes, many buses and taxis are imported from Japan and still have speedometers that read in kph. 40mph = 64kph. 30mph = 48kph

The drawings shown in local media show a plan with two island piers. Each island pier could dock two ships.

Then cable car lines would transport passengers ashore. There are two cable car lines to each island pier.

If the total capacity of all four cable car lines is the stated 20,000 passengers per hour then presumably each individual line has a maximum capacity of 5,000 passengers per hour making a maximum capacity of 10,000 per hour to a given island pier.

Realistically, they won't run at full capacity all the time.

So still figure it may take about an hour to transfer all passengers ashore from one of the larger ships. Sure you can get off the ship quickly.... but you are then stuck waiting for a cable car. Just moves where the line forms.

Not a lot of options at the moment.

There is Blue Tip, a 9 hole course at the Ritz Carlton. The course was designed by Greg Norman.

And the only other course on the island is at North Sound Club (near the Ritz), an 18 hole course along the waters of the North Sound.

That's it for now. But more may be on the way.

There is a golf community development proposal that may actually get built near the Botanic Park on the eastern end of the island. This will be a few years in the works, but may eventually offer another 18 hole course option for our duffer visitors. Recent discussion has mentioned adding an additional 9 holes, bring it up to 27 holes at the Ironwood Development, all to be designed by Arnold Palmer.

Walking this is NOT recommended.

The distillery is at 65 Bronze Rd.

If I had to walk then Fort St to Mary St to Shedden Rd to Sound Way to North Sound Rd to Bronze Rd would be better. North Sound road is heavily trafficed. The roundabout is NOT pedestrian friendly.

Buses do not frequent the North Sound Rd through Esterley Tibbetts Hwy corridor including the Butterfield roundabout which Cayman Distillers is near.

The distillery is not on a bus line. Taxi is the way to go. they would probably be happy to call you a taxi at the end of the tour.

The water is coldest in late February to early March. The water is at its warmest around October.

In December I would expect water temperatures of about 82°F.

Cayman is eastern time zone

 

but does NOT observe daylight savings time . . .

... yet.

Cayman is set to introduce DST next year. *

Clock ticks toward Daylight Saving Time in Cayman

Government has decided to move ahead with plans to introduce Daylight Saving Time (DST) to the Cayman Islands. Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin said they’re looking to do so by March 2016.

* Island time, mon. Island time.

The public input period has ended. Hundreds submitted their opinion on the current proposal.

By about a 3 to 1 margin the public input was against the current proposal.

From today's Cayman Compass article entitled Majority of public submissions oppose cruise pier construction

Of the 473 public comments received by the Department of Environment, 347 objected to the project, 111 expressed support, and 15 were either neutral or undecided.

Time will tell what this means for the current proposal.

There is great shore diving as Capt_BJ mentioned, but that can be hard to work out if you aren't traveling with a buddy.

Several small boat operators can work with a cruise ship visitor's schedule.Check with three small operators that collectively run the Lobster Pot Dive Center or Divers Down which are all near the port.

It gets brought up from time to time.

Government commissioned an Environmental Impact Statement for the constructions of berthing facilities and associated dredging for a dock project in George Town harbour. The matter is currently under public discussion.

The overall analysis indicates that such a project is not likely to significantly change the proportion of passengers disembarking. There would be significant impacts to the harbour area, destroying several popular dive and snorkel sites.

They have them but I'm not sure where. Earlier this summer 2 jet skis crashed there and at least one of the injured people was a cruiser on a port day. Be careful!

Both parties were visiting off cruise ships. One person died in the collision.

Please pay careful attention to the safety briefing and follow the rules.