| One of the ports visited on our recent Royal | | | | Cayman, $13 in Cozumel and about $19 back in |
| Caribbean cruise was Grand Cayman. This was | | | | the Miami home port. Everything else like |
| an eagerly awaited port since I've been there | | | | restaurants and activities were generally |
| before but wanted to take my girlfriend scuba | | | | more expensive than other islands.According |
| diving there. We were worried that we might | | | | to other passengers who ventured to other |
| miss this port since the Caymans were hit | | | | parts of the island, the damage from the |
| pretty hard by the hurricanes and indeed, | | | | hurricanes was more visible with fallen trees |
| they had closed the islands off to tourist | | | | and some buildings still not repaired yet. A |
| travel for part of the summer/fall. | | | | few of the organized tours by the cruiseship |
| Fortunately for us, Grand Cayman had reopened | | | | were also not available. We decided in |
| just about two weeks prior to our cruise at | | | | advance to do some scuba diving off the shore |
| the end of November.Getting to Grand Cayman | | | | and Eden Rocks Scuba Center was a 5 minute |
| is by tender since it had a shallow harbour. | | | | walk from the port. There are two decent |
| This can be a potential problem in itself | | | | shore dives right in front of their dive shop |
| because we were told that if the wind and | | | | and we spend the morning diving the site |
| waves are too rough, the captain would cancel | | | | called Devil's Grotto. Instead of paying $85 |
| the port and spend the rest of the day at | | | | US for a typical Cayman boat dive trip, I |
| sea. Apparently in the past, one of the | | | | ended up paying just $8 US for a rental for a |
| tender boat workers had fallen and got | | | | tank.I didn't go to other parts of the island |
| crushed to death between the boat and the | | | | during this trip but have been to the turtle |
| dock during one of the rougher wave days. | | | | farm, Hell village and Stingray City before. |
| This resulted in the cruiseships being much | | | | They are all worthwhile sites to visit. I |
| more careful in deciding whether to allow | | | | wanted to take my girlfriend scuba diving at |
| tendering or not given the conditions. | | | | Stingray City in the afternoon but for some |
| Again, fortunately for us, the weather was | | | | reason, only the snorkelling sections of |
| picture perfect during the day we were in | | | | Stingray City were available that day. So |
| Grand Cayman last week.The downtown area | | | | after returning to the cruiseship for lunch, |
| pretty well recovered from the effects of the | | | | we went back ashore to do some shopping. We |
| hurricanes and the shopping was business as | | | | would like to come back to Grand Cayman again |
| usual. There were four ships at port during | | | | for a longer stay in the future.In summary, |
| the day we were at port. Grand Cayman is | | | | most of Grand Cayman appears to be back in |
| above average in terms of cleaniness and the | | | | business again after the hurricanes. It is |
| attitude of the locals for a Caribbean | | | | one of the nicer but pricier ports to visit |
| island. It is also one of the pricier island | | | | in the CaribbeanClint Leung is owner of Free |
| though. Bargains can still be found though, | | | | Spirit Gallery ( an online gallery |
| especially in the liquor where there are | | | | specializing in Inuit and Northwest Native |
| examples of certain liquors being even less | | | | American art including carvings, sculpture |
| expensive in Grand Cayman than even Cozumel. | | | | and prints. |
| For example, Malibu rum was $10 US in Grand | | | | |