Cayman Islands: How Grand!

Stingray City - one of the most amazing places to be. Go about 30 minutes off the coast of Cayman by boat and you're in 10-foot crystalline waters protected by a reef wall that drops out to sea.

When you step off the boat into the water at Stingray City, a sand dune boosts the water level to about 3 feet and you see swarms - literally dozens - of stingrays varying between 2 and 5 feet in length.

Whichever tour you take, you'll be given an educational discussion about the rays: where their "stings" are, how to pet them, and how to feed them. Squid is brought along for the latter opportunity.

While it can be a bit nerve-wracking if you're thinking "What?! Being in the water with dozens of stingrays swimming around me??!" they're quite tame from all the tourist attention they get and beyond friendly (some like to give backrubs!).

All in all, it's a brilliant place to see, and if you're in Cayman, a must. There are only so many places that people get the opportunity to visit animals in their natural habitat, and this is one of the best.

I learned to walk on Poipu Beach in Kauai. We travel to Hawaii at least once every two years, and as much of a second home it's become to me, I have to rave about my addiction to Cayman: THE WATER!

Okay, so that sounds almost... dumb. It's a beach! It's an island! Of course you'd love the water! And at the risk of sounding like an infomercial: But this just isn't ANY water!

The gorgeous, clichéd sparkling turquoise Caribbean waters are cliché for that perfect reason: they ARE perfect. On the very white sands of Seven Mile, you have a view of an ocean that looks like an endless pool, with some of the gentlest waves around. While I was there, I would glide into the water and just float for hours - instant water bed!

Sorry, I know, I'm lame. But this is just a liquid heaven. Warmth, glimmering beauty, friendly fish (my little brother had a fish that would NOT leave him alone - it circled him for hours. We called it Dory.), and oh, whatever your perfect vision of tropical ocean water is, you'll find it off Seven Mile Beach.

Georgetown, the quaint harbor city of the Cayman Islands, is slightly dirty, plenty tourist-y, and leaves you feeling like you've just been in a pirate-lauded port town (well, you have, technically!). It has so much charm, and yes, while the tourist part can seem, well, touristy, it doesn't take away from the place as much as others might.

Hell! You can go to Hell, too! Hell, Cayman Islands, unlike Georgetown, is the very DEFINITION of a tiny, touristy, almost pathetic place, but for posterity's sake, wouldn't you like to go to Hell? (They have bumper stickers!)

See Stingray City and the Turtle Farms as well (written about under "Activities") and ENJOY!