Cayman Islands-Be Careful to Visit When Hurricanes do NOT!

David’s spectacular oceanside dining room is Morritt’s upscale romantic restaurant. It also caters to a captive audience as anyone who arrives late in the day to check into their timeshare has a choice of David’s or Mimi’s Dockside, which as suggested by its name, is the open air restaurant right on the dock.

We of course, fit the captive audience profile, arriving late in the day and experiencing our first adventure with driving on the "wrong side of the road. By the time we checked in (a grievously slow process), we were too tired and it was too late to go to buy groceries and start cooking.

As it was windy and overcast, it was not appealing to be outside at Mimi’s, so we went to David’s as it seemed to be the only other place serving food. Dinner took forever, which would be fine if one had planned a relaxing evening, but we had just arrived and were hungry, but also eager to get oriented to our surroundings and plan our activities for the rest of the week. We did find out we could order from Mimi's menu as long as one of the choices comes from David's, which has the more expensive entrees.

The shrimp fajitas I ordered had a paltry few shrimp, lots of really hot peppers, three 6-inch tortillas, Spanish rice, spicy beans, a tiny bit of spicy salsa and a dollop of sour cream, but no guacamole. There is however enough left for a doggy bag, which we enjoyed later in the week. My husband ordered a spicy jerk pork sandwich. The Caesar salad which accompanied my fajitas consisted of one shredded whole romaine leaf. Three small rolls were served at the beginning of the meal. We skipped dessert as it was costly and we had unpacking to do.

We were directed to the comfort Suites by Cayman Airlines, which looks after Air Canada passengers in the Cayman Islands. The front desk staff was helpful and friendly and posters were up everywhere to remind people not to use the elevators. Printed were directions on what to do during hurricane- buy a flashlight and groceries, fill your sink with water, etc.

Our room was small with barely enough room to walk around the bed in one corner. The bed faced an uncomfortable pull out couch, which was not very comfortable to sit on, however could be used to sleep on if there were more than two guests in the room.

There was a long counter, which you could use as a table. Two swivel chairs provided "table" seating or could be turned to watch television or play cards or whatever one does in a small room in the Cayman Islands in poor weather. There was plenty of drawer and cupboard space and two windows made it plenty bright. The room had a fridge and microwave, plates, bowls and cutlery and a kitchen sink with coffee maker and toaster so one could easily have a few hot meals in your room. The air-conditioner was extremely noisy and the mattress on the bed was too soft. The bathroom had a pocket door and the pole for the shower curtain fell out of the wall.

Comfort Inn and Suites advertise themselves as an ocean view hotel. I guess as you could potentially see the ocean from some area of the hotel, but I suspect this was from when there was no condominium between the hotel and the beach. There is beach access. There is a bar serving drinks and food and breakfast is served in the hotel lobby in the morning with bagels, waffles (pour and make your own—we love it!) toast, fruit, cereal and boiled eggs.

The location is handy right on the main strip, so one could walk many places and also get on the bus that drives up and down. And of course, the beach is right there accessed by a narrow path alongside the condo building. Comfort Inn and Suites has a small pool with some lounge chairs and an outdoor restaurant serving drinks and light meals. Chances are there are not enough pool chairs to go around and the pool is not very large, but most guests are there for the "seven" miles of beach that make up Seven Mile Beach.

Eats Café was our destination for lunch based upon a recommendation from another guest at our resort. We decided to park at Foster's and walk over, as we also needed to buy some food to bring back for future meal preparation.

Every table in the place was occupied, which convinced us we had chosen our lunch place well. We were asked whether we would like to sit at a counter overlooking the parking lot. This was fine with us and we were able to observe how people approached the dilemma of parking their car in a huge puddle and then trying to find a way to the sidewalk without getting their feet wet. It made for a delightful half hour of entertainment. I ordered Conch Fritters with a jerk sauce-hot and somewhat reminiscent of chicken or fish nuggets. My husband very much enjoyed his Rasta Man Hamburger, which was served with enough fries to share with his hungry wife.

The Reef Grill is right on a busy stretch of Seven Mile Beach. It has a large parking lot which is where the old Royal Palms Hotel used to be, so it is a popular place to come for the day. Patrons can park, enjoy the ocean and seaside activities and eat a delicious meal at the restaurant which has casual outdoor dining as well as more romantic indoor dining.
We very much enjoyed our dinner on a quiet Saturday night just after Hurricane Paloma had struck the island. The waiter, who had a delightful south African accent, was attentive and our food was divine. I had their signature Sea Bass with a Thai curry sauce, served with rice and vegetables; the same vegetables and a yummy lobster potato mash were the side dishes for my husband’s enormous delicious scallops. The coconut cheesecake and crème brule we enjoyed for dessert were delectable!

Cimboco is located in a small mall just off the main road along Seven Mile Beach. We were having lunch and very much enjoyed the omelet which was highly recommended by a couple at an adjacent table. Portions were generous, service was friendly and food was satisfying.

A sticker on our rental car indicated we could park at the Bayshore Mall (for free)which seemed to be one of the few places to park in downtown Georgetown, so we availed ourselves of that very opportunity. The parking lot attendant, whom we pegged as a knowledgeable local, suggested lunch at Breezes; Breezes caters to the Cruise ship crowd as it is close to the tender landing area and downtown. The outdoor balcony overlooks the downtown and harbour and would be picturesque in sunny weather. Breezes is ridiculously overpriced.
I was keen on the drink called Hurricane Category 4 (as a hurricane category 3 was bearing down and I totally was hoping to forget about it) but they were $8.50!Guinness was only $4. The conch chowder came in an undercooked bread bowl, and the mango citrus salad on greens sounded appealing but was a pretty basic salad, which at $8.75 seemed rather steep.

Red Sail Sports

As Red Sail is located right at Morritt’s, where we were staying, it seemed the logical company to book seaside excursions with. We had done some research prior to our week’s vacation and found Red Sail to have a decent reputation.

We were hoping to take their excursion to Sting Ray City, as well as a sunset sail and an introduction to diving. Unfortunately we did not plan on Hurricane Paloma striking the island and totally wrecking our plans for the week. My priority was to get into some scuba gear and determine whether I would like to get my open water certification at a future date and I did manage to fit this in before the weather became too bad to go out on the water.

The scuba orientation course cost $100. I was very fortunate that there was only one other student in my group and he was close to my age, which is not too far from the age that many people retire at. Our pool instructor was a very fit Australian woman with years of diving experience, but not too much enthusiasm for teaching. She went through the motions and was professional, but it did not seem that teaching was her passion.

The weather was not the best and the water in the pool was cool so we donned wet suits for our first exposure to breathing underwater. Scuba was something I had seen on television but never given too much thought to the actual logistics of swimming underwater without being able to take a breath regularly. I found there is much equipment devoted to this and it is more complicated than I had considered. First there is the BCD or Buoyancy Compensator Device, which is the vest, or equivalent, which enables one to sink or rise to the surface by regulating the amount of air in it. Then there is the actual equipment to help one breathe, the air/oxygen tanks, the regulator with first and second stage and the hoses connecting all the parts together. Also important are the fins and the mask, both which must fit well or they will not enhance one’s underwater experience.

There are many skills involved in swimming underwater and some of those involve a momentary loss of the ability to breathe. . .a pretty scary prospect. Two main lessons that were emphasized over and over are to never hold your breath and never to rise to the surface too quickly. We spent a good morning learning all these tasks so we could try them out in the afternoon on an actual dive.

We met at the dive boat just after lunch and found that in addition to our instructor and the other student there were a few other people going out as well. They already had their certifications and were just going out to dive. The water was rough and it started to rain as we headed out to Indian Shores. On our way we reviewed our knowledge and got our equipment ready.

We arrived at our destination and proceeded to do the giant stride into the ocean from the diving platform at the stern of the boat. We then swam alongside the boat to the anchor rope, which was going to be our descent guide. The other student had technical problems and was banished to the boat, so I had the instructor to myself, which was absolutely awesome. She only had me to worry about which was a good thing, because clearly I had already forgotten some of the lessons I had learnt in the pool. The dive experience itself was totally amazing and fueled in me a desire to do more, so I did subsequently acquire my open water certification course. The colours of the fish and coral were phenomenal. The serenity and peacefulness of communing with nature was indescribable.

I did have one moment where somehow I lost my regulator and started choking. I was starting to panic when the instructor found and shoved the regulator back in my mouth and got me breathing again. We surfaced so that I could cough and sputter (we were not down deep or long enough to need a decompression stop) and she asked whether I wanted to go back down. Despite being quite anxious by this point at having discovered how much there was that I did not feel adequately prepared for, I felt that I should "get back on the horse" so to speak and go back down. So we did and it was fabulous. As a newbie I was having great difficulty with buoyancy, but when the instructor took my hand I was much more able to swim alongside her and enjoy the experience.

Morritt's Grand Resort is on the northeastern tip of Grand Cayman Island and is the newer part of the Morritt’s Complex. We had a two bedroom second floor unit facing the ocean in one of the two pink four story buildings. It was spacious, clean and well appointed with ceramic tile flooring, plenty of drawers and closet space, a Jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom and a large balcony overlooking the beach and surf.

In times of good weather, there is enough to keep one busy for a week at Morritt’s. All of it is outlined in Morritt’s "Turtle Times." There are three pools in the complex and of course the beach is right at your front door with excellent snorkeling mere steps into the gentle turquoise surf. Both David’s and Mimi’s Dockside offer delicious meals, Mimi’s being the more casual of the two restaurants.

Red Sail Sports have a variety of water craft for rent right at Morritt’s as well as offering scuba diving, sailing and snorkeling excursions departing right from the dock at Morritt’s or from their Rum Point location, a short shuttle run or drive away.

Exercise classes in the pool and at the gym are given at select times during the week and daily there are fun social activities and games for those who are spending the week at the resort. There is a kids club for those who need more than just sun, surf and sand. DVD’s can be rented, but these often are not available until 8 pm as they are not kept on site and need to be preordered. (The one time we did try one, it turned out to be a poor quality copy.) Wi-Fi is available in your unit for a $7 per day charge or you can use the Internet in the resort lobby for $2.50 per hour (half price if you are an owner.)

Within walking distance there is a small plaza with a Fosters Foods Express, a store selling beach clothing and souvenirs, and a bakery serving light breakfast and lunch. You can purchase most food items at Fosters, however their selection is smaller than that of other grocery stores on the island, although happily, the prices are equivalent.

At the Reef Resort adjacent to Morritt’s, the Thirsty Surfer sells alcohol, again with competitive prices. This resort also has some restaurants if you had no vehicle, were not in a cooking unit and wanted something different than the two eating establishments at Morritt’s. Also available is shuttle service to other restaurants that are a bit of a drive from Morritt’s