GRAND CAYMAN, CAYMAN ISLANDS
our favorite thing to do in Cayman is snorkeling, there are several good spots you can get to on foot some not so far away by taxi, and is well known for swimming with stingrays.
like most ports if you are not too concerned about anything specific you can get off the ship and find guys holding signs for different “tours” or catch a taxi or bus to 7 mile beach for some swimming/beach time or if you have your own snorkel gear check out the website below and walk to several locations or taxi to some farther out, it also lets you know places that have rentals available.
here is a great site that has info on snorkel locations and how to get to them.
we have been to Cayman in 2006,2014, 2015 & 2017. we take our own snorkel gear, we will tell you about what we use on our snorkel gear page and the advantages to taking your own.
our first visit to Cayman we took a taxi to 7 mile beach and rented snorkel gear, it was just “ok” a few things to see but there are much better places to snorkel.
our next visits we just walked from the ship North about 5-10 min to cheeseburger reef (next to Burger King) also, 3 min. walk North from the port, the Wreck of the Cali (right next to a dive shop if you need to rent stuff, even if you are not renting from them just walk down the side of the dive ship to the end of the dock) another great spot is Edens Rock, about 5 min walk South of the port, go in the water right next to Paradise restaurant.
our latest visit took us to Smith Cove (more info below) video of Smith Cove Beach and snorkeling
Wreck of the Cali
Edens Rock
Edens Rock
7 Mile Beach
our most recent visit in 2017 we had our kids with us so we looked for a good combo beach/snorkel spot not too far from the ship, after some research we decided to go to Smith Cove, there are restrooms, a place to rinse off, shade trees, small beach area and some decent snorkeling, great spot for families.
Smith Cove is south from the port, most stuff is to the north (like 7 mile beach), so there are not regular bus or taxis that run that way, so you either take a taxi there and see if you can arrange a time to be picked up or walk back, we walked back, it took about 20-25 minutes and was not bad even with a 6 & 8 yr old.
map to Smith Cove Grand Cayman (Smith’s Barcadere)
there were 8 of us, my wife and 6 kids, a couple hundred feet before you leave the port area turn right, there is a taxi stand (the green and white sign that says “this way to ground transportation”) we took a taxi it was $4 each, if you are going to 7 mile or somewhere to the north you can go straight out to the street and catch buses (minivan buses) that are cheaper than taxis and are always going back and forth.
decent restrooms and rinse off area, also some good shade trees make it real nice when its hot and sunny.
the beach that goes into the water is small but there were not a ton of people there, it worked out real well for us, there is some decent snorkeling around the rocks, there is also a buoy marking some reef a little ways out to the left, its deeper water and it was a little cloudy the day we were there so you could not see a lot out deeper, defiantly better places to snorkel but for some family fun this was perfect for us. we were not sure how long we would stay so we did not arrange for a taxi to come back for us, we just walked back and it was not bad, about 25 min, the kids did fine with it. check our our video of Smith Cove.
here is an example of the places you can get excursions when you get off the ship