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The hotel staff was very efficient and quick to tell us our room was ready. We arrived several hours before check-in and were concerned we would have to wait-we were glad we didn't have to wait. The front desk staff were extremely friendly, giving us a quick run-down of the resort and directed us to our room.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
As I mentioned, we were there to dive, so that's what we did. We did 2 tank boat dives for four days. The dive staff made the trip. They were very experienced, offered us several pointers, built up our confidence (we were new at the time), never went to the same dive site, pointed out different fish, and were simply the best. I would not recommend the resort for non-divers, but we met several people that did not dive, but enjoyed the pool and location of the resort. Georgetown is a 15 minute walk, so it was easy to meander into town for shopping and going to other restaraunts.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
There is no beach at Sunset House, but is very close to Smith's Cove. We walked to Smith's Cove in 10 minutes. Nice beach, great snorkelling, public restrooms were very basic with an outdoor shower. Sunset House is for divers and diving was fantastic. Easy access in/out of the water. There is a sea pool to practice in, which we used on Day 1. Otherwise, the reef is an easy dive. The grounds of the property were well kept and the rooster was a great way to be woken up to for early morning dives.
Other Comments
Sunset House is a great place to go, if you are going to dive. It offers some of the best diving in the Caribbean with some of the friendliest/best dive staff. It is clearly not the Ritz, but is clean and well-kept for a 50 year old resort. We will not hesitate to return on a future dive trip.
Restaurants and Bars
"My Bar"-what a great menu. It has all of the usual (grouper sandwiches, burgers, fries, salads) and then the suprise was the Indian food. The curries were outstanding. The Naan bread was homemade and definitely, the best I have ever had eaten. My husband had the blackened grouper sandwich three times during our stay, only because it was so good. The stir fry chicken was way too much food-we could have easily shared it. The made to order breakfast was good-bacon or sausage with eggs, Western omelet, fruit salad were a few items we ate during our stay. A hearty breakfast prior to diving. The alcoholic mixed drinks were strong (cheers!)and the beers cold.
Rooms
Comfortable. The room was clean, air conditioned, and had all the basic amenities. The rooms do not have a hair dryer, but we were told you could ask the front desk for one. Also, there is not an iron-the resort is a dive resort and really, you don't need one. We had ordered a refridgerator ahead of time to have sodas, water, etc available and it worked well. I had read on-line that the "towels were small and scratchy", so we brought our own-not needed, the towels were fine. Also, for being in the Caribbean, we did not see any bugs in the room, which was a nice surprise.
April 19-26. Our family of four, including two teenagers 14 & 16, arrived via Air Canada from Toronto in the early afternoon of Sunday, April 19th and were greeted by a lovely warm sun and a short lineup at the immigration booths directly inside the airport entrance.
After approximately ten minutes we were directed through to the luggage area where all the luggage had already been stacked in a corner. Following collection of our luggage then had a second line up with the customs dept; showing our passports and paperwork again so don't put it away until you actually exit the airport.
Once outside the airport it was a 60 second walk across the parking lot to our car rental agency called Andy's. There was no one in line and we were quickly assigned our compact vehicle for the week. What some reviews have said about Andy's is correct, the vehicles are a tad beat up but in good running order. You won't win any beauty contests driving them but they did the job of taking us around the island so we were pleased.
Grand Cayman Islands has a very British feel to it and indeed the driving is on the opposite side of the road. This did take some getting used to for my husband but within minutes he was fine.
It takes approximately 15 minutes to drive from the airport to The Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa along a relatively busy stretch of road. The Westin is located just after the Ritz on the left hand side and directly across the street from the Eats Cafe, Legendz Bar and Grill and Yoshi Sushi Restaurants. There is plenty of free parking and you will be met at the front entrance by two doormen who are more than willing to assist you with your luggage.
Inside the hotel you will find a conceirge desk and an excursion desk to the right of the entrance that is manned the entire day and very helpful and also the check in desk to the left that had three very friendly clerks on duty. BY this time it was 3:00pm and our rooms were ready for us. They have the swipe card system for the doors, much easier than carrying around keys and as well you are assigned a mini bar key and instructions about using the safe.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel
At the resort there is a company called Red Sail that operates on the property at the entrance to the right at the beach. They offer a number of rentals that you pay for my charging it to your room or paying via cash or credit card on site. We rented the wave runners ($75.00 US per half hour for a single rider or $95.00 US per half hour for a double rider). As well we rented a hobie cat for sailling and it cost $50.00 for one hour.
There is a very active snorkelling site directly in front of the Governor's House just next door to The Westin and within swimming distance. It is marked for anyone interested in going out there. I suggest you bring snorkelling equipment, nothing expensive, just the mask and snorkel from Walmart or Target will do. If you forget it though, you can rent the equipment at Red Sail and it costs $15.00 US for 24 hours.
In addition to the above mentioned rentals there are also snorkelling trips that include wave runners, there are catamarran cruises off the beach, windsurfing equipment and banana boat rides. The banana boat rides cost $15.00 US for a 15 minute ride along the coast line.
We did take three excursions while we were on the island and I would recommend each of them! The first excursion we took was the Stingray Tour with Captain Marvin's Tours who are located in the same plaza as Eats Cafe. We met the group at that location and were bused ten minutes down the road to Marvin's dock. If you get sea sick or suspect you might, I HIGHLY recommend you take a couple gravol before departure. We brought it along and are grateful we did because there were those on board who didn't and suffered on the trip.
Once boarded on the boat, we rode out to the first of three sights, two of them were snorkelling sites and the last being the sand bar where the delightful stingrays are located. I highly recommend you spend time with these creatures as they are simply amazing to watch and feel and experience. It was one of the highlights of our vacation and something we'll always remember.
The second excursion was the Atlantis Submarine located in the downtown core next to the cruise ship loading area. Once again I HIGHLY recommend you take a couple gravol before departure because prior to getting on the submarine, you will have a 15 minute ride from the dock to the vessel. The submarine takes you down approximately 110 feet and allows those of us who don't scuba dive to experience the life that is taking place below the water. We loved this excursion and we wouldn't hesitate to go again the next time we're on the island.
The final excursion we did was the Boatswain Turte Farm. It is a hands on facility that has turtles ranging in size from the size of your palm to enormous and they appear to be well cared for and well feed. With an all day pass you are also granted access to a refreshing swimming lagoon that is quite deep so be warned about that, as well as a reef swimming area stocked with fish, iguanas and turtles to swim along with and a nice little beach area to relax following a walk around the park. If you do wish to swim in the reef part, the snorkel and mask is free of charge to use. In addition there is an aviary to walk through and a shark feeding that takes place with the handlers on site to answer questions. This excursion was the favourite for our teenagers and allowed us some fantastic photos of the turtles being held by them. Boatswain is located approximately 15 minutes down the road from The Westin and provides lots of free parking directly across the street from the main building with a spectacular view of the bay. I'd have to say that this is a must see in your vacation plans.
Beach/Pools/Grounds
Seven Mile Beach directly in front of the Westin is the most amazing stretch of beach we have ever experienced on vacation in the caribbean. It is the whitest sand, the clearest water, and the prettiest area we could have asked for.
The beach never seemed crowded with lots of room to roam and if you love the beach but can't sit in direct sunlight, there are no umbrellas but there are many large Casuarina trees lining the area directly to the right and left of the pool bar. Our routine was mornings at the pool and when the sun came out full force we would head to the beach shade for a relaxing afternoon of reading. I love the sun but members of my family can't have full sunshine so we got the best of both worlds. There are no complaints about this beach!!!
The pool is considered the largest resort pool on the island and I really can't understand those who complain about it. There were days where my family was the only one in the pool! When there were others in it, it didn't seem crowded and the wait at the swim up bar never seemed to take more than just a few moments. We went to the resort the third week of April so perhaps that is the difference between us and others who complained about the population in the pool. The pool was refreshing; never too cool or too warm, it was cleaned early each morning and the landscaping around it was very tropical and upkept. The lounge chairs at the pool had cushions and Westin lounge covers on them and there was never any problem finding a place to sit. We didn't rush down at 6:00am every morning to save a spot like we've had to at some Dominican resorts.
On the grounds you will find a number of lizards and iguanas ranging in size from the size of your pinky finger, to the size of your palm to a beautiful mid sized iguana. They are all vegetarian, more scared of you than you should ever be of them and they are simply fun to watch. One day while we were sitting at the pool a very big iguana wandered by slowly, stopped at a fountain for a drink and casually planted himself by a lounge chair. The pool attendant heard people talking about it, came over and shooed him up a tree. Don't be concerned in the least, it is quite an experience to see them living wild when we only see them caged here in Canada.
Other Comments
My husband and I had visited Georgetown, Grand Cayman Islands on two seperate occasions 10 and 12 years ago while on cruises in the caribbean but never more than just a few hours anchored in port. This vacation allowed us to experience the island for 7 nights and 8 days, and is a vacation that was truly memorable and perfect. The beach is second to none, the Westin Casuarina Resort and Spa was our perfect home base and the excursions fit our family dynamic to a tee. I read reviews prior to going on this vacation and have read reviews since that complain about the Westin as being "shabby", tired, or "less than the Ritz", and I simply don't understand what kind of standards these people are comparing to. The Westin is a fantastic option for families or couples. The landscaping around the resort is lovely, the rooms are great, the service is top notch and the staff was friendly and helpful. Special thanks to Nathalie in reservations for answering so many of my questions prior to arrival and seeing that our adjoining rooms were looked after. Her friendliness and personal welcome was customer service at it's best! We strolled by the Ritz beach area acouple times just down the shore line and found the chairs stacked and crowded. As well, we walked around their hotel one evening and found it very lovely looking but also very cold....not welcoming like the Westin. I highly recommend the Westin for your next vacation and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at kcponce at hotmail.com. I'll be happy to help with anything you need to know. This was a 10 out of 10 on the vacation scale and the only complaint is that we only had a week.
Restaurants and Bars
There is a pool bar, lobby bar and two restaurants on the premises. The pool bar is divided into the beach side and the swim up bar with atleast two bartenders working this bar at all times. As well there are 5-6 friendly and helpful female servers who take your drink and food orders at your chairs at the pool and beach from 11am until approximately 6pm. They are all dressed in the same clothes and were helpful in suggesting new drink options during our week.
The lobby bar is the busiest in the evenings from Tuesday till Saturday when they have the professional piano player performing from 8:30pm - 11:30pm. He is not the piano bar guy you might be expecting; the type who sings and plays along to Billy Joel or Elton John tunes. He is classically trained and is very impressive, playing scores from films you might recognize along with the classics. He has a tip jar but I rarely saw anyone stepping forward to leave anything in it.
We did not eat at either of the restaurants during our stay. We looked at the menu but like so many of the things on the island, they seemed very expensive when converted into the Cayman C.I. currency. Instead I suggest that if you are going to be staying at the Westin as a family, eat your breakfast at Eats Cafe, your lunch at Legendz Bar and Grill and your dinner at either of them. These restaurants are directly across the street from the Westin, no more than a one minute walk from the front entrance of the hotel, and it has something on the menu for everyone at prices that were reasonable. If you are from Canada, the restaurant Legendz is very similar to the fare you'd find at a Kelsey's Restaurant and if you are from the US, I'd compare to an Applebees or TGIF. Our teens never had an issue finding meals that interested them and these restaurants allowed us to stick to our budget. In eight days, seven nights we spent $1200 US for our food. That includes soda, no alcoholic beverages during these meals (saved the drinking for the beach and pool:-)
Eats and Legendz is owned by the same person and managed by the same group of people along with the sushi restaurant next to it called Yoshi Sushi. My husband and I enjoyed Yoshi but the teens didn't so I'd suggest sticking to the first two options with your kids and save the sushi place for a date night.
The servers and management at this group of restaurants was top notch, incredibly friendly and helpful in suggesting things to do and places to go on the island. Krista at Eats in the morning, Jessica at Legendz for lunch and dinner were fantastic!!!! They made our vacation even more enjoyable with their super service, remembering us each day with our arrival.
Rooms
Prior to our arrival we had requested adjoining rooms on a higher floor with a view of the ocean and the pool and we were not disappointed. Our rooms were 546 & 548, and they did not disappoint. Inside the room you will find an electronic room safe on the floor of the closet, plenty of hangers, an ironing board and iron and a stand for your luggage case. As well, we requested a king size bed and the kids had two doubles, with both sets being the Westin Heavenly beds. They were indeed very heavenly!
The washroom is divided into two sections, one being the average size tub, a vanity sink with large mirror and a shelf under the vanity for storing supplies. Next to this area is a water closet, just a small space with a door for the toilet. The entrance to the bathroom is french doors opening inward. I have read reviews from people who had issues with the washrooms, but they seems just fine to me.
There was also a small table and two chairs inside the room but we didn't really find a use for them as we were never in the room long enough to sit down for a drink or a meal. As well there was a dresser with 5 drawers for your clothes which also held the flat screen television on top and the mini bar fridge down below and hidden by a door. If you are not planning on buying anything from the mini bar but you want to store your own beverages inside, there is room for that, it just takes a bit of reorganizing. Be warned though that the hotel asks that you not take out their mini bar supplies because it makes it difficult for the staff to keep track that way and you'll be charged. We had 12 canned beer from the duty free and our kids had a bunch of sodas in theirs and there was still room to be had.
The biggest selling point for this room though is the spectacular view of the beautiful blue ocean and the pretty pool directly below. It is not a huge balcony but it does have two rod iron chairs for a sit down in the evening as the sun sets over the palm trees. Paradise.
Excellent snorkeling from the shore
Hotel The Reef Resort
User Rating:
FrancoisManonCanada >
1 contribution(s) Canada
Mar, 2007 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
Here is the report from our latest trip to Grand Cayman, long and detailed as those I like to read and rely on before booking anything. My wife and I are now avid snorkelers and the main purpose of the trip was relaxation with a focus on snorkeling from the shore as much as possible. This was a first for us in the Carribean islands, that is after over 15 trips,this was not booked as an all-inclusive. The airline tickets and hotel/resort booking was done through Travelocity.ca . Last year we used Expedia .ca and had good service but we preferred the Travelocity experience of this year, sort of a feeling of " being well cared for" . We flew, without any problems, with American Airlines from Montreal(6:30 am) to Miami(10:00am) with a connection to Grand Cayman, arriving at 2:00pm. After clearing Customs we hustled to the car rental(AVIS) agency close by the airport to get a Daihatsu Charade(sub-compact), that was reserved through the concierge service of the Reef Resort(very reliable and problem free). The cost was a total of $347US(everything included-taxes, insurance, driving license) for the whole week, plus about $25US for gas. Although the car was small, it was all we needed and would recommend using AVIS as the return of the car was one of the easiest I have known. So after packing the luggage in that car, off we go but... Grand Cayman is a British island and the steering wheel is on the right side, and you drive on the left side of the road and the moment we left the parking lot it started to rain, no, it started to pour down so hard that the water accumulated 6 inches deep in most of the streets . It makes for a pretty hectic start, especially when, even with maps, you are not too sure where you are heading... Luckily this hard downpour lasted only 15 minutes, and by the time we got to the Reef Resort , everything was dry with the sun shining.
Babylon Reef/Queen's Monument
We tried to snorkel this area but had a hard time to find the right entry spot. We were back from Rum Point and stopped at what I thought was the location just east of Old Man Bay (no signs here...) but there was not a lot to see except lots of fan corals(green) and a mostly sandy bottom with just a few fish species. I'm sure that we didn't have the right entry point or didn't head out in the right direction. Better luck next time..(or get better directions...).
Beaches
The beach at the Reef Resort is made of nice white powdered sand and is very clean and well kept. Lost of chairs and not many people, and no music or noise of any kind. Very relaxing. If you want to swim into the ocean, there is a lot of rocks and see grass but there is two spots of about 30 or 40 feet wide where it is mostly sand but good water shoes are recommended. Other beaches we were at : Seven Mile Beach( where there is parking and a nice playground for young kids near the Harbour Heights condos), Cemetary Beach, Rum Point, Kaibo Beach, Ivory Kai. The first three are very nice, with nice white powder sand nice blue waters. The last two, are still nice for relaxing on the beach but not so nice for swimmimg into the ocean. At Ivory Kai there is just about only seegrass in the water but if you get in with water shoes waist deep you can find numerous starfish. Nice experience in a remote area. I have to mentionned that we were in GC for snorkeling and although the beaches seemed nice, we didn't go swimming at any of these beaches. We would put on our fins and mask and go out snorkeling, so we didn't pay any attention to rocks or grass in the shallow waters of these beaches....
Cemetary Reef
Coming back from the Cracked Conch, we stopped at the Cemetary Beach(yes, right by a nice cemetary nicely decorated with flowers on all tombs). The beach is very nice with fabulous views of Seven Mile Beach but we immediately got the fins on and swam out a bit(maybe 500 to 1000 feet) from shore and got to very nice coral formations and stangely found out after a while that numerous fishes were following us( mostly Bermuda chubs) in our snorkeling trek... probably because these fishes are used to be fed by the snorkelers. A strange feeling as when you were going about the different coral heads and you would suddenly look back and you could see all these fishes following you....
Compass Point/Ocean Frontiers
This is a boat outing that we booked with Ocean Frontiers, a well trusted dive shop operating out of Compass Point located approx. a 10 minute drive from the Reef Resort. This outing was $35US per person and consisted of a three stop snorkeling excursion on Sunset Reef and two other reefs (I don't recall the exact names) that were located inside the barrier reef close by the Wreck of the Ten Sails. We got onto a pontoon type boat with 8 snorkelers on board, with an excellent guide. The first two sites had views of a huge anchor from the Wreck of the Ten Sails, a more recent sailboat wreck and all that in about 20-30 feet deep water with the nice coral heads getting at about 5-6 feet from the surface. Saw lots of parrotfishes, stingrays, french angelfishes , queen angelfish etc... The third stop was along the barrier reef in very shallow waters(2-4 feet at times) with nice "swiss cheese"like coral formations with nice schools of blue tangs, french angel fishes. My wife saw a green moray but I didn't get to see it... In between snorkeling sites they would provide cold water bottles and freshly cutted oranges to everyone, a nice touch. Also, when you get on a boat outing like this one, you will notice that the people onboard are a lot more serious at snorkeling/diving than say an outing to Stingray Sandbar. Very good dive shop to deal with, I would recommend them strongly.
Conclusion
Grand Cayman was a very nice place with excellent snorkeling from the shore. We did, at times, snorkeled or swam out quite a bit from the shore. This type of snorkeling is defenitely not for beginners and you need to be a decent swimmer and boost your courage a little bit. If the surf had been rougher, we probalby would not have ventured out that much... People are very friendly all around the island and please do rent a car to explore the numerous beaches even if you are not snorkeling. It does take time to get use to driving on the left(and yes you will activate the wipers instead of the flashers). The Reef Resort itself is very nice, quiet, well maintained with excellent staff and service(except for dinner service on Valentine's Day..) It is in a remote area, so you will even like it better if you rent a car. If we had to go again, we would probably try to find a place closer to Rum Point(within walking distance if possible) but we would still rent a car for exploring the other spots of the island. Restaurants on the island are expensive but if you do your homework and check out info before you head out, you can manage . The island itself is very clean, but the vegetation is scarce, (do not expect lush tropical rain forest type vegetation) and we did notice damages to shores and houses from the last hurricane. But it made for a really nice week, easy to drive roads(especially out of town) to some of the best snorkeling we have experienced so far.
Cracked Conch:(near Turle Farm)
We left out stuff on the chairs at the Macabuca Bar, adjacent to the Cracked Conch restaurant, and got in the water easily from the ladder close by. We snorkeled alond the rock formations along the water's edge and swam out a bit to the vertical drop. Nice views with lots of fishes. We met with a couple from Long Island, New York(in their seventies) that snorkeled the same area. We chatted about their snorkeling experience in GC and they directed us to Cemetary Reef and mentionned not to hesitate to swim out a bit before you hit the better coral formations...
Eden Rock
Right into Georgetown before getting to the cruise ship piers. You will notice the dive shop with the "diving apple" sign. You can get easily in the water directly from the ladder and go to the buoys. Nice big coral formation with vertical drops and quickly get to over 60 feet deep of water. Lots of fish, hung around with a turtle for about 10 minutes(very nice) and saw stingrays. A few small jellyfishes but didn't bother us.
Hotel/Resort
The Reef Resort is located in the East End of the island in the area of Colliers Bay and it takes about 50 minutes for the drive, which is mostly along the southern and eastern coastline. The Reef Resort is a condo/timeshare type of hotel with all of the units or suites being oceanfront. Registration at the reception area was quick and simple. We booked for the simple ocean studio suite, which was on the third floor of the farthest of the buildings, but just a minute walk to the lobby/reception area. The suite was new, spotlessly clean and well furnished with a small kitchenette(small refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, toaster and dinerware/ustensils/glasses/wine glasses etc.. for two persons). Our first batch of coffee took over 2 hours but the coffee maker was replaced promptly as soon we asked for a replacement. The view form the balcony was fabulous , especially for watching the sunrises. Exceptional. The decor of the room was modern and minimalist. The balcony was shared with the adjacent unit, but luckily the unit was not occupied during our stay. If the unit had been occupied, it would have made it a lot less private and we surely would not have appreciated. In fact, the resort was probably half full at the most. Definitely no crowds at this place. The Resort consists of three large buildings for the suites, one large buidling for the reception, restaurant, stores , all directly along the beach within 75 feet from the water's edge. There is two restaurants, the Castro's Hideaway Restaurant and the Beach Bar. The grounds are very well kept although the palm trees and flowers are still small. As mentionned before, it is very quiet all around the resort. In daytime, there was maybe 15 to 20 people max on the beach. There is two swimming pools , a bigger one close by the neighboring Morritt's Resort, and a smaller one with Jacuzzi near our suite. Just about nobody in the pools. In the evening there would be more people in the upstairs restaurant and at the bar, but except for Valentine's day, no real crowds. No real activities of any kind or even noise or music (no volley-ball, aerobics etc...) although we saw a few people play tennis. Near the reception area there is a well equippped dive shop runned by Ocean Frontiers and a small liquor store/internet café, the Thirsty Surfer. Also in the lobby, are usually two concierge desk ready to help you with any thing you would want to do, book, try, etc... on the island. Excellent service with very good advices on everything you want to know around the island.
Note
Wherever we got to snorkel out of a dive shop(Eden Rock, Sunset House, Cracked Conch, Rum Point, etc..) we didn't hesitate to ask about snorkeling pointers and safety tips to the young dudes at the counter and all of these were very gentle and talkative about their snorkeling or dive spot. That was very nice. Also, we felt maybe a bit lucky throughout our snorkeling week as The Ocean Frontiers guide mentionned that the wind was unusually down for this time of the year. A lot of times in winter, GC has what they call a Norwester(I think), a prevailing wind from the North West that makes a lot of places in the East End of the island subject to much bigger waves, therefore making snorkeling more difficult. But for us, all of the places we snorkeled the water were very calm to calm, with minimal waves. The only place we really felt a current was in front of the Reef Resort!
Other
We didn't hang out much in Georgetown except for a few stops for souvenir shopping. We did stop at Butterfly Farm, near the Marquee Cinema. This farm is an enclosed area with nets and is setted up like a botanical garden with lots of beautiful butterflies wandering around you and landing on different flowers or feeding stands installed. Yo can watch Blue Morphos, Monarchs, and other types of butterflies from around the world. It makes for a very nice and relaxing stop between snorkeling outings. The fee is about $15US per person but you get a good 3/4 hour briefing on butterflies, chrysalids, moths and cocoons with explanations and numerous specimens of all of these. You can easily spend over an hour watching all the butterflies going aroung. They even give you water as it can get a little hot in the middle of the day... We also stopped over at the Antica Gelateria(near the Marquee cinema) for a gelatto( sort of italian ice cream). A very nice treat after lenghthy snorkeling.
Restaurants & Bars
As I mentionned earlier, this was not an all inclusive, and we were a little apprehensive as we knew restaurants could be expensive on the island. We had our first breakfast at the Reef restaurant, on the balcony and the food was very good with excellent service. Still we decided to make our own little breakfast, each morning, on our own balcony. There is a well stocked IGA/Foster's Grocery store, just across the street from the Reef Resort, where you can buy anything you want to feed you. The suites being oceanfront, we found that having a breakfast consisting of toasts with fresh fruits coupled with lots of coffee and juices right on the balcony watching the sun rising up over the ocean to gentle sound of small waves was a cherished moment as we were also planning the snorkeling for the day... But when we are on vacation, we don't like to cook at all so we had all of our lunches and dinners at restaurants all around over the island depending on where we were snorkeling. We had lunches at Over the Edge(12 minutes drive from the Reef ), Kaibo Beach Bar, EATS( in Georgetown), Macabuca Bar( adjacent to Cracked Conch near the Turtle Farm), Vivine's Kitchen(10 minutes from the Reef). For dinner, we had a few directly at the Reef Resort Beach Bar Restaurant, but we also tried Over the Edge, Portofino's Wreck View( 5 minutes from the Reef). At the Reef we preferred having dinner at the Beach Bar outside where you could order from the lunch menu. At the inside restaurant upstairs, you had to order from the dinner menu which was more expensive. Food at the Reef was very good with good service except on Valentine's day where we had almost a 3 hours wait for our order. The Resort is staffed for being half booked. This Valentine's evening was full pack and there were understaffed and it was not very pleasant. At the Inside restaurant, the Barefoot Man is playing on tuesdays and was there at Valentine's day. We didn't see BFM as we didn't care for any nightly entertainment. The food and service were very good at any place we ate, but our favorite was definitely Over The Edge, where the fish and shrimps were excellent. Portofino's was also very good(I tried the turtle steak) but a bit pricier. In general, we could always find a good meal with drinks for two for$20-$30US(breakfast) and $30 to $40 US(lunch or dinner), but you can easily get to $150US if you get a little fancier...(especially at dinner). It happened twice at restaurants( i.e Over the Edge) to be greated at the door by a drunk man that we initially thought was the owner but don't be scared, go through the bar at entrance and you will reach the terrace restaurant that's "over the edge" of water...
One evening, coming back from Georgetown after a day of snorkeling, we stopped over at Hurley's grocery store in Grand Harbour. This grocery store is even better than Foster's as they have a custom sandwich station, cooked meals and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. We came back with a rotisserie chicken with rice&beans, plantain, greek salad and had a very nice candlelight dinner on our balcony. If you are thinking about stocking heavily or preparing more meals, definitely go at Hurley's. As for bars , the drinks and cocktails are on the expensive side at most bars around the island, including the Castro's beach bar at the Reef, you can expect to pay around $6.00 US for a beer and about $11.00US for a drink like margarita or tequila sunrise. We had brought from home, tequila and gin to fix our own drinks to sip on our balcony, and we bought beer and soft drinks/mix at Thirsty Surfer that we packed with water and soft drinks and ice in a foldable cooler for taking out in our snorkeling adventures around the island.
Rum Point
A well groomed beach with beach chairs, hammocks, picnic tables, restaurants, bars, souvenir shop and dive shop, with lots of trees for shade. No fees for use of the chairs or hammocks but they ask you not to bring any outside food or beverages. We walked about 5 minutes to the right (when facing the pier) and swam out quite a bit (about 1000-1500 feet) to the coral formations and we swam in what would be a big quadrant around the pier and then back to the pier. And we had a blast. Very colorful coral formations with many queen angelfishes, french angelfishes, grey angelfishes, huge parrotfishes, squirrelfishes, spiny lobsters, sort of a never ending display of sea life. We would be going out snorkeling for about one to one and a half hour at a time. Getting back to the beach we would reward ourselves with a nice cocktail from the bar(at $10US apiece..ouch..) but they were very tasty with high content of the "hard stuff". We would usually get to Rum Point Beach at about 9:00 am and we were just about the first ones on site. As the day progresses, cruise ship people and island tourists start to arrive, making the place a lot more lively(there are activities available), but we never felt any real crowding and the place was always relaxing(no loud music). We spent another half day at Rum Point to repeat the snorkeling as this turned out to be our favorite spot on the island.
Snorkeling
This was the main reason for this trip and boy did we get what we were looking for. I had gathered a lot of info about snorkeling locations in GC from various web sites( as GC is just about surrounded by coral reefs) and it helped immensely in selecting the sites to snorkel. We started out directly on the beach of the Reef Resort. The reef is a little bit out and the currents can be relatively strong even on a non-windy day. So we stayed close to shore, not a lot of coral, but a lot of rock formations and a few fishes like peacock flounder, bar jacks, blue tangs, french grunts, palometas, sergeant majors, puffy fish,etc... Most of the fishes will gather just underneath the Reef Resort pier and you can usually see a 4 feet barracuda hanging around as well as many tarpons. Water is not that clear because of the waves but you can get real close to all of these fish species.
Stingray Sandbar
We did Stingray Sandbar with Captain Marvin outlet located in the Cayman Falls (small stripped mall). We wanted to do the Stingray thing on Sunday as there is not a lot of people, only certain operators are allowed(locals I think) to go to the Stingray Sandbar or Stingray City. We boarded a comfortable boat and were about 24 people aboard but never felt crowded. We started by doing stops at Coral Gardens and the Barrier Reef for snorkeling before hitting the sandbar. Both places had nice snorkeling. Coral Gardens had nice coral heads and numerous fishes in about 15 -20 feet deep water but we preferred the Barrier Reef as it was shallower and had more colorful sights and fishes( saw a nice trumpet fish standing still vertically imitating a soft coral...). When you reach the Sandbar, you get in the water without fins in waist deep and immediately the stingrays starts circling you and then rub your legs in search for food. You can pet them, touch their backs and bellys but do not worry they will not hurt you and the guides tell you everything you want to know about the Stingrays. They even will handle a few Stingrays and show them up close(their mouth, thier tail with the sting...yes...) and even make you kiss the Stingray as it is supposed to bring you good luck! Although we are just crazy about snorkeling and seeing as much sealife as we can, we didn't like the feeling of being touched by the stingrays but it did made for wonderful uderwater pics and video shots. Definitely a must do and the Capt. Marvin team was very good, except for reef protection. They didn't advise about reef protection and there were a lot of people new to snorkeling and it was just horrifying to see the damages caused by the inexperienced snorkelers hitting the reefs with their fins, standing on the coral heads and so on . Just a note to tell you that Stingray Sandbar is the snorkeling version of Stingray City, which is the scuba diving version. The Sandbar, Coral Gardens and Barrier Reef is located just off the Rum Point area so if I was to repeat the excursion, I would prefer going out from the Rum Point or Kaibo Beach area as you don't have to cross the whole North Sound to get to the snorkeling areas and the stingrays...
Sunset House
A diver's resort, a little bit before you get into Georgetown coming from the East End. We wanted to see the mermaid, a bronze sculptur fixed to the bottom of the sea. Easy access as you get into the water from a ladder and an easy swim to the buoys. The mermaid is in about 50-60 feet deep of water so for snorkelers it is not easy to find(ask the dive shop for directions) and if you find it, the views are deceiving as your as too far above. The rest of the snorkeling is average, again because the bottom gets deep rapidly and limits your views of the coral formations...
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