On yet another cold Minnesota winter day, I had enough.
Enough of the deception of clear blue skies whose sunlight did nothing to warm
us from the bitterly cold winds that bring temperatures below 0oF
(-17oC). Such days remind me
of wine – bouquets of floral and fruity goodness that do not translate into how
they taste on your tongue. But I digress.
Dreaming of warm weather and the sun, sand and sea, I binge Googled for Caribbean resorts. The resort should preferably be all inclusive and MUST have beach snorkeling. I want to be able to step off the beach into the waters and be among fishes ASAP. And be able to stand up when the odd sensation of being able to breathe underwater overwhelms my brain.
Hours of research later, I found several recommendations online and decided on Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort for the primary reason that they had planted artificial reefs in front of their beach. My past experience in Shangri-La Cebu tells me that this means you get the thrill of snorkeling without having to head out too far or join a tour. Sure the sea life variety will not be great but for a beginner like me, it was exciting enough. Marriott is not an all-inclusive resort but that probably is better for our waistline anyway. And anyway, Grand Cayman has a reputation for having the best restaurants in the Caribbean.
We decided to travel during Memorial Day week. It is the monsoon season in this part of the world so we were taking a chance that the weather will not be disastrous. I figured if we could snorkel just an hour or two each day and laze the rest of the hours, we would be happy. Anyway, this being the ‘low’ season meant that the resorts offered good deals. We got our 4th night free and $50 F&B voucher for each night of stay. However, there were only two restaurants in the resort so our $50 went to breakfast or light meals such as a shared starter and a sushi roll each, which was plenty. There were also several local dining options within walking distance of the resort.
We landed around 2pm on Saturday, May 28, and took a taxi to the resort. That costs just $20 versus private limos, which would have been $80. There’s a taxi dispatcher just outside the arrival hall who assigns you your taxi. By the way, the local Cayman Island currency, is expensive – USD$1 to CI$0.80.
After checking in, we could not resist going into the sea. I had packed 3 pairs of swimming goggles – don’t know why – but forgotten the underwater camera that I had redeemed for this vacation with my long service award points. Oh well.
Look carefully at the photo below and you’ll see yellow round floats. They have netting in the center and you can climb into them and lounge in the sea. What a luxury. Some reviewers on TripAdvisor.com have commented that the resort has a tiny pool. But who needs the pool when the sea is YOUR pool with floating “toys”, aka schools of fishes, in them?! At high tide, the sea comes up to our shoulders at the artificial reef that is closest to the shore. I’m 5ft 6inches (~172cm). At low tide, it is about waist high.
But the important thing is that after this first swim in the sea, Leon was finally convinced we should buy our own set of snorkels. He’s a tough sell that man.
Our advice – don’t buy snorkels without trying them on. We went to the divers supply store about a 5mins’ walk away and the person there let us try on at least 5 different models of generic snorkels so we could determine which one had the best fit. We didn’t need special sets because we would probably use our snorkels just once or twice a year. The price was higher than on Amazon.com for sure but we are glad we got fitted. The sales person also taught us how to prep them for use (cheap white toothpaste to remove the coat of silicone on the inside of the goggles) and how to defog them using saliva.
With our snorkel gear in hand, we were in the waters in front of Marriott almost every day. I counted at least 16 different types of fishes, sea urchins, and some other types of creatures I cannot identify. A small stingray also made an appearance one day that I was able to catch on video.
Dreaming of warm weather and the sun, sand and sea, I binge Googled for Caribbean resorts. The resort should preferably be all inclusive and MUST have beach snorkeling. I want to be able to step off the beach into the waters and be among fishes ASAP. And be able to stand up when the odd sensation of being able to breathe underwater overwhelms my brain.
Hours of research later, I found several recommendations online and decided on Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort for the primary reason that they had planted artificial reefs in front of their beach. My past experience in Shangri-La Cebu tells me that this means you get the thrill of snorkeling without having to head out too far or join a tour. Sure the sea life variety will not be great but for a beginner like me, it was exciting enough. Marriott is not an all-inclusive resort but that probably is better for our waistline anyway. And anyway, Grand Cayman has a reputation for having the best restaurants in the Caribbean.
We decided to travel during Memorial Day week. It is the monsoon season in this part of the world so we were taking a chance that the weather will not be disastrous. I figured if we could snorkel just an hour or two each day and laze the rest of the hours, we would be happy. Anyway, this being the ‘low’ season meant that the resorts offered good deals. We got our 4th night free and $50 F&B voucher for each night of stay. However, there were only two restaurants in the resort so our $50 went to breakfast or light meals such as a shared starter and a sushi roll each, which was plenty. There were also several local dining options within walking distance of the resort.
We landed around 2pm on Saturday, May 28, and took a taxi to the resort. That costs just $20 versus private limos, which would have been $80. There’s a taxi dispatcher just outside the arrival hall who assigns you your taxi. By the way, the local Cayman Island currency, is expensive – USD$1 to CI$0.80.
After checking in, we could not resist going into the sea. I had packed 3 pairs of swimming goggles – don’t know why – but forgotten the underwater camera that I had redeemed for this vacation with my long service award points. Oh well.
Look carefully at the photo below and you’ll see yellow round floats. They have netting in the center and you can climb into them and lounge in the sea. What a luxury. Some reviewers on TripAdvisor.com have commented that the resort has a tiny pool. But who needs the pool when the sea is YOUR pool with floating “toys”, aka schools of fishes, in them?! At high tide, the sea comes up to our shoulders at the artificial reef that is closest to the shore. I’m 5ft 6inches (~172cm). At low tide, it is about waist high.
But the important thing is that after this first swim in the sea, Leon was finally convinced we should buy our own set of snorkels. He’s a tough sell that man.
Our advice – don’t buy snorkels without trying them on. We went to the divers supply store about a 5mins’ walk away and the person there let us try on at least 5 different models of generic snorkels so we could determine which one had the best fit. We didn’t need special sets because we would probably use our snorkels just once or twice a year. The price was higher than on Amazon.com for sure but we are glad we got fitted. The sales person also taught us how to prep them for use (cheap white toothpaste to remove the coat of silicone on the inside of the goggles) and how to defog them using saliva.
 |
| Our snorkels are from Deep Blue and among what the shop had, were the widest and most comfortable on our faces. http://www.deepbluegear.com/detail.cfm?ProductID=368&AllocatedProductID=605 |
With our snorkel gear in hand, we were in the waters in front of Marriott almost every day. I counted at least 16 different types of fishes, sea urchins, and some other types of creatures I cannot identify. A small stingray also made an appearance one day that I was able to catch on video.
There are many other things to do on Grand Cayman
Island. Here’s what else we did.
1. Stingray City Sand Bar Tour
We joined mobydicktours.com for a trip to the stingray city sand bar plus
some snorkeling nearby. Be sure that
you’re going to the sand bar, i.e. middle of the sea/bay where you can stand up
in waist high water, and not just to stingray city. Unless you have a boat to get there, you do
need to join a tour. You can’t quite
swim out to the sand bar. Mark, the
owner and a Brit who fell in love with Grand Cayman and then moved here, and
his crew seem to do only this tour a few times each day.
Other than the safety briefing, we learned a few facts about the
rays. Shuffle to move around on the sand
bar so as to avoid stepping on a ray. Female
rays are larger and the wingspan of those we would meet could be as wide as 2
meters. Male rays are small, like a
dinner plate, and have two penises. Men were advised not to keep food in their
pockets because rays feed by vacuuming their food with their mouth and Mark
claimed that many a honeymoon have been ruined when this advice was not taken.
What you experience is as advertised - the rays will swim around you; you can hold them and kiss them; and they are huge.
2. Bioluminescence Night Kayak
If you’ve seen the whale scene
from Life of Pi, that’s very similar to what we experienced. It was magical. Once we arrived at the bay where there was a
high concentration of bioluminescence, every paddle of the oar stirred up
sparkly dots in the water. Tracing your
fingers on the surface of the water left trails of ‘fairy dust’. Every now and then, if fishes darted close to
our kayaks, you could see them glow in the dark waters. It was nothing we could capture on camera or
video without professional equipment.
The bioluminescence night kayak
tours are offered only on the darkest nights of the month, about 18 nights every
month. We signed up with Cayman Kayaks,
which is owned by conservationists Tom and Lisha Watling. The total duration from arrival, briefing,
and return journey to the bay where the bioluminescence was took a total of 1.5
hours.
There are several other places
in the world where you can experience this phenomena including Thailand and Puerto
Rico.
3. Starfish Point
The photos online showed wide expanse of beach dotted heavily with
starfishes. In reality, that’s not the
case. We did get to see some starfishes
but they were neither huge nor plentiful.
Still, it was fun hunting for them.
The waters were less than knee deep and you can spot them easily if they
were around.
4. Rented a Car and Drove Around
You need to pay a one-time CI$20
drivers’ license fee to drive on Grand Cayman.
There was an Avis counter in the resort’s lobby so that was convenient
for us. There are other cheaper local
car rental options but reviews were so mixed we decided to stick with Avis –
the difference is a few dollars a day. Do
remember that the drivers’ license fee is just a ONE TIME payment. When I inquired about extending our car
rental before I walked away from the counter, I was quoted the drivers’ license
fee again as part of the extension. Be
aware of what you need to pay for and avoid paying double.
It was fun driving around and
beach hop. There are a few other
snorkeling spots around the island but after seeing a few of them, my
conclusion is that none had the same depth-to-population ratio as the Marriott
reef.
As much as we enjoyed our stay on Grand Cayman, we probably
will not return because we want to explore other locations before we leave the
U.S. It is a far longer journey to visit
this part of the world from Singapore.
But if travel were not an issue, we will certainly be here again.
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