Customer Reviews

Adventure Guide to the Cayman Islands (Serial)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My wife and I spent 6 days in Grand Cayman. Overall the book gave great information on what to see and where to go. We especially enjoyed the section that points out where the movie "The Firm" was filmed. We are big movie buffs and that was fun to see the sites of some of the filming. The book did not point out that there are basically two spots to go see the stingrays in "Stingray City". We took two different snorkel trips. One trip took us to a reef in stingray city. The water was about 15 feet deep. We saw about 10 stingrays but had some trouble getting close to them because of the deep water. A second trip took us to a stingray area that was in water about four feet deep. This location was more enjoyable because you could actually touch the rays and hold them if you wanted. Also there were several more rays at this location. Both trips were great but I recommend going on the trip with the shallow stingray area first.

The book was right about the climate. We went during the second week of August (Near Hurricane Season) and it rained for a few hours on a couple of days. The rain did allow us to leave the beach and see the turtle farm and Hell.

We snorkeled in a few of the sites that the book recommends. The book highly recommends the Cemetary Reef. This reef was nice but after we got out near the reef, we were surrounded by gray jacks and other fish. The fish nipped a little at my wife's finger and it became quickly unenjoyable. We found out later that a lot of people feed the fish here and therefore they become more aggressive. In general, it wasn't scary but it was not fun with all these semi-aggresive fish around us. My wife especially did not like it.

Finally, I recommend the Hyatt and renting a car for at least a day. The Hyatt is slightly more expensive but is well worth the money. Also a car was useful to explore the island and other snorkel sites. We will definitely go back and use this book as a resource.

We were disappointed in the book. If you have ever traveled to an island before and have some idea of what to expect, then I do not recommend this book. We were able to find as much useful free information about the Caymans at the airport (rental car agency, whatever). The restaraunt guide in the book is extremely incomplete, and the descriptions of beaches and snorkeling locations needed to be much more specific to be worth the investment. As another reviewer alluded to, the lack of detailed maps is a serious drawback. If there was a roadmap and maps to snorkeling sites then I would have been partially satisfied. Unless you need to learn that Grand Cayman is a "world class SCUBA diving destination" I recommend learning the basics on one of the many internet sites and then picking up the freebies when you get there.

This is a very recent guidebook (Feb 1998), and therefore, provided the most up to date information on what is available in the Caymans. I purchased the book to provide more detail than that provided in the "Fodors" guidebook and was pleased with the amount of detail provided in this book. For example, it was the only place that informed me that a championship golf course was located on Grand Cayman Island. Other references only identified a single "par three" course on Grand Cayman. I give it high marks for it's insight on the atmosphere and costs at restaurants and hotels along Seven Mile Beach and West Bay.

A major improvement to the guidebook would be to include better, more difinitive maps. For example, my wife and I spent an hour trying to find "Stingray Brewery" which was identified as being "west of town" in the book. It would have taken us ten minutes to find it if they provided a decent map. In general, the authors seem very comfortable providing verbal directions to everything in the book. This technique drives this vacationer absolutely crazy because the roads in Cayman change names often and it seems that a map is the easiest way to find something quickly.

Even though this guidebook is very recent, some of the information is outdated. For example, a strong recommendation was made to visit the "new" cultural center at the Hyatt on Seven Mile Beach. Well, the Caymanian who did that left the Hyatt in April 1998 - so that service is no longer provided. Also, the ferry schedule to and from Rum Point changes periodically and the schedule provided in the guidebook is outdated.

With the exception of the poor maps, I found this guidebook very useful in identifying fun things to do in Grand Cayman.

My family and I just got back from a trip to the Cayman Islands, and this book helped before and during the trip! The airline and hotel information was great to plan how to get there and where to stay and the descriptions of the activities helped us decide what to see on the island! I'd recommend this guide to anyone!

Our family used this guide to plan our trip to the Cayman Islands. We stayed on Grand Cayman and took a day trip to Little Cayman, an idea we got from this guide. It was the highlight of our trip. We have been to Grand Cayman several other times but on this trip we found many new places to explore thanks to this book!

My husband and I had no idea what to expect, until we read this guide, and we found it very comprehensive and informative. We were able to plan each day's adventure by consulting the book, from planning what to do and where, where and what to eat, what tours to take, what to do on our own--in short, it was invaluable, adding immeasurably to our enjoyment of this vacation.

This book is easy to read and helpful, although it sounds more like a Chamber of Commerce description than independent opinions. I prefer for authors of travel guides to offer advice on what is NOT great, rather than just listing everything with positive comments only. (Although, see my review of Frommer's Portable Cayman Islands, where I believe editorial comment is overdone.)

Patris Permenter and John Bigley's Cayman Islands appears in its second edition to explore the people, places, and underwater attractions of the islands. From local nature to taking dives and walking tours, this provides a variety of opportunities.