Adventure Guide to the Cayman Islands (Adventure Guide to the Cayman Islands) [Paperback]

Paris Permenter (Author), John Bigley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Adventure Guide to the Cayman Islands | Publication Date: August 1, 2001

To the outsider, the Cayman Islands - Cayman Brac, Grand Cayman and Little Cayman - are almost always equated with watersports and glorious beaches, plus offshore banking opportunities. This is hardly surprising, since the Cayman Islands do offer world-class scuba diving in crystal-clear waters, as well as a tax-free haven. But these three islands have so much more to offer the traveler who's willing to wander off the traditional tourist paths, walk away from the beachside resorts and explore by themselves. Diverse woodlands and pristine wetlands occupy much of the islands� interiors, rugged hiking trails meander across the peaks and valleys, and mangrove swamps cushion the shoreline, offering a unique breeding ground for many birds and fish. These protected wilderness areas are often left unexplored by lay-in-the-sun-all-day tourists, who miss some of the biggest attractions the islands offer. Join our Caribbean expert team of authors in their quest to discover "the other Caymans," the islands' little-visited spots away from the crowds where you can trek for miles without seeing another soul, strip down and sun yourself on a secluded beach, or join a group and sail offshore as the sun sets. As with all Adventure Guides, this book introduces you to the history, geography and people of the region first, so you have a good background knowledge of the island chain. The authors then take you touring, visiting all the popular tourist sites and towns, and offering valuable tips on shopping, transportation, restaurants and accommodations. Then, it's on with the adventures: on foot, on and below the water, on wheels, in the air and on horseback. Among the many fun activities included are paragliding, sailing, catamaran cruises, soaring, scuba diving, trekking, hiking, waterskiing, windsurfing, snorkeling, driving trips and horseback riding. For all of these, the authors give a list of local operators who can set you up with equipment, ferry you around from site to site or actually guide you on walks or riding trips. Detailed town and regional maps.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Bigley and Paris Permenter, a husband-and-wife team, fell in love with the Caribbean over a dozen years ago and have turned their extensive knowledge of the region into an occupation. As professional travel writers and photographers, the pair contributes travel articles and photographs on the US and the Caribbean to many national consumer and trade publications.

They are the authors of numerous other Hunter guides: Adventure Guide to Jamaica, 4th Edition; Adventure Guide to Anguilla, Antigua, St. Barts, St. Kitts & St. Martin, 2nd Edition; Cayman Islands Alive!; Jamaica: A Taste of the Island; Jamaica Alive!; Nassau and the Best of the Bahamas Alive!; Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis Alive!; and Bahamas: A Taste of the Islands.

Paris and John are also frequent television and radio talk show guests on the subject of travel. Both are members of the prestigious Society of American Travel Writers (SATW).

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Hunter Publishing (NJ); 2 edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556509154
• ISBN-13: 978-1556509155
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,496,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Bigley is the coauthor of 26 guidebooks covering primarily the Caribbean and Texas. Along with his wife, Paris Permenter, John also contributes to many consumer and trade publications. John and Paris also publish Lovetripper.com Romantic Travel Guide, an online look at romantic travel aimed at honeymooners and romantic travelers, TexasTripper.com for travelers in the Lone Star State, and DogTipper.com, featuring tips for dog lovers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for the Cayman Islands, August 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Adventure Guide to the Cayman Islands (Serial) (Paperback)

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.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not the right book for the experienced traveler., September 14, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adventure Guide to the Cayman Islands (Serial) (Paperback)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Up-to-date and Comprehensive but Could have used Better Maps, July 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Adventure Guide to the Cayman Islands (Serial) (Paperback)

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.