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Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman is the largest of
the three Cayman Islands with
Cayman Brac being the second
largest and Little Cayman being
the last. Relatively small in
comparison to other Caribbean
countries, Grand Cayman is
approximately 196 km˛ in size
and is hope to the capital of
the Cayman Islands George Town.
Unlike with most other Caribbean
countries such as Jamaica, the
towns in the Cayman Islands is
referred to as districts and not
as parishes. On a Map the
country can be found at 19°20′N
81°13′W latitude and longitude
respectively.
The Cayman Islands largest
island Grand Cayman has a high
limestone reef, with a highest
point on the small Cayman Island
being just 60 feet above sea
level. Grand Cayman does not
possess natural fresh water such
as rivers, hence all the fresh
water needs of Grand Cayman must
be met by rain water catchments
areas or desalination of
seawater around Grand Cayman.
The Cayman Island has no rivers
which prevent a lot of
pollutants from getting into the
sea. The
Cayman Islands was wrecked by
Hurricane Ivan in September
2004. Hurricane Ivan, was a
Category 5 hurricane that hit
the islands causing a few
deaths, but destroying 80% of
the motor vehicles and buildings
on the island.
However Hurricane Ivan has
allowed the Cayman Islands the
opportunity to rebuild
infrastructure and change the
outlook of the island
dramatically. This made Grand
Cayman more visitor and tourist
friendly. The eastern side of
the island is considered
slightly under developed unlike
the hustle and the bustle of the
western side side which is home to the
Capital
George Town and the only major airport the Owen Roberts
International Airport.
Fast food restaurants such as
KFC and Burgher King, night clubs and other
Cayman resorts can be found
on the western side of the
island. The eastern districts offer secluded and
more native atmosphere, such as
the nd Cayman Botanical
Gardens, a major tourist
attraction. The eastern side
also offers undisturbed
Cayman diving facilities
with the natural bay and reef
offering extremely wonderful
sites. The Grand
Cayman restaurants on the
eastern seaboard offer mostly
Caymanian cuisine which is to
the delight of all who visit the
areas.
The seven mile
beach is a very big Cayman
Island attraction and
contributes heavily to the
country already booming
economy and actually has
facilitated both tourism and
real estate to grow
contributing to almost 75% of
the Gross
Domestic Product. The famous
Seven Mile Beach,
has adds many attractions to the
Cayman islands.
Grand Cayman is well known for diving and
snorkeling. The island
features many naturally
untouched reefs and sea walls,
some accessible shore of the
beach.
The district of
West Bay has an excellent turtle
farm. The turtle
farm re-opened in November 2004
as a larger
attraction after being wrecked
by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Grand Cayman green sea turtles
are raised for turtle meat.
Farmed turtles are
released into the wild and have
good survival rates. The turtle farm also has
several rare iguanas, the most
common place reptile located on
the rock. West Bay district has a
formation of limestone called
Hell. Not
much reason is given to where
this name comes from however
there is a lot of folklore that lends an idea as
to where this
attraction got its name.
Splendid souvenirs can be
purchased at this location.
Stingray City is possibly the
most fundamental Grand Cayman
attraction. Stingray city allows swimmers, snorkelers, and
divers to swim and feed
stingrays. The City, is a
short boat ride from the
northern end and
usually leaves from several
hotels, is a series
of shallow sand bars where the
fishes are found in
schools and the tourists and
visitors can feed, touch, pet,
and interact with stingrays. They
are found on the southern and
eastern end can grow to massive
sizes almost 2 feet in width and
are accustomed to being handled
and fed by the tour
guide.
A trip from a local tour operator will includes
snorkeling in coral gardens just
off the coast before boating out to
Stingray City. In the southern
district of Grand Cayman, the
place called Bodden Town is home
to
historic sites such as Pedro St.
James house. This has been
reputed to be the starting point
of democracy in the Cayman Islands.
It is documented to be the
oldest existing stone structure
in
the Cayman islands. In the
centre of Grand Cayman is the
Mastic Trail, a hiking trail
through old growth dry forests
that used to cover the entire
island. Plants and animals
native to the island, such as
the Mastic Tree, green parrot,
and agoutiare major attractions
for traveling tourists and
visitors.
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