20 February A car to explore

Grand Cayman isn't a large island, about twenty miles long and eight miles at the widest, enough to warrant sharing a hire car with Linda and Chris for the day to explore. The Caymans have been noted to be the most expensive islands in the Caribbean. I'm not sure, Grenada is not cheap. We paid $80 for a small saloon for the day. The Cayman's have historical links to the UK. The official currency is Cayman dollars but US dollars are accepted everywhere. All credit card transactions are in USD.

Pedro St James

I digress. Back to the car. Having a car means being able to visit the chandlers the oldest stone house on the island, the 18^th century Pedro St James castle. San Pedro was built by an English plantation owner and over the years has burnt down a couple of times, changed owners, been a bar and in its current use is a national monument carefully restored to its original state.

The house has a stone built three storey, single room centre with wooden balconies at each level. The kitchen is on the ground floor, the dining room on the first and the second storey is sitting room and bedrooms. The views out to sea are pleasant and the cool breeze on the veranda welcome. In the grounds the museum has restored some of the original buildings; one traces the history of the island with photographs and through stamps.

with the Mon Arks

kitchen on ground

dining on first

Leaving our history lesson behind we continued along the coast road stopping at the blow holes for a photo opportunity and then a leisurely, indulgent lunch at a restaurant overlooking the east end of the island. For the rest of the day we simply checked out each remaining corner of the island, from the most north to the most westerly point. We found we had plenty of time to see everything, visit the yacht club in Governor's Creek, pop in to Cost U Less for a few bits and pieces and to be able to drop off the car before 6pm.