Snorkeling in Grand Cayman

We both love snorkeling, so for our winter trip this year, we chose Grand Cayman for three reasons: non-stop flights from Philly, snorkeling from the beach, and not much damage from this year's terrible hurricanes.

We had a bit of rain, but the few sunny days we had were spectacular, and even the rainy days were a whole lot better than the freezing temps at home.

Our home for the week was the Coco Beach Villas in Bodden Town, on the south side of the island and about half way between Seven Mile Beach and the East End. For us, it was pretty perfect. We had our own private beach, a kitchen, and washer/dryer. Lovely spot for relaxing with a good book:

We ended up eating in many of our meals "at home" -- of course, breakfast and lunch but after a couple of expensive and disappointing restaurant meals, we made a few dinners at our villa as well, making do with a minimum of pots and pans. Then we discovered Big Tree BBQ at the East End and realized that the best food in Grand Cayman is at the simplest places. For fish, Kurt's Korner was also very good and cheap.

The snorkeling was fantastic. Just a few miles down the road was Spotts public beach, which was very nice, with lots of shade for relaxing and reading. A few days later we went to Colliers Beach at the East End, which was fabulous. Clear water, lots of beautiful fish and corals, uncrowded, great facilities. We also went in for some of the touristy things that were great. Really enjoyed the bioluminescence kayak tour, where dipping our paddles in the water produced a beautiful light show. A visit to Stingray City was lots of fun and so interesting to get right in the water with these beautiful fish. Two more snorkeling stops after the stingrays were also quite beautiful. 

Here I am, "piloting" the boat out to Stingray City:

On the way to Colliers we stopped at Blow Hole, where a nice man who called himself Barack Obama (he did bear some resemblance, although much older) gave us a tour of the fossils and told us all about the blow holes, underground, vertical formations in the volcanic rock that fill with water and then shoot water skyward like a geyser when hit by crashing waves.

We loved Grand Cayman. Bodden Town was a good choice but next time we might stay at East End, which is quieter and less touristy.