Lisa

We are traveling to Grand Cayman the last week of March & 1st week of April 2001, and I am curious about local fishing there. <BR> <BR>My husband would love to do any type of fishing, not just deep sea. Has anyone had any experience here w/ the local fishermen? <BR> <BR>Also, does anyone have helpful info about great beach bars/restaurants near West Bay or the North end of 7 mile? We are staying in a villa near Conch Point. <BR> <BR>How about "best" snorkel areas? <BR> <BR>Thanks for the input!

vicki

Lisa - There are numerous deep sea fishing charters that you can take while in Cayman. Charters there work differently than in some other places. You book your boat and you will have just your guests/family with you. The boats handle anywhere from 5 - 12 people, depending on the size of the boat. I would recommend a charter service run by Just Fishing - the captain is Leslie Ebanks - a great guy who usually has great luck! Fishing there is good, but you will not be pulling fish in every minute - marlin, dolphin (mahi-mahi), tuna, wahoo. Within a 20 minute boat ride, you should be outside of the reef and in deep ocean water. You can also fish off the beach or rocks throughout the island. If you enjoy bone fishing, Little Cayman is your place! You can make a one day trip there and the bone fishing is fantastic. You can also tarpon fish in Little Cayman, but that would require a pre-sunrise trip to the spot that the tarpon are plentiful. <BR> <BR>As for bars towards West Bay, I would recommend you turn around, I can't be much help. I can tell you that there is a beach bar at practically every hotel along 7 mile beach - the Westin, the Hyatt, etc. Restaurants and bars are very expensive in Cayman. I'd suggest that you stop at a liquor store and a grocery store and stock up and then hit the bars and restaurants when you plan to, not as your only source! Along 7 mile beach, you can check out Good Eats, Lone Star Bar & Grill, Hemingways. Have fun!

Mare

Hi Lisa! The concierge at the Westin set us up for 1/2 day of reef fishing with Captain Asley. I can't remember now the name of his operation. I will try to post again when I find it. He was very patient with my 13 yr old son and myself (novices) I caught 2, my son caught 9 in a period of 3 1/2 hours. It was fun. Take lots of sunscreen, and drinks or food with you. The cost was $300 for 1/2 day. Have a great time!!

Lori

When we were in Cayman last year we putin a request to split a half day fishing charter with Bayside Watersports. You phone them when you arrive on the island and the called us backing within two days and paired us up with a couple from New York. The cost for 7am to 12 noon deep sea fishing charter was $250 per couple. We caught a 28 pound tuna!!!!!! <BR> <BR>Have fun!

Dean

My wife and I went last year. We really enjoyed cast fishing inside the reef. You can catch all kinds of unusual fish (e.g. blow fish). There are lots of local charters - we asked one for a combo of fishing and snorkeling - he took us out near the reef to snorkel, it was great. <BR> <BR>One other "must do" - we had our captain take us out to stingray city. It was the highlight of the trip - you could feed stingrays that were 5 feet in diameter with your hand. They would literally swarm around you. Make sure you go to stingray city when the cruise ships are not in port - else it gets very crowded out there. When we were there we were essentially alone.