Kids in the Caymans
 

We're traveling to Grand Cayman later this month and are bringing a 10 yr. old and 5 yr. old with us, as we're attending a family wedding. Any suggestions for things to do and restaurants that would be kid-friendly? Thanks for your ideas!

Lynn,<BR>Make sure you take the kids on the Stingray Sandbar tour. It's a "must do" on Grand Cayman. They take you out by boat, and you can swim with, feed and touch the stingrays. Unbelievable experience!! It's usually a 3 stop snorkel trip and runs about $35 per person. There are many local operators on the island that you can book this trip with. Captain Dexter with Fantasea tours is very popular for this trip. A half day trip is about 3 hours and some of the tours even offer a "lunch" on the beach which is fun. Another suggestion for the kids would be the Turtle Farm.

Sandy hit the nail on the head, A stingray sandbar tour is not to be missed, and her suf-ggestion of the turtle farm is good for young kids as well. <BR><BR>A couple other things that might hold interest for them is a drive out to the blowholes (a quick 10 minute stop), and then maybe a walk through Botanical Gardens, where you can see many colorful island plants & flowers, tropical birds, and your kids will probably love seeing the large iguanas that rome through the park, which can be 4+ feet long.<BR><BR>Back on 7MB, there is a minature golf place right beside Deckers restaurant which I'm sure the kids would like. And most of the restaurants will be kid friendly with exception to (maybe) some of the upper end places that have a more sophisticated menu. You should look into taking the dinner cruise on the Jolly Roger which is an old pirate ship, and caters to the kids. It gets good reviews by other parents, but not what would be recommended for a romantic dinner cruise which are also available on the island.<BR><BR>There is so much info available on Grand Cayman by simply doing a search on a major search engine such as Google. Just type in 'Grand Cayman' and you will have more to read than you can handle. Hope these suggestions help.

My kids liked the Westin's Kids Club. Across the street in the shopping center is Eat's. A kid friendly resturant with reasonable prices. The Reef has a kid's menu as well as Outback Steak House. Condos that are nice are The Coralstone and The Avalon. StringRay City or Sand Bar is a must. My kids loved the Turtle Farm, The Atantis Submarine ride, and a petting farm. Resturent Pappaglios has birds swinging in a cage, and the food is great. If you get a sitter, go to Smuggler's Cove, it is my favorite resturent in the Caymans. The Crow's Nest is very good also and very casual. I like taking the sunset sail, but the kid's like taking the pirate cruise. Avoid the Marriott, they have a very small beach. Hurricane Mitch is to blame. Hyatt is across the street from the beach. Only the suites are beach front and the beach is crowded. The Westin has the best beach, and lounge chair area. Food is very pricey!!! Captain Maarvin took us on a deep sea trip and my son caught a barricua. They have bannana boat rides, and jet skis at the Westin. Night camp was very nice for my kids at the Westin. They met a lot of new friend there, and they hotel is kid friendly. The beaches are clean and safe, but bring lots of money!!!

You could go to Cardinal D's in George Town. It's kind of like peting zoo but more exotic.<BR>Turtle Farm definately.<BR>My kids loved the kids club at the Westin. Its not cheap, but you could drop them off and get a half day for yourself.

We just returned. All of the restaurants were very kid friendly. Most of them will work with you. My 5 yr old loves veggies and fruit and the "bed" made steamed rice, steamed broccoli and fresh grapes. He was very happy. The other places seem to offer half portions or a childrens menu.<BR>My 5 yr old loved "smyles" it's an indoor playground, a lot like chuckie cheese but very clean and nice. It was 10.00CI to drop him off for 1 1/2 hour of play and he was able to get a drink and snack if he wanted. The "bed" is next door so if you wanted to have a drink while your child was playing.<BR>We also used the Westin's Kids club while we went snorkeling at the begining of our trip for 1/2 day. He loved it. The miniture golf does not open until 4:30pm so, that will not be an option during the day.<BR>We really enjoyed going to the public beach, they have a playground there. The stretch of beach there is fantastic, they have restrooms and a drinking fountain there.<BR>Have a blast!

Get them snorkle gear that fits properly vefore you go (cheaper here)--you can snorkle offshore almost anywhere and see an amazing variety of sea life in a few feet of water.<BR><BR>My fave restaurant is the Wharf--sit on the patio at sunset and watch the Tarpon come in for their feeding. The kid's get a big charge out of that! Rum Point is also a great place to spend an inexpensive day on a gorgeous beach. The BBQ chicken sandwiches are really tasty there, and the hammocks are huge.

We were in Grand Cayman in Feb with our kids ages 11, 11 and 8. You MUST do the Sting Ray tour, we went with Captain Marvins and had a great time! You can prebook via email (he has a web site). There was a diver on board that takes a video of you snorkeling and with the stingrays that you can buy and he'll mail it to your house (yes, ours arrived) which is a neat keepsake. Our kids liked Captain Hook's Restaurant and Sushi Bar.