kgn

My husband won his companies sales contest and we are off to the Westin Hotel GC. We have approx 1 1/2 days free.....he wants to golf what are the do not misses on the island. We do not scuba dive and not sure if snorkeling is our thing but it may be we have not tried it. I have read about Atlantis, The turtle farm, Hell and a rum factory (I think). We are on our own for two dinners, one when we first arrive - probably need something more casual and one for Saturday night. We are defienetly foodies so give us your best. Not so worried about price (the company pays !) Also, what is the weather like in the beginning of March?
Thanks

meta

The weather should be great.

Kristen1206

The 2 not to miss restaurants are The Reef Grill and Smuggler's Cove.

Definitely give snorkeling a shot. You can go right off your beach!

Lucky you...have fun!!

Weather should be great at that time of year.

cruisin_tigger

Atlantis? I think you might be thinking of the Bahamas.

As to Cayman, if you do the turtle farm a nice (casual) restaurant with an awesome view is the Cracked Conch which is right across the street. Checkout caymanrestaurants.com for lots of info.

Robin

I think she was talking about the submarine Atlantis which is in Georgetown GC. We took a look at Atlantis while there but it's very small and not something I wanted to do. At the Westin, Red Sail (check out their web site) rents all kinds of fun water sport type things to do like waverunners but bring your credit card. Enjoy the beautiful beachfront of SMB, it's just awesome!!

cayman420

Red sail sports has a nice sunset cocktail cruise, you might check that out. I would agree with the Reef Grill. I would skip the atlantis sub ride and opt for snorkeling with the sting rays!!
Do not waste you time with the turtle farm or hell (you will be glad you did). I think it would be fun to rent a jeep for the day and explore the island, head towards east end and bodden town, very picturesque. You might try the beds' martini bar one night for after dinner drinks. Have a great time, the weather willl be great!

TomCayman

The golf at the course across the street from the Westin (Links at Safehaven) is first class, the concierge at the Westin can set you up with this.

Restaurants. Recommend Calypso Grill for sure... Papagallo if you love first class Italian food.

Also, do rent a car/jeep for a drive around the island, you haven't seen Cayman unless you drive out East !

kgn

Thanks I did mean the submarine not the hotel. So the Reef and smugglers Cove. What about the Lighthouse? Is smugglers casual for the first night? DO we need reservations? The Jeep idea sounds great we will have to look into that. skip hell and the turtles, good advice it sounds like. Thanks for all your help. Any other opinions on resturants?

EJC

For something casual, try restaurant across from Westin. It's called EATS

cayman420

You might try Cassanova's (I think they are closed for remodeling). I really like Crows Nest, it's casual but great caribbean food. You would need to go there while you have the jeep/car, it's located in south sound. The lighthouse is a haul, again, you would be better off renting a car than paying a taxi both ways. Eats is good for breakfast and across the street. We had dinner at the naked fish and really enjoyed it, it wasnt too expensive either. A lot of locals hang there and they have a funky little bar with outside seating facing the ocean. GCM has great places to eat, usually you can't go wrong!!

Steeleyes

Just returned last nite from GC, and had a great time. For a true Foodie, you must get to the Lighthouse. It is probably a 30 minute ride from the Westin but well worth it. We went for lunch without reservations, but would recommend them for dinner. When we departed at 2:30, all tables were still filled. I had never heard of Guinness Gelato before, but it was magical!

Rackhams (sp?) on the water in Georgetown is a great afternoon stop for a drink, and can be quite nice for dinner if no tour ships are in port.

We also loved the Cuban place for dinner, but their wine selection is VERY limited. You might inquire about corkage fee and bring your own.

Yoshi Sushi is also pretty darn good for strip mall fare.

Turtle Farm was a bit depressing for the critters, and needs a major overhaul. Hell is nothing more than a tourist trap, but humorous. Butterfly farm is expensive, but interesting. Definitely snorkle, and if you can find time, take a cruise with Capt. Dexter and Fantasea Tours as recommended elsewhere in this forum. The reef he takes you to is every bit as good as the stingray filled sandbar.

Kristen1206

Most all the restaurants in GC can be considered casual...men can weat nice shorts everywhere.

for a very casual afun place, try Coconut Joe's (across form the Marriott) or the Tree House.

jag1jag1

It sounds like most of the "tourist attractions" are not worth seeing. So, are five nights on the island enough if it means only four full days on GC? Or should we try to figure out a way to stay longer? I realize that the answer partially depends on how many days we want to sit on the beach.

caf

Definitely try the snorkelling; a much better way to see underwater life than the sub (which I've done--would only recommend for kids or the elderly who can't snorkel). One of the great things about GC is the easy snorkelling from beachfront locations. You don't need to take a boat to go snorkelling, with the exception of Sting Ray city which is a must. Just try to not go at a time when the cruise ships are dropping off a thousand people--they'll probably ruin Sting Ray city before long due to excessive wear on the sand bar, and they totally overwhelm things when they're there. I've expressed by opinion before of GC restaurants--in general mediocre food, poor service, worthless wine lists. You're probably better off doing carry out from someplace like ChickenChicken.

reb3546

Definitely go to Calypso- make sure to save room for dessert. The sticky toffee pudding is WONDERFUL!

dnl2

Just my opinion, but ChickenChicken is the worst place I've been to in Cayman. I think Cayman has many good restaurants and service is usually quite good - at times it can be island time but you are on vacation so there is nothing wrong with sitting over your drink for a few minutes.

caf

dnl2,
Everyone's entitled to their opinion on the restaurant scene on GC; I've been to all the "name" restaurants on GC at least twice. Just want people who know fine dining to know they won't find it there. And "island time" service is something I used to begrudgingly accept, but not at GC prices. Example: I paid 18 Euros last night here on SBH for a phenomenal salad that fed two. The exchange rates aren't that good right now, so the actual price is about $22. Sounds expensive, right? Well a mediocre totally inferior salad on GC might run something like $12. Except that's CAYMANIAN dollars--a fixed exchange rate dollar beloved by local merchants because it makes everything look cheaper to tourists (until they get the final bill, of course). Then, a mandatory "service" charge of 17-18% is levied, followed by local sales tax, surcharge to build new villas for local officials, etc. The actual price of the salad comes out to be about $395 U.S. for an inferior product (OK, I exaggerate). The point is the value after all the surcharges is poor; the posted prices are a deception, and one is forced to pay for the traditionally lousy service.

I'm being harsh here, I realize, but I love the waters of GC, they just need to get their act together and provide better service for the prices they charge.

dnl2

As you say, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I am used to nice places to dine and I think Cayman has many of these. Just my opinion.

lkemerson

We did the Atlantis submarine. I believe there are several ways you can do this...

one is more like a semi submersed boat/sub thing, the other is a full passenger [there must've been 30 or more of us on it] submarine. We went down like 120', I believe. Then there is the very expensive two person sub, which looked interesting, but the cost is very prohibitive. I know the submersible sub we went on also did a night dive. When we were there, the waters were warm, so no big fish! That was a bummer. If you do go on it, however, sit on the right side of the ship...you get a better show of the things that they do go by.

Would we do it again? No. I say do stingray city [even if you do not snorkel, or don't care to] check the cruise schedule to make sure that the day is not saturated with cruise ships. If there are a gazillion cruise ships in the day you want to go to stingray city, do an afternoon trip, or skip it unless you like squadrons of boats and people right there along with you.

If you like Italian Food you might want to try the Bella Capri, right in town. The tarpon feed at The Wharf is a nice dinner, and interesting to see.

You will have so much fun.

11 weeks and counting for us to head back.

kgn

It sounds like we will do the Wharf one night and Cylapso or Coconut Joe's the other. We will skip all major attractions, rent a jeep and drive around. The company is taking all of us to Sting Ray City so I have that covered.

On a side note does anyone have any opinions on the spa at the westin?