Turtle Center, Hell and Barker’s National Park

Highlights Map

This is the only full day we have on the west side of Grand Cayman so we have a full day planned. Specifically we want to visit the Cayman Turtle Center and Baxter’s National Park, go to Hell and then finish the day with a beach visit. Quite a busy day so we start with a fast breakfast from the provisions we bought the day before. This means a couple of prepackaged sandwiches and on the way we go.

Actually it is not that fast we still want to explore around our AirBnB, it is a quiet area and in fact the owner told us we can leave the door unlocked as it is safe but we really don’t want to do this given the expensive equipment we have with us.

It is surprising how many endemic species still are on some small islands, we find a common one right around the house, the Cayman Curly-tailed lizard found here and nowhere else in the world.

Many species here however are introduced, the top ones that we will see repeatedly on the West Side are the Eurasian Collared Dove and the wild chickens that are everywhere really.

That doesn’t mean we also don’t see a few target species like the common ground dove and more importantly the smooth-billed ani.

But then it is time for the long (just joking) two mile drive to the Cayman Turtle Center. We are quite happy that it has a large parking lot, we do not have to bother searching for parking on narrow streets. No one parks near the ocean and we soon understand why as it seems the waves sometimes break over the wall into the parking lot, not the safest place for cars.

There is a canal to break the waves but it doesn’t protect 100% as even we see a few waves cresting over the wall as they hit the Ironshore formation. The Ironshore formation which covers the majority of the island is a former seabed that raised with the Cayman Islands and is now above the sea level. It is full of fossils, lots of them, quite exciting to see fossils literally everywhere.

There is also some wildlife if you squint long enough at the water while evading the waves. Crabs are quite active at times and there are a couple species of fish that seem to enjoy the safe tidepools.

The visitor center has multiple doors but only one of them is open, indeed we even think that it may be closed before finding the right door. Inside we buy our tickets, are told feeding times and then let through the masive doors on the other side into the turtle center. We exit right at the breeding pond so we decide to explore them first and then explore the rest of the grounds.

The pool is surprisingly full of turtles. We really didn’t expect that many and that big but it seems they are in the hundreds here as they swim around and even seem attracted to us and other tourists, maybe they are used to feeding from the shore?

One of the behaviors they seem likely to do, at least in this pool, is to come up and gasp for air. Not sure if that is what they do but they sound like whales as they surface and it can be a bit scary if that happens behind you. The only birds near the pond are Ruddy Turnstones and they are quite habituated to humans and even pass very close to us a couple of times.

However nearby we find one of our target birds here a White-crowned pigeon. Last time we saw one it was in the Bahamas and it was very fleeting, here it is much more accomodating and used to humans. Nearby in an enclosure is one of the last crocodiles that appeared in the Caymans, it likely swam from Cuba and was captured so the locals don’t kill it. In fact Caymans was full of caymans (crocodiles), which is where the name comes from, until the humans arrived and exterminated them.

There are also common birds here as you would expect, Eurasian collared doves are common on the West Side and the chickens are common everywhere in the Caribbean.

The path takes us around the breeding pond and on the other side is the egg laying beach, or at least that is what we assume it is. It has multiple tracks on it like dinosaurs have crawled over it which in a way they actually did. Also in this section thare multiple smaller basins full of baby turtles that you can pet if you want.

Next we are passing over a lagoon which surprisingly has a lifeguard. We are not sure why until we notice that there are people swimming in the water. So this is an adventure that was part of the more expensive ticket that we skipped. Soon we forget about the lagoon as we find a few exhibits where agoutis are kept, they are quite cute and we enjoy watching them for a while relaxing on the ground.

Nearby is the bird enclosure which is one of the most popular sights in the park. Here they keep local birds in a lush aviary and you can walk around and feed them if so desired.

We really want to see the local endemic subspecies of the Cuban Parrot called Grand Cayman Parrot and we don’t think there is a chance to see them a wild. So a visit here was the best way to see them, or so we thought. After some looking around we finally notice them, it is surprising how well a green large bird can disappear into the vegetation.

One courageous soul decides to offer himself as food for the birds. A white winged dove takes up the offering and the face says it all -this is a scary experience. The Bananaquits are following us but they do not partake in human offerings at least while we visit the aviary.

Back outside we pass by the entrance in the lagoon, there are quite a few people swimming here. There should be both fish and turtles in the lagoon but we are not sure if any are near the people given how much they are splashing around. And then we arrive at the nature trail that we were really looking forward to, unfortunately it is closed and we notice that our map also mentions this. There is no clear reason for this but there is nothing we can do so we return back towards the lagoon and the nearby restaurant that overlooks it.

We are quite hungry and having a restaurant on site we decide to try it. It takes a bit to get the food and we do not get the jerk chicken sandwich we ordered but someting more like a jerk chicken roll. Overall the food and the service are quite below what we ate the day prior. Still it is quite filling and when done we are energized for the rest of the day. Just a tip when visiting, when deciding if you want to give a tip check your receipt. It is quite common here to add automatically a gratuity of 18% by default. So if you give a tip, and it is still requested by default on the card receipt, it is on top of that default gratuity. Quite a nice little quasi-scam really.

Next we walk through what is a fake typical Cayman village, the houses look nice but the vast majority are just a facade with nothing behind it. One of the few which is an actual building is the egg hatching building. Unfortunately we are out of season so there are no eggs or hatchlings to be seen.

There is also a play area near the Hatchling Center where we enjoy sitting on the (fake) turtles for a while before returning to the starting point of our loop, the breeding pond.

We spend a few more minutes now watching the turtles gasping all around us, it really seems they are awaiting some food. Unfortunately the food vendor next to the gift shop is closed so we have nothing to offer and soon we also retreat inside to the AC-cooled gift shop where we buy some souvenirs to remember this beautiful visit.

Next we decide to go Hell which is relatively nearby. On the way we stopped for our first cache in the Cayman Islands on a site which previously was the Cayman Motor Museum but now it is closed after the founder passed away. It is quite unlikely it will open again as all the cars are gone and only a couple boats remain outside but the cache is easily findable with no one around so that is a bonus.

Hell is a geological site that is quite a lot publicized given the fun name. It even has a post office where you can send a postcard straight out of Hell. All fun aside reviews were saying that the site is overrated but that wasn’t our experience really.

Our visit starts amoung the souvenir shops where a small boardwalk leads to the overlook of Hell. It is quite a hellish landscape all jagged and black and forbidding. There are some interesting signs explaining how the landscape was created, what we really find interesting is that the below the black exterior, given by algae, the stone is actually white.

As the landscape is so forbidding it is quite preferred by birds that can sit here in peace. There are multiple herons especially, they seem to sit on the rocks and just hope we don’t see them. This is more likely for the tricolored herons than for Snowy egrets which really jump out against the black rocks.

As we look over Hell we wonder if all interior of Grand Cayman is similar or if this is just a small patch of hellscape. We really look forward toward our hike later in the week when we can explore the interior and answer this question.

Besides herons we also see the most ubiquitous bird here, the palm warbler and a very opinionated Belted Kingfisher which flies over us repeatedly scaring us with his unexpected cries.

Next is Barker’s National Park. While it is a National Park it is more on paper, it is protected and such but there is no visitor center, no maps of the trails or any trails even as far as we know. We drive to the entrance and then decide to walk to a nearby cache which seems to be at the end of a trail based on the description just so we experience more of the park.

Before we leave though we are actively attacked by a Yellow (Golden) Warbler. It sits on the nearby tree and then attacks the car and even us as we exit. Then it sits on the car and attacks the side mirrors and the windows. We decide that he doesn’t like the reflections but we have never seen such an aggressive behavior. And it continues even after we leave as when we arrive the warbler is still attacking the car…quite bizarre.

We now walk along a road that is flanked by two canals. It is a nice walk punctuated by a few cars that pass by. From here we see how the trails are created in the area, there are unsafe looking small bridges leading to cut paths through the jungle. We cannot really decide if they are official or unofficial paths and with no idea where we go we decide to not explore them further.

Similarly to Hell we see the same mix of herons and egrets on the side of the road. They are a bit more squeamish here and fly aways relatively fast but not before we have time to admire them.

The path that was our target has no rickety bridge to pass over a canal and it looks well maintained. Quite surprised why there is no sign from the road pointing to it as it leads to a good dock over a beautiful pond. There is even a display stand here that supposedly held a plaque that showed when the park was inaugurated.

From here we can see the paragliders over the trees, there is a famous beach in the national park where the winds are just right for paragliding. And nearby we see a bananaquit the first “wild” one in the National Park.

Then we hurry back to the accomodation and change into bathing costumes, it is time to explore the nearby beach. It is within walking distance, but the walking is along major roads with no sidewalks so we don’t feel safe returning at night as cars might not be able to see us. So we decide to not enter the water but just walk alongside it for some time and enjoy the sunset.

And what a sunset it is! We are in awe of the colors and admire it for quite some time before it starts to get dark so we make our way back after a very full day. We are tired but still have to pack a bit as tomorrow we relocate to the more wild and less touristy East Side of Grand Cayman.