Relocating via Seven Mile Beach and George Town

Highlights Map

This is the day we are relocating from the West Side to the East Side. There are a lot of stops planned today as we are passing the the capital of the islands, George Town, and we won’t visit it again and we also pass near Seven Mile Beach, the most famous beach on the island. The day starts however similarly to the first full day, a breakfast from our provisions and a short walk through the area. Being Monday the schools are open today and we find out what the nearby building is….you guessed it, a school.

The first stop on our relocation tour is the nearby West Bay Cemetery. An interesting feature of Cayman beaches is that some are really close to cemeteries and in fact the best way to reach tme is usually via the cemetery.

It is interesting to see a local cemetery, there are lots of similar names buried here likely from the original families that arrived in the Caymans. We discover there is also a way to reach the beach without going through the cemetery but it is full of maintenance people so we choose the more quiet route. The beach itself is nice but it still doesn’t feel like on of the top 10 beaches in the world so we decide to try one more stop further south.

There are a few small tidepools and we enjoy seeing lots of small fish and some interesting algae in or near them. We explore for a while up and down while trying to avoid the maintenance guys with their loud machinery.

As it is quite usual on the West Side the only bird on this stretch is a Palm Warbler and soon we have to return to the car and continue on as we have a few more stops planned today.

Next stop is close to where our dot on the map says Seven Mile Beach. If this is not the center of it we don’t know where it is. The parking that we find is under the name Governor’s Beach but at least it is free and there is a spot open.

The beach itself here is the largest we have seen her and we can see it extend far in the distance. It is also even, a complaint we had with the previous beaches was that there was no place to even sit on an even surface, here there is more than enough space. And it seems other people agree, it is relatively busy here and even a luxury hotel has its beach area along the (public) beach.

There are lots of weird watersports that we see in this section. We cannot even identify the sports many times. A huge oversized bike on water? Check. People with floating dumbbells? Check again. Really weird.

On land we see another Greater Antillean Grackle which is more used to humans compared to the only other one we saw and a shark/whale but only as a sand impression made by a child.

Nearby is a cafe that we are targeting based on advertising in the airport, who says that advertising does not work? It is actually quite good and is our early lunch so we have enough energy for the museums that come next.

And the first museum we could almost walk to from the cafe, it is the National Gallery. We still drive as we have limited time and we don’t know if there are any sidewalks (there aren’t). It has a nice large parking lot at the back and from there you can enter the sculpture garden which is surprisingly interesting.

We explore the sculptures for some time and have fun cheating the maze and getting really fast to the center if we so desire but then it is time to find the entrance to the museum proper.

The museum is free to enter and we find a side entrance directly into the exhibits. The ground floor is a temporary exhibition space and it has some really weird and interesting artwork. One is a burger shop sign advertising Turtle Meat and initially we think they are against it but after reading the description we are not so certain anymore really.

Turtles are a common topic here, the locals were allowed to hunt them almost to extinction (similar to crocodiles) but they were strictly protected since and the only source of turtle meat now is a turtle farm, really they have a turtle farm for meat.

On the top floor is a permanent collection, covering the native proeminent artists. The room setup is so that you can loop around a central chamber which holds a large mechanical fish that would be quite scary to meet at night, and even during the day really.

The artwork otherwise can be quite interesting from naive paintings to some that are more involved. The artists also have varied backgrounds, some are self tought and some have attended universities on nearby islands or In US and Europe.

It is a good mix of art and the museum is also not overwhelming so we come out of it more cultured but not oversaturated. The bonus of course is that the visit was free and there are almost no other tourists in sight.

In fact we like the area so much that we decide to explore the trails a bit further, as we came in we saw another building along the way that we decide to walk to. As we start on the path we see something on the side and lo and behold it is a snake, an endemic Grand Cayman Racer. We know that the snakes here are not venomous so we take our time taking photos of the still standing snake before moving on.

The building is the Cultural Center and today it is closed so we return back to the parking lot passing some of those weird fake buildings that are stored here next to a bus.

The snake is still there when we return but it is more alert now and seems a bit more agitated. As such we decide to move on faster to not attract attention to it, other people might be more scared of snakes than we are.

We continue also in the other direction, here the road is eerily similar to the one in Barker’s National Park minus the many cars that were passing past us in Barker’s.

There are no unexpected birds here but we see lots of spiders, dragonflies and quite a few flowers. It is also great to walk in nature for a while so reenergized we return to the car to drive into downtown George Town, the capital of the Cayman Islands and our next stop.

Another interesting thing we picked up in the airport is a sticker that allows for free parking in a parking lot right downtown near a shopping mall. However we are not sure if it works and when we see that the prices are someting like $2 for 2 hours and $20 afterwards we decide to stay two hours and avoid any confusion. So we make a beeline to the attraction we want to see the National Museum housed in the former courthouse downtown.

Entering is quite easy but then we are guided in a projection room where a movie runs regularly. Weirdly you are a prisoner there as the exit door does not open until the movie has finished so we have to sit through it. It is not bad and we like the history but still, do they really need to lock people inside? From there we go upstairs where there are a few exhibits about the trades on the island with the major one being rope making, we had no idea that it was so big but at some point rope was used interchangeably as money.

And of course turtle hunting was a major industry. Not a lot that can be done about it now except protect the turtles to ensure the numbers recover. But the weirdest thing is an animatronic puppet of a famous (for Cayman) politician, as we approach to take a look at the description it springs to live and starts to talk to us which really almost makes us to jump out of our skins as it is quite sudden.

Another room has a small art exhibit. It is interesting that it exists given the National Gallery we visited before but it makes sense to cover art also as part of the history of a country.

Next is an exhibit about the emblem of the Cayman Islands and how it was created and why. Mostly it was due to the need to separate and distinguish from Jamaica of which they were part off until Jamaican independence.

There is also a section about modern Cayman Islands and the population mix and growth as well about natural wonders. You can enter a small simulated submarine and descend into the depths and they are showing different fish as you descend which is quite cool. Lastly we find the former jail, when they tried to renovate it they found prisoner graffiti on the wall so they decided to preserve that also as part of the building history.

When we exit we still have a bit more time to explore the downtown area and the shops before returning to the parking lot. We pass by the port area with a few freighters and we also see a cruise ship in the distance which likely accounts for many of the tourists we meet.

We walk up to the site of former Fort George. Not a lot is left, there are a few guns, a watchtower and a few plaques but otherwise not a lot to understand the size of the fort and its importance.

As we return to the car we enter multiple souvenir stores and even buy some souvenirs as we are not sure if we can find a lot of souvenirs on the less touristy East Side. We also explore a church, from the outside, as we know from another tourist that the door is closed shut. We arrive a couple minutes before two hours have passed to the parking lot and leave in time…it wouldn’t have mattered as the guard accepts our sticker for free parking, cool!

We leave George Town via many roundabouts some of which are quite slow going especially as it is rush hour. But as we exit the main city the traffic gets better and we arrive at the last stop for the day, the Governor Michael Gore Bird Sanctuary. It has limited parking, not that it matters as we are the only car stopped here, and from the parking lot a boardwalk starts into the preserve.

It is a really short walk into the jungle ending at lake full of freshwater turtles called Cuban Sliders and locally known as Hickatees. There is also a grebe and a few yellow warblers but nothing else exciting so after having our fill of turtles we return to the car.

From here we decide to not stop at any other attraction, we are going to visit them from our East Side location. The reason for our hurry is that we want to get to the accomodation in day light as we are not sure if it exists and how easy it is to find.

Well it does exist and the directions are spot on. The AirBnB is huge and spacious and even has a shaded parking spot. We have three rooms and two baths, a large terrace, quite a beautiful home.

We decide to use the terrace as the sunset is approaching and we assume some birds might pass by. That is a great idea as we hear and then we see multiple Grand Cayman parrots passing overhead, quite special and a big bonus!

At this point we are quite hungry so we make our way to a restaurant that we scouted, Tukka East, one of the few in this area. It sits on the oceanside and it is quite popular based on the number of cars outside.

Inside it is quite full with many reserved tables but they find a spot for us and soon we are ready to order from seafood focused menu.

We decide to splurge and get two mixed platters, one with mixed grill and one Seafood themed. Both are quite good but the fish one is better as likely it is locally caught. And then it is time to return back to our accomodation to enjoy the terrace and the disco ball in the living room….really…until it is time to go to sleep.