Highlights Map
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Today is our last full day on the island and we still have a lot of items left on our must-do list. We start with the most important item, for us, on the list the Mastic Trail. It is about a two mile one way hike through the interior rainforest jungle that can be accessed from two trailheads. While we stay near the southern one we decide to start from the northern one because it is closer to a cache that we want to see and is a natural turn around point. Parking area is small but we are the only car and soon we are on the way skirting a banana plantation on the well defined trail.
We have heard the trail is quite difficult but this is certainly not the case at least on this section. Compared to hiking in Kauai this is a breeze and the weather is also quite nice today.
The only reason we are not going fast is the birds and the nature. We stop almost every step to look at the plant life or the birds that are flying around. We see here our first La Sagra’s Flycatcher for the trip, he is quite trusting and friendly even in the jungle.
What is a jungle without snakes? Nothing really so we are happy to see a snake on the trail, it means the jungle is healthy and that mongoose were not introduced, which devastated snake life on other islands.
Birdwatching continues to be impressive with the first Spindalis, a very beautiful bird, and our first ever Yucatan Vireo who watches us from a branch carefully.
At the turnaround point the trail becomes slightly more difficult as it crosses an Ironshore hill. Here we also find a cache hidden in the landscape, it is surprising how difficult it is to move off trail in the Ironshore area.
Returning we continue our sensational birdwatching with the first Caribbean Dove in the Cayman, what a beautiful bird! Nearby a Loggerhead Kingbird arrived to see what the commotion is all about, a lifer that we saw the day prior at the AirBnB.
On the more level section of the trail we go much faster this time and soon we are at the parking lot where we are greeted with a common ground-dove. Overall lots of birds on the trail, beautiful vegetation and even snakes certainly worth a visit if you care about nature.
From the Mastic Trail we start a loop of the East End Road. First stop is Barefoot Beach, a large mostly wild beach that we thought we might use for snorkeling. Unfortunately the beach is quite dirty, as the locals will tell you the thrash is floating in from other islands but that still doesn’t help with the beach presentation.
Next we stop at a supermarket complex. Here we visit the stores and behind the stores the cats housing as it is famous for the many cats that are sheltered and fed here.
Wreck of the Ten Sail is a site we didn’t plan to visit initially. However we saw it when we passed it going to a restaurant on our first day in this area and then we read about and it sounded worth a stop. This spot was where multiple wrecks happened over the years and this is visible even from the parking lot where multiple remains from the ships were brought ashore.
From the parking lot a short trail goes to the a nice overlook of the ocean. There is a memorial here to the ships lost in the greatest disaster that happened here in 1794 when ten ships from a British Convoy were wrecked here. Most people were saved by the locals and only 8 died but still it was major even for the island.
And then we take a closer look and notice shapes in the water. Zooming in we notice that those are ships, even so many years away from the shipwreck you can still see remains in the water, this is quite cool.
We continue on towards the Blowholes. Usually the parking lot is empty, usually meaning the couple times we passed them, but this time there are a few cars parked. We go to the seashore enjoying the ancient shells in the Ironshore and trying to take photos just as the water spouts out of a blowhole.
We finally get just the perfect photo before a few more cars stop and more people rush to the shore. They pass the stones that are intended as restrictions so we decide to leave just so we don’t see anyone falling into a blowhole – and of course we have a few more stops planned.
The next stop is a major one that we planned, Pedro St James, a major historic site on the isle. The lady at the counter is quite nice and given the video was not working she gives us a pamphlet to use as a rental (it would cost money usually). Pedro St James is a castle like fortified house that was used by the original owners to protect against pirate incursions and slave uprising.
It is an impressive restauration and we are looking forward to visiting it especially as we are the only visitors at this late hour. We start reading the pamphlet and it tells us that some ground rooms were used as jail cells as a rental for a few years, that explains the exhibit I guess. It is also a weird arrangement likely needed due to low population and few sturdy buildings to hold prisoners.
There is a table set which looks yummy unfortunately they are not real. We assume this is the storage or food preparation area as the kitchen is, as is usual in the Caymans, separate from the main house.
There are multiple floors. Each of them has the same setup, a wraparound veranda and a large room in the middle. On one floor this room is the dining area, quite a nice one.
There is a sitting area on a different floor as well as the bedrooms. We really like the wraparound terrace as you can walk around it and enjoy the view, as well as shoot tresspassers if so desired.
After exiting we go to visit the grounds, there are a few fake houses as usual and a large hen filled cage. It is likely the only time we see chickens in a cage on the island as most of the time they just run free.
Returning towards the car on the lawn we get a beautiful view of the building, it is quite special and we assume when built the owner was quite proud about the house. We would have liked too to live here but unfortunately we have to leave as we have one more stop planned.
Last stop for the day is Spotts Beach. We left it last as we can spend here the last of sunlight while enjoying the beach and also hopefully finding some turtles in the water. But first we find chicken on land, they circle our beach towel like sharks looking for food.
We enter the water near the abandoned dock and do our best to find a turtle. Our research told us that here we have the best chance to see a wild turtle in the water if we just snorkel long enough and that is what we do.
And eventually we do find one. It seems completely non-plussed and continues eating for a while beneath us before turning around and swimming away. Quite a cool encounter for us!
As we dry we watch the sun as it falls towards the horizon. It is a beautiful sunset and we have a great time just relaxing and exploring the beach.
At one end of the beach it enters a very rocky area which has stairs going up to the private homes. Here we find a few lizards and some weird animals embedded in the rock, we have never seen something similar before, they look quite weird.
As the sun reaches the horizon the sunset is beautiful and we sit on the beach towel enjoying our last evening in Grand Cayman.
We stay for a while even after sunset and we are not the only ones. Many locals and tourists also stay and even play in the water so it is not that unusual. Even the chicken don’t want to go to sleep and decide to take over our towel, they are quite cute. And then we return to the parking lot where a few people just come in, fisherman we gather based on their equipment. Driving to the AirBnB is uneventful and soon we are asleep on our last night in Grand Cayman.
