Cayman Islands

George Town is the capital of the Cayman Islands. It lies in the west of the largest island, Grand Cayman. It’s known as a financial hub and a port of call for cruise ships. Tax-free shops cluster around Cardinal Avenue. The Cayman Islands National Museum is housed in a 19th-century building on Harbour Drive. It contains displays on local history, culture, and wildlife. George Town's city limits extend from the east at the edge of the South Shore District, north just beyond Owen Roberts International Airport, south to Hog Sty Bay, and west to Seven Mile Beach and the West Bay District. George Town's famous Seven Mile Beach is a long crescent of coral-sand beach extending up to the West Bay region of Grand Cayman and is the most popular and populated area for tourists on the island.

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The climate of the Cayman Islands is hot, and humid all year round, with a dry, relatively calm season from late November to mid-April, when the northeast trade winds blow, and a rainy, muggy season from late April to early November.

However, from December to March, the islands can sometimes be affected by calm winds from the United States, lowering the night temperature below 20 °C (68 °F). During the rainy season, the maximum temperature is around 32 degrees Celsius (90 °F), and moisture makes the heat swelter, although sea breezes give relief.

 English is the official language. Due to the evolution of Cayman Creole, Islanders’ accents are similar to the accents of English, Scottish, and Welsh settlers.

1. The Cayman Islands aren’t islands at all, and they’re part of a mountain called the Cayman Ridge, which rises more than 7,500m – or the size of a vast mountain in the Himalayas – from the ocean floor. But all three islands are incredibly flat. The highest point above sea level is actually the east end of Cayman Brac – and that’s just 46.6m.
2. Stingray City, a short boat ride from Grand Cayman, is one of the few places where it’s possible to swim with hundreds of friendly southern Atlantic stingrays in open water. A fisherman called Captain Marvin  Ebanks founded the site (which is, in fact, a shallow, waist-deep sand bar about a mile out to sea) when he decided to jump in with the rays that came to collect scraps from the fishing nets.
3. A secret lagoon on Grand Cayman is one of a handful of places where the phenomenon of ‘bio luminescence’ can be found. Best described as underwater fairy dust, it is caused by a single cell organism reacting with the water, resulting in a green or blue light, and can be experienced on nights when there is a new moon by kayaking into the lagoon.
   

• In the middle of June, the Cayman Islands celebrates Her Majesty’s birthday with a 21-gun salute and a whole military dress parade in front of George Town’s Legislative Assembly. Refreshments and steel band music accompany the formal event. There is also a Government House open house and garden reception.

  
  

• One of George Town’s liveliest events is this annual early May festival filled with live calypso and soca bands. Named after the tracks in the sand left by the sea turtles crawling towards their nesting place, the main Batabano parade sees more than 100 nationalities represented in colorful costumes and music. There is also a separate, but no less joyous, Junior Batabano parade for children.

  
  

• The international storytelling festival called Gimistory attracts performers from across the Caribbean. A traditional boat launch reenactment at Seven Mile Beach kicks off this two-week-long showcase of Cayman Islands’ arts and culture each April. Other Cayfest highlights include live folk singers, fashion shows, and a historical treasure hunt. Short film and photography competitions are also essential parts of the event.