Grand Cayman Agenda: Island Grub & Beach

I'm headed to Grand Cayman on Thursday, which I'll follow up with three nights in Jamaica.

My sister has a wedding this weekend in Montego Bay. I didn't need much of a nudge to accept her call to join her there following the wedding, but the thought of tagging along in Montego Bay as a wedding nonguest struck me as quite unappealing. I played around with my dates and came up with a bit of a counterintuitive itinerary for myself: three days on Grand Cayman, followed by three in Port Antonio, Jamaica, a spot that's been on my radar for a while now, not least because my friend Karen's mother hails from there. More on Port Antonio later.

Grand Cayman is not the sort of Caribbean island that usually compels me. It's super Americanized, very expensive, and full of lavish resorts. In my book, none of these characteristics are selling points. I love spending time in the Caribbean. The region's hybrid cultures, creole tongues, cuisines, ruins, forests, hiking trails, colonial and modern architecture, museums, and supermarket goods all drive me to return, as do thoughts of idle days spent between the water and the beach.

The spots in the region that have blown me away (the eastern end of Tobago; Port of Spain; Anegada in the British Virgin Islands; Mayreau; Caye Caulker; Culebra; and above all Saba) are mostly places where resorts are few and far between. They're backwaters, or quiet spots away from pampering-focused tourists, or, in the case of Port of Spain at least, a gritty and fascinating capital city.

None of this is to say that Grand Cayman won't be exciting and interesting once I'm on the ground. Last autumn I visited Aruba, which has followed a similar form of tourist development to Grand Cayman. I had a great time, largely thanks to Eugene and Toby, the instant maatjes I made there, not to mention my daylong Aruba Nature Sensitive Hikers tour with Eddy Croes.

There's always something interesting to do in the most touristy of places, and in fact sheer touristiness itself can be fun to explore and dissect. On Grand Cayman, I'm staying at a small guesthouse, a place that rents bicycles. The plan is simple. I intend to sample George Town's humbler cafes and restaurants (roti, yes! turtle soup, yes!) and curl up on a stretch of strand or two, for three days.

And, following, a riot of culture, cuisine, and nature in Jamaica.

Comments

[poet with a day job]

Caye Caulker!