TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums Cayman Islands Returning to Cayman after almost 20 yrs.

Me and my wife(girlfriend back then) went to Grand Cayman almost 20 yrs ago, we will be going there again this July with our 2 daughters(18 and 12). I want to know if we can get by without renting a car. We will be staying on 7MB and will mostly be snorkeling and enjoying the beach. I am the only one who's certified to dive so I'll be doing a bit of diving. I understand most dive shops will pick u up at the resort or I'll just dive with a dive shop near the resort. How is the buses there if any, and how expensive is the taxis? We want to go to Georgetown and the Turtle Farm and also visit the different snorkeling site GCM has to offer.

I spent a week in Cayman in March with 3 others. Trip report is on TTOL. This was our 2nd trip to GC. We had 8 of us on 1st trip and used 2 rental cars because we were up by Rum Point.

The 4 of us this trip were on 7Mile a mile so up from GT.

We took buses constantly. Trip from GT Villas was $2-3 U.S. and also about the same to Turtle Farm. I think the driver explained the price as being $2 Cayman and I just gave $3 everytime.

Buses worked VERY WELL, but learn to spot buses (colored circle with a number on front of minibus/minivan), vs. taxis (taxi sign in window or on roof of minibus/minivan).

A taxi for 2-4 people to GT might cost $20+ easily, but a bus might be about $12, or less.

It is easy to hale taxis or buses, just walk on the side of the road that has traffic going in the direction you wish to go, or stand on the side of the road with traffic going in the direction you wish to go. A bus will simply hook a couple of short bursts, and you simply raise your arm up, and bus will pull over by you or in front of you. Just make sure you are signaling a bus to stop, not a taxi.

Co-travlers didn't always pick up on the slight difference which resulted in a non-too slight increase in trip costs.

Buses are fun, taxis are more direct. Buses sometimes go on alternate routes to drop off locals, don't be alarmed; its all apart of the experience.

We had some panic when everyone boarded the bus, and the driver did a U-turn and headed the opposite direction. He was simply heading back inland to drop some locals off, and was soon back on the road in the right direction.

The decision between bus vs. taxi, will be on convenience, how much of a rush and cost. Depending upon how many trips you plan daily a car may be cheaper in the end. We took buses practically everyday, and a taxi more out of mistake than desire.

You can also walk to many destinations depending upon where you are on 7Mile.

Good luck.

Thanks for responding! When I was there many years ago, I don't remember seeing any public buses so that's an improvement. We also didn't get to visit all the different beaches because we didn't rent a car and I was unsure of driving on the other side of the road. This is very helpful information to us. Thanks, we'll be looking forward to our visit in July.
btw-what is the rate for a day or week rental for a compact on the island.

We rented (Feb 2012) two compact cars for $740 for a week, Sat-Sat.

The cars were through McCurley, who parked 1 at the house for us, had another at the airport at curbside for us and were in a van at airport to transport luggage and half the people to house, while the other half went grocery shopping on way from airport to house.

We were able to leave the cars at the house and McCurley came in a van to repeat the process for return flight.

They were quite couteous and accomodating.

Daily rate this year (Mar 2013) never got confirmed as the day we wanted a car from the closest rental on 7 Mile (just a few blocks away), were out of affordable cars. I think daily rate was well above $50-70. We went with the buses instead.

When using the buses, it is good to have $1's of $5's ready for payment when getting off the bus.

Don't expect new shiny buses, they are minivans and used. There are newer ones around but we typically wound up waving over an experienced minivan. A couple times we wound up waving over a taxi by mistake, which is 2-3 times the bus price.

Bob--did that price for the car rental include insurance? Just curious, as we have never rented a car in Cayman and in other places, insurance can get quite pricy. Whether it is Cayman or wherever, daily rentals are normally more. Your weekly price for 2 cars worked out to be $52.86 per day, so I would agree that a daily rental--if one could get it--would be probably $70 or so, at least.

I trust that it did include insurance, as well as the fee for 2-3 driver's licenses which are required, as the price I quoted above is the total we paid. I do not recall receiving a cost breakdown. It does not include gas, but after a week we probably used a tank per car.

One sometimes also has the option of left or right hand drive for the rental car. We choose left hand drive or McCurley choose it for us. This way we only had to get used to the proper side of the road to drive on, not how to drive the car too.

One more question, where is the best place to exchange dollars to CI currency? Or the best time? upon landing in airport or etc...

No need to exchange USD for KYD, USD are accepted everywhere at a fixed cash exchange rate ($.80 USD to $1.00 KYD). You just get change back in KYD. There isn't even a money exchange at the airport. If for some reason you do want KYD an ATM (there is one at the airport) or bank are the best options.

Are you saying that the rate of exchange is fixed at $0.80 USD to $1 CI anywhere you go on the island? Thanks.

I know this sounds repetitious but just want to be sure.

Correct. The exchange rate is fixed, it does not float. Only if you wire US funds to your KYD bank account will you will get a slightly different rate.