I stayed at the Hyatt (Grand Cayman) at one of its villas. I thought the Hyatt was very nice. I was a little disppointed in the villa because I had pictured it much more luxrious (e.g. marble baths, etc) than it was but no one misled me. The Hyatt now does have some units right on the beach but I understand that they are quite expensive. I disagree that the beach is 15 minutes away from the the Hyatt. As I stated earlier, we stayed at a villa which is even further from the beach than the "regular" hotel rooms. It took us only about five minutes to walk to the overpass to get to the beach.

If you are staying at the Hyatt and paying more than $200 a night for a room, for a few dollars more per night (off-season) you can probably rent one of the condos located right on the beach. The next time we go to the Caymans, that is what we plan to do. I also suggest, if you go off season, when you get to the Hyatt, dicker with the hotel manager to see what type of deal he can cut you on an upgraded room. There were several example of this wheeling and dealing going on while we were there in September.

With regard to restaurants, the Grand Old House is closed in September and many places have limited hours and nights of service in low season. For example, the Wharf restaurant which is opened for lunch during the high season was closed for lunch in September and the restaurant called Lantanas was also closed. A "formal" restaurant I (surprisingly) enjoyed was Ottmayers (which is located right next the Hyatt). Not many places where I live flambeed steak Diane or mix the Caesar salad in front of you anymore. It was also very nice inside. If you like a very causal "honky tonk" type of place (and at the Hyatt) - try the Lone Star Grill. We did travel to Pappagellos which was also nice. The Cracked Conch is supposed to be one of the "must eat" places but I was unimpressed and I understand it is being sold.

With regard to a car and driving on the left - if you are a passenger in the car it is terrifying. I also suggest that if you go during the low season, you go to the Avis and simply negotiate with the rental person. I think you will get a much better deal that way.

I think the Caymans are very expensive - one reason we rent a villa or a condo is to have a kitchen to save on some meals. A bottle of Turning Leaf wine which we can buy for about $6.99 here was about $16.99 (in Cayman money) there. A six pack of beer was $8.50 (Cayman money). I also suggest bottled water because some of the drinking water comes from desalination plants and some from plain old rain water.

However, make no mistake, we would go back because it is one of the nicest Caribbean islands in terms of water, beach and water activity we have ever gone to and we enjoyed ourselves very much.