Friday 3 November 2023

Cayman and UK (29 April to 16 May 2022), Day 3 - Cayman Cycleabout

 

Morning in Grand Cayman !

Cayman Islands is a major offshore financial center for international businesses and wealthy individuals thanks to a non tax policy for income earned or stored on the island !

Bike Hire outside Regatta Business Park, West Bay Rd

Cayman Falls, West Bay Rd

Look, there's a cyclist!

Governor's Residence. Cayman Islands is a self governing, British Overseas Territory located by the Carribean seas. It came under British control, together with Jamaica, following the Treaty of Madrid in 1670. The Governor acts as a Head of State.

Governor's Square 

Wild animals in Grand Cayman!!! Chickens and lizards

Governor's Beach

Pleasantly surprised that cycling is a popular sport in Grand Cayman

The Grove; new shop lots, many still empty while some are under renovations when we were there

Giant ventilation fans

Proof that EV cars has arrived in Grand Cayman

Browsing around at Shopright-The Grove, a small grocery store while waiting for Peter to open the doors to Paddle Wheel. The bike shop is closed on Sundays but thanks to the concierge from Ritz, a special arrangement was made for us to pick up the bikes! 

Cost of breads

Based on the cost of Anchor butter which we would pay around RM10 in Malaysia, the cost of living here seems to be higher. Perhaps everything has to be imported.

Hurray! At 11.30 am, we finally got our bikes, iGo Discovery Bonaventure, ebikes at CI 60 or USD 76 per day. Since our rental started a bit late, Jim, the owner allowed us to use it till late at night and returned it to Ritz staffs. Jim, himself was a former staff of Ritz.

Part of the Seven Mile Beach

https://maps.app.goo.gl/RWi4n73jKYzXJogz9

This area, next to Kimpton Resort and part of Seven Mile Beach is yet developed

Cemetery

On the far left is Cemetery Beach, famous for snorkeling

West Bay

West Bay Beach

West Bay Dock

One of the boats used to take divers to the Kittiwake dive site. Kittiwake was a ship used by the United States Navy from 1945 to 1994. It was sold to the Government of Cayman Islands in 2008 and subsequently sunk off Seven Mile Beach as an artificial reef.

Can you spot the Devil? This is Hell, about half a football field size of black limestones aka biokarst. Biokarst is formed when filamentous algae bore into the limestones to produce black coated pinnacles. Another term for biokarst is phytokarst. 

Most of Grand Cayman is surrounded by these reefs

Crancked Conch Restaurant and Macabuca Tiki Bar

Lunch time at 12.30 pm

A great place to learn diving

Crystal clear water

Boatswain Point Light House. We were expecting the conventional looking lighthouse until we realized we had bypassed this plain looking tower with a light at the top several times!!! Somewhere on this street too was where a local approached VT for some money. Lessons learnt : Do not linger too long in a low income area

Mangrove swamp

Nice walkway until we were chased out by mosquitoes @ https://maps.app.goo.gl/34NRvVUDEQagDbKe7

Mount Pleasant Rd @ https://maps.app.goo.gl/qecnLTRWNDjnBaAy6

The place was closed when we were there and is still closed based on google search @ https://maps.app.goo.gl/TdXKyNW8MVzQQT7SA 

There's CCTV coverage on the road!

Quayside homes @ https://maps.app.goo.gl/jvRzxT1Pk2ziHmjq7

Heading to George Town, on West Bay Rd @ https://maps.app.goo.gl/2q9kwGZq5Waw6XSN8

Lunch at Wendy's, West Bay Rd

Super delicious burgers

Harbour Dr @ https://maps.app.goo.gl/6fwD34EQU9knkBB89

Port of Authority, Cayman Islands @ https://maps.app.goo.gl/DNwkF4qsZ6iZ4Yxb6.

Note the corner shop with "Tortuga" signage. It is believed, the first European to set foot on Cayman Islands was Christopher Columbus during his final voyage to the Americas in 1503. He named the islands Las Tortugas after the giant turtles in the area. These turtles were later hunted to near extinction.

Today, Tortuga is a popular brand name for locally produced rum and rum cakes. Meanwhile, due to the scarcity of the turtles, the islands began to adopt the name, Caiman; after the crocodiles in the area.

S Church St

South Sound

South Sound's seaside view. Note the white waves at the horizon. The reefs out in the sea breaks the waves hence the waters by the shoreline is always calm

South Sound is a popular residential area due to its close proximity to the waters, schools and also George Town. Yet South Sound Rd is generally quiet as most traffic to the city will take Linford Pierson Highway

Old Savannah Schoolhouse served the community from 1940 to 1981. 

It operated as a 1 classroom schoolhouse for children between the ages of 7 and 14. Most of the children ended their formal education here. Some though, managed to take the Jamaica Local Exam and passed with recognized qualifications. A lucky few went on to further their studies in Jamaica, USA and England. This was the era where the tamarind switch (a whip made out of tamarind rods, braided and oiled) were used to maintain discipline in the classroom. 

Pedro St James aka Pedro Castle was built in 1780 by Englishman William Eden using slave labour. The house received its name due to its location at Pedro Point. As it is the largest house on the island, it became the meeting place for important people on the island. Later, it became the home of the 1st elected parliament in 1831. Retrospectively, the proclamation ending slavery in the British Empire was read at this house in 1935.

Sea view from Pedro St James

Pedro St James' visitor's center and souvenir shop

Guard House Park in Bodden Town.

Bodden Town's significance grew as a main harbour and capital of Grand Cayman in the early 19th century. It used to house the Governor's and Chief Magistrate's residence.

The name Bodden can be traced back to the first recorded inhabitant of the islands ie Isaac Bodden, born in 1661. He was the grandson of original settler, Bodden from Oliver Cromwell's army which were involved in the capture of Jamaica from Spain in 1655.

Guard House from the early 1830's. 

The house is believed to be be one of  three lines of defense against invading pirates and Spanish marauders.

By the end of the 19th century, Bodden Town's harbour became shallow with silt brought by successive hurricanes and with it, all attention shifted to George Town. The house then lost its significance as a defense port.

The original cannons of the Guard House were stolen. These cannons were taken from the Wreck of Ten Sail, a shipwreck involving 10 ships in 1794.

Fact : Even though 10 ships sank, only 8 people from the convoy died, thanks to the islanders who braved the stormy weather to rescue the crew and passengers. 

Legend : The tax free policy on Cayman Islands is related to the Wreck of Ten Sail. The story was King George III rewarded the islanders with a decree that they will be freed from war conscriptions and taxes after he found out their bravery saved his son who was one of the passengers on the ill fated ships.

Lovers Wall signage by Seaview Rd

This short stretch of wall could be a popular place for lovers to sit and watch the day pass by hence the name, but we certainly did not see anyone  at 5pm!

Just a little further down the road from Lovers Wall. Note houses were far apart and few here.

Blowholes

View from the road. 

East End @ https://maps.app.goo.gl/W5iqRb4EwWnMMwAy6

East End's quiet roads

It was 5.50 pm and we were chasing daylight so we did not have time to turn into this reserve.

Queen's monument along Queen's Highway. The monument commemorates the opening of the highway by Queen Elizabeth II on February 16, 1983. Imagine, she must have been so young back then. Yet until today, the highway sees very low traffic and is popular with fitness buffs who prefers to run or bike on car free routes.

After the Queen's monument, we were in a hurry to return before it gets too dark. We turned off at Old Man Bay, riding along Frank Sound Rd, Bodden Town Rd, Shamrock Rd, Linford Pierson Highway, North Sound Rd, Eastern Ave Rd before ending back at West Bay Rd. Too bad we had to skip Rum Point.

Well deserved pizza hut dinner at 8.30 pm

1 more stop...

Dessert at Lloyd's Smokehouse at 9.15 pm 

We finally returned the bikes to Ritz's bellman as instructed by Jim and with that our amazing adventure ended at 10 pm!


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Go Discovery Bonaventure

Reviews :
We were told the bikes weigh 50 pounds each but they definitely felt heavier than Claudine's fully loaded Marin 4C. At the blowholes, one of the bikes fell to the ground due to strong winds. It took quite an effort to lift the bike up again.

The bikes comes with 9 levels of power assist. We were told level 9 could go up to 45 kph, but the most it went was 32 kph. From level 7 onwards, we could feel a ghostly hand pushing the bikes. At that point, the speedometer reads 27 kph.

Best power savings was between level 5 and 6 when power wattage consumption was between 0 to 14 watts.

After 123 km, the remaining battery percentage on Claudine's bike was 40 % whilst VT's was 30 %. It was less on VT's bike, possibly because physically, he has a heavier set up. Besides, he took on the lead role and thus was blocking the winds for Claudine.

The bikes itself was too heavy thus we did not feel the power assist to be advantageous unless we used level 7. But having said that the battery depletes very fast on level 7 onwards.