By Laura Chubb From Daily Express UK

From stingrays to blue iguanas, Laura Chubb gets acquainted with the locals of the Cayman Islands

It was only day two of my trip to the Cayman Islands when I had a close encounter with a member of the shark family. Luckily for me this one did not possess a dorsal fin or rows of razor-sharp teeth. Instead, I was standing waist deep in the Caribbean Sea surrounded by huge stingrays. The flat fish have a cartilage skeleton in common with the ocean’s most feared predator but have a much friendlier disposition. So friendly, in fact, they allow tourists to kiss and cuddle them.

Stingray Sandbar, a patch of shallow water in Grand Cayman’s North Sound, is a popular spot for swimming with the fish, which are quite tame having got used to being fed squid by visitors.

Getting up close and personal with wildlife in the pristine seas around the Cayman Islands is what inspires most visits to this part of the world. This British Overseas Territory is a dream for dive enthusiasts and I saw a number of women so keen they had painted their toenails to look like dive flags – red with a white diagonal line. But I’m no diver. All that equipment seems too much like hard work. However, there’s still a ton of fun to be had here sans scuba.

My trip started on Grand Cayman, the largest and most visited of the three islands (completing the trio are Little Cayman and Cayman Brac). It’s not just heaven for holidaymakers, but a tax haven, too, making the Cayman Islands the fifth-largest banking centre in the world. As a result, Grand Cayman is more polished than your typical Caribbean paradise – all pretty pastel houses, manicured lawns and slick restaurants.

Though there are signs of British rule – the Queen’s face on Cayman dollars, Yellow Pages, driving on the left side of the road – American influence is also strongly felt. There are big yellow school buses and at the idyllic Rum Point tanned tourists eat chilli dogs and burgers between taking turns on their jet skis.

Not far from Rum Point is one of the most memorable snorkelling experiences in the world. It was a predictably warm night when I joined a tour to Bio Bay, known for its bioluminescence. The micro-organisms in the water emit a bright, neon light when disturbed.

It was pitch dark when I climbed down from the boat into the sea, which was inky black and still. But once in, the water around my hands glowed a radioactive yellow-green. Strapping on a snorkel, I put my face into water that sparkled with thousands of luminous purple specks. It was like fairy dust – and I had never seen anything like it.

Landlubbers can enjoy colourful animal encounters on Grand Cayman, too. Endemic to the island is the endangered blue iguana, in decline largely thanks to predatory dogs, cats and rats brought over by settlers. At the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park in North Side – opened by the Queen in 1994 – the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme is working to restore the population, which had fallen as low as 12 by 2002.

I paid a visit and was surprised to see the iguanas looked decidedly brown. That was until my guide fed a great lizard a noni fruit, a tropical morsel that smells strongly of cheese. The more the iguana ate, the happier it became – and right before my eyes it turned a bright shade of blue.

Life on Grand Cayman moves at a glacial pace so I was intrigued when people told me Little Cayman was the place to unwind.

A 40-minute ride on a 15-seater plane took me to this tiny island, 10 miles long, one mile wide and home to just 180 people. There is little to do other than dive and relax. Even as a non-diver, that suited me just fine.

The Caymans are part of a submerged mountain range and Little Cayman, the smallest island, is the summit of the steepest mountain. This explains its Bloody Bay Wall, a 6,000ft underwater, sheer vertical coral cliff, hailed by French diver and explorer Jacques Cousteau as one of the world’s top three dive sites.

I preferred to spend my time cycling the narrow roads and avoiding collisions with sunbathing rock iguanas by day and gigantic scuttling crabs by night. Aside from the resident animals – this island is also home to bright red-footed booby birds – the only sights were palm-dotted white beaches and blue ocean.

On my last day, I kayaked across the shallows to the deserted Owen Island. It’s easy to feel Little Cayman is your own private paradise but on Owen Island, it’s true. With no one but me, the birds and the clearest sea I’ve ever seen, I had only one thought – please don’t let me be rescued!

Way to go

Laura stayed at the Marriott Beach Resort (from £247 per night, www.marriott.com) on Grand Cayman and The Club  (from £236 per night, theclubatlittlecayman.com) on Little Cayman. Return flights from London Heathrow to Grand Cayman with British Airways start from £789 (britishairways.com). For diving trips, visit padi.com.

Ten things you must do on Cayman Islands

1. Visit Grand Cayman’s Motor Museum. The private collection of a Norwegian shipping heir, it includes the Batmobile from the 1960s TV series (caymanmotormuseum.com).
2. Enjoy one course and one drink in four different restaurants on the Flavour Tour, a culinary journey through Camana Bay. Tickets from West Indies Wine Company (wiwc.ky).
3. Snorkel clear shallow waters and relax in beach bars at Rum Point.
4. Enjoy art at the National Gallery (nationalgallery.org.ky).
5. Snorkel Bio Bay at night to see micro-organisms light up the sea (caymanseaelements.com).
6. More hiker than diver? Head to sister island Cayman Brac, known for its 140ft limestone bluff.
7. Spend a day at the idyllic Southern Cross Club on Little Cayman from where you can hire one of the kayaks to reach the nearby deserted Owen Island (southerncrossclub.com).
8. Traditional Cayman fare is hard to come by, but most places serve conch fritters – breaded sea snails with jerk mayonnaise.
9. Snorkel with the shark’s cousins at Stingray Sandbar or, if you’re a diver, go underwater at Stingray City (redsailcayman.com).
10. Visit the blue iguanas at Queen Elizabeth II Botanical Park (botanic-park.ky).

IMAGES:

Cayman Islands [GETTY]

A red-footed booby [GETTY]

Crystal-clear waters are perfect for divers [GETTY]

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