If premier snorkeling and pristine beaches sound appealing, consider a vacation to Grand Cayman. Brian Guerriero, frequent guest of Turtle Nest Inn, talks about his favorite spots in the Cayman Islands. Listen or read more to find out about the beauty of the Cayman Islands.
John Maher: Hi, I’m John Maher and we’re talking about the Cayman Islands and Turtle Nest Inn & Condos on the island of Grand Cayman. I’m here with [a] guest of the Turtle Nest Inn, Brian Guerriero. Welcome, Brian.
Brian Guerriero: Hi, John. Thank you.
John: Brian, what made you choose the Cayman Islands for a vacation?
Brian: My wife and I were looking for a good place in the Caribbean with snorkeling and a lot of beaches. Grand Cayman, with the public beach access all around the island, was particularly intriguing to us. We were already in Tampa, Florida so we looked at the Tampa Airport for direct flights and Grand Cayman was an option. We chose to go to Grand Cayman and we hadn’t been there before. It’s just a good timing for everything. It was also survived the 2017 hurricane season relatively unscathed and that made it that much better of an option.
Grand Cayman Post-Hurricane 2017
John: That would be important for people to think about and, maybe, kind of wondering how it fared during the hurricane. Still green there? Still lot of trees? [chuckles]
Brian: Yes. It was very green. The beaches were all there. The reefs looked great.
Condo vs. Hotel in Grand Cayman
John: That’s great. What drew you to Turtle Nest Inn & Condos as the place to stay rather than say, a Grand Cayman hotel or a big resort?
Brian: We initially looked at hotels. They’re really expensive. When my wife and I travel, we like to stay in one place for several days. Not do a cruise ship where you just get a like a taste of each different island. We wanted to sit there and stay. Hotels are okay for that, but we’re not the resort type. We’re a 2-0 on adventure kind of vacation couple. We usually look to rent a place for five days or a week. Turtle Nest, they worked with us. We contacted them. We wanted a smaller unit like one of the hotel rooms. They worked with us on price. They said, “There’s a condo available for the week that you’re looking at.” They worked on the price with us and included a rental car which was great because we got to see all of the island.
Grand Cayman Snorkeling
John: Tell me a little bit about that, like what parts of the island did you visit. Did you go to a different beach every day? That kind of thing.
Brian: Yes. Actually, we went to two different beaches every day. We brought our own snorkeling gear with us even though Turtle Nest actually offers complimentary snorkel gear to take and do with as you want. We brought our own stuff. Well, we always travel with our own stuff. My favorite was Cheeseburger Reef in George Town, right off the dock at the Deep Blue Diving Center. The Cheeseburger Reef was just the most beautiful. It’s shallow enough to skin dive in, and it’s deep enough for scuba divers also.
We went to Cemetery Beach on the west side and Seven Mile beach. Cemetery Beach, it was really nice. There’s a lot of good snorkeling pretty far out. It stays shallow for a long way from the shore. We did a guided tour of Kittiwake shipwreck, which was really cool as we really need to see that. There was a lot of scuba divers there too.
John: You did it as a snorkeler, is that right?
Brian: That’s correct.
John: You can still see the wreck even from the surface?
Brian: Yes. The water’s super clear. You could see all of the wreck. Couldn’t necessarily skin dive down to it but it was very, very clear visibility. We went to Spotts Beach in Savannah. That’s where the giant sea turtles nest. I don’t know if they nest there, but they’re there. In the afternoon they come back. We saw a bunch of sea turtles. That was a great little trip there. We went up to Rum Point, not the best snorkeling. While we were there, it was really windy and Rum Point being on the north side of the island, it was pretty rough so we didn’t go very far out there.
Bodden Town Perks
John: What do you like about Bodden Town where Turtle Nest Inn is located as opposed to other parts of the island?
Brian: We loved how quiet it was. It was not even so much out of the way. It’s more central on the island because you can get to either the east or the west side in the same amount of time. The quietness of the neighborhood was amazing. The beach was beautiful. We walked to a few restaurants around that area, namely the Czech Inn Grill. We actually just walked on the beach all the way. A mile on the beach and then across the street, ate and walked back home. The Lighthouse Restaurant and South Coast are both really good. I took my wife to the Lighthouse Restaurant for her birthday. Particularly appealing to us, they had gluten-free options which was something we weren’t sure that was going to be available. They make great pizza, great pasta. That was a great dinner.
John: That’s great. That’s an important consideration for people with food allergies to know that, in a kind of an out of way place like that, you can still get a gluten-free meal and that they cater to people like that. That’s great.
Brian: Absolutely.
Other Grand Cayman Activities
John: It sounds like you did a lot of snorkeling. Did you have other activities that you engaged in as well while you were on Grand Cayman?
Brian: Yes. My wife and I went horseback riding. It was a surprise gift for her birthday. Also, it was the first time I had ever done it. That was really fun. We rode down the beach. The horses went into the water. I don’t know if they were swimming or not, they said they were swimming.
John: Yes. [chuckles]
Brian: Then, rode back to the ranch. That was a great afternoon.
Turtle Nest Inn Amenities
John: That sounds like a lot of fun. Anything else to add in terms of your overall vacation and staying at Turtle Nest Inn?
Brian: Yes. The stay at Turtle Nest was great. The condo was huge. It was two floors, two bedrooms with a love couch. Could have handled a lot more people than just my wife and myself. The kitchen was our favorite part. While we did do some restaurants, for the most part, for breakfast and lunch and a few nights, we just went to the grocery store and got our own stuff and cooked like we would at home. It really takes a lot of stress out of traveling sometimes, where you can cook for yourselves and just feel normal.
John: Absolutely. All right. Well, I appreciate you talking with me today Brian.
Brian: Thanks, John.
John: For more information about the Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman, and Turtle Nest Inn & Condos, visit TurtleNestInn.com or call 345-947-8665.