The Seaview Resort – Grand Cayman Island
Posted By Paul Kotik on 10 November 2002
It most likely will not come as Big News to you that the Cayman Islands are one of the world's premier dive destinations. There are probably banners flashing on your screen right now, courtesy of the Cayman Island Department of Tourism, or one of the major island resorts. You've either been there already, wishfully researched your trip, or replay your generic Caribbean fantasy reel whenever the name comes up.
Dear me, now I'm asking myself why, given all of the above, I am writing yet another piece on the Caymans ! I've only been there a zillion times or so, and never before felt moved to compose a loving panegyric to those little rocks in the water. Why now ?
Well, last week, reviewing my frequent flyer account, I had an epiphany at four in the morning. Why, I realized groggily, I keep going back there. Again and again. Year after year, and, oh dear me, sometimes month after month. Five times in 2000 alone ! I spent about 10% of my precious time that year down there, and I am, thankfully, a fellow who can spend his time pretty much anywhere he wants.
So I went again, this time on a research mission to identify and catalog the reasons for this stealthy romance.
A few days later it was all quite clear in my mind. Grand Cayman has pretty much everything an oceanman (or oceanwoman) wants out of life. The only downside is that prices on the rock are high, high, high. Even so, with a little local knowledge one can fine-tune one's rate of financial hemorrhage to acceptable levels.
Read on, as I construct a Caymanian vacation scenario for the more hard-core waterman, one who has the ocean at the top of the priority list. You'll know this is you if every single day of your vacation schedule is marked 'dive' or 'windsurf' or something along those lines. This sort of traveller has very flexible requirements with regard to the level of luxury or lack thereof in his accomodations, the primary concern being that these be situated so as to maximize water time. He is economy-minded, since a dollar saved is a dollar that can be applied to important things like a new wetsuit, or another dive trip. Food ? Fuel !
For this traveller, my pick is the Seaview Resort and Dive Center, on South Church Street just outside the center of George Town. The Seaview, built in 1947, is the oldest resort on Grand Cayman and has a funky Caribbean charm that just cannot be fabricated any more. The hotel has undergone periodic renovations and updates, and is quite livable. The hotel restaurant, The Naked Fish, is actually rather good, and reasonably priced by Cayman standards. I found myself going out of my way to do lunch there.
The Seaview's rooms are comfortably priced and perfectly livable. They are life-support chambers wherein one performs one's grooming, hygiene, and other personal overhead followed by a good night's sleep. A true oceanman (or oceanwoman) needs nothing more.
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