Topside?

[billinwilliamston]

The Tiki bar in question is called Tiki Beach.

Head out east for a day and visit the Botanic Park and the Pedro St James historic site. Have lunch at the Lighthouse Restaurant in between.

Camana Bay has several nice restaurants and shops.

I'll second the recommendation for Chicken! Chicken! for a casual good meal. Your dates have you visiting over Thanksgiving and on that day they serve Turkey! Turkey! Some hotels offer a special T-Day buffet.

While you're out East, you might want to stop by Rum Point as well (IF there aren't too many cruise ships in port).

 

[KathyV]

If you have a car, our favorite GC restaurant is Over the Edge in Old Man Bay on the North Side. It's right on the water and the food and ambience are great - more of a local place - not a fancy venue. We just returned from GC and CB last night and we had a great trip. We ate at Over The Edge twice. I had conch and lobster and they were both great and the portions are quite large. The lobster was fantastic!
Over the edge restaurant

We also visited the new national art gallery on GC. It is a beautiful facility and there is no admission fee. They are currently showing a very interesting exhibition of "collage photography" called "Then and Now".

The artist took vintage black and white photos of various locations on GC and then skillfully incorporated portions of current color photos of the same spots - so that you can see how they have changed and the things that are unchanged. Here's the link:
https://www.nationalgallery.org.ky/

I also recommend a visit to the Elmslie Memorial United Church right near the harbor in downtown Georgetown. I don't often visit churches on dive vacations but we chanced upon it after having lunch nearby at the Margaritaville. It is a beautiful little church, both inside and out, and it is worthwhile to check out the grave markers located in various spots around the church. Some of them are so old that you can no longer read the inscriptions but others are still legible and provide insights into the history of the island. You will see a lot of familar Caymanian family names like "Bodden".

Another worthwhile activity is to visit Cathy Church's photo gallery at Sunset House - many beautiful photographs are on display.

 

[dmoore19]

Cathy Church is often at the gallery. When we were there she had(of course)copies of her book for sale. She was in there and a personalized autograph was done. +1 on the turtle farm. I wouldn't go to Hell again but it is worth 1 trip, just to send postcards to friends.

 

[melissabeads]

If you get in early enough on the 17th it is the end of pirate week!!! In front of the museum will be a snapper cook off at 6 pm. On Harbour Drive there will be a cardboard boat race, sentencing of the pirates followed by fireworks and a street fair that goes until midnight!!

I will be there! We arrive on the 14th

 

[HighSeasYoda]

Thanks for all the replies! Looks like a lot of great suggestions for us to figure out our trip.

If you get in early enough on the 17th it is the end of pirate week!!! In front of the museum will be a snapper cook off at 6 pm. On Harbour Drive there will be a cardboard boat race, sentencing of the pirates followed by fireworks and a street fair that goes until midnight!!

I will be there! We arrive on the 14th

We get in late afternoon so should be able to catch a lot of the night festivities. Sounds like a lot of fun!

 

[releck97]

My votes:
Macabuca on Monday evening for their amazing BBQ! This is a fairly well kept secret.
Unfortunately, the best dining experience on the island (IMHO) closed it's doors last summer…Roland's Garden. Enjoy your "retirement" Roland!

 

[KathyV]

There is a mosaic at Camana Bay they say is one of the largest underwater mosaic scenes in the world. I didn't see it as I only learned about it in the airport on the way home last time. But looks like it would be cool to check out.

I agree that visiting Camana Bay is another nice topside activity while on GC. It is a community centered around a shopping mall and of course we don't want to spend our entire tropical vacation at a mall; but it is a beautiful place and there are often many fun activities going on including beautiful fountains and a farmer's market. There is also the observation tower with gorgeous mosaics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/camanabay/collections/72157624717129413/

 

[caymaniac]

I agree that visiting Camana Bay is another nice topside activity while on GC. It is a community centered around a shopping mall and of course we don't want to spend our entire tropical vacation at a mall; but it is a beautiful place and there are often many fun activities going on including beautiful fountains and a farmer's market. There is also the observation tower with gorgeous mosaics

At Caymana there are some water fountains, I was there once in the evening when local kids were playing:



Rum Point:



Georgetown fish market:


Georgetown Harbor:

 

[KathyV]

I should amend my earlier post above, Over the Edge on the east end has traditionally been our favorite restaurant on GC. It offered great food, decent prices, local flavors, and a gorgeous view. But we were disappointed when we visited it last October. It still has the view but the food and the service just were not as good as we remembered. After the first disappointment we went back there again "just in case" but we were still unimpressed. I heard that their chef has left and that may be the reason - whatever, it was not as good as it used to be IMO.

Has anyone been there recently? I am still hopeful that it will have a quality resurgence before our next trip!

 

[KathyV]

Most of my entries in this thread are for GC activities that are free or inexpensive as opposed to the typical excursions offered to tourists. I'm not putting down the excursions but here's another example of a free and lovely spot that we chanced upon by accident, Davinoff's Concrete Sculpture Garden:

Davinoff's Concrete Sculpture Garden (North Side, Cayman Islands) on TripAdvisor: Address, Top-Rated Attraction Reviews

Here’s a nice blog about things to do on Grand Cayman away from Georgetown and 7MB:

http://danilew.biz/blog/2014/03/03/grand-cayman-paradise-found/