Menu Home The ship Life on board Ft. Lauderdale Half Moon Cay - Bahamas Georgetown - Gr, Cayman Costa Maya - Mexico Cozumel - Mexico Veracruz - Mexico Ft Lauderdale (disembark) Cruise FAQ About/Info   Georgetown, Grand Cayman At 8.00 am we anchored near the port of Georgetown on the island of Grand Cayman, the main island of the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands are located in the Caribbean Sea and consist of three islands. Things to do here are several watersports including diving and snorkeling and seeing and touching stingrays at Stingray City, visiting the Turtle Farm and a place called Hell, and do some shopping of course. Arriving at the port of Georgetown, Grand Cayman. About 2 million cruise ship passengers visit Grand Cayman every year! We're going to tender once again, because the port isn't large enough for our big ship. We're very welcome here… Some useful websites for more info: http://www.caymanvacations.com http://www.caymanislands.ky/ We're even welcome here, in Hell. We're doing the 'Grand Cayman Island Drive' shore excursion, including a visit to a place called "Hell". This is a blackened and jagged rock formation that is over 1 1/2 million years old and resembles the charred remains of a hell fire. Hell is an area of Grand Cayman that was once under water. The limestone deposits are from the coral that had inhabited that area. A bacteria attacks the dead coral (limestone) and turns it black. Don't spend too much time in Hell ;-). Seriously, it's an odd place, but you've seen it in short time. As part of a larger excursion, it's a nice little stop. But don't expect too much of it. Hell's own post office was opened in 1962 for tourists who wanted to send postcards from Hell. You can say on the card: "I've been to Hell and back!" ;-) A longer stop in our 'Grand Cayman Island Drive' is the Cayman Islands Turtle Farm. This is one of the major attractions on Grand Cayman. They established in 1968 and their goal is to raise sea turtles (who are an endangered species) for consumption, for scientific research and for conservation and protection of the species, by releasing them into the ocean. Cayman Turtle Farm is home to over 16,000 green sea turtles, ranging in size from six ounces to six hundred pounds each! Nowhere else can you see an endangered species so successfully raised for conservation. About 60% of each year's hatchlings are raised to 3 - 4 years of age to be processed for food that is sold locally (a national delicacy). Out of these, 1 to 2% are kept to become future breeders instead of food. The remaining 40% are released into the ocean when they are around one year old. This "headstarting" gives the turtles a better chance of survival. The majority of the breeders in the pond range in age from 25 to 40 or more years. There are some younger turtles that have come from the farm's hatchlings over the years. Between 1980 and the end of April, 2001, Cayman Turtle Farm had released 30,000 turtles around these islands. So you can say they've been succesful. For visitors it's a nice place to see and actually hold the turtles. The turtle farm has its own website: http://www.turtle.ky. There's a lot of information there about the turtle farm: pictures, information about their scientific activities, and even webcams. We end our scenic drive around the island at the Rum Cake Center, where we can see how the rum is made and have a chance to sample and purchase the rum.