Country Information

There is a strong Jamaican influence in the national cuisine, but most restaurants serve a cosmopolitan menu. Standards are generally high with good service, and credit cards are widely accepted credit cards. Bars and restaurants are well stocked with all beverages normally consumed in America and Europe. Draught beer is available in a few bars.

National specialities:
• Jerk chicken (chicken marinated in hot spices).
• Rice and peas.
• Fried plantain.
• Conch chowderdishes, including fritters, stew and chowder.
• Mahi-mahi (a tropical fish).
• Lobster.
• Turtle stew.

National drinks:

• Caybrew beer.
• Rum punch.
• Cayman mudslide cocktail.

Legal drinking age: 18.

Tipping: For most services, 5-10% is normal. Hotels and apartments state the specific amount. Restaurant bills usually include a 10-15% charge in lieu of tipping.

Grand Cayman has lively bars and nightclubs along West Bay Road and in George Towncomedy clubs. Music is varied and clubs offer everything from live DJs to salsa, reggae, calypso and disco. Concerts and theatre productions (www.artscayman.org) are staged at the Harquail Theatre, off West Bay Road, and the Prospect Playhouse, Red Bay. There's a multi-screen cinema in the new Camana Bay (www.camanabay.com).

Dinner cruises onboard a replica pirate ship or a 19th-century tall ship can be booked through local watersports operators. On Cayman Brac there are occasional weekend dances with local bands and community events, such as talent shows and other stage productions, at the Aston Rutty Center.

Local publications with nightlife information include Key To Cayman, What's Hot, What to Do, Destination Cayman and Friday's edition of the Caymanian Compass, as well as Key To Cayman, What's Hot, What to Do, Destination Cayman.

George Town is a mecca for those in search of duty-free goods, and also offers numerous small boutiques. Local products such as jewellery made of caymanite (the island's semi-precious stone), hand-woven baskets, hats and fans, colourful paintings and underwater photographs make excellent souvenirs. Local foods, including tropical fruits, can be bought or sampled at the Farmers' Market Cooperative on Thomas Russell Avenue. The Tortuga Rum company specialises in rum and rum cake.

Increasingly Modern and sophisticated shopping centres offer North American and European fashion brands, furnishings and household goods. Many luxury goods and essential food products are duty--free but duty of up to 20% is charged on other items.

Note: Turtle products cannot be imported, even by persons in transit, into any country which has signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. This includes the USA, Canada and the UK. Caymanite cannot be taken out of the country in its raw form.

Shopping hours: Mon-Sat 0900-1700. During peak tourist season, many shops open later and also open on Sundays.