Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands are a British overseas territory located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. The territory is a major offshore financial center in the Caribbean. The Cayman Islands are a highly desirable vacation destination renowned for its beautiful white sand beaches. It is best known for its remarkable scuba diving activities, combined with its crystal clear waters, breathtaking coral reefs and an abundance of diverse sealife making these Islands a must see destination for scuba divers.

The Cayman Islands were first sighted by European explorers on 10 May, 1503. On his fourth trip to the New World, Columbus was en route to the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) when his ship was blown westward toward "two very small and low islands, full of tortoises (turtles), as was the sea all around these small islands. It was the fact that they looked like the backs of sunning turtles in the water that, these low lying islands came to be called "Las Tortugas." The two islands were Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. A 1523 map showing all three Islands gave them the name Lagartos, meaning alligators or large lizards, but by 1530 the name Caymanas was being used. It is derived from the Caribbean Indian word for the marine crocodile, which is now known to have lived on the Islands. This name, or a variant, has been retained ever since. The first recorded settlements were located on Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, during the 1661-71 tenure of Sir Thomas Modyford as Governor of Jamaica. When Jamaica achieved independence in 1962, the Caymen Islands opted to remain under the British Crown. It remains a colony of Great Britan at this time.

The Caymen Islands are a three-island archipelago in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman. The Cayman Islands are 130 nautical miles (241 km; 150 mi) south of Cuba and 145 nautical miles (269 km; 167 mi) northwest of Jamaica, and are between Cuba and Central America. Its geographic coordinates are 19°30 north, 80°30 west. The Cayman Islands have a landmass of 101.2 square miles (259 km²), with a coastline of 99 miles (160 km). The lowest elevation is the Caribbean Sea at sea level. The highest point is "The Bluff", a limestone outcrop 155 feet (43 m) in height on the eastern end of eastern Cayman Brac. The Cayman Islands have a tropical marine climate, with a wet season of warm, rainy summers (May to October) and a dry season of relatively cool winters (November to April).