Well, I finally made it to Cayman Brac (aka : The Brac). It only took me 10 years.  Quite pathetic I know considering its only about 25 minutes away by plane. The main attraction in Cayman Brac, which is one of the two “sister islands” is The Bluff.  The Bluff is essentially about 1/2 of the island that is elevated and at the far end of the island is a 140ft cliff into the ocean.

So arrival in Cayman Brac at the quite small but nice airport.

Upon driving around, I saw right away that this place was different from Grand Cayman.  If you have been to Grand Cayman’s East End, driving around the Brac is a very similar experience.  Here the locals painted their palm trees.

Julie agrees with this sign 🙂

Some of you may remember my posts from November 2008 where Hurricane Paloma appeared out of nowhere, south of the islands.  Well, that Hurricane hit the Brac as a Category-4 and although much has been rebuilt, there are still signs & scars around from that storm.

This odd house likely did quite well in that storm. Quite an odd looking home.  🙂

In the bluff, there are numerous caves to visit.  Although I took pictures, they do not do justice and also are quite dark.  Here is the entrance to one of the most popular caves. What is great is that entrance is free and the areas were all nicely maintained.  These caves have been used in the past as hurricane shelters.  Probably not too comfortable, but definitely safe.  It was also neat to see the bats hanging from the ceiling in many of them.

On to the Bluff.  The picture below is not mine, just one I grabbed on the Internet. What you are looking at is the eastern part of the island where it is a 140ft cliff.  Back towards the other end, you can see on each side, at one point the Bluff retreats inland, which is where the caves can be found.  This is the most eastern part of the Cayman Islands and closest to Jamaica which is only a hundred and fifty miles or so away.

This is Long beach.  If you look at the picture above, this picture below was taken from the beach you see on the right side. Note that large rock/island in both pictures.

Now we went onto the bluff.  Once again, see the overhead picture above. You can see there is a road in the middle. At the end of that road, there is a path that goes towards the right.  The next set of pictures are from that path.  Really spectacular!  The ocean was very choppy but made from great pictures.

The Bluff is also know for the Boobie birds. We were lucky; we saw a lot of them and it was nesting time.

Here is a lovely Boobie couple.  We were able to get within about 1oft or so ; they seem like they were used to seeing humans.

Kissy-Kissy 🙂

A mommy nesting. At one point she stood up and we could see the egg.  Not long enough to get a picture though. Really nice birds, about the size of a “slim chicken”.

And of course, the Bluff from the South side. (Right hand side on the overhead picture above)

Lastly, here is some video footage from the top of the Bluff.   As you will see, it was REALLY windy. I dont know what speeds they were, but I can easily imagine they were close to tropical storm force.  What was amazing is that it was constant.  As you will see, I had trouble holding the camera still.   If you feel for some of the footage I was a bit close to the edge, I had a long selfie stick so was not all that close. 🙂  Note the nesting Boobie bird in early part of the video.

In closing, if you are in Cayman and have an extra day or so, Cayman Brac is well worth the trip. I was there for one day only (+-12h in all) and got to see a good amount of the island.  However, if you want to snorkle and/or dive, one day is definitely not enough.