September is a wonderful season on Grand Cayman. All of the summer travelers have long gone, while all of the Reef’s activities are in full swing, and the temperatures are a balmy 80° while water temperatures range from 78°F to 82°F in the fall and beyond. With so many direct flights from New York, Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, and Houston and the Reef’s $99 rate, this might be the perfect time of year to come, see, and experience the magic of Grand Cayman!

A big thank-you to the New York Post!

This year, Cayman Night will be held on Saturday, September 25^th at the Carl Parker Multipurpose Center from 5.30 to 11.30pm.

Barefoot Man, Chuck and Barrie Quappe, and Andy Martin, “The Cayman Cowboy,” will be heading the festivities. The pre-show will feature, the OutRigger Band, featuring Bob Brammer and K.O. Harlow!
Island Cuisine and Cayman Rum Punch will also be available for purchase, as well as soft drinks and other beverages. There will be children’s activities, limbo contests, door prize give-a-ways, and photos among the festivities for the night. Tickets are US$20 per adult and kids under 12 are free!

For tickets and further information please visit www.caymannight.com. Special hotel rates are also available.

Many are familiar with the local Cayman Turtle Farm on Grand Cayman Island, a major tourist attraction in George Town, and the only one of it’s kind in the world. The farm offers great teaching opportunities for children, but for me, it doesn’t get any better than stepping outside of your guestroom to witness one of life’s great miracles!

I’m sure these tiny hatchlings will be the talk of the day, week and more! A big thank you to Katelios Group for providing us with this fabulous image as we wouldn’t want to disturb the newborns here at The Reef.

Zombie Driftwood, wrapped-up shooting this past summer at Driftwood Bar, on Grand Cayman Island. The bar’s owner Phil Eckstein wrote the screenplay while Scottish filmmaker Bob Carruthers, stumbled into this opportunity during a conversation with Eckstein while hanging out at Driftwood. Driftwood does have the best mudslides on the island!

The 75 minute-long film follows a small group of people fighting off piratical zombies who get to Cayman on a mystery cruise ship that shows up with no one on board – or at least, no one alive. The movie genre is typical for the movie class but if you love Zombie movies you may want to tune in as this one has a local aesthetic. All of the zombies were played by local Caymanian actors as opposed to flying in Hollywood types.

The film is a “guinea pig” for future productions made with the assistance of the Cayman Islands Film Commission. The commission was set-up in January of last year, with the goal to develop the film industry in Cayman, which will be managed by Lesley-Ann Thompson, head of marketing at the Cayman Islands Department of Commerce and Investment which runs the Film Commission.

The team behind the movie also created a local company and has been inviting people to invest in the project by buying 1 per cent of the company for a mere $5,000. All of those who invest will have an associate producer credit. Interesting! Come on now, its Grand Cayman the home of investment would you expect anything different? It just may be a worthwhile investment opportunity for those who have a couple of extra thousands lying around and have an interest in the film industry.

It might not have the dance moves that made Thriller one of the top-grossing videos of all times, but it will definitely have the moans and groans of a classic zombie thriller! Look for an October release just in time for Halloween, across the US and UK.

With all of the above partnerships involved, make no mistake that this is part of a tourism effort to attract divers and snorkelers to the Island, as these wrecks make for unique and interesting dive sites. What is most interesting to me, is someone on the island is thinking “eco-friendly”. The sinking of U.S.S. Kittiwake is part of the artificial reef movement in the Caribbean, as it will join MV Captain Keith Tibbetts, a Russian Frigate sunk off the coast of Cayman Brac in 1996. Artificial reefs have been found very beneficial in promoting and restoring marine life.

Reports put this ship at 20 feet below the surface so even snorkelers can enjoy this new attraction. Just being on island and visiting the Reef and chatting-it-up with the resort’s watersports team, I discovered that you can take “power snorkeling” devices underwater for as long as you can hold your breath and power through the water. It would be amazing to see the U.S.S. Kittiwake via power snorkeling.

Of course, Grand Cayman, renowned for world class diving, will add this exclusive attraction to an array of impressive dive sites already found on the island. Did you know the East End of the island is pristine and reports state that new dive sites are being discovered monthly?

Fall is right around the corner, and rates to Grand Cayman are never better than in September or October. This could be your chance to get acquainted with the U.S.S. Kittiwake or the plethora of other dive sites that are yearning to be discovered.

Enjoy and let us know what you discover!

We’re pretty proud that the group, containing some pretty seasoned travelers, gave Cayman some very high praise in their blog!

“It could very well be the best Island destination in the Caribbean.”

Check out some shots from the video!

Starting November 4, WestJet will fly three times a week to Grand Cayman. Flights will depart at 9:40 a.m./1:45 p.m and return at 2:35 p.m/6:30 p.m. and vacationers have a choice of leaving on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday with introductory fares starting as low as $189.

The Reef Resort, is a the ideal choice for Toronto travelers looking for an all beachfront escape. The resort boasts the largest beachfront on the island, 1,600 feet, and has a cool beachfront bar; the Rusty Pelican serving up Caribbean-concocted island beverages. The resort also offers a wide-variety of water sports; new to the activity list is power snorkeling, add-in kayaking, surfing, paddle boarding wind surfing, sea hammocks and more, plus it’s East End location is a true Caribbean escape idyllic and authentic, untarnished from tourism development.

Are you a single diver that hasn’t checked out the East End reefs yet? Or maybe you’re a young couple that wants to discover all the relaxation and culinary delights Grand Cayman has to offer. Either way, this deal is for you! If you’re new to the island and only require one room, why wouldn’t you book a beachfront studio at such an incredible low price? BudgetTravel.com says you should and so do we! Take our advice and grab hold of this “Real Deal”!

We, at The Reef Resort are asking all of our new and repeat guests alike to cast a vote for The Reef Resort. We know from our TripAdvisor posts that The Reef is a Cayman Island favorite and we hope your votes will show the world what we already know; The Reef Resort is truly a fun, low-key escape on the isolated East End of the island, offering affordable rates, a ton of family-friendly activities, great food some of the best island entertainment and more.

Thanks for the votes!

We are VERY proud to announce that Thursday 24 June marked the first Long Service Awards for theReef!  A breakfast reception was held to honor a number of employees for their hard work and dedication to the company.

theReef has always been a family run business, and the Thompson family were there to personally present awards to 38 of our employees, who were recognized for their commitment over the years!

We had various awards given, first for  three to five years of employment, and then all the way up to ten years of employment! And we’re proud to see so many of our staff members have been part of theReef family from the very start!

Some of our award winners!

Both Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Merren-Thompson noted how proud they were to hear guests say that theReef’s wonderful service is a large part of what makes trips to Cayman so memorable. Congrats, everyone!