Look out for rush hour traffic!

Area: Grand Cayman, located 180 miles northwest of Jamaica and 480 miles south of Miami, is 22 miles long, four miles wide. Cayman Brac, situated 89 miles northeast of Grand Cayman, is 12 miles long and slightly more than 1 mile wide. Little Cayman, 5 miles west of Cayman Brac, is 10 miles long and just over a mile wide.

Language: English.

Population: 32,000, 94% of which reside on Grand Cayman.

Time Zone: Eastern Standard Time all year long.

Documents: A birth certificate or voter's registration card and photo ID will suffice for U.S. and Canadian citizens. All others require passports.

Currency: Cayman has its own dollar but everyone takes US currency. The US dollar is worth only 80 cents CI. That exchange rate is another factor making Cayman so expensive.

Tipping & Taxes: Government room tax of 10% and a 10-15% service charge is usually added automatically to all bills. There's also a departure tax of $12.50.

Electrical Current: Even though this is a former British colony, most of the buildings are of such recent vintage that they have standard 110 volt, 60 cycle.

Getting There: About 1.5 million people visit annually, mostly Americans, and almost 75% arrive by cruise ship and spend only a single day on the island. Direct flights are available from Canada, England, Cuba and Jamaica as well as the U.S. There are more than 100 commercial flights a week into the islands, about 70 percent coming from Miami . Cayman Airways ( www.caymanairways.com ) American (www.aa.com), Delta (www.delta-air.com), USAirways (www.usairways.com), Northwest (www.nwa.com), British Airways (www.british-airways.com) are the major carriers into Grand Cayman . The neighboring island of Cayman Brac is served only by Cayman Airways and Island Air (345/949-5152); and Little Cayman by Island Air only.

Getting Around: Motor scooters are popular and rental cars are easily available. Several companies offer island tours via motorcoach. Driving is on the left.

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