Beach view from the deck of our studio unit at Morritt's. Waves break on the reef about a quarter mile offshore.
	One of two pools at Morritt's. Both are about 150 yards from the ocean.
We're heading out on a catamaran to Stingray City. Weather and water couldn't be better.
	These guys are slippery!
Jim has a handful of squid for a hungry stingray.
	Linda and friend at the Turtle Farm.
Foster's Market is a good place to stock up if you have a condo.

We enjoyed our timeshare trade into Morritt's Tortuga Club on Grand Cayman in February, 1999. Isolated on the East End, Morritt's has quite a different ambiance than the resorts on Seven Mile Beach north of Georgetown. Our studio unit with its deck was only about 100 feet from the ocean, a perfect spot to relax with a cup of coffee while watching the sunrise. Many of the units face one of the two pools. While not as "polished" as many U.S. resorts, there was a laid back feeling we liked.

For most visitors to Morritt's, a car is a must. It is so isolated that nothing is within walking distance and there are many places you'll want to see. The nearest restaurant outside the resort (Portofino's) is two miles away. If you want a cab, it comes from Georgetown, a 45 minute drive. We rented a well-used Toyota Corolla with a/c from Dollar Rent a Car (345-949-4790) near the airport. A week with unlimited mileage was $249 US after the Morritt's discount. The agent tried to intimidate me into buying the extra insurance, inferring that our credit card coverage wasn't good enough. A visitor's driver license is $7.50 US. The rental office is across the street, about 150 yards from the airport ticket counter.

With its British influence, everyone drives on the left side of the road. Most confusing of all was our right hand drive position. The joke is to watch out for any fair-weather car with its windshield wipers on, for that tourist will be turning soon. Driving on the left wasn't bad outside of town with very little traffic, but was quite an experience near the airport for our first few minutes in the car. I got used to it quickly though. Be especially careful with right turns since you must go across oncoming traffic. Cross traffic nearest you comes from the right. And really make sure you understand your route before you head out of the rental car office. Our Toyota had the speedometer in kilometers per hour only. Unknown to us for the first day was that the speed signs (circles with 25, 30, 40 or 50) were in miles per hour!

We stopped at Foster's Market, next to the airport. It is as well stocked as most large supermarkets at home with almost all items coming from the US. There's a brand new Foster's on SMB (Seven Mile Beach), and a small but well stocked "Lil Hurley's" market only about 3 miles form Morritt's. A 12 pack of Pepsi was $3.99 CI (Cayman Islands x 1.25 = $5.00 US). A US dollar is 80% of a CI dollar. Foster's has a $25 CI minimum for Visa purchases.

The water around the resort is very clear because of the protective outer reef, about a quarter mile off shore. We snorkeled only two places, near the Morritt's pier (OK) and on the Stingray City excursion (fantastic and not to be missed). The guys working our sailing catamaran lifted 3 and 4 foot diameter rays right into our arms. We were lucky to be out there when the cruise ships were not in town, since the sandbar can be very, very crowded. After Stingray City, they brought us to deeper water at Coral Gardens to snorkel among the coral and many fish. Two large rays swam by every few minutes, maybe looking for a handout. We also liked the 45 minute Atlantis submarine ride, going down to 100 feet. North of Seven Mile Beach, we toured the Turtle Farm where we saw thousands of turtles being raised for "commercial use" as well as for release into the ocean. Nearby, you can send postcards from the Hell post office and view the stark rock outcropping behind it.

Diving at the Morritt's is a big deal, with a dive shop right at the resort. A "2 tank" dive without gear is $75 US. Since Grand Cayman is one of the top dive destinations in the world, I wanted to try an introductory "resort dive" ($110 US). It has some morning classroom instruction and pool exercises, then a 45 minute afternoon dive down to 25 feet. Because of a prior sinus surgery, I couldn't honestly answer "no" to all the health related questions (do you now or have you ever…?) and ended up not diving. The dive shop works with a Georgetown dive doctor, but I was unable to contact him for a phone interview. If you have any doubts about current or prior breathing or circulatory health conditions, check with your doctor if you'd like to do a "resort dive".

Andrew, the activities director, has orientation sessions on the patio Sunday and Monday mornings. He's funny and knows his stuff. We liked the resort's Monday night welcome party and beach BBQ and Mudslide Madness Party on Wednesday night.

We never tried the on-site David's restaurant for dinner. We liked Portofino's, the Rum Point Restaurant (run by Hyatt) and the Lighthouse. For a relief from high dinner prices, "Chicken! Chicken!" on SMB has great rotisserie cooked quarter chicken breast meat with generous portions of garlic mashed potatoes and vegetables (or any other 2 side dishes) for $8.95 C.I. The small place was packed. If you're adventurous, you might try "Miss Viveen's", a local resident at Gun Bay, 3 miles from the resort. She has some tables set up in back of her house on a covered patio and serves home cooking, usually several choices. We talked with a group from Morritt's who tried it and were pleasantly surprised. You can call earlier in the day (947-7435) to find out what she's making that night (about $6 to $10 per person total). We always had a lighter, fruit and cereal breakfast in our room.

Electricity is very expensive; Morritt's has a metered electricity charge averaging $50/week, mostly for air conditioning. They warn you not to leave your sliding patio door open if the a/c is on. As much as we didn't like the charge, we understand the reason… if electricity was included, or a flat rate was charged, there would be no incentive to conserve. Telephone charges are steep too. Most 800 calls are charged at international rates. There is a service charge on phone calls, even if you get a busy signal or the party doesn't answer!

The sales staff was pretty low key. We didn't attend a sales presentation, but did get a flyer under our door offering a resale week (each year) for $6900. If you're interested, you might want to check "gold crown timeshare" on ebay.com or a resale broker such as Tri West (1-800-423-6377, www.triwest-timeshare.com) since resales typically sell for much less than what's offered by the resort sales staff. The independent Timeshare Users' Group (http://tug2.net) has a wealth of information, including member ratings of timeshare resorts. The timeshare we own is in Ixtapa, Mexico, a "gold crown" unit on the beach that trades very well. In fact, we've been to Ixtapa only a couple times... most years we trade our week to explore new regions of the world.

We've been timesharing for about eight years and have learned the importance of planning ahead. Linda requested two Caribbean resorts through RCI (www.rci.com) two years out and Morritt's was confirmed a few months later. Since American Airlines opens reservations 331 days in advance of flying, we marked our calendar and used bonus miles for free flights from San Francisco.

The weather was warmer than we expected, since February is statistically the coolest month. It was breezy on the East End, and we had no rain. Linda wore a sweater only one night. In retrospect, the only things we'd change if we could would be to bring a lot less clothes and for me to have checked with my doctor about the resort scuba dive. We really enjoyed our vacation at Morritt's.