Everyone talks about the ‘good old days’ when times were simpler. Take a look at this picture from yesteryear and see if you can spot places, people and scenes you recognise.
Cayman Kai
These pictures of Cayman Kai from 1969, posted by Rudy Munis on the Old Cayman Facebook page, really take me back to my childhood.
Those who weren’t jetting off to Florida or the Sister Islands, would often head to North Side for the weekend, just for a change of scenery. Islanders still do it today.
Only about an hour by car from the furthest point away, it was a leisurely drive. Back in those years, there was no Queen’s Highway. The east road stopped near Tortuga Club, so in order to reach Cayman Kai and Rum Point, drivers could only go via Frank Sound Road.
Tourists looking for a laidback island vacation would often book the cottages at Cayman Kai, and residents could stop by to eat at the restaurant and have drinks at the bar. The water was shallow for a way out from the coast, which made it perfect for us young children to go wading without parents worrying.
There was a small pier that ran out from the beach that could accommodate small boats and anyone looking to do a spot of line fishing.
Although there are quite a number of modern edifices that have sprung up in the Cayman Kai area, many of the old one- and two-storey vacation homes remain to this day.
If you have some old photos that you’d like to submit, we’d love to see them to consider them for publication. Be sure to include the credit for the image and any information you have about it. Email to [email protected].
Related Videos
The first picture reminds me of Caribbean Club before it got bulldozed and skyscraped. Gone forever are the days “that time forgot”.
Having spent, on average six weeks a year on Cayman, every year, since 1975, I regret to say that it no longer has any of the magic which made the long journeys from/to U.K. bearable.
Of course, at 82 now, this might sound curmudgeonly but sadly there is very little to attract long-stay visitors now. The population, even without tourists, is six times what it was, the natural assets have practically disappeared, and your future looks bleak. Naturally some services have improved and a whole load of people have made a whole load of money.
Great, if that’s what you want and lucky for all of you who never realised what a rare paradise you had. My next visit will be sad, not just because I am old and the island so commercialised, but also because of the beautiful nostalgic memories I still have of the five years (aggregate) my wife and I, mostly with our children and recently with our grandchildren, have had the luck and privilege to live there.