Come to the Cayman Islands! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Saint Cayman

While Grand Cayman may be the largest of the three Cayman Islands, the cumulative area of the three islands together is only 1.5 times the size of Washington, D.C. The nation's capital, George Town, is located on Grand Cayman, as is the majority of the nation's tourism and business.

Answer: True

According to the CIA World Factbook (2008), there were over 90,000 companies registered in the Caymans, with over 10,000 mutual funds, 800 insurers, roughly 300 banks, and a population of under 50,000. The Cayman Islands is frequently referred to as a haven for 'dirty money' and illegal business profits, but new financial restrictions have been imposed within the nation's legal system that directly involve the policing and restriction of illegal offshore accounts and businesses.

Answer: Stingray City

The island of Grand Cayman is somewhat in the shape of a crescent and the two points are partially connected by a massive coral reef structure that fills almost the entire width of the gap. Next to the reef is a massive sandbar that is heavily frequented by multitudes of southern stingrays.

In the past, commercial fishermen would dump their fish waste as they entered the northern sound, and then the stingrays began to gather daily to feed on the remains. Today, Stingray City is a huge tourist destination and people are able to stand among them and even hold/support them in the water (FYI: they feel like velvet).

Answer: Cuba

The Cayman Islands provides weekly boat trips to visit Cuba and they do not turn away Americans seeking to explore this forbidden country. The island has a few delicious Cuban restaurants and there are also several cigar shops specializing in Cuban and handmade cigars.

Answer: Mastic Trail

The Mastic Trail is designed to safeguard the wild animals and plants on the island. The trail is two miles long and includes Black Mangrove wetland, Silver Thatch Palm trees, Mastic trees, Wild Banana Orchids, Cayman parrots, West Indian Woodpeckers, and sometimes even the elusive Caribbean dove.

Answer: Hell

Hell remains a remarkably strange place to visit, although one's visit rarely lasts more than 10-20 minutes. There are gift shops with 'I went to Hell' t-shirts, cardboard cutouts where you can pose as the devil, and there is even a post office with the postmark stating that it was processed 'in hell.'

Answer: False

The majority of the Cayman Islands' elevation is exactly at sea level, meaning that it would be remarkably difficult to see from a distance out in the open ocean because it is practically flat. Historically the flat terrain also brought many pirates to the island, as the islands were 'rather hard to find if you didn't know where to look.' In the film "Pirates of the Caribbean" (2003), Jack and Will head to 'Tortuga' to find other pirates and it is depicted as a place of thievery, debauchery, violence, and promiscuity.

Interestingly enough, the island of Tortuga is now called Cayman Brac, and it actually has the nation's tallest point, the Bluff, which stands at 43 meters.

Answer: Seven Mile Beach

Seven Mile Beach runs from George Town to the West Bay, but contrary to its name, the beach actually only measures a distance of 5.5 miles and is also subject to annual beach erosion. The entire stretch of beachfront is public property and offers many opportunities for people to simply swim out from the shore and check out the amazing array of tropical fish.

Answer: turtle

Sir Francis Drake originally reported that the Cayman Islands was 'edible,' meaning that there was food available to be consumed by the many European ships that were passing through the area. What Francis Drake saw was turtles and it was these turtles that the seamen would come to ravage, especially since the nation has always been a haven for sea turtles to gather. Today, with the number of turtles declining exponentially, the Cayman Islands has constructed a state-of-the-art turtle farm that breeds hundreds of turtles and educates visitors about their purpose and necessity in the ocean's ecosystem.

In fact, Christopher Columbus named the three islands 'Las Tortugas' when he saw them because they appeared on the horizon like three swimming sea turtles.

Answer: Ivan

Hurricane Ivan destroyed almost 85 percent of the Cayman Islands and it left over one quarter of the island's residences uninhabitable. The nation has rebuilt and is flourishing today but the long term destruction of Ivan remains. For example, the population of their endangered Cayman Brac Parrots and Grand Cayman Parrots decreased by over 60 percent, and both species are native only to those islands. The damage totaled over $1.8 million and it took over five months for residents to begin rebuilding and gain access to power, water, and sewer services.