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Just south of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands have truly grown up the past thirty years, driven by tourism and banking. The Cayman Islands rank as the world's fifth largest offshore financial centre. Bank secrecy laws make it illegal to reveal the identities of accounts owners - unless of course, shady dealings are suspected. Through the years, regulations have been severely tightened making it nearly impossible to launder cash here.

On the tourism side of development, the islands have been a scuba-diving paradise since the 1960s. The Cayman Islands, like all islands, are essentially the tips of underwater mountains, and the submerged terrain around these islands is especially dramatic. The spectacular underwater walls, caverns and healthy coral reefs have made these islands one of the world's best spots for diving and snorkelling. Add to that their virtually crime-free ambience (thanks to tight government controls and the high per-capita income enjoyed by most Caymanians) and it's easy to see why so many people choose the Cayman Islands for a Caribbean holiday.

Though people from around the world visit to scuba dive and enjoy the tropical climate, US travellers predominate. The islands are just a 90-minute flight from Miami, Florida, and being a British territory, English is the official language - making these islands a quick, convenient and easy getaway for Americans. In fact, the hotels, fast-food chains, products and many of the service industry workers hail from the US (many Canadians also work here).
An abundance of natural attractions make the islands an ideal destination for those who enjoy watersports, birdwatching, laid-back day hikes, clear water and sandy beaches (Grand Cayman's Seven Mile Beach is among the finest in the Caribbean). If rousing casinos and wild nightlife are what you seek, these are not the islands to visit. There's no gambling of any kind here, and beach nudity is forbidden.

Grand Cayman is the most developed of the three islands and where you will find the largest choice of accommodation, restaurants and attractions. The sister islands Cayman Brac (pronounced "brack") and Little Cayman have far fewer choices in lodging and dining and most travellers to these islands choose all-inclusive meal packages. Compared to Grand Cayman, the pace is far mellower here. They've yet to put up stop lights on either island, and Little Cayman only recently got its first full-time police officer.

All three of the islands are low-lying and arid, though Cayman Brac does have a ridge that rises to 140 feet above sea level, the highest point of the three islands. The vegetation throughout is predominately scrub brush and mangrove. There are also colourful flowering plants and trees such as the brilliant flamboyant tree that grows as high as 50 feet and develops a blossoming orange canopy that spreads across the roadways. Bougainvillea flowers almost year-round, dotting island homes in vibrant swatches of fuchsia, white and lemon-yellow. A variety of tropical birds also flock to these islands, especially to Little Cayman.

Christopher Columbus is the first European credited with discovering the islands in 1503, though frankly he stumbled upon them. While en route between Panama and Hispaniola he got blown west off course and recorded seeing two small islands (Little Cayman and Cayman Brac) "full of tortoise." Thus he dubbed them "Las Tortugas," Spanish for turtle, though the name didn't last. A few decades later in 1585, British explorer Sir Francis Drake passed through, recording that the islands were flush with "great serpent-like lizards." These were caimans - land creatures related to crocodiles after which the islands were renamed.

Except for the animals and marine creatures, the islands were believed uninhabited until seafarers began using them as replenishment centres in the sixteenth century. The islands had abundant supplies of fresh water and food, including sea turtles and wildfowl. English, Dutch, French and Spanish explorers and pirates all made use of the sustenance available here. Historians dispute whether pirates ever actually touched down on the islands, but legend has it that in the eighteenth century Blackbeard stashed his treasures in Cayman caves.

The Spanish and British were the two main colonial powers battling for control of the islands in this region (and elsewhere in Caribbean as well). The Cayman Islands became part of the British Empire in 1670 under the Treaty of Madrid. Nearby Jamaica and other islands were also part of that Treaty which bestowed Caribbean territories to the British. For the next two hundred years or so, the Cayman Islands were governed as a dependency of Jamaica. That ended in 1962 when Jamaica gained independence while the Cayman Islands preferred to remain a British colony.

Most of the original settlers were British, Irish and Scottish who came from Jamaica, some of whom brought their African slaves with them to farm the rocky land, make thatch rope and work the turtle industry. Many Caymanians also turned to the sea to earn a living as merchant marines. Those arduous labours are long gone, however, replaced by the offshore finance industry which took hold in the late 1960s, along with the development of the tourism sector. Today, finance and tourism are the mainstays of the Cayman economy, and most people work in one of those two industries.