The Cayman Islands are located in the western Caribbean and consist of three islands called Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. Together they form a little piece of paradise just 480 miles south of Miami. Visitors to the islands can enjoy sun kissed beaches and some of the best snorkelling and diving in the world.
The largest and most visited Ireland is Grand Cayman which is around 76 mi.². It is best known for having a shallow reef known as the North Sound which is around 35 mi.². Cayman Brac is the second largest island and is 89 miles north-east of Grand Cayman.
It is just 1.25 miles wide and 12 miles long, giving it an area of around 14 mi.². It's perhaps the most spectacular out of the three islands as there is a massive central limestone outcrop which dominates the island. Little Cayman is just 5 miles west of Cayman Brac and has an area of just 10 mi.².
The islands were discovered purely by chance in 1503 by Christopher Columbus whose ship was blown off course. He noted the islands were occupied by turtles, and this is the reason why islands were originally called Las Tortugas.
In 1523 a map showing the islands named them Lagartos which means large lizards or alligators, and by 1530 this name had changed to Caimanas which is the Carib Indian word for marine crocodile, as this creature is known to have lived on the islands. Over time the name gradually changed to become the more familiar Cayman Islands.
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