Travel: Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands are known as a diving mecca and tax haven for the insanely wealthy but, for those who care to look, its attractions present a walk on the wild side

WE knew it was John Marotta because he was the one who looked as if he had been self-harming. Sliced into his forearms was a jagged row of fresh cuts, although they were less to do with his mental state than the result of a morning's hard labour.

He first came into view as we took refuge from the fierce Caribbean sun under the veranda of the visitor centre at the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. Moments earlier, during a tour of this Grand Cayman paradise and its bountiful profusion of tropical plants, we had had our first encounter with the blue iguana.

Many pounds of muscle-packed reptile crawled across the manicured lawn, warming itself in the late-morning heat. Extraordinary, primeval creatures that resemble a mutant cross between a rhino and a snake, cuddly they are not. Except, of course, if you are Marotta, and have dedicated the last five years of your life to helping save the most endangered iguana in the world from extinction.

This morning, he was helping round up the reptiles for their annual health check, which requires close quarters encounters with relatively small, but immensely powerful, beasts and their sharp claws. "Got to be done," he said. "Besides when you get to know them you realise they all have distinct personalities. You even get to like them on an individual basis."

The Blue Iguana Recovery Programme (BIRP) is a remarkable success story on Grand Cayman, which is best known as a sunshine holiday destination, one of the best scuba diving sites in the world and an offshore banking centre. All three have made one of the lowest-lying, scrubby and dry chains of islands in the Caribbean into one of the richest small nations in the region.

The western half of the L-shaped GC, north of the airport and the capital Georgetown, resembles the Florida coastline where an endless string of high-class hotels, apartments and restaurants face on to the irresistibly beautiful Seven Mile Beach. Here, well-heeled holidaymakers, mostly from the US, top up their tans on the soft, white sands and marvel at the size of the cruise ships that daily disgorge thousands of passengers into the luxury shopping malls of the capital.

This is the side of Grand Cayman most visitors see and if it is luxury beach front you are after – it's from this area and the strip behind Seven Mile Beach that most of the water- sports businesses and the dive boats operate – you will not be disappointed.

And yet, the eastern, much less developed half of the island offers so much more. Here the real Caribbean rhythms of life hold sway. It's out here that award-winning British conservationist Fred Burton OBE has worked tirelessly to save the blue iguana, once common across the island, from being relegated to historical curiosity with the help of a dedicated team including Marotta, the head warden.

The long-lived iguanas, which can grow to several feet in length, never suffered the fate of the indigenous island turtle, which has been virtually wiped out by centuries of exploitation for food by hungry sailors. Iguanas do not taste good – "like kerosene", said Marotta. But they were routinely killed as crop pests by island farmers, their habitat systematically destroyed by agriculture and building development. The motor vehicle and pet dogs did much of the rest.

The large number of reptiles on the main Cayman Island – a tiny coral outcrop atop an underwater mountain range running between Cuba and mainland South America – was spotted by the earliest 16th-century seafarers, among them Christopher Columbus. But by the late 1980s, the GC blue iguana was on the verge of disappearing for ever.

Burton began his recovery programme in 1989, appealing for islanders to tell his team where they could still find the reptiles. Less than 20 were discovered – "they were functionally extinct", said Marotta – but enough males and females were brought together to create a breeding stock on a reserve close to the protected Botanic Park. Twenty years on, BIRP is behind a resurgence in numbers to around 300 animals. The species' future is not guaranteed, however. "We would like to get up to 1,000 free-roaming iguana," he said. "Then we will be getting there."

Like many programmes of its type, it is dependent on donations and grants, with only around 25 people a week visiting Marotta and his volunteer team. Contrast that to the hundreds who take daily boat rides out into the North Sound to Stingray City, where trippers can experience an open-ocean encounter with friendly stingrays. One of GC's biggest tourist attractions, per head, these must be among the most lucrative fish on the planet. Cuteness equals cash.

Natural heritage aside, getting to BIRP and the Botanic Park, with its lush array of indigenous plants, involves an excursion to the cultural and historic heart of GC. One port of call is Pedro St James, a restored plantation house built by European farmers trying to eke a living though plantation and slave culture, which never took off in GC as it did in nearby Jamaica.

Eighteenth-century Pedro St James, with its dramatic coastal location, is one of the few remaining reminders of that chapter of island history. Its picturesque grounds are also the venue of the opening night of the Cayman Jazz Festival, fast becoming an annual fixture for top-ranked musicians from the Caribbean and beyond.

Head further east along the southern coast road to Bodden Town, the island's original capital. A typical island village, it has at its heart the Mission House, where Scottish Presbyterian ministers brought their austere brand of Christianity to the obscure island chain. Now run by the National Trust, it provides a unique insight into the lifestyle of 19th-century European missionaries, whose legacy can still be seen in the numerous churches, only outnumbered by branches of the foreign banks – just under 200 – that have set up in the tax haven.

Mammon and the dollar is now the prevailing faith. Captain Marvin – the cheery boatman who took us to snorkel the wonderful coral reefs in North Sound – raises a nervous laugh from his customers when he explains that the Grand in Grand Cayman means "you need at least a grand to enjoy yourselves here".

He's right, the Cayman Islands are not cheap, but the quality is high. No more so than in the cafes and restaurants of the east side where a stop at Vi's Kitchen, in the tiny village of East End, is rewarded by heavenly fruit smoothies, downed in the shade of a grove of palm trees. For idyllic lunch spots, you are spoiled for choice. At the Lighthouse – a converted lighthouse station – the sound of breaking waves almost drowns conversation, adding a certain context to the freshly grilled fish dishes.

On the balcony of Over The Edge, on the calmer North Shore, the traditional menu offers marinated conch (pronounced conk), turtle soup, grilled wahoo, and dolphin for the less squeamish. If you want buzzier eateries head up to the wealthy playground of Morgan's Harbour where it's fight-for-table time most nights at the Calypso Grill. Local mahi mahi (a white fish) sauted in a lemon butter sauce, served with shrimps, scallops and capers, was an achingly magnificent plate of marine heaven.

If all this eating is too energetic, the perfect place to recover is Rum Point on the tip of North Shore. Park up, select a rum cocktail, head out to the beachfront and slump in a hammock. Drink, close your eyes and doze until dusk.

Fact file

Where to stay The Westin Casuarina (www.westincasuarina.com) is ideally situated around the half-way point of Seven Mile Beach, with beachfront access and a superb pool complex. Room-only rates from 145 per night from mid-May to September.

How to get there BA flies four times weekly from Heathrow to Grand Cayman from 616.80 return including taxes. Visit ba.com or call 0844 4930787.

Turquoise Holidays can arrange tailor-made holidays incorporating both Grand Cayman sister islands Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Visit www.turquoiseholidays.co.uk or call 01494 678400. Other operators to the islands include Caribtours, ITC Classics, Thomas Cook Signature and BA Holidays.

•This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday on 16 May 2010