Festivals

Pirates’ Week is the islands’ national festival and takes place in the last week of October. Parades, regattas, fishing tournaments, treasure hunts, historical and cultural ‘district days’ in Grand Cayman’s five districts and on Little Cayman, are all part of the celebrations, which commemorate the days when the Cayman Islands were the haunt of pirates and buccaneers (T9495078).

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Batabano is Grand Cayman’s costume carnival weekend, with street parades, music and dancing, which takes place in the last week of April or beginning of May. Cayman Brac has a similar celebration, known as Brachanal, which takes place in June. Everyone is invited to dress up and participate, and there are several competitions. Cayfest, the islands’ national arts festival, takes place through most of April, with exhibitions, displays, dance and drama.

The Queen’s Birthday is celebrated in mid-June with a full-dress uniform parade, marching bands and a 21-gun salute. At the end of April is an eight-day International Fishing Tournament (replacing Million Dollar Month), with big prizes, contact the Cayman Islands Angling Club, T9497099, for details. In mid-June, International Aviation Week attracts private pilots and flight demonstrations over Seven Mile Beach. The first weekend in July the Cayman Islands Restaurant Association holds an annual food festival: the Taste of Cayman, with lots of food and outdoor activities. Towards the end of October, baby turtles, bred at the Turtle Farm, are released into the wild. Christmas brings the Parade of Lights by boat on the waterfront, the Rotary Club’s Annual Christmas Tree Lighting and Radio 3-99’s ‘Wacky House Light Tour’.

Public Holidays

New Year’s Day, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Discovery Day (third Monday in May), the Monday following the Queen’s official birthday (June), Constitution Day (first Monday in July), the Monday after Remembrance Sunday (November), Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

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