Do you know the meaning of Tortuga? The thought to know never crossed my mind until I moved to Grand Cayman, formerly known as Tortuga. It means turtle in Spanish. Grand Cayman was a refuge for pirates back in the day and turtles were one of the delicacies they feasted on. Turtles were easily caught and kept alive for fresh meat. Turtles are still a staple food here. We have tasted turtle burgers and turtle soup. The turtle burgers are mighty tasty especially if they aren't the frozen kind. So far, we like Paradise Grill's turtle burgers best. If your ever come to Grand Cayman you have to eat a turtle burger or soup and conch fritters...Yum! Billy Bones at Treasure Island Condos has the best conch fritters in my opinion.
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| Grand Cayman local beer, Caybrew, and Conch fritters from Calico Jacks |
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| Turtle burger |
Because turtles were hunted for food their population decreased and thus the creation of Grand Cayman's turtle farm.
The turtle farm raises turtles to be released into the wild and also for consumption. Sometimes visitors are lucky enough to be involved in releasing turtles. Tortugas are released multiple times throughout the year. A popular release is during Pirate Week. Here are some of the photos we took when we went.
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| A pond/pool for guests to swim with turtles that will be released into the wild |
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 10 week old turtle   and Joie...      Jayden and Daddy swimming with turtles    Please don't mind the large white border surrounding these pictures. I am still learning how this whole thing works. For some reason my text is attached to my photos in half of this post. Oh well. =) |
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