Pirate's Caves

Bodden Town Pirates' Caves

Useful Information

Location:	Bodden Town, Grand Cayman. From Morritts towards Georgetown, after the restaurant 'The Edge'. Four parking spaces in front. (19.278742, -81.248996)
Open:	All year Mon-Sat 10-17. [2021]
Fee:	Adults USD 20, Children (4-11) USD 15. [2021]
Classification:	Karst cave
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	Not wheelchair accessible, the path is quite rough and the ceiling low in parts.
Bibliography:
Address:	Pirates Cave, Family Fun Cave & Mini Zoo, 277 Bodden Town Road, Bodden Town Pirates Caves, KY1-1602, Cayman Islands, Tel: +1-345-929-2520. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1963	developed and opened as a show cave.
2018	new owners Ian and Cindy Bodden.

Description

The Pirate's Caves are natural limestone caves located below the southern part of Bodden Town on the south shores of Grand Cayman. The caves are said to have once extended underneath Bodden Town with openings out to the sea. Legends tell about a pirate's treasure, which still lies buried in the caves! Due to many storms over the years, the openings out to the sea have been buried and the locations of treasure troves have been entombed. The age of the pirates around the Cayman islands lasted between the 1630s and the 1750s. Since this time the caves have been the property of the Bodden family. The pirate sightseeing may be completed by a visit to the actual pirate's graves in the cemetery across the street.

However, the pirate caves are unlike any other show cave listed on showcaves.com. They are equipped as a sight for kids up to 12 years. On the surface there is a talking parrot, a petting zoo and a gift shop. Inside the cave there is a quite obvious pirate motive with skeletons, canons, and treasure troves. Most of the side passages are rather low, and adults crawling through might get dirty. Nevertheless, they are fun for the kids to explore. Appropriate clothes for adults and children are a good idea, helmets are provided.

We have not visited the cave but the comments on the web were rather negative until 2018. In this year the new owners inherited the business, and Cindy Bodden was quite active, renovating the buildings, cleaning up and improving the zoo, redecorating, improving the business in general and making it quite enjoyable for families with kids. Since then the comments have quite substantially improved. There is now even a possibility to pre-book your visit on the facebook page.