Admirals Landing, Grand Harbour, Prospect, Red Bay and Patrick's Island are thriving communities with lots of options for housing from inland homes with good-sized gardens, to duplexes, apartments, canal front and oceanfront homes, as well as lots of land left for those that want to build. There is something for everyone's budget.
Admirals Landing, Prospect, Red Bay and Patrick's Island also have very active WhatsApp groups with hundreds of members who all watch out for each other. It's a good Neighbourhood Watch system where people respond immediately if there is a problem. The community leaders also organise regular community meetings so that the public can voice their concerns and things get done and not just talked about. There are also regular clean-ups and Prospect/Red Bay have an annual BBQ near Christmas. A new large park located between Victory Avenue and Prospect Drive is in the works with a running track, a basketball court and lots of shade trees but due to the Covid-19 lockdown it might now be delayed a bit. The land has been cleared but we are still looking for community involvement from people who would like to donate money towards shade trees. If you would like to be put on the Prospect Red Bay Community WhatsApp group please email: PRBC345@gmail.com and you will be asked to prove you live in the district before you can join. If you would like to join the Patrick's Island WhatsApp group please email the Patrick's Island home owners association on patricksislandhoa@gmail.com. Again you will be asked to prove that you live in the community before they will add you.
There is lots going on in the various neighbourhoods: we have two government primary schools - Red Bay Primary School which follows a mix of the British and the Cayman Islands National Curriculum, and Prospect Primary School which follows the International Baccalaureate system. They both take children from ages 4 to 11. Also in the Red Bay/Prospect area are three private preschools including First Baptist Christian School WEE Care, the Achievement Centre which is on Shamrock Road just next to Red Bay Primary School, and Montessori by the Sea which takes children from the age of 21 months to 12 years. There is a private primary school, First Baptist Christian School, which takes children from the age of 5 to 12 years, and there is one private school, Hope Academy, which is located in Grand Harbour Shops and takes children from 5 to 18. There is also a grocery store called Hurley's Marketplace in the Grand Harbour Shopping Centre along with a pharmacy called Healthcare Pharmacy, community recycling bins, two banks (Scotiabank and Royal Bank of Canada), the Department of Vehicle and Drivers Licensing, the Cayman Islands Sailing Club, and the King’s Sports Centre which houses Powerhouse Gym. There is also a corner store called McRuss on the corner of Shamrock Road and Marina Drive. You can get all your basics in there.
In regards to housing, there are lots of options. Areas to look out for include Red Bay Estates (Bimini Drive (the left hand side of which is on the canal), Selkirk Drive and Abbey Way plus the roads off them), Admirals Landing which is all inland and has a wonderful community feel, plus there is a new a new canal front development behind it called The Channels, Prospect Park which is also all inland and has a good mix of houses, duplexes and apartments and includes the following roads: Victory Avenue, Prospect Drive, Marina Drive, Mahogany Way, Mangrove Avenue, Logwood Way as well as numerous roads off and between these roads. There is also Bonnie View Estates and Omega Bay Estates which are next door to each other and are mostly on the canal. There are a few oceanfront areas in Patrick's Island (Phase 1) and Old Prospect Point Road where longtime Cayman residents have built larger homes with lovely landscaping. Patrick’s Island (Phase 3 and 4) also has lots of canal front homes and there is still land for sale. In the middle of Windswept Drive between Patrick's Island phases 3 and 4 there is a path into the dyke roads. Many people love to exercise, run and walk their dogs here and twitchers love to bird watch down there. It is a mixture of inland lake walks and mangrove and if you go far enough you can get to the North Sound. Its quiet, peaceful and almost completely in the shade if you go before 8.30am and after 3.30pm. Another very popular area is Grand Harbour, which is located immediately behind the Hurley’s Shopping centre and it consists mainly of canal front homes. The South side of it, called South Reach, is a gated community and almost completely built out. The other side of the canal has The Isles and The Estates and it has been very active area in terms of new home construction.
There is a new mixed office park/residential apartment area being built called Harbour Walk which, when built, will consist of residential, office and retail space right next to Grand Harbour. It is scheduled for completion in 2021 but that may be delayed due to all construction stopping during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The commute to town (outside of rush hour) from this area is
relatively quick (10 minutes), but traffic gets badly backed up during
rush hour and the main problem area seems to be the Chrissie Tomlinson roundabout and the Red Bay Primary School roundabout where numerous big roads funnel into each other. However, the Government are working hard on fixing the problem and have been widening the roads adding a second and in some cases a third lane. If you live at Grand Harbour you have missed most of the bottleneck which is one of the reasons why land and houses are more expensive in this area than the rest of Prospect and Red Bay.
