Originally Posted by gozetta

August and September is off-season for all islands in the Caribbean. This means that ALL of the good restaurants are on hiatus or they are in the middle of remodeling during Aug/Sep. The bar/night club at the Westin SXM closes, the best chefs go back to the states/homelands, and some of the nicer places in St. Jean on the French side of SXM also close. And, most ALL of my favorites on Cayman are also shuttered until the October 1. Just avoid Aug/Sep if you can unless you're looking for the quiet, laid-back time of the year.

Also, most shopping centers are on restricted hours, if open at all. Even when sailing the Windward Islands, all we heard about was the great pizza place on an island called Carriacou. It was early October but still closed for the season--GRRR. We ended up finding a house that doubled as a restaurant in high season, knocked on the door and convinced the owner to cook us up something anyway. Dark pulled chicken and bull-foot soup turned out to be a highlight meal for that vacation!

By the way, the single MOST PROBABLE place on earth to sustain a hurricane according to NOAA is Grand Cayman Island. Doesn't stop me though!