The exchange rate is terrible but even then Diver's Supply was high
@diversteve, I must apologize profusely for my pedantry (especially as you've posted so much great info on SB about Cayman), but as a part-time Cayman resident (and retired economist, who apparently has way too much time on his hands) I feel compelled to defend my beloved Cayman Islands from the often-posted misconception that things here are expensive because of the exchange rate (the same excuse my wife keeps making
). Things in Cayman (and for that matter, anywhere in the world) cost what they do because of the local cost of living, not because of the exchange rate. The exchange rate is merely the rate at which you could substitute one currency for the other, so as to pay
exactly the same amount for something in either currency. The exchange rate in Cayman is fixed at US$1.00 = CI 0.80 (or CI 1.00 = US$1.25). If you bought, say, a beer here you could pay either US$5.00 or CI 4.00 – but you are not paying more because of the exchange rate. You are, in fact, paying
exactly the same amount because of the exchange rate.
Now, the reason a beer cost $US10.00 (or CI 8.00) here instead of US$5.00 is because the cost of living is high here, not because of the exchange rate. So, when you buy dive equipment here, you are paying more than in the US because the cost to have those items shipped here, plus import duty, plus the general cost of running a business (labor, rent, energy, etc.) is very high here (but well worth it, I may add
)
Now, an exchange rate is only “good” or “bad” when it fluctuates based on the relative strengths of two currencies. So, if you “bought”, say, euros at one rate and the rate changed such that the value of the euro went down, the new rate would be “bad” – but only relative to the rate at which you originally bought the euros. Given that the rate between US and Cayman currencies is fixed, the rate is never bad or good – it just is what it is. It could have been set at 1 to 1 (which would have made life a lot easier here for US visitors) but nothing would have changed in terms of how much things actually cost.
Again, I apologize for this silliness, but I will sleep better tonight having defended the honor of the Cayman currency. Or maybe it's just the beer....
And now back to our regularly scheduled program….