Ahhhh... Grand Cayman!

Everything is set for my January cruise except that the wine package has not been purchased yet.  I think that will be done today though.  Then it is just a waiting game.  This is when the waiting gets tough.  When there is nothing left to do but think about how wonderful it will be the time really starts to drag.

Last night I dreamed that we had boarded the ship and gone to our cabin.  Our luggage had already been delivered to the cabin, so my travel buddy, Jenny unpacked and put all of her things away and slid her suitcase under her bed.  Then she left the room and I began to unpack and opened the closet door to discover that previous guests had left clothes, shoes and evening bags in the closet and there was no room for me to unpack.  But instead of calling the cabin steward to have it all removed, I started going through  and trying it all on looking for shoes that matched.  The worst part was that none of the shoes had their mates.  Just a single shoe from each pair was left behind except one cheap looking pair of size 9 shoes.  In the dream, I actually tried them on my size 6 feet just to be sure they wouldn't fit.

I'm not sure what all of this means except that the next 53 days will be VERY long.  When anticipating a vacation, I become consumed by it.  I can't help it.  I now have 53 days ahead of me in which I can spend each waking moment trying to decide how to spend my time in Grand Cayman.  You see, Jenny and I booked excursions for each stop except Grand Cayman.  We did this for several reasons but the outcome is that I now get to research and plan a full day in Grand Cayman.  I have been there a number of times.  On all but one visit there, I had excursions booked prior to leaving the ship.  The one time I was there with no excursion planned, I was traveling alone and had decided it was the place I would just wing it.  I am so glad that I did.  I enjoyed a wonderful lunch on a balcony overlooking the tender boat drop off.  The pictures below were taken from my table at lunch.

Okay, granted, the cranes do nothing for the view.  But this photo was taken 6 years ago, so they have probably been moved since.  Following lunch, I shopped.  I'll just tell you that lunch was the least expensive hour of the entire day.  I bought everything from rum to pendants and earrings.  Yes, you read that correctly, pendants... plural.  You see, I made the mistake of going to the shopping lecture during the day at sea before arriving in Grand Cayman in which the shopping guide talked about black coral which is only found in a limited number of places with the Cayman Islands being one of them.  She also talked about the shops where you could buy coin pendants.  Jewelry shopping is never a good idea if you don't have someone with you to talk you out of your purchases.  The coin that I purchased was minted in the 1400's in Genoa, Italy which is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus.  I got a certificate of authenticity for it.  And yes, I drank the kool-aid.

I like Grand Cayman because it is one of those Caribbean islands where they drive on the wrong side of the road and English is the first language of the citizens.  It is also very pretty and there are a lot of neat things to do there.  On previous visits to Grand Cayman, I have gone to Hell, visited the Turtle Farm and been out to Sting Ray City.

 Hell is pictured to the left.  It is a small town outside of Georgetown that has a post office and a store and behind the post office and store, you see the rock formation in the photo.  The tour operator told us that they are not sure how the rock formation came to exist but the belief is that it was an old reef that came to be above water due to an earthquake or some other natural occurrence.  Whatever the case, it is a bed of grayish colored rock that you cannot touch.  You walk on a boardwalk above it and take your pictures.  The attraction is apparently in buying a post card and mailing it from the post office so that it is post marked from Hell.  I mailed one to myself.  Oh, the town was named Hell because when it was discovered by some Brit, he called it that because the rock is very jagged and cuts you if you touch it and he thought that this must be what Hell was like.

The Turtle Farm is one of my favorite things in Grand Cayman.  The photo to the right is my mom holding a yearling at the Turtle Farm.  They let you do that.  From what I understand, now you are also able to swim with the turtles in one of the tanks.  When we were there, this was not an option.  Some of the turtles are enormous.  I'm not sure why I like turtles so much, but I do and so I think this is a very cool place.  They also have iguanas and parrots at the turtle farm in case you want to see them up close.  Or you can walk through the tourist market in Georgetown and see parrots and iguanas at random stalls.

Sting Ray City is a really interesting experience.  When you read about the trips out there, it is described as "swimming with" or "snorkeling with" sting rays.  In my experience, the water at the sand bar is so shallow and there are so many people there that it is really more of a case of standing and wading in the water with sting rays.  Take a look at the picture below taken from our boat and you will see what I mean.

Sting Ray City is far enough from Grand Cayman that you can barely see land once you get out there.  Yet you are on a sand bar so the water is only about hip deep.  There are generally dozens of boats there which each brought dozens of people.  The sting rays come to the sound of the boats arriving because they know they will get fresh squid when a new boat arrives.  The rays do have barbs and they can sting, so you have top be careful to shuffle your feet through the sand rather than picking them up and stepping down.  Some of the ones we saw had a wingspan of 4 feet.  The one in the photo below was probably about 3 feet across.

There is also a rum cake factory you can visit in Grand Cayman and of course, the beaches are terrific.  Seven Mile Beach is one of the most popular beaches in the Caribbean.  I am not sure what we will do on this visit.  We have talked about renting a car and going to Rum Point Beach and maybe visiting the Turtle Farm too.  Jenny has never been there.  So it should be a lot of fun.  I'll let you know what we decide to do.

Oh!  I'll leave you with one more photo today.  This is the view as you come into Georgetown on your ships tender.  I love this view.  The building in the background with the sign that says Landmark is where I had lunch that day I was there alone.  I sat on the left corner of the second floor balcony.  I wish I was there right now.  Have a good day!