So Friday, we were in Grand Cayman. We hadn't booked an excursion yet, so we weren't pressed for time. And that was a VERY good thing because we had to tender again. This time, however, it took MUCH longer! We arrived in Grand Cayman around 10am ship time, so by then most people were up and ready to get going. We got ready and went down to the Amber Palace to get our number and wait just after 10. We were in group number 8 this time, but waited longer for the boats. By the time we were leaving we saw some people walking around with the numbers 25, 26 and 27 on!
We we arrived on the island, we walked around looking for excursions. We found one that was pretty cheap, took us on a tour of the island, and left in about 30 minutes. It was perfect. We went to the dolphin show, where we could have paid a lot to swim with the dolphins. Next we went to the Rum Cake shop. I guess the Cayman's are famous for their rum cake. We didn't have any, mostly cause it was CRAZY busy. We decided to have some empanadas instead. If you don't know what those are, they are a cornmeal breading wrapped around a meat. I had chicken; Greg had beef. They were yummy...
Then we headed out to Hell. Yep. Hell, Grand Cayman. Complete with a Post Office (you know, so you can send people letters from Hell.) Before arriving I thought it was just named that for fun. Nope. Turns out there is a field of jagged, gray rocks, that when it was discovered reminded the people of what Hell must be like. Hot and humid with jagged rocks...sounds about right.
Finally we stopped at the Seven Mile Beach. The beaches on Grand Cayman are all public, so it was crowded. The driver of our tour gave us the option to stay and then he'd come get us in a couple of hours, so we took it. He did fail to mention though, that it would cost us $5 a person to do that...
The beach was gorgeous. We found a place to put our stuff, and Greg rented me a floating lounge chair thingy, and him a snorkel mask from a merchant on the beach. I loved just laying in the ocean, watching people and enjoying the gorgeous view of the ocean. Greg did a little snorkeling. Then we laid on the beach to dry. We were just getting dressed to check out some shops when our bus pulled up, 30 minutes early. So we headed back to the pier to do our souvenir shopping. I think if we would have known about the extra charge, we would have just stayed at the beach a while longer and taken a cab back. It cost us about the same.
On our tour, I noticed that Grand Cayman was definitely the most American-ized of all the places we went. There were tons of fast food restaurants, and other shops that looked more American. Also, they drive on the wrong side of the road there. (Greg laughed when I pointed this out. "The WRONG side? It's just the left side." But my friend Tennille pointed out that they are both the opposites of the right side, so ha!) Also, I didn't know that they are still run by the British. Our tour guide even drove us past the hotel where the Queen of England stayed when she came to visit many years ago.
Well, here's the pictures:
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| This is at the dolphin place. You can see the people who got to "swim" with the dolphins. |
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| Isn't it gorgeous? |
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| Hell's Post Office. |
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| A close up of the field of jagged rocks. |
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| We thought the sign was funny! |
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| Me, lounging in the water off Seven Mile Beach. |
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| There were lots of people there compared to the other beaches we went to. There were places all along the beach to rent things like the blow up toys you can see. |
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| The Caymans are also famous for their history with pirates, along with the rum cake and banking. |
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