Grand Cayman Adventure: Day 7.

Today is our final full day of vacation…tear.  It went by so fast and it was so so fun to be here adventuring with Mike!  I think that we were good travel partners, and we got to do a little bit of everything, and ate lots of yummy food! That’s what life is all about, am I right?!

It was pretty cloudy and hot today, so it was great that we had planned to go to breakfast and then to the turtle farm.  Lauren’s was our restaurant of choice and it did not disappoint.  Mike had a breakfast burrito and I had a crepe filled with fresh blueberries, strawberries and pastry creme.  I had been craving a sweet breakfast so this was right up my alley.  Next stop was the much-anticipate turtle farm.  Mike and I opted not to swim with the turtles since we had swam with stingrays and gone snorkeling other times.  The turtles were HUGE.  And gorgeous, and very social creatures.  

^^ The turtles were HUGE!  I have no idea how much they weigh but they were much bigger than I expected them to be.

^^ This turtle looked that he/she was trying to walk up the stairs.   

^^ A turtle collision.  Lots of bumping into each other.

^^ This guy was very social--he let me get a close up of his face! 

They are housed in huge outdoor tanks, and they swam into, over, under and next to each other.  Then we headed over to smaller tanks where they house smaller but still big turtles.  My very favorite part came next…the baby turtles!  I’m pretty sure I skipped over to the tank like a little girl.  They were seriously adorable.  And we got to pick them up right out of the tanks and hold them.  Yes, you heard right…we got to HOLD THEM!  I about died.  We washed our hands with sanitizer and then reached right and picked one up.  They are quick swimmers, so it was easier said than done.  The way you hold a turtle is with two hands around the shell, kind of like you hold a baby under the armpits.  If you rubbed under their chins they calmed down and stopped struggling to get back into the water.  They were darling.  

^^ Mike using his animal magic to calm down one of the baby turtles!  I really did hold them too, but Mike has those photos on his camera.  The babies were super adorable, but did not like being held...unless Mike was rubbing them under their chins.  Animal whisperer ;)

^^ A close up of the baby's face.

We headed inside and learned a little about female turtles laying eggs, and we got to see a super teeny tiny turtle that was not more than a week old.  One other fun tidbit that we read about was that turtles need only 1-3 seconds to breathe above the water and then they can stay under water for 4-5 minutes.  Fascinating. 

^^ See the tiny turtle in the corner of the container?  It's less than a week old and smaller than my hand.  Adorable! 

^^ A few zoomed-in shots of the newborn turtle!

We then stopped at Cemetery Beach and saw some beautiful light aqua water, and took a few photos.  Apparently the beach was not well-known until recently, and since there were no cruises in, it was nice and quiet today.

^^ Cemetery Beach.  Such pretty water, even though it was choppy! 

After a quick pitstop at Hell (yes, it’s really called that, and yes, it’s a complete tourist trap), we headed to Camana Bay to check out the shopping.  Camana Bay is a huge, gorgeous, upscale shopping/office plaza that is really aesthetically pleasing.  There are a bunch of restaurants and shops that overlook the water.  There were Adirondack rocking chairs in a really pretty light blue color.  It was so peaceful to sit there and chat for a while.  We popped into a few stores and then  headed back to our hotel.  Since we have a lot of random food to eat tonight, we are cooking and relaxing in front of the TV.  It rained all afternoon, so unfortunately it wasn’t really conducive to sitting outside and reading which it what I would have liked to do instead.  

^^ The view from the observation deck at Camana Bay.  It was about 4 stories up and the walls were mosaic!  The view from here was awesome, and check out the colorful shutters on the windows! 

All in all, our vacation that we looked forward to for months was incredible!  It was wonderful to decompress, get away from work and stressors and hang out with my boy.  I cannot wait to start planning our next vacation!  Until next time, Grand Cayman.  Thanks for showing us a great time, chockfull of memories.

^^ On our way back to the U.S.!  Our trip was amazing.

Grand Cayman Adventure: Day 6.

Both of our skin was slightly sore from lots of sun so we spent the day on the beach in the shade of palm trees reading.  Reading on the beach was what I was really looking forward to about this vacation, so I’m so happy that we’ve been able to get a lot of that in this week.  It doesn’t get much better than that, if you ask me!

We kept it low key and had leftovers for lunch and watched some TV to prepare for our adventure of the day.  Around 4:30 we headed up to Rum Point for some dinner at Kaibo before heading out on a nighttime bioluminescence kayak tour!  Kaibo is a casual beach bar/restaurant that is right on that water.  The drive down the to the restaurant was dotted with lovely homes which were fun to look at and drool over.  The upper level of Kaibo is a more formal restaurant but it is not open during the “off-season”, but I imagine that Kaibo is usually hoppin’ during the summer months when the cruises dock.  I enjoyed a shrimp caesar wrap with a side salad (lots of lettuce!) and Mike had a huge burger with great fries.  There was a group of jetskiiers who had been at the bar drinking, and they got on the skis and one couple promptly fell off the ski.  It was hilarious to watch.  We had lots and lots of time to burn before the kayak tour, so we headed to Rum Point and assumed that some of the shops would be open, but alas, they were not, so we took some pretty sunset photos on the pier and then took a short drive and sat in the car and chatted.  These sunset photos really don’t do it justice.  It was gorgeous!

^^ A view of Kaibo from the front.  The water is to my right.

^^ A couple of shameless selfies on the dock at Rum Point while killing some time before our kayak tour.

^^ The sun was setting while we were on the dock at Rum Point.  It was exquisite, and breathtaking and a thousand other things, too.  I loved watching the sunset, but boy, did it set fast and got super dark!

Finally it was kayak time!  We had a quick orientation about safety and then we got into our two-seater kayak.  Each kayak had a red light on the back, and the guide had a seining green light for us to follow.  Mike and I were very efficient kayakers, and were flying past the other people in the group.  It took about 15 minutes for us to get to Bio Bay, where the bioluminescence organisms live.  We were instructed to develop our night vision by not looking at bright lights for a few minutes before getting into the kayaks so that we would be able to better see and enjoy the organisms.  We were not allowed to take photos during the tour, but trust me when I say that it was like watching the water sparkle.  It was possible to see the organisms “sparkle” in the water when you put your hand in the water.  It appeared like there were bubble in the water, but they were really the bioluminescence moving around.  We “played the piano” and made our hands into fists and then opened them quickly.  It was a really cool experience, and it was also lightening off in the distance so that made it feel even more adventurous!  There was no thunder but I still felt like I was being rebellious.  Mike and I were exhausted when we got home so we went right to sleep.  

Grand Cayman Adventure: Day 5.

Rumor had it that the weather was supposed to be kind of yucky today—rainy, windy, not very conducive to beaching.  Good thing we had planned to take a submarine tour which is as close to scuba diving as I likely will ever get.  I was really excited!  Up to this point, Mike and I hadn’t had any dessert while on vacation, usually because we were so stuffed at the end of our meal.  So we planned to go out to breakfast to a place that got great reviews on TripAdvisor.  It is called “Bread and Chocolate” and it boasts a vegan menu.  I was really excited to give it a try…I love quirky, unique little restaurants.  We both decided to have the signature dish—french toast made with tahini (in place of the traditional eggs), fresh hazelnut and chocolate spread, bananas, strawberries and vanilla bean coconut milk ice cream to top it off.  It was perfectly delicious and decadent, and I did not want to ever finish eating it.  Major yum!  

 ^^ The signature French Toast.  Seriously incredible! 

^^ Mike was super excited about our breakfast date!

After we stuffed ourselves, we had a couple of hours to kill before our submarine tour, so we wandered down to the George Town and poked into a few shops.  Most of the shops were either very touristy and had all sorts of personalized magnets, t-shirts, and coffee mugs, or the stores were very high end and we would never have been able to afford anything in them, so we stuck to the tourist traps.  We also did some classic parking lot hopping as we discovered parking lots that were closer to our submarine launch location and were free—we ended up with a prime spot.  

The submarine tour was so cool!  I learned (or relearned some basic science I had first learned in elementary and middle school but somehow was more interested in at the ripe age of 25) so much from listening to the tour guide, and saw some pretty cool looking fish.  There was a black durgon fish that we saw that was really cool, along with a cool black and white striped fish, and tiny bright blue fish, too.  We passed a sunken submarine, a bronze mermaid statue and some really cool coral that looked like brains.  The tour was all too short, but I am so glad that we got to do it.  

^^ The submarine before we boarded.  We had to climb down a steep and narrow ladder to get into the vessel.

^^ This fish just happened to swim right by my porthole and lingered long enough for me to snap a photo. 

^^ A vessel that was intentionally sunk.  Reminded me of the beginning part of Titanic...

^^ An anchor.  I've never seen a dropped anchor before so I had to document.

We were both pretty tired from our morning wanders so we drove back to the hotel, had some leftover pizza for lunch and changed into our bathing suits for our daily dose of reading on the beach.  It was cloudy and grey, and very windy, but gosh, was it wonderful to sit on the beach, read my book (I read such a great beach read while on vacation—bliss!) and have a fun, fruity drink.  Eventually the clouds got really dark and it looked like we were in for some rain so we packed it up and headed inside.  We had a casual dinner and watched some TV, and headed to sleep early.  This vacation is just flying by too fast, which I think means we need to book another vacation for a few months from now ;).

Grand Cayman Adventure: Day 4.

Mike and I both woke up and our first thoughts were that today needed to be a day with little time spent in the sun.  We are both a little burnt, and man alive, I forgot how much the sun makes me tired and always hungry.  Our plans as of last night included going to the turtle farm and a few other things closer to George Town, about a 25 minute drive from our hotel in Bodden Town.  Instead we opted to take a drive toward the northern part of the island, and check out the blow holes.  The blow holes were really fun to watch and were mesmerizing! It was a very windy day and the waves were crashing, and when the water got to the blow holes it really shot up in the air.  We did not get very close to the holes, but from where we were standing we could feel mist when the water shot through the blow holes.  

VIDEO COMING SOON

^^Here's a short video of the blow holes, just ignore my voice narrating.  

From there, we drove around the island and got to pass so many gorgeous and gigantic homes on the water.  Mike pointed out that many of the homes are made of concrete so that they can withstand strong storms and hurricanes.  There were a surprising number of homes or plots of land for sale that we passed during our drive.  If someone offered to give me one, I’d happily accept.  

We stopped at Rum Point beach and walked out onto the pier to look at the views.  While we were out on the pier we noticed that a storm was brewing.  The clouds were pretty dark so we walked back toward the beach and decided to split a drink while the weather was okay.  Rum Point was much more touristy and catered to people who were coming to the beach for the day from cruise ships and other tours.  There were lots of chaise lounge chairs; brightly painted picnic tables; kayaks, paddleboards, jet skis and other things for renting; two separate restaurant/bars and a gift shop.  It wasn’t super crowded when we were there so it was actually a fun place to see, but I think that if it was really crowded I would be a little overwhelmed.  

^^ A few photos of Rum Point.  It was pretty cloudy but the water was still a pretty blue color.

^^ A kind woman offered to take some photos of us after she saw our failed attempt at a selfie.  It was bright out and in hindsight I probably should have worn my sunglasses, but the top one turned out okay :)

Earlier in the day, Mike and I decided to follow the suggestion of a woman who we had met on our first day in Grand Cayman, and were going to try Kurt’s Korner for lunch.  We found Kurt’s pretty easily and it was a cute little upscale shack that was painted bright teal and had accents of bright peach.  It was so cute!  The tables were pretty much the exact style tables I’d like for my home one day…even the stain color was perfect.  There were several specials of the day, and a full menu.  I had some really refreshing fresh-squeezed lemonade and a delicious fish wrap (a homemade wrap!) with lettuce, tomato, grilled onion and a squeeze of lime juice.  It was fantastic.  I was able to substitute their house salad for french fries.  The salad was also awesome and had a unique twist—lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumber, apple, pecans and a fruity dressing.  Mike had a spicy Brac burger—burger, American cheese, jerk hot sauce, lettuce, tomato, grilled onion.  He really enjoyed it.  The cool part about our lunch was that we got to experience a true Caribbean rain storm.  About 10 minutes after we arrived, the sky opened up and the rain came pouring down.  It was still really windy so the rain was blowing into the eating area and the waitress had to rush around closing the rain curtains.  The rain curtains were basically huge pieces of thick fabric. 

^^ Mike and the kitchen at Kurt's Korner.  The orange fabric is the rain curtains.  Such a cool place to eat lunch and experience a true Caribbean rainstorm! 

^^ Obligatory food photo.  

VIDEO COMING SOON

^^ I'm going to try to upload a video of the super rainstorm that we experienced during lunch.

When we came back to the hotel from our adventures, we took a few minutes to to relax and then headed down to the beach to read and relax.  Even though it was windy, it was perfect weather for reading and napping on the beach.  Hearing the waves crash will never get old to me.  Mike and I each had a drink on the beach and then we noticed some storm clouds that were approaching.  It was cool to watch the storm approach and to see the rain falling in sheets from far out.  It started raining once we were in our room, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing and letting our bodies be out of the sun for a while.

^^See the sheets of rain in the middle of the photo?  So cool!

Grand Cayman Adventure: Day 3.

What a day!  We woke up pretty early because we had a reservation to go to Stingray City for the 10 a.m. tour.  We had a fairly easy time getting there and I even mastered the roundabouts and using my blinker!  Neither Mike nor I had even thought about there being rush hour traffic so it was good that we left a little bit early than we had planned to.  We arrived with plenty of time, checked in, and headed over to Eats Cafe to kill some time before the shuttle bus arrived.  

At 9:30 we boarded the shuttle with our snorkeling gear, towels, sunscreen and water in hand.  Then it was time to board the boat.  We opted to sit on the top deck so that we could take in the views and it was gorgeous!  The water was all sorts of teals, turquoises and blues, and there were lots of huge houses along the water that we had a fun time looking at while we rode past.  We met a couple from Georgia, and a woman from New Orleans who now lives in Holland.  After a 25 minute boat ride we arrived at the sandbar where the domesticated stingrays hang out.  I was a little nervous about getting in the water near animals who can sting you, but saw one of the tour leaders holding a stingray at complete ease, so I figured I’d be okay. 

^^ A photo in the van on the way to the boat.

^^ Waiting at the dock, and excited about swimming with stingrays!

^^ One of the few photos I have of both of us :( I wish we had someone follow us around so we could be in more pictures together (and with prettier backgrounds than this, hah!).  Turned out pretty well, I think.

^^ We passed some enormous houses on our way out to the sandbar.

^^ On the water on our trip to see the stingrays!  The water was so blue and clear.   

^^Anchoring at the sandbar.  Let's pretend my camera was not freaking out with the humidity and that the lens was fully open...   

As Mike commented to me later on, he had never seen the water on the sandbar so choppy.  It was hard to stand still because the waves pushed you in one direction and then another and then another.  We had been told to shuffle our feet instead of walking and stepping, but the choppiness made this harder to do.  The stingrays felt like wet mushrooms.  Kind of slimy, and relatively smooth.  The older stingrays had slightly more bumpy skin, and they really did swim against you and bump into you.  It definitely took me a few minutes to get used to that, and even still I was very aware of where the stingrays are.  An interesting fact that the tour guide shared is that the male stingrays are significantly smaller than the females.  The males only get to be about one foot long, whereas the females can get much larger—we saw females that were over three feet long.  Each person had the opportunity to hold a stingray, give it a kiss and get a back rub from the stingray.  It was way cool! 

Next we headed to the first of two snorkeling sites.  This one was well known for the coral, and was gorgeous! I had some slight trouble with my snorkel because every once in a while the snorkel wouldn’t let me get a breath in, which made me panic a little.  Good thing I’m a solid swimmer!  

The second dive spot was really amazing, and I was able to borrow Mike’s mask and snorkel since he wasn’t feeling great and decided to sit that one out.  Using his equipment, I was able to truly enjoy this stop, and saw many schools of fish and a huge (wild) stingray.  So amazing! 

Mike and I headed back to our hotel and had some much needed lunch and some snacks.  We went out to snorkel a little bit in front of our hotel, and then read on the beach for a while.  Tukka was our dinner restaurant of choice and it certainly did not disappoint!  The ambiance was very unique—there were two trees that were covered with flip flops and shoes.  I dug it.  From the front, the restaurant looked like a dive bar that might even be a little sketchy, but the deck was right on the water.  I can imagine that the views during sunrise, sunset or the daytime are incredible.  I had a wonderful pina colada, and Mike had a Corona.  We ordered some coconut shrimp with two different sauces—mango and chili.  Mike had two skewers packed with surf and turf—beef, chicken, lobster and shrimp—garlic mashed potatoes and green beens.  He ate every last piece…meaning that it was awesome.  I had guava salmon over pasta alfredo with peas.  It was delicious but incredibly filling so I came home with lots of leftovers—score!! 

Grand Cayman Adventure: Day 2.

Today, Mike and I decided that we’d spend the day at our hotel enjoying the amenities and relaxing.  Mike woke up pretty early and went outside to check out the weather.  A few minutes later he came back in an woke me up and told me to put on my sweatshirt and come outside.  It was very calm and quiet, except for the chickens (wild ones that roam the island—like squirrels do in the U.S).  There was just a sliver of a moon and lots of stars.  We were able to watch the sun rise even though it was cloudy, but the sky still was all sorts of colors.  

^^ The sunrise was gorgeous albeit a little cloudy.

^^ And one more of the sunrise.

We made a simple breakfast of hard boiled eggs, toast, peanut butter and bananas.  I was worried about getting burnt, so we sprayed lots of sunscreen on and put our bathing suits on and headed out to the pool/beach.  In the beginning we sat on the pool deck and read for a while.  There was no one else outside and we were happy about that fact until we realized that it was not even 8 a.m.!  I got too warm so I went into the pool.  The water felt like bath water, although perfectly refreshing.  

^^ A few photos of the view from the doors of our hotel.  These photos don't do the colors justice.  

^^ See the chairs on the right in the shade?  Mike and I sat in those chairs most of the time.  The shade was perfect and the breeze was incredible.  They are "our" chairs.  

^^ A panoramic photo of the hotel.

^^ Mike posing on the pool deck.  

The beach started calling my name so it was time to sit in the shade on bright blue Adirondack chairs under a palm tree!  I felt like I was sitting in a photo on a postcard.  I was wearing a giant floppy hat, sunglasses and a bathing suit, and was reading my book on the beach under a palm tree.  What could be better?  A pina colada.

^^ My morning view.  I didn't want to ever leave.

Our hotel has a bar that you can order drinks from and they deliver it to you on the beach, by the pool, wherever.  Mike got up to get something from the apartment, and ordered two pina coladas for us.  It was 9:30 in the morning but we were on vacation so I was happy to have a drink.  My long awaited and anticipated frozen pina colada on the beach.  It was a moment of bliss.

I took a short snooze on the beach which in my mind is synonymous with vacation.  The breeze was perfect and the air smelled like the beach, and I was able to fully relax.  Since our day had started so early, we were ready for lunch early.  We had planned to make something in our kitchen or have leftovers, but decided to go to The Grape Tree Cafe.  It is a teeny, tiny hut located right on the water, behind a gas station and is a 2 minute walk from our hotel.  The Cafe came recommended by the hotel, so we decided to give it a try.  The menu is small, four items.  I decided to try the roasted snapper that came with okra and plantains.  Mike got the fried snapper.  Both of our meals were whole fish—eyeballs included!  The fish was super flavorful and tender, and was as fresh as they come.  Mike noticed that fishermen kept delivering fish to the Cafe, so that was pretty cool.  

After lunch, we reapplied sunscreen, and headed back down to resume our chairs on the beach.  I dragged a chaise lounge down onto the beach and promptly fell asleep in the shade while listening to the waves splash and the breeze blow the trees.  It was much needed and so refreshing.  I woke up to Mike playing with a pretty big yellow crab, and it eventually burrowed into the sand.  A little while later we came up for some snacks, and to get out of the sun for a while.  We spent some time reading by the pool before taking a dip, and then read some more while we dried off and headed back to the apartment for showers and some leftover pizza.  

Let me tell you, a shower after being covered in several layers of sunscreen is so refreshing, and leftover pizza reheated in the oven tastes so great after spending the day in the sun and salt air.  Ahh, vacation life, I love you!  

Well, Mike is watching The Walking Dead on TV, and it’s almost over, so I’m signing off for the night.  Cannot wait to get into bed.  Tomorrow is Stingray City, snorkeling and replenishing our cheese and cracker stock.  We both live for snacks, let just say that we’ve polished off an entire block of cheese in less than one day.  Stay tuned for the stories of tomorrow’s adventures!

Grand Cayman Adventure: Day 1.

We arrived into the cutest little airport on Grand Cayman.  There was a small band playing music by the entrance from the tarmac to the airport.  To get off the plane, you had to walk down steps directly onto the tarmac…something I’ve only done a handful of times. 

We found my bag (the only one we had too check because I brought so much sunscreen, hah!) quickly, once we got through customs.  And then went through immigration.  It was hot and kind of humid outside, but that’s somehow okay if there are palm trees and coconuts everywhere.  We were a bit warm wearing jeans and sneakers, though.  

We hauled our very full luggage over to the car rental area and upon arrival found out that Mike was not able to be the driver of our car since he’s not 25 yet, and is not eligible for the insurance.  Darn.  That left me to be the driver.  Yikes.  Not only do they drive on the left side of the road here in Grand Cayman, but the driver sits on the right side of the car, which we learned when we walked out to our very European-looking car that had no butt.  Also, no power locks, power windows or a clock.in.the.car.  “Island time” in the truest sense of the phrase.  So after orienting myself, we were off.  Mike nicely and other times urgently reminded me that I had to stay to the LEFT about 47 times during our drive to the Turtle Nest Inn.  The things I found to be most challenging about driving are the roundabouts because you have drive clockwise, and using the blinkers because I kept hitting the windshield wipers instead.  Every time, I would get flustered and hope that other drivers knew what I was trying to do and then just put my blinker on all.the.time so that there was no mistaking my intent.  

Mike and I pulled into the lot of the Turtle Nest Inn and were not quite sure where we needed to go.  Turns out we were in the parking lot for the condos, located next door.  We lugged out luggage over to our hotel and were taken aback by the stunning view, lovely breeze, and welcoming pool that we found.  Marliene and Keisha greeted us at the desk, and were so very kind, welcoming and gave us the details for what we needed to know.  They offered to make us a reservation at a restaurant for dinner.  We chose The Lighthouse and they suggested sometime around sunset.  Perfect!  Our room wasn’t quite ready, but that was fine with us since we were there and on the beach.  They offered us complimentary wine on the porch (terrace?) while we waited for our room.  We accepted and changed into more island-appropriate clothing. We sat outside and enjoyed the incredible views and inhaled a pumpkin muffin that I had bought at the airport.  We enjoyed meeting the Caybob the cat, who came sauntering in with a gecko in his mouth.  The gecko promptly escaped and ran up a wall and Caybob stared at the gecko in disappointment.  

^^ The view from the porch while we enjoyed our drinks. 

We left our bags at the hotel and journeyed to Fosters, the local grocery store, for some provisions.  They had most things that we wanted but at much higher costs.  When we returned with our groceries, our room was all set.  It’s more of a small condo/apartment.  Cute little kitchen, bathroom, sitting area, bedroom and deck.  

We had enough time to sit on the beach for a bit before getting ready for dinner.  While we were on the beach we met a woman from Canada who came over after she got a whiff of the sunscreen that I sprayed and thought it smelled really good.  Thank you, generic Target sunscreen! We chatted with her for a while, and she was really nice.  

^^ A photo of the incredible view just outside our door.  Breathtaking.

It was time to get ready for dinner so we came back up for showers and to organize.  We headed down to The Lighthouse which was empty when we arrived, but it was so quiet and lovely to be sitting over the water on a pier hearing the waves crash and watching the colors in the sky become brilliant, and change while the sun set.  It was truly a perfect first evening on the island!  Mike and I opted for gourmet pizzas, and a garlic bread basket that had some of the best rosemary garlic focaccia bread I’ve ever sunk my teeth into.  I had a glass of pinot grigio and Mike had a beer.  Since we are staying at the Turtle Nest, we got 10% off our dinner and came home with lots of leftovers.  We came back to the hotel and pretty much crashed since we had been up early, travels, and gotten our bearings.