Grand Cayman Island

A quick swim in the morning and then brunch at the hotel's Catalina restaurant proceeded our outing for the day.  We had booked a 3 hour tour with Captain Marvin's.  They picked us up from the hotel, we registered at their office, and then headed over to the harbor, where about 20 of us cruised out for the afternoon, and stopped in a shallow-ish (9ft deep) part of the harbor.  We then had 40 minutes to swim around and enjoy the coral and see the fish and the occasional sting ray.  I couldn't get comfortable breathing and was out of the water pretty quickly.  A, on the other had, who had never snorkeled before, was a pro.  She barely come up for breath and had to be dragged last back on the boat.  From there we went over to a sand bar known as Sting Ray City.  It's an area where sting rays have been coming for years, as fisherman used the shallow water to dispose of fish waste.  We got in the waist deep water, and were allowed to hold a sting ray that the guide caught for us.  Way out of my comfort zone, but amazed that I had the opportunity to do this.  Something I will remember for ever.  Onwards to the north-east point in the harbor, where, once anchored, we were able to sit in the water and hold starfish.  A half hour ride back to the dock, as A & I relived the experience of today, as the sun headed towards twilight.  Once we were back at the hotel, a quick change saw us walk up towards the Kimpton, and have dinner at Coccolobo.  Tacos right beside the ocean, in this unwalled restaurant was the perfect ending to our quick trip away.

The Snorkeler, Cayman Islands

Me & a Stingray, Cayman Islands

A & I, Stingray Bay, Cayman Islands

We got up early the next morning to get just a couple of more hours by the Caribbean Sea.  But mid day came and we were packed into a taxi back to the airport.  We gave ourselves a bunch of time, not knowing what customs and immigration would be like, but we were through so quick we were able to get on an earlier flight.  Making sure we were back in plenty of time to pick up the boys from their DC trip.

Cayman Islands!  I hope we'll be back.

Grand Cayman Island

The other great part of this trip is that it coincided with my birthday (a 2nd in the Caribbean for me). We spent day 2 on Seven Mile Beach after a morning walk at said beach. Lunch was sushi and cocktails bought to us at our lounge chairs, because it was too much effort to go the 50 feet to the restaurant and order there. A had dinner booked tonight at Aqua at Camana Bay. A quick cab ride and we were seated by the water and enjoyed a magnificent seafood meal. Our Italian waitress told us how easily it was to get a visa for the island, as the population can not keep up with the hospitality demand. We met people from England, Ireland, Kashmir and the Philippines as well. I wish I knew about that 25 years ago when we were travelling.

Seven Mile Beach, Cayman Islands

Grand Cayman Island

When the opportunity arose that the boys were headed for DC with their school trip, A & I booked a few days in the Cayman Islands, so that we could have our first vacation alone since the boys were born. We dropped them at school at around 6.30am, and were boarding our flight before 9am. We had been tossing up between Montreal (we'd been last summer, but wanted to see how amazing it might be in the winter) and Grand Cayman (to sit on the beach). Grand Cayman came out the winner, and I'm so glad.

We landed, went through customs, got a cab, pre-checked in to the beautiful Hotel Indigo, and were on the beach eating lunch before 1pm. While eating lunch, our room became ready, so we went up and unpacked, then headed back to the beach club to claim a spot by the ocean under a couple of umbrellas. Eventually we headed back to the room and then up to the hotel's 10th floor, to Pom-Pom, where we had a great dinner looking over the beach as the sunset.

View from our Hotel Indigo room