Cayman Islands

Today was another first for us.  We spent the day in Grand Cayman, which is part of the British West Indies.  Like our earlier stops, this country was also breathtakingly beautiful, but in almost every other way, it was very different from Jamaica.  For one, the island is almost perfectly flat...no hills at all.  This hasn't helped them during hurricane season.  Jamaica's hilly terrain helps protect it from the worst of the damage, but the Cayman Islands have sustained several direct hits over the years.  But the country is fairly wealthy, so they just keep rebuilding everything.  Our tour guide today told us that their top two industries are tourism and banking.  They have over 200 banks in the country, but only six are public banks.  He said they call the rest 'washing machine' banks....think about it.  We laughed.

The island was full of resorts and spectacular homes.  I felt like I was in an episode of 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'.  Everything was so beautiful, and so out of my league.

Traffic was heavy and the cars seemed oblivious to this.  They just plow ahead and you'd better get out of the way. And since they are a British territory, they drive on the wrong side of the road.  I found myself holding my breath the first time we went through a traffic circle backwards.  They don't have 'Yield' signs. Their signs say 'Give Way'.  To me, that sounds more like a vague suggestion than an actual traffic sign.

We went on an boating excursion that was a two-part trip.  Our first stop was out on a sand bar, in an area the locals call Stingray City.  We were a few miles from shore, but the water was so shallow, it was only chest-deep.  There are stingrays everywhere here.  And they are huge!  Everyone in our group had our pictures taken up close with a stingray (by a photographer employed by the boating company), then we were given pieces of calamari to feed to the rays.  Some of the largest females weigh well over 100 pounds.  When one of those decides you have calamari and they want it, they can knock you over.  Bill had gotten back in our boat and was taking pictures of me, attempting to feed the stingrays.  Watching me get shoved around by overly excited stingrays was apparently quite comical to him.

Our second stop was snorkeling in a coral reef.  This was not my first experience snorkeling, but I think it was the best trip I've had.  We saw so many different types of fish!  Some of them were so brightly colored!  Our boat crew was attracting even more fish to our area by throwing calamari in the water.  Somehow, they managed to smack me in the head with a piece.  I had no idea snorkeling was a contact sport.

We were so pleased with our photos that we wound up buying them.  I have them on a CD, and I'll put some of the pictures on this post once I get home.

We've decided that we enjoyed Grand Cayman MUCH more than Jamaica and Cozumel, and a little more than San Juan.  Saint Thomas is still our favorite port of call.  I think we'll be returning to the Eastern Caribbean on our next cruise.