The time just stopped or maybe we just stopped caring about the time. For four days Christopher and I did not realize that Grand Cayman is one hour behind New York. One day when we noticed that his watch was an hour ahead we simply dismissed it--the watch must have broken! This place is so beautiful and full of crystal clear green and blue water. The people are the biggest asset of this island. Never in my travels have I met more friendly or generous people.
Upon entering the Grand Cayman we had to go through the usual immigration and custom routine. The Immigration officer was young and looked like he knew how to have fun. I couldn’t let this opportunity go by as I wanted to know what the locals do on the island. He told me about a place called Mango Tree. After dropping our bags at the hotel we headed directly to Mango Tree. There must have been about 200 people outside the restaurant and only about 4 people inside it. We soon learned most local believe that the island is too beautiful to eat a meal inside so they just create their own space outside. We had the best jerk chicken and pork (ever) at this place for only $10.
Since this is a local spot, taxis are not easy to find in this area and we did not have a number for a cab. As we were exiting we spotted a woman and asked her about cabs. She informed us that cabs do not usually come this way and that she did not have a cell phone to call one. She was very sorry. We said alright and started to walk away only to be called right back by her. She ran into a friend who had a cell phone and had called a cab for us. While we waited for the cab we stuck up a conversation with the chef of Mango Tree. We talked to him for about 30 minutes while we waited for the cab (that never arrived.) The chef invited us to jump into his car and offered to take us back to our hotel.
The next day I woke up at 7:30 am and headed to the beach where I stayed for the next 12 hours. I had a blast. I never like to sit around and do nothing. It must have been a sign of my exhaustion as all I wanted to do was to alternate between going snorkeling and sitting in my beach chair reading my book.
When I looked into the mirror that evening I didn’t recognize myself as I was about 10 shades darker. I knew that I was forgetting something – the sunscreen. The pain was now settling in from my sunburn and Christopher (who looked like a lobster) ran down to the store to pick up some cooling gel and sunscreen. Once we applied the cooling gel we were good to go to our first seaside dinner at Casanova Restaurant.
I knew that the next day we would have to limit our sun exposure. This was a perfect excuse to go to Hell and explore the rest of the island. Hell is a place on Grand Cayman Island that is known for its black pointed rocks. We rented a car and on Sunday morning headed to Hell. We explored the place and send post cards to our friends from Hell.
The next stop was Rum Point. We weren’t sure what exactly it was but we wanted to go all around the island and Rum Point was at the very end. Rum Point had phenomenal snorkeling. Every color of fish is there, we even spotted a sting ray and her pup. Words could not describe this experience. Rum Point is located in a remote spot and caters to a local crowd. It is also a place filled with yachts and beautiful people so Christopher and I blended in great. We watched the sunset from Rum Point that evening before we headed to Over the Edge Restaurant our next seaside dining experience. There we tried another local specialty, Conch Fritters.
Since we still had the rental car Christopher got the idea that we should go watch the sunrise. With map in hand we determined that we would need to go to the other side of the island to watch the sun rise. We were not familiar with the other side of the island and the roads were not well marked. We ended up at the landfill. It didn’t matter as we had a wonderful time watching the sunrise right there.
On our last full day in Cayman we had booked an excursion to Sand Bar (which is filled with sting rays) and the reefs for snorkeling. The hour ride on the catamaran was fantastic. The color of the Caribbean sea is rich with clear hues of green and blue, giving you visibility for about 100 feet in the water. Later that evening Christopher took me for a delicious meal at the The Wharf, giving us one more opportunity to eat seaside under the stars.
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Sounds like a very fun filled couple of days - I would expect nothing less from the 2 of you. And the pictures are great. No sunscreen?!?! I love the part about watching the sun rise from the landfill...one of those travel moments that are great because they aren't planned to a tee.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting my blog, I'm glad you gave me the address to yours so I can follow you too. Still waiting on a diagnosis huh? Ugh how draining. They know it's a sarcoma though? Fill me in sometime if you would like. Looks like you had a great time, and that's awesome. Nothing like some sun and sand to make your body feel better right?!
ReplyDelete<3 Lindsay
Girl, Grand Cayman looks good on you! I cracked up about the landfill :)
ReplyDeleteThe landfill was very comincal...one of those moments you can never anticipate.
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