Grand Cayman

When we pull into the bay at Grand Cayman, we have to assemble in the auditorium so we can be ‘herded’ down to the shuttle boats to deliver us to shore. When our tour time is called, we make our way down to the boats – they carry up to 200 people. We get ashore and then have to wait for the tour operator to arrive to get us board the bus. Wait, wait and lets wait some more seems to be the trend of cruising but we’re still having fun. When you are cruis’in, people watching could be ruled an Olympic sport!

We’re finally on our way out to the turtle farm. The ride was more pleasant than back at Montego Bay, the surroundings were cleaner, properties better groomed and the homes and hotels look more inviting. I wonder, is this what Jamaica would have looked like if Britain still had control of the local government? We arrive at the turtle farm in short order and wander around the small lake and tanks where the turtles are kept. If you follow the link, you can learn much more than I can tell you here. It was and interesting little tour at our leisure. After we viewed the various turtle tanks that housed the different ages, we came upon the turtle petting tanks – now this is taking Barb outside her box. After we sanitized out hands, we move up to the tank edge to gently gather one of the small critters into our hands. After this, we again washed our hands and entered the grill area to try a turtle burger for lunch. Unfortunately, they were out of turtle meat but did have a conch burger on their menu – why not, it’s not as if…. Anyway, it was quite tasty but wow, the bill was over the top so we’re really glad we were a little conservative and split the burger. There was other wildlife there – we saw a couple of iguanas as we were walking back to the gift centre and exit.

After a short wander through the gift shop, we loaded back on the bus and we went to Hell! This very small village was built around some lava rock formations. The post office and shops all sell merchandize ‘from Hell’! Kinda neat and everyone goes here to send post cards ‘from Hell’.

Soon, we were on our next tour, the glass bottomed boat. The narrow turning steps took us down below deck to an area that was lined with bench seats across the deck, from front to back. It kinda reminded me of the slave boats that have been depicted in movies where slaves all sit together with their hands on the oars. The bottom of the boat was not glass but there was windows all under the water line so customers could view the coral and fish on the bottom of the bay. As we sailed around the bay, they put a diver into the water – with some feed – and he was totally covered with fish. Can you see the diver in our picture? We’re back ashore and loaded into the bus again and off to the rum cake shop – hummm.

We did have a chance while waiting for the boat shuttle, to take in a few of the sights on the town of Grand Cayman.

 

 

 

 

Our tours were short and we were back on board in time to play bean bag toss. Then time to gather in the lobby for our 5 o’clock beverage before we go to dinner. Our evening after dinner was consumed with comedy, karaoke and more comedy. After our midnight pizza and ice cream, a tour around the upper deck, we turned in for the night.

 

 

 

Hope all is well out there where you are….