Day 8 Monday, February 24th: TRAVEL DAY & GC Facts

Our observations and facts learned about Grand Cayman:

• British protectorate known as part of the British West Indies
• They drive on the opposite side of the street of course
• The island is full of wild chickens - they even appear within establishments
• To cross the crosswalk you need to push a button first otherwise you are fair game to get run over
• No real industry except for tourism and being a tax free haven for companies
• No personal income tax or sales tax
• Government revenue from levy against imported goods - all goods here are imported and expensive!
• Plus, government revenue from work visas and banking industry
• Grand Cayman time is really really REALLY laid back--no one is in a hurry to do anything quickly here
• Reef encircles the island
• People are very friendly
• Exchange rate for Canadians and even Americans is brutal: 1 GC dollar = 1.20 USD
• Immigrants cannot give birth here
• If you marry a Grand Caymaian you cannot divorce during the first seven years otherwise you are gone
• Work visas are all only temporary for nine years
• If you buy property valued at greater than $500K then you obtain residency status
• New hospital run specializing in heart surgeries, hip and knee replacements with doctors mostly from India
• Traffic circles everywhere and with signs "Give Way" rather than "Yield"
• No homeless in Grand Cayman given everyone besides a native is working and for natives they provide a home and welfare monies
• Many cruise ships stop at Georgetown
• Rum cakes are delicious
• Jerk pork is super yummy
• The waters are crystal clear in the most vivid blue colours

For both of us this is our last morning in Grand Cayman. We head down to the lobby area to use our 30GC dollar coupon for breakfast. Randy orders a banana nutella flambé crepe and orange juice. Lana gets a chia seed pudding and a bacon quiche. We take it back to our room and eat on the balcony overlooking the ocean and pool/beach below. Another cruise ship anchored. Lana needs to do some real work before we leave for the airport and I want one last swim. It is sunny off and on and still some wind. I found a chair right on the water's edge. In fact the water laps up below my chaise lounge chair! 

Lana got a complimentary Champagne and we mixed the orange juice to create our own Mimosa for our last meal in Grand Cayman. We go out in style!  ha ha




                        The view from our balcony on the third floor.




                           Cruise ship not too far away!




                              The beach front at our Marriott hotel.



The water is much clearer today although still not as clear as the Westin beach. Mark and Ruth are staying here as well and on the same flight out of here. Lots of fish can be seen even without snorkel gear. Large schools of small silvery tuna all around me at various places. Ruth said there are about 30 varieties of reef fish. Watched a huge cruise ship come into the harbour. It got sunnier as the morning got later. I swam a couple of times and enjoyed every minute of it. We need to check out by 11:20 am so back to the room for a shower and pack the suitcase.


Taxi to the airport driven by Barrington. He is originally from Jamaica. Paid $25USD for a ten minute ride. Good gig being a taxi driver here! The Air Canada check-in was a shit show. Completely disorganized and no priority check-in line. Lana needs to find her boss Dan's laptop that he forgot at security yesterday. She has to get out of the security line and then go back to find his laptop. I wait at Gate 6 as that is where Lana will fly out to Charlotte, North Carolina. I eat the jerk pork from yesterday - yummy! I pay $2.50USD for a small bottle of water!


It has been a great trip to an island we will probably never visit again given how hard it is to visit from Vancouver. Plus, it is rather expensive. I see Lana off at her gate and then make my way to Gate #2 for the flight to Toronto. I connect in Toronto to a flight to Vancouver and thankfully both flights are on time. It is a long travel day, but worth it.

Day 7 Sunday, February 23rd: Moving day to the Marriott

Unlike the vast majority of SAP people we are not leaving today. Air Canada does not fly to Toronto on Sundays so we relocate to the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort at the southern end of Seven Mile Beach. The Westin had no rooms for tonight.

It is raining this morning and pretty windy as well. Off to the breakfast buffet and outside seating. I get my waffle much faster this time. For this morning it is mostly cloudy and windy. Lana has saved some chairs at the beach. After getting back to our room the sun comes and goes. At the beach earlier Lana runs into her bosses and they end up discussing some work things. She is off to a gig in South Carolina tomorrow rather than returning home with me.

Relaxing in bed in mid-morning and Lana watching a cooking show. Lana is depressed about going back to work tomorrow. Stayed in our room and re-packed our suitcases. We go to the pool side bar for lunch again. Unfortunately, Lana is system has been acting up so no appetite whatsoever. When checking out we find out we have about $50USD extra credits left which go towards Lana's spa treatment a few days ago.

We walked across the street to catch the public bus for a five minute ride to our new resort hotel. $5USD bus fare much cheaper than the damn taxis here. Our check-in is pretty smooth although their famous Sunday brunch is occurring and it is busy and very loud. We are in Room 344 with the room upgrade (Lana's status) and can overlook the ocean and the pool/beach below. We have a large, sunny room with a king-size bed and a bathtub for Lana. What the heck, the wifi/internet works with my Macbook!


                Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort pool and part of the beach.




Lana has her 4:15 spa treatment appointment. She is still not feeling that well. Randy heads to the beach. Getting a beach towel is easy here. Very narrow beach. Windy as well. Water is not very clear for whatever reasons? It doesn't get deep here and lots of objects on the bottom to beware of. I think I got spoiled with the Westin beach. The sun came and went. Back to the room, clean up and start on our blog. Lana really enjoys her spa treatment and feels much improved.


We are both hungry and easy decision to eat at Peppers (Bar & Grill) located just across the street. This authentic Caribbean casual joint was highly recommended by our Jeep driver Yves yesterday. We loved their food and casual vibe. Their jerk pork was incredible and tasted just as good the following day at the airport (leftovers).


                                                    Peppers Bar & Grill







             Our plate of food; beans, rice, jerk pork and bbq ribs. Delicious and very reasonably priced!



          This is where the magic occurs with their delicious meats!

Day 5 Friday, February 21st: "Gone Fishing" & Climbing

We have different activities organized for today as Lana is going rock climbing and I am heading out deep sea fishing. Lana needs to get up super early for her flight to Cayman Brac which as you can see from the map below is south of Grand Cayman. She will have a long day rock climbing, but really enjoy the experience. The first part of today's blog is Lana's experience.






Lana climbing video 1

Lana climbing video 2

                          Lana's plane to and from Cayman Brac







View from the top of first climb--an easy 5.8 warm-up!! Lana is reminded of how climbing outdoors is SO different than in the climbing gym. Also all the rock is limestone so very rough and sharp.




A tricky climb--Lana fell 3X and had to get lowered to a point where she could connect back to the wall and then re-climb back up about 12 feet. Yikes!!!







Being lowered after the climb!! Lana has to do just as much work climbing up to pick up all the quick releases and then remove all the clips/gear at the top fo the climb before getting lowered!!



Very old airplane for flight back--older than a Dash 8--note the open cockpit!!




Randy's experienced the Deep Sea fishing excursion aboard the "Happy Hooker". 62 foot long vessel that was great for riding any of the swells. Kurt was our skipper. Lars from The Netherlands was the photographer. We arrived via a shuttle and I was sitting beside Robert Hernandez who I learned later was a VP at SAP that Lana knew of. Decent guy to me. Total of 20 SAP types on the shuttle divided into three boats. We were the last boat to leave the pier. Grand Cayman is surrounded by a reef so you navigate in a certain spot out to the ocean where there is a super deep trench. Grand Cayman is the top of an undersea mountain so the drop off from the reef is dramatic.

There are eight of us from SAP. Robert, two guys originally from India and a fourth guy (Indian) with his wife and two daughters. I learn a lot more about Grand Cayman from the skipper and his fishing guy. The gentler winds are on the west side of the island. We are fishing for wahoo, tuna and marlin. When fishing we are at 8 knots speed which is pretty fast! There are $7K worth of electronics on this boat.


                        Before boarding our boat. Got my Habs baseball cap.



                              Randy with Robert Hernandez.



                                  All the gang for the deep sea fishing trip!



                  Very large and comfortable fishing boat.



                                            One of the larger rods and reels.




Total of five rods with the lures/bait set at different depths and in fact one was riding the surface.



This is one of the bait fish used on the huge hook. The bait fish is Ballyhoo.








Randy sitting in the fishing chair used when you actually hook a fish. Just like in the movies or documentaries.




The girl gets the first fish on the line, but by the time she slowly wheels the tuna in only the head remains as a shark has eaten the fish. It is really beautiful on the deeper sea with at least three different colours of blue. They use a fish finder to locate the fish although this may or may not help. In rougher water there is some swaying of the boat, but nobody gets sick. It is a beautiful sunny day.


                                             Where are the damn fish!



Diesel-powered motor. The skipper sits up top and has been on the water since he was nine years old. The boat has been to Cuba and many other Caribbean islands. Sandals off so we are all barefoot. What was really cool was seeing flying fish in the waves. They are super fast! Faster than our boat. They dart out of the water airborne and travel for quite a distance. They are the bottom of this particular food chain.


                                 Flying Fish.




We don't have much luck fishing today. Oh well, that is the life of a fisherman. I enjoyed the day and talking with the various people including the crew. I would love to have caught a large fish. When we return one of the other boats caught four barracuda.

   Randy relaxing at the front of the ship almost back to the pier.



On my return to the Westin, I ate my lunch outside on the patio at Ferdinand's. Watched more lizards/iguanas and in fact noticed them eating leaves. Then to the beach and found a chair with an umbrella. I am worried about getting burned as the tropical sun can be intense. I ordered a 16 oz. Pina Colada just to try one and use one of our free coupons. I won't order another one though as I didn't enjoy the taste. Back to the room eventually and reading texts from Lana about what an awesome day she experienced rock climbing. Found an awesome music channel playing Classic Rock songs from the 70s. Lana returned to the room around 7:40 pm.


We walked across the street to the Sunshine Grill for our 8 pm reservation. Casual place that was super busy with other tourists. When we arrived they had no outside tables. We found the inside tables super loud and the ceiling fan created a windstorm so not a comfortable place. We got moved outside to a table near the pool. We both had burgers and they were excellent! The fries and deep fried vegetables were good too. I drank a local fruity beer that was pretty decent. Good food and service and much cheaper than last night's gourmet meal. Plus, we did not get attacked by bugs!

Lana was tired after a long day rock climbing in the sun and getting bruised and scraped. Plus, her back had some burns from snorkelling yesterday. My right ear especially is plugged from the water which is not new for me.


                                        Sunshine Grill meal.




Example of all bills in Grand Cayman which show the total of the bill is inclusive of tip/gratuity yet they have another section under that for tips. Very misleading, but all places in GC do this. We were warned about it prior to arriving so we did not make the mistake of tipping twice!




Picture of the beach front where it is normally swarming with guests and super hard to find a chair. People will save a chair/table before 7 am every morning.

Day 6 Saturday, February 22nd: Into the Caves!

We wake up on this Saturday morning to winds and the beach is "closed" for water sports and nobody really in swimming either. We were supposed to do free paddle board lessons at 09:00, but needed to reschedule to tomorrow morning. Lana was the early bird and got us two primo chairs located right on the water's edge at 07:00. You save your spot with beach towels and some personal article. We had breakfast and shortly after not our beach chairs. Pounding surf today due to the high winds. I went out swimming of course and it was fun. A loud complaining woman showed up with her two kids and husband with a lot of attitude about not finding a chair for her family. Eventually, a 'beach ambassador' showed up and escorted her to another spot. She was trying to just take over chairs that had towels and personal items on them.  Apparently there is "beach chair etiquette" to be followed.


We showered and changed our clothes for lunch at the pool side bar. We have lots of remaining $ credits for lunch and drinks!


        The Westin beach is sandy and the water an incredibly blue.



Poolside bar where we ate lunch at least a couple of times. Sent this picture to Jim Barton.



             My lunch dessert of Key Lime pie. Very yummy!




Our activity for today is the Jeep Safari which was supposed to start at 13:00 and be in the lobby 15 minutes early. We arrived at the lobby and then told it is 13:30 start. Apparently, the two jeeps were arriving late. Yup, this is typical Grand Cayman timing.   ;-)



             Our Jeep Safari jeep that seats eight of us in the back.




Our Jeep driver and tour/cave guide: Yves. Very informative, funny and personable.



Our first stop is the Blowhole.





Lana's video of the famous Blowhole.


                Check out the LIMESTONE rocks on the beach.




                                    Fossils in the rocks!



Drive to the famous Crystal Caves located on privately owned land. We park and walk to the reception building where there is a gift shop. Wow, what a surprise. Walk through the trees on a well groomed trail and come upon our first cave. Apparently, there are 105 caves, but only allowed to visit three of the caves. We take lots of pictures and learn more about caves. Do not touch anything! 1" of stalactite takes 100 years to grow. Interesting that the stalactite is actually hollow! All these grow from the inside. Water leaking through the limestone above creates calcium carbonate.

The caves are stunningly beautiful and so interesting. Some of the structures look like animals or human likenesses. Each of the caves are pretty well lit and some have air conditioning. The last cave has a spectacular lake/pool where they have placed various lights that can change the look of the pool of water.

Near this cave number three exit there are a number of small fruit bats hanging from the ceiling. Don't look up with your mouth open! Bat guano would be nasty. Short walk back to the gift shop and then to the jeep for our return trip to the Westin. The leg room in the back of the jeep is pretty cramped. No windows so very windy and you can feel the elements and easily see fellow motorists. We return to the Westin around 5 pm. Texts between Lana and her VP boss Dan about connecting near the pool to drink the Champagne. Plus, invite to Markus and his family.


      Yup, Lana as a dinosaur! Picture taken at the Crystal Caves building.














Terraced formations!







Tree roots have come through the ceiling and now reaching the floor of the cave.








                                         Cave entrance.























           Yup, the last cave with the pool in the background. Pretty cool background for the couples pictures taken by Yves.




                   Perfect round hole on the floor of the cave.




We agree to meet near the pool around 5:30 pm. Markus and his family arrive a little later although we have now finished the Champagne on ice. Good conversations and then we take a short walk to the Celebration Evening around 7 pm and on the beach. Pictures at entrance. Lots of mingling and we immediately run into Mark and his wife Ruth again. They live in Calgary and both are English. We find an unoccupied table for our group and then Brian Hannover (VP) and his wife show up beside us. The sushi/sashimi were pretty good. Chardonnay for white and Cab Sauvignon for red. NY striploin steak pretty good as well. The dessert choices were yummy. We did some dancing on the dance floor and had fun. Depart around 10 pm as that is when the music ends and everyone mostly disperses. Late night for the both of us and we say our goodbyes....













                With Mark and Ruth (couple from Calgary - both English).