Monday December 18th

The week before Christmas is a good week for a vacation for a lot of reasons. No one in their right mind really wants to be shopping, the kids are out of school and very few people are traveling for business or pleasure. This combination has meant a trip in each of the past three years for us. Mary Lou's requirement is that wherever we go should be hot and not involve huge amounts of time on airplanes to get there. This year we went to Grand Cayman, part of the British West Indies in the Caribbean. It is located just south of Cuba and just west of Jamaica.

We got to our hotel just in time for dinner and a quick look around. We had a room on the second floor just above the pool about 40 feet from the ocean. That's me in the second picture below just behind the palm trees reading a book on the balcony.

Tuesday December 19th - Hot, Hot, Hot! 

Our first full day was also the hottest - over 90 and very humid. Not knowing it would get cooler later in the week, we chose that day for a long walk into town from the Hotel. We discovered various shops and restaurants along the way and had a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. We started to acquire a taste for good rum cake that followed us for the rest of the trip. On the way home we stopped to take a shot of the sun setting behind an old shipwreck. The kids took a late night swim in the pool just below our balcony (last picture above).

Wednesday December 20th

This was our day to rent a car and see the sites across the island. The reason that was a big deal is that on Grand Cayman they drive on the left side of the road. Undaunted, I rented a right drive car and off we went. Our first stop was the Turtle Farm. This a farm that both protects and farms green sea turtles. From there we drove to a city called Hell. The landscape inspired the name, which they now use for a theme with tourists. 

From Hell, we drove across the island to an old pirate treasure hiding spot made up of natural caves. We continued the trip to some blow holes at the beach at the far end of the island. From there we made a quick stop at the Botanical Gardens, but the mosquitoes were causing us a lot of grief by then. We finished the day seeking some Caribbean entertainment, but settled for a good dinner just a short walk up the road.

Thursday December 21st

On Thursday we hung around the hotel to relax and did some walking along the beach.

Friday December 22nd

We headed back into town on Friday to try to take a submarine ride out to the shipwrecks. Because of the storm that had been hovering in the Caribbean all week, the water was too cloudy to see anything. We did some shopping around, then bussed back to the hotel for some swimming and relaxation. That evening we did a pirates dinner at the hotel with Caribbean entertainment that proved to be a real highlight of the trip.

Saturday December 23rd

Our last day turned out to be the best beach day of all. The storm off-shore had passed and the water was crystal clear. We spent the morning in the ocean and then headed out to the airport for the trip home.