We recently had the somewhat unexpected pleasure of expanding
the Flutters travel horizons to include a portion of the Caribbean that we have not
visited before, specifically the Cayman Islands, and more specifically Grand
Cayman itself. The island(s) are about
due south of Miami, and also just south of Cuba.
Our long time friends who now reside in San Diego invited us
to the wedding of their son over the Thanksgiving weekend. It was our first, first hand experience with a
“destination wedding” where everybody picks up and goes someplace spiffy, in
this case the aforementioned Islands.
Although initially envisioned as a “small, family only event”, it soon
mushroomed into a much more expanded occasion, and we were invited to attend if we
wished, and of course we gratefully accepted. What a great
opportunity. So, planning on a rather
rapid (for us) basis mapped out a trip with the aid of the always capable folks
at Cole travel. Before advancing
farther, a couple of sort of editorial notes are in order:
2. Having
never been to the Caymans, we related to the travel arranger person we deal
with that we needed to go to the said Islands, outlined \the plan (arrive ASAP Thanksgiving Day, need
lodging through Sunday night, need a car) and fix us up.
Maybe a little geography lesson would be in order for those
of you who don’t jet off to the Caribbean every winter. Here’s (a not very good picture of) the
general layout of Grand Cayman.
It is kind of spread out, with most of the Humans occupying the left end and southish around
the bend. The vertical strip on the left is known as
“seven mile beach” where most of the resorts and shops and stuff exist.
Okay, that’s our destination and arrangements were made such
that we would arrive on the Grand Cayman Island early afternoon on Thanksgiving
day. Well, you don’t just pick up and go
there, you have to connect flights (in our case in Miami) be at the airport
ahead of time, yadda yadda. That
resulted in us saying overnight near BWI in order to catch the first flight in
that direction which had wheels up at 0700.
Yes, that is seven hours after midnight.
So we had a leisurely drive up Wednesday night, relaxed and prepared for
the journey the next day. Well, after being rudely awakened, my
And the image sort of accurately reflects what was seen with
the naked eye. Anyway, we grabbed our
pre-packed suitcases (we didn’t sleep in our clothes, by the way) and took the
Shuttle over to BWI airport, which surprisingly enough, was pretty busy at that
ungodly (but necessary) hour. Made our
way through security and got to the gate, and the little electronic board assured us that we were
at the correct location for our flight down to
Soon enough, we boarded the flight and were on our way. You might remember that my usual practice is to show
you some pitiful airline food like material, but there are none here because there
was no pitiful airline like food material unless you were willing to pay for it
(which I wasn’t). No window view, we
have taken to request (thank you travel agents!) that we get aisle/aisle
seats. Traveler’s tip: If you fiddle
enough, you can find a little latch that will release the arm rest next to the
aisle. Makes in and out much easier.
Also, these days like everywhere, the minute the planes take off, heads bury
into some device, and more often than not, the window shade goes down (the
person next to the window “owns” control of the shade, regardless what you might
like).
Anyway, we arrived in Miami pretty much as scheduled and
walked through the airport to the gate for our flight to the Caymans. Miami is
a pretty slick airport with many food vendors, some offering more international flair and some with better known products
we didn't notice Joey Chestnut by the way
Was only about an hour and a few minutes to the Island and
we landed at the small airport near George Town (always two words) and walked
across the tarmac into the airport
Once inside the “terminal” we had the first taste of the climate
(kind of pun intended) of the friendliness and hospitality we would experience
throughout our stay from everyone on the Island.
“customs” was quite easy and relaxed. (notice nobody in the
rat maze)
Now, we knew going in that being “British” in nature, people on the Caymans followed their practice of driving on the “other” side of the road. Having experienced this in Ireland, I wasn’t
particularly concerned about it. We made
a short walk over to the rental car agency, and were reminded of Ireland when
the agent walked us around the car pointing out “existing” scratches, dings,
and scrapes from confused American drivers that were also common in Ireland.
The other feature that carried to
this side of the “pond” is that there are many round-a-bouts, but again, I was
a veteran and not particularly scared knowing what to expect.
Our hotel was located about halfway “up” the seven mile
beach, and you can see the little airplane icon so we had to traverse that
distance to check in to the Hotel. With
a little help from maps and the agent’s direction and MFO shouting “left”
occasionally, we made it without many close calls (there is liberal use of horns from other drivers to help you). We stayed at a lovely Marriott resort, the
first of its kind for us. That
experience will probably rate a whole column on its own. It is quite and experience. From the minute we drove into the entrance
(note the traffic arrow on the pavement)
We were treated kindly with people appearing immediately to help with the bags, and even giving you a little tropical drink (you need some rum in that sir!) upon walking into the lovely lobby which featured a gorgeous wall
Our room overlooked the courtyard which also contained a
little water feature
After a bit of recovery time, and before leaving for a late
Thanksgiving dinner at the place where the wedding party was staying, we took a
quick look at the ocean side of the resort.
Just gorgeous (did i mention that it was 81 degrees and gentle breezes?)
And of course there were all the amenities one could wish for
Anyway, we retired to our room preparing for the Thanksgiving spread with the wedding party, and didn't really worry about getting
DFD
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