2015 Christmas Cruise, Day 14

Saturday, January 2nd

Grand Cayman Island in the morning

Today was the port day at Grand Cayman.  It was another tender port, but it was much easier than the other tender ports.  Water was pretty calm but we did notice 3 other large ships in the port that day.

Princess describes Grand Cayman as: "When Columbus made his landfall in the Caymans in 1503, he found tortoises and sea turtles in such profusion that he promptly named the islands Las Tortugas. But the name that stuck for the islands was the Carib word "Caimanas." Fitting, since the caiman is a New World crocodilian and the islands were long the lair of pirates, buccaneers, and assorted freebooters. Despite their past, the Caymans are a Caribbean demi-paradise of white-sand beaches, coral gardens, and offshore waters harboring spectacular shipwrecks. Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman also boast the highest standard of living in the entire Caribbean. This union of natural beauty and cosmopolitan style makes Grand Cayman a spectacular port of call for today's adventurers."

Grand Cayman is a very British town, with driving on the left side of the road and drivers seat on the right side of the car.  This was our second time to be on a bus driving in the British style (last time was in Nassau, Bahamas.  Signage was all in English and the US dollar was widely accepted.  The island was very clean and beautiful.  It would be a wonderful vacation spot!

"Jerk shacks" are very popular on the island, being a casual eatery that serves meats, anything from curried goat to chicken or pork with bread for mopping up the juices and spices.  Cayman islands are also home to giant green sea turtles, plenty of which we saw on our cruise.  The national bird of the Islands is the Cayman Parrot, the national flower is the Wild Banana Orchid and the Silver Thatch Palm is the national tree.

We did go on an excursion, though it was a disappointing one.  We started out by driving through the town and seeking Fort George, the Legislative Assembly Building, Heroes Square, the Peace Memorial and many of the city's stately banks. We first visited  Dolphin Discovery where we watched the dolphins do a couple of jumps and flips before we had to be back on the bus.  Each stop was only about 20 minutes, so it was not very long at all.

Dolphin "show"

Dolphin comes in for a visit.

We then made our way to Hell! The name of this small town on Cayman's west side was inspired by the devilish beauty of its weird black limestone formations (even though the lava formations in Idaho are more impressive). We did purchase a few post cards there and even sent one to DeeAnn's Dad in commemoration.

Yep, we made it to Hell!

Geologic feature of lava flow

Lava formations

Lava flow and post office are the main features here

We then visited what was described as a rum cake factory, even though we did not see any factory.  There was a store and we could get samples of the rum (which we passed on) and rum cake (which was very good but had a high rum flavor).

Lots of resorts and vacation spots on the island

After we got back to the port, we decided to wander around the town a bit.  We visited some of the shops and eventually settled down for lunch at a local waterside bar and grill.

DeeAnn's salad

We watched some of the fish swimming around close to the shore, in and out of the rocks.  The food was pretty good though the service was slow.  We purchased a few souvenirs from the shops along the pier then went back to the ship to enjoy our daily ice cream cone.

Our daily ice cream cone!

Ships log:  Pre-arrival checks were commenced at 0400 as we started to sight the shore lights of the Bay of George Town.  By 0631 the ship was in position and the starboard anchor was 'let go' to 7 shackles in the water (1 shackle = 37.5 meters of anchor cable).  Sky at noon: partly cloudy.  Wind North Easterly Force 3.  Temperature 28°C (82.0°F).  Air pressure: 1016.5 hPa.  At 1545 "standby below' was passed to the engine control room and shortly after we commenced weighing the starboard anchor.  Once the anchor was reported home and all our tenders had been 'confirmed for sea,' Island Princess slowly made her way out of the bay settling on a north westerly course across the Caribbean seas.