Hearts in Hawai'i
Our Caribbean Cruise (2011)--Day 11
4/27/2011
We arrived at Grand Cayman around 7 a.m.--Patty had woke up an hour earlier, and this almost always awakens me also when we're on vacation. After another breakfast at the Windjammer, we headed down to the Centrum Theatre at 8:00 where our tour group (Seven Mile Beach) is gathering. At 8:30 they led us and seven or eight other tour groups down to Deck Two where we're then herded onto a tender. Georgetown is not a deep water port so this is the only way to get from ship to shore--by being ferried on a large boat which holds about 250 people. We barely make it on board--I'm #243, Patty is #244. Had we been much further back in line, we would have needed to wait another twenty minutes for the next tender.
On shore in Georgetown, it's a mob scene as people are wandering everywhere trying to find where their tour group is gathering. A few are walking about carrying smallish signs which helps--a little--but there is still a good deal of confusion for awhile. Eventually our tour guide, Captain Morgan, appears and leads our group to the busses which whisk us off to the beach.
Georgetown is a small, fairly modern city with a goodly number of banks, along with some nice hotels. It's under British control and we were struck by the absence of Spanish speaking citizens as opposed to the other four ports we had visited. We arrived at Seven Mile Beach and found this to be a very nice, huge expanse of sand. The section we were on is called Tiki Beach. Seven Mile Beach is comprised of different named sections, much like Waikiki. There are tons of lawn chairs set up and waiting, so we grabbed a pair close to the water's edge. It's a nice, mellow group with friendly folks seated next to us. We spent the next two hours catching a tan, getting in the shallow water to cool off as needed and walking up to a nearby bar to get water and pop. It was very relaxing! Patty was very impressed by this island and wants me to research vacation costs for a potential return trip there for her birthday next year.
Tenders went back and forth from ship to shore throughout the day, with the final one unloading its passengers on the ship at around 5:30 p.m. With no announcement, we sail away from Grand Cayman along with the Voyageur Of The Seas.
Jerk chicken at the Windjammer tonight! I had been waiting for this spicy treat and the jerk sauce was especially spicy, burning my lips. It was delicious!
Back at the room, we found the final departure info waiting. If we want to carry our luggage off, the only option is to be at the Coral Theatre at 7:15 on Friday morning. We were hoping to relax a bit on-board before departing as our flight to Minneapolis doesn't leave Ft. Lauderdale until 3:20 p.m., but this is not to be. The Windjammer opens for breakfast at 6 a.m. on Friday so we'll need to be up at 5:30 and ready to roll as soon as breakfast is completed. It's going to make for a long damn wait at the airport!
Previous: 4/26/2011--Our Caribbean Cruise (2011)--Day 10
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