Day 4– Welcome to George Town Grand Cayman Island. Overseas British Territory.

Arrival 7am.–First Tender Boat, 7:45–Last Tender Boat 5:15,–Departure 6pm.

We arrived at George Town about daylight. I went out on the Balcony to watch the approach to the island. What a beautiful morning it was. We watched as the Pilot Boat from the harbor approached our ship

The Pilot is dropped off on the lower level of the boat while still moving towards the Port. It is his duty to help the Captain navigate the Ship into the harbor. He knows his Port, the sand bars, the waters entering the channel and all things important to docking the ship. Here at Grand Cayman, the harbor is to shallow for the cruise ships to dock. They use Tender Boats {water taxi’s} to transport the passengers between the ship and the Port. The first Tender Boats showed up by 7:15 after the ship had anchored. All the passengers that had booked excursions were the first ones off the boat. We didn’t book any in this port as they were mostly all water fun. Diving, snorkeling, Trip to Stingray City to see the Stingrays in the ocean and possible pet them. Also, the many, many beaches and the Famous 7 Mile Beach. We have excursions booked on all the other Ports we visit, so we decided to just take it easy on this one. We waited till later to go souvenir shopping. Finally late morning, we went down to the 4th floor. We had to go through the x-ray machine like the airports and they also scanned our Sea Pass cards. You cannot leave or arrive at the boat without your cards. This is how they keep count of passengers on or off the ship. I like to book only Excursions with Royal Caribbean because they will wait till all excursions are back to leave. If you go ashore and simply take a tour somebody sells you, they won’t guarantee they will wait. Wouldn’t it be terrible if you arrived back late and seen your Ship with all your belongings sailing off into the sunset?……GOOD BYE…..Find your own way back to the states. We boarded the tender and proceeded to shore.

These Tenders hold as many as 200 people. But remember our ship is technically a small ship of over 2000. You can imagine how many Tenders they have to transport passengers back and forth between the ship and the dock. We arrived at the terminal and did some shopping at the little shops. Then we proceeded out of the terminal into George Town. We found a few things but what was interesting was the cars drove on the left side of the street and the drivers sat in the right side of the car.

We walked the streets, did more shopping, walked by the fish market, where they were cleaning fish and many restaurants. We found this little Flea Market sort of tucked in an empty lot.

We bought a few souvenirs from the locals, and ran into a very interesting small time business man. He was selling items as well as Caymanite Jewelry. I had never heard of Caymanite.

This semi-precious gemstone is found only in Grand Cayman. It contains bands of red, orange, white, black and brown. The locals of the island make beautiful jewelry and gifts and sell it throughout the islands. This man makes trips to Miami to buy supplies for jewelry crafting as well as selling. Since he was such a friendly nice guy full of info, I asked him a question I had been wondering about. I had bought a visor. The visor and many of the things in the gift shops had “Grand Cayman BWI”…….“What does BWI stand for”? This was when I realized how stupid I was sounding…..Bristish West Indies. I knew that…..Grand Cayman is run by the British government.

Another well known fact is the Cayman Islands is home to over 160 banks from all over the world. They have been cited as a financial destination. They have so many tax benefits etc, that it has become known as a great place to park your money and grow your wealth.

We were getting really hot so we decided it was time to go back to the ship. We didn’t have to wait long. The Tender boat was loading and another one was ready to take its place after we left.

We boarded our ship, went back through the x-ray machine, scanned our sea pass card, so they know we were onboard. We went to our room and was exhausted. But what do you do after you’ve cooled down? off to the Windjammer Buffet. We hadn’t eaten since we left that morning.

We found a nice table, filled our plates with goodies, and relaxed. Rich loves cookies. He had found which food island they put them out every meal. So he started bringing a bunch to the table every day. Then I had to stash them in my purse to take up to the room. I wish I had taken a picture. He loves the Oatmeal. Of course, we found Conmelia. We had to say our “Hi’s”. We found out something exciting. Conmelia is engaged. He fiance is the CHEF on board. His name is …..Shane……More about them on further blogs…….At 6pm, we finally pulled up anchor on time and “away we went” Now 1 more day at sea before we arrive at Cartagena Columbia. We seen several Entertainment Shows in the Aurora Theater. They were wonderful. Their was different shows every nite.

We had a nice time in Grand Cayman but we did miss alot. After reading more about the Island, their were many places to see, and it would be easy to get around by taxi or many reputable, local tour agencies. But that’s ok, we can always see more another time. One day at sea and then…….Next Stop…..Day 6 Cartagena Columbia. It will be much more exciting. We will be boarding a bus and traveling through the city seeing so many beautiful sites and then stopping at a fishing village. We will take a canoe trip in hand carved mahogany canoes through the Mangroves. It was hot but so exciting….As long as we didn’t tip the canoe….lol

^{…….Stay Tuned……}.