Travelling home from Grand Cayman

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1/2/09 - Friday - our last day, sigh. (And getting home).

Have kind of fizzled out today. Kind of stiff and sore from jet ski ride yesterday, so just relaxing around the resort and thinking about packing. DD and DGS have been out and about running errands and doing some last minute shopping. I got in some hammock time and sun time by the pool. DGS had a little football and pool time. It’s a little cloudy and the effort of packing up and going to the beach, then hauling everything back and cleaning up is almost sounding like work at this point! DD took over 400 photos with the rental camera and had to return it first thing this morning - took a while to get the photos transferred to disk. Many of them are good - lots are not, or are repetitive, but it was certainly worth getting the camera for a day.

1/7/09 : It is now a few days later, so I have to try to reconstruct. DD did a lot of running around, shopping, getting a tattoo, etc. DGS and I pretty much hung out at the resort, relaxing and playing. We decided to go out for dinner, although I had about given up on DD getting back from her tattoo session (a stingray on her shoulder) and had started to cook when she finally came back. We went to the Triple Crown Pub (not exactly Caribbean, but I was really wanting a good beer after two weeks of light-weight lagers), which is pretty easy to get to from our resort. We sat outside because it was too smoky inside. Very good service, adequate filling food; had lots of mashed potatoes left over for breakfast. Spent the time after dinner starting to get organized and packed up again.

Saturday morning, whipped up the two remaining eggs, mixed in the mashed potatoes and fried them in butter (really good, a leftover staple of mine), and fried up the little ham breakfast steaks, for a very filling breakfast, because we had to deal with the airport and flight, possible without good access to food. Finished packing and got checked out before 11 a.m. Gave some of our leftover food to the family of DGS’s football friend. Stopped at the tattoo parlor and the gas station ($2.99 per imperial gallon) for the last fill-up; for all the driving around we did, we didn’t really spend a lot on gas (maybe $40.00 or so altogether).

No luggage carts in the rental car area (sometimes there are some left behind), so we dropped off bags with the guys with the platform dollies who take them in to leave them near the check-out line. DD took the car back, DGS guarded the bags, and I started the long wait in line. We were at the airport well before 2 hours before our flight, and barely got to the gate with time to grab a couple of sandwiches before boarding was completed. Other airlines seem to have shorter, faster lines, but once again, it took over an hour in line to get checked in at US Airways. Need to find a way not to travel Saturday to Saturday (but the extra lodging nights on Grand Cayman are so expensive to add days at either end of a standard timeshare/condo week).

After finally getting checked in and through security, we grabbed our allotted four bottles of orange rum (yummy stuff that we can’t get at home), had no other shopping time. I got in line to get some food and drinks for the plane, and DD and DGS got all our carry-ons onto the plane. Thank goodness I had decided to check two additional bags (we had expanded of course), and since I bought the tickets so long ago, I wasn’t even charged for them (which was a pleasant surprise; I had expected it to cost $25 each). The snack place was out of hotdogs, and didn’t have soda in bottles, so got two sandwiches, chips and bottled water to share (had some other snacks in my backpack) and it was a little over US$32.00 (and he took US money and gave US change - everywhere else, change is in CI money, which is fine).

Flight went well, getting through Charlotte airport was pleasant compared to Atlanta. We declared the conch shells, and the immigration lady wasn’t happy about them (they’re endangered), but the friendly customs man was fine - everyone was pretty much helpful and friendly getting us through all the various lines. Only problem was that there were no smart cartes, so we had to haul everything, but eventually we got a cart (actually two) to get on out to get the van back to the motel. That Park N Fly motel system is wonderful.

We had a quick Mexican dinner and then drove home, arriving back to a little rain about 8:30 p.m. I pulled a muscle in my left arm somehow, that is still aching after 4 days, so I guess travel isn’t as easy for me anymore, but we are already planning a trip back again in 2010 (barring any more severe economic and air travel setbacks).

A note about the conch shells: we found them abandoned with the critters removed. They are on the CITES list for several countries (not CI), but this was open season in the Cayman Islands for them. We had checked with the Cayman government and they said it was okay to bring empty shells back, and the way the info from US gov’t reads, it is also okay here, except for the listed countries. I wouldn’t do it again, though. Since they are endangered in some places, it is probably a good idea to reduce their being taken in other waters as well. They do still serve conch fritters in almost all the restaurants on Grand Cayman, though, so it seemed okay. But, I guess I’d rather not be part of the market for them, now that I know more about their status. (Of course, I also don’t want to sound preachy, and say, “I’ve got mine, but you can’t have any” - it’s still an available choice for each person to make).

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Photos

Leaving our resort
On the way to the airport

New Year's Day Seven Mile Beach
Actually the part of it known as Cemetery Beach -- getting toward the end of the trip. The big float was fun in the water.

Peace memorial downtown Georgetown
Eariler in the week, on a noncruise ship day.