blue seas and warm sunshine

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Saturday Jan 22nd, 2011
Caribbean Sea: Latitude 13 degrees 33 minutes- Longitude 80 degrees 24 minutes
We spent the day yesterday on Grand Cayman Island. The water was that incredible shade of clear blue as we boarded our cramped tender to be ferried into shore. I wanted to simply dive off the edge of the boat and swim to shore, but that would have set off all the alarms for MOB (man overboard). The ride in was short and sweet and the greeting by the locals was warm and not nearly as frantic and menacing as arriving in a Mexican port. The locals definitely wanted our business, but they were polite about it. After running the gauntlet on the cruise ship dock we walked around the small and clean downtown area of Georgetown. Plenty of shopping and an unbelievable number of banks dominated the streets. The economy seemed fairly good, with just a few closed down stores and shops.
I noticed a small taxi-bus ahead of us and an energetic driver trying to round up business. Complete island tour for $15 per person was his basic message accentuated with much arm waving and shouting. So it was that we spent the next two hours in the company of Carlton “Cash Money”. His commentary was constant and lively, his driving fast, but in control and his enthusiasm and personality contagious for the whole group. We hit all the hotspots, sampled free rum and had a great time. He went on and on about the effects of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and you could tell that it had been a very traumatic event for the island.
After Carlton we went swimming in the sea on Seven Mile Beach and walked along a clean, rocky beach filled with shells, sand and coral. Jane even found some pieces of seaglass! The snorkeling and diving is just right along the shore in this area and there were several boats taking people out for trips. It was not crowded anywhere and everyone we met was friendly and courteous. It was such a nice change from St. Thomas.
Back on board, the Captain got underway and we headed south towards Panama. Next ,the Canal and the Pacific.

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