Cruise 2017: Day 3, Grand Cayman

On the second night, the daily guide told us to turn our clocks back one hour before bed. I don't remember doing this on other cruises. I do remember being told that Cozumel is in a different time zone and to keep that in mind because the ship's clocks don't change. During the cruise we put our clocks ahead and back several times and I kind of lost track of if we were gaining an hour sleep or losing it LOL

 

Our third  day was the port of Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We were there on our second cruise, Nov 2008, so we were excited. Rob had enjoyed it the first time, even though we hadn't done anything except walk around. We weren't really interested in doing the sting ray adventure, although I hear it's the best one in the Caribbean. My aunt suggested the aquarium/turtle farm. I really wanted to go there, but Rob said no way we're we going to swim with salmonella-infested turtles.  In a Facebook group for Canadian cruisers, I learned about the taxi/bus system, which sounded it do-able, even for Mr Hesitant. We agreed to go to 7 Mile Beach. I mean, it's world famous, not all cruises stop at Grand Cayman (we've been twice on five cruises), and we'd save money for other expeditions.

We didn't rush off the ship, but didn't want to leave it too late.  We headed downstairs around 9:15. Thought the towel sign out was silly--they write it down by hand! It was nice to have a tote bag in the cabin, but I took my own (after fixing the strap Rob broke soon after we got on the ship). It zips up. This picture was at 9:37am and the tenders were supposed to start soon after the 7am arrival, but I think they didn't start until 8am. 

Nothing looked familiar. We couldn't even tell on the handy "Port Shopping Map" which dock we were at. We saw booths advertising taxi's to 7 Mile Beach so we went with the first one. We thought the person holding the placard was the driver, but no...she walked us out of the compound and to a mini bus almost full of people. Oh. We climbed on and immediately heard the discontent of the passengers. At the front of the bus was a large, burly guy; a Hulk Hogan look alike. He was the most vocal. We quickly learned his name was Kevin. He let everyone know that he had gotten the first tender over so he could get a taxi and hit the beach before everyone else. He'd been sitting in that mini-bus for at least 45 minutes! Apparently, the driver waits until the entire mini-bus is filled!  Everyone decided he should go find the driver. He walked back up to the compound and found someone. Coming back, he made a wrestler pose. Hysterical. I said something to Rob, along the lines "You can tell he's not Canadian...we'd probably sit on this bus all day waiting for it to fill".  The quiet lady in front of me snickered and glanced over her shoulder. Down the road, Rob and I were talking about the Canadian banks, and she turned around to talk to us. Her and her husband were also Canadian! We had a nice chat, they were also being frugal so we all got off at one of the further stops where there wasn't a charge to use the beach facilities. Or so we thought. The drop off point was at Calico Jacks Bar & Grill. 

There were some loungers so we grabbed two at the end that had an umbrella giving shade. It's a beach, yes, but I still want to protect my skin! We headed for the water. So lovely! I don't think we'd even been in the pools on the ship yet because they were so cold. There's nothing like the warm Caribbean water!

7 Mile Beach is no longer seven miles; it's just over 5. But that's okay. You'd never know it. 

There are lots of resorts but they're on the smaller side, compared to other Caribbean hot spots.
I noticed a man going up to everyone in the loungers and knew he was collecting a "rental fee". So we scooped up our stuff and walked a bit up the beach to "Public Beach", it looks far on Google Maps, but it was right next door.  There were little shelters, showers, parking. Next to it Is "Harbour Heights" hotel, and a small sign in the landscaping indicating for guests only. There was also a security guard seated at the walkway down to the beach. We plunked our stuff in the little bit of the shade created by their landscaping (under the tree at the north end of their property, you can see it on Google Maps) while making sure we were on the beach itself LOL. We were joined by some other lounger-refugees. A bunch of Brits. They always find the deals!

For some reason, most of the pictures Rob took of me are on an angle. Here I am testing out a BIKINI top I made!!

We walked back along the beach, viewing all the developments from the beach. No Trespassing sings everywhere. We enjoyed our beach walk, but wanted to get out to the main road at some point. Eventually, we came to Governor's Beach. It started to sprinkle just then. No problem, we were still wet and hey, Caribbean rain is warm! There was this lovely iguana statue.

As we walked towards the road, I saw this little bit of native fauna. Adorable!  We stood in a covered bus shelter, getting clothes back on, wondering what the town buses look like. We started walking back towards town, and a few potential vehicles passed up going north. Then we realized, we really should be on the other side of the road LOL. But, on the other side, you have to walk backwards to see vehicles coming towards you. And we still weren't really sure what were buses. On the other side of the road was a mini van with a sign indicating it was a bus, and it was pulled over.

 So Rob approached the driver and asked. For about $5US, for the BOTH of us, she could get us downtown to Margaritaville. In the back of the van were some Americans we had seen on the beach. The one man reminded me a lot of Larry Caputo . I would notice him a lot on the rest of the cruise. Funny how that happens with some people.
As we drove down the main road, the driver would honk. I realized that she would honk at people standing at bus stops (and a few other spots). They'd either wave and she'd stop, or shake their head. If they waved, she'd pull over. Once we got full, she stopped honking. We got close to the downtown and she drove away from the main road to approach the downtown from the "inside". At one point she suddenly braked as a car stopped in front of us. Now, understand, these minivans are "short nose" vans (not our actual van, and this and the picture above are not mine).

I was sitting in the middle of the first bench. I think Rob was beside me. Although the driver has a good view, those of us in the benches, do not. Everything got real quiet and we were certain we would hit it. The driver didn't appear to be braking hard! Once we stopped safely, everyone let out a big sigh of relief and the Americans at the back started joking about needing to get back to the ship to change their pants.
She let us out and said Margaritaville was the next block over. We walked two blocks along the main street and didn't see it. It's shown on the "Port Shopping Map"  but the maps are a bit of a joke. We walked up Cardinal Ave because I couldn't figure out how we had walked past something as significant as Margaritaville. As we turned around and headed back to the main street, I saw a small sign above an alley indicating the way. It really is up the alley, just  up Cardinal Ave from Habour Dr.
We headed in and it seemed rather tame. Found the restaurant and got seated. Rob forgot his regular glasses and couldn't see anything in the dark room. But it was nice and cool. Rather empty and quiet. And then we realized, it's Sunday morning. What if they don't serve alcohol? My main focus was the free wifi (not the greatest) but how can you go to Margaritaville and not have a drink? Indeed, it was too early for drinks and we didn't expect to stay too long, just so we could have a drink. We got a  appetizer platter.

It was mostly good; Rob didn't like the quesadilla because it got a little soggy. The shrimp were great, the tortilla chips were okay. It just seemed really pricey. After, we walked around and found the pool. A little sad looking on a Sunday morning. We had our bathing suits on, but it didn't seem right going in the pool. I don't know why. Just seemed odd cause no one was in it, and it didn't look all that great. I won't hold that against them though--we're just the odd ones who go to a famous bar...on a Sunday morning.

The kids love things from Del Sol (and so do I), so we walked up Harbour Rd again to find it. Well, they were closed. Rob was happy to save money after the expensive lunch. We headed back to the ship. At the pier, you can have a nice chilled face cloth, which felt wonderful. There are also several different waters to choose from. Orange-carrot, cucumber-mint, and I think there was another one, along with plain ice water. Tiny Dixie cups, but it was enough. Especially since they make you finish before you board. Once through security, we forgot about our towels. That night we left them in our cabin with a note saying we had forgot to turn them in. Apparently, we were supposed to return them at the gangway and get crossed off the list.

There is some great art on the Equinox. And then some made us shake our heads. The above picture describes a set of pictures next to the elevators near our cabin.

There were about five of these style pictures in a row. At first, we thought maybe there had been a competition for the children of the staff. No, the plaque above it explains them. Certainly not our style.

We went to the buffet for lunch--after all, we had only had "appetizers" at Margaritaville! They had a whole baby pig in the carvery! The buffet was really good, with lots of options that changed frequently throughout the day--Early Risers Continental Breakfast/Breakfast Buffet/Late Breakfast all happened between 6:00am and 11am. Lunch Buffet Extravaganza was 12-2:30 and Soups/Salad/Sandwiches were 12-3pm. Afternoon snacks started at 3:30. The nice thing was the buffet was never actually closed. A few things were always available. They would close off some of the stations as they changed them over, but you could still go in to other areas. I know on Royal Caribbean, the whole buffet area was closed off between meals.

We headed up top as it looked like another storm rolling in. What's that little splotch?

 

It was a little boat! Okay, that one is bigger than our "Bob". But from up top, it was tiny looking.

Love the storm clouds over the turquoise water off 7 Mile Beach.

I noticed the submarine coming up and the shuttle. I would love to try this excursion but I'm just not sure how I'd feel. If there was a short "tester" excursion, that might be good!

I'm not sure which resort this is, I'm guessing The Kimpton Seafire Resort. That was just to the north of the public beach at Calico Jack's and can be seen in one of the beach pictures near the top of this post. That seems to be as large as you get here.

The pool was very busy in the afternoon!

 

 I have no idea what these two dishes were. I think the one below is beef cheeks and the appetizer above was duck. I was really looking forward to trying the beef cheeks. The meat was excellent, however, I did not like the seasoning. I think Rob had it too and said the same thing (and he thought it was greasy, as well). The waiter offered us something else (we had only eaten a tiny bit), but I remember saying the appetizer had been plenty.

  

At 9pm, we went to the Celebrity Showtime show, "Ashlie-Amber". It's a show sort of about Whitney Houston. She sings all her songs, talks about their influence in her life, how she became a singer, but she says she's not a "cover artist". She was really good. Rob really enjoyed it. I didn't take him for a Whitney fan! She was just starting her cruise ship career, so expect to see her around!

After, was the "Silent Disco". This is a newer thing on cruise ships. You get a pair of headphones, and choose one of three channels. Then you all dance together, to your own private DJ.

They look like they were having fun. One nice thing about this ship was that if there was a gathering in the Entertainment Court, for example, there were ample ways around. Unlike the Royal ships with the Royal Promenade.
Rob had said he wanted to get out and hear more live music this time. There was often one of two bands in the Grand Foyer, and we definitely preferred one over the other (Dancing Town). But we still hadn't made it to a "club" to hear an actual show.

Not sure what time we went to bed.We had to change the clocks forward one hour. So, the hour gained was now lost LOL. But we were at sea, so who cares.

Cruise Day 4: Georgetown, Grand Cayman

We awoke on Day 4 to the sounds of the crew getting the tender dock ready for our day in Georgetown, Grand Cayman. I was really looking forward to this day---it's unlikely we would ever get back to Grand Cayman. We pushed our way through the crowd waiting for the tenders and headed up to breakfast. We were in no rush, as we had no excursions booked for the day (although I really wanted to do one!). We were a little surprised when we looked out and saw that we were one of FIVE cruise ships docked off shore! It's not a huge island, so we were a little worried about what we'd fine on shore.
The tender over was pretty quick, although we were on an open boat and it was quite hot in the sun. Our ship is the one in the far back---it looks far away, but it's an optical illusion in the picture. While we were waiting to unload we watched a large red jogging stroller roll backwards and off a 5ft wall onto the lower dock. No body on the upper pier seemed to notice, but the boat crews did try to 'catch' the stroller but weren't quite quick enough. After a minute, the parents did come over. There was no baby in the stroller. Many times we saw this same family during the week, and rarely was the baby in the stroller. They were constantly struggling with the stroller, esp. in the elevators--they often had to wait a long time to get an empty elevator. I couldn't imagine taking something like that on a cruise vacation. I know by the time our kids are ready to cruise we will be long past babywearing, but man, that was one very good example of how much more convenient---and safe---babywearing is!!The ship in front is a Carnival Cruise ship---the only cruise line that puts a spoiler on the stack, LOL!
We started walking to the left once out of the dock complex. One of the first shops we found was a Dairy Queen. Despite being hot, Rob wouldn't go in. Then there was this cute little "Ye Old England Bakery". I really wanted to check it out, but Rob wouldn't go in. LOL. He's not too adventurous sometimes. We noticed something on the fence next to it....
A chicken on the fence! We were having trouble figuring out the map---I don't think any of the maps provided by the cruise ship on either cruise were very useful---and before we could figure out where on the map we were, we were actually OFF the map! A north arrow and a scale would have made this geography grad a little happier!
It soon became apparent that chickens ruled the roost here. They were everywhere, including this little parkette where people were sitting and eating lunch.We walked around the 'off map' area for a little bit, winding our way along the shore and then inwards and back towards the main section. It was interesting, the juxtaposition of poor living next to a wealthy financial institution. You hear of Grand Cayman being a financial hotspot....but there doesn't seem to be much trickle down effect.This 'little' fella is a blue iguana. There is reportedly only about 30 left on the island. I think the statue is life size---a preschooler posed for a picture sitting comfy on his back before we took this.
We went in a post office and I bought a postcard to send to my parents. I forgot to ask them on Sat. if they ever got it. We got the change in Cayman money, which looked alot like Canadian money because of the Queen on it!

We walked around some more, being a little frightened of the traffic on the 'wrong' side of the road. Horns honked a lot, even when there didn't seem to be any issue. There were a lot of SUVs and nice (expensive) vehicles. We stopped at a little shop to see what the "Hole in the Floor" was and talked with the shop owners for a bit. They told us that everyone has at least one car as there are no limits on vehicle ownership like on some islands, and there is not any reliable public transportation. As well, although the island is small and flat, it is very rural and rugged, especially after a hurricane. He said they had not had much damage from Hurricane Paloma, but the smaller sister island did. When a hurricane comes, they just board up shop and pray he said. As well, he mentioned that in the high season, there could be SEVEN cruise ships docked off shore!!!
We continued our walk up the other side of the town, along the shore. We noticed that many vehicles had these little mirrors on their front quarter panels. Some of the vehicles were right hand drive, but a lot were left hand drive too.
The strip right near the dock is like most of the other ports---lots of shopping for jewellry. Not too interesting for Rob!
Another shot of our ship (the one at the back). And another shot without the interesting cars...As we walked back towards the downtown, we found this area of tidal pools.Most of the pools were puddles, but there were a few neat spots where the rocks had openings above the water line so the waves came in and spewed up through the holes. One tide pool was quite large and a couple kids were swimming in it.On the other side of the dive shop that was right here is a little narrow inlet. I forget the local name of it. I mean, it was narrow! You could enter at the closed end near the shop, and wade/swim out through the tiny opening into the ocean proper. You can just make out a person snorkeling on the left side of this picture: We headed back towards the dock and the only taste of local cuisine I got was a can of cold, but slightly out-dated Diet Coke. Rob was still suspicious; after all, it was cold because of the ice in the bucket....We bought the kids some stuff at Del Sol---the store where everything changes colour in the sun, but nothing has a price tag, and another smaller shop with the same type of stuff. We finally found our dock, and headed back out. Do I look hot? Oh, it was hot. But a nice hot, LOL.Bird's eye view of one of the tenders.After we got back we went for lunch and then some quiet time in our room ;)

I like being up on the open decks when we leave ports, and Rob likes to swim, so it's a good deal. It's great being alone together, but sometimes you just need to be alone, too.Grand Cayman, like Cozumel, is very flat. Very, very flat. Not my type of place, LOL.Flat. The topo map for this island would not interest me very much!It was interesting to see the other ships there. I'm not sure why this Crystal Cruises ship looks like it's listing. By itself, it looks like a good size ship, but next to us, it was teeny-tiny. The Crystal ship was next to the Carnival shipThe Carnival ship (and I think the Celebrity ship) used 'proper' tender boats, the other 2 ships used their lifeboats as their tenders. The Celebrity ship was next to Carnival...We had just found out at the Crown & Anchor's "Captain's Welcome Back" reception the night before that Royal Caribbean had bought Celebrity.Next to the Celebrity ship was a Holland America ship. They were quite a distant from the dock, and were using the lifeboats for tenders. I'm not sure that I would like that!Last year I took a great picture of Rob kissing the mermaid in the Schooner Bar, but this year it didn't turn out as great, LOL.This was our night to see the ice show, and it turned out to be the last show for this cast. It was really good (a few falls though), but I think last year we were 'wowed' more because we were stunned at what they could do on such a small rink. The ice show was still great, and the best part was when the pirates 'stole' a little kid, probably not even 3, from the front row and took him for a ride in the pirate ship.The props and costumes are fabulous, and there were guest artists---jugglers on ice. No good photos, but I did take a video. I just can't figure out how to post videos.
We missed a live music show featuring all the live musicians on the ship, unfortunately, had to go to dinner. It was 'Surf Night' and everyone at our table enjoyed at least TWO lobsters...except for me, LOL. We heard all about the swimming with the stingrays excursion, which sounded interesting but not worth the cost (in my opinion). I had wanted to visit Hell, but didn't know enough about it when we were looking at the trips.
There was Big Band Dance Music at 9:45, but we were still in dinner.

After dinner we went for a deck walk. Almost every night the front helicopter pad deck was closed. This night though was extremely windy. I think this was the night that the relative wind (what the wind actually feels like taking into account the ship's speed) was around 55-60 mph. We went up to the top open deck and it was incredible. You couldn't use any of the sliding doors to go inside because they had been locked, to prevent gusts of wind from blowing in when opened. I could feel myself being lifted a few times. Although, I don't think I was wearing that dress that night...maybe that was the next night. Most nights were pretty windy!

There was a nice full moon...(that little white circle in the black sky)...

We popped back into the room so Rob could change and then headed out to the "Love & Marriage Game Show". This is a hilarious version of the Newlywed Game, but using one newlywed couple, one 'medium wed' couple, and one 'olden wed' couple. The newlyweds were from South Africa and England, and the old couple were from Wales, so it was interesting. Even though the questions were the same as last year, the people are different, so the game is also different. A little racey, LOL, but definitely a good time!

I thought this was the midnight buffet night, but it's not on that day's "Cruise Compass". I thought I took this picture at the midnight buffet, but I guess not, LOL. I don't know what time we got to bed, this picture was taken after midnight!