Our last port of call.  Something melancholy about knowing the end of our holiday was closing in. It made us appreciate our last day more, and got us making plans for our next getaway. We tendered ashore with nine hours to explore George Town.

Tendering Ashore Grand Cayman

A pirate ship had greeted our arrival in Cartagena, but George Town had the lock on pirate motifs.  Everywhere we turned another pirate reached out to grab us.

Can’t Resist a Cheesy Photo Op

The three islands of the Caymans are a British Territory.  Less than 500 miles from Miami, Grand Cayman is 76 square miles, Cayman Brac is 14 square miles and Little Cayman a mere 10 square miles. George Town is the capital and largest city of the Caymans. Supposedly it offers a shopping Mecca for jewelry, but my husband wasn’t ready to spend his last day sizing up store displays.

There were plenty of organized tours: Boatswain Bay Turtle Farm (breeding, research and conservation), Bodden Town (once the capital), Queen Elizabeth’s Botanic Park (dedicated by the queen in 1994), Seven Mile Beach (if we wanted to relax and soak up some warm to take back to Northern California), or maybe the Cayman Islands National Museum.  The latter was a real temptation because I felt our cruise had been lacking in quality museums.

Profusion of Flowers 

Boatswain Bay Turtle Farm 

However, the cruise cuisine left little doubt we needed a bit of exercise, so we decided to strike out on our own, and pointed our noses in the general direction of the turtle farm. We passed through Hell, met a resident rooster, and then endured a rainstorm that came from nowhere. It drenched us before some kindly local invited us to share the protection of his car port. Fate introduces you to new friends in strange ways. I had blisters and my sandals were ruined, but along the way we stopped to smell the flowers and click a photo or two.  The walk took us two hours each way, and that didn’t include our break for rum tasting.

It Was So Hot……

We made it back to the port three hours before scheduled departure, but the heat and rain had drained us. We sat in front of some shops, checked out local sculpture, and then returned to ship with time to spare. We barely had the energy to make it to the pool and spread towels over our lawn chairs. We drifted in and out as Caribbean dance music worked to rejuvenate us.

Aspiration

A Pleasant City Square

Julie Albrecht Royce, Travel Adventures Editor, is the author of Traveling Michigan's Sunset Coast and Traveling Michigan's Thumb, both published by Thunder Bay Press. She writes a monthly column for Wandering Educators, and you can find more of her writing at http://www.jkroyce.com 

Feature photo:A Pirate Ship Awaits Our Arrival

All photos courtesy and copyright Bob and Julie Royce.