While travelling has always played some part in my life, it was not until 2006 that i began taking it seriously. I was watching ‘The Prince and Me’, a chick-flick with Julia Stiles, when I noticed the map on the bedroom wall at her parents house. In it she had pins of all the places she wanted to go. Following that same idea, I went out and bought a large wall map of the world, but rather than place pins where I wanted to go, I began placing pins in the places I had already been (and later where I had went). I also made the goal to go somewhere new every year. It didn’t matter if that place was foreign or in the states, as long as I had never been there before.
My first two trips were a result of a mistake. A friend of mine had informed me of a discount airlines called Spirit Air. They have this $9 club, but they always have some sort of deal going on. Sometimes certain tickets are 9, .9, 29 or some amount ending with a 9. I checked it out and decided that the first new place I wanted to go was the Cayman Islands.
Here is where things went askew. At that time, I was not privileged enough to own a laptop. I had a desktop and my internet connection for one was not very good and the computer itself was crap. I was foolish enough to wait until late to buy my tickets because the computer started acting up. Go figure. Because of the lack of speed, I confusedly clicked twice which bought me two tickets. Naturally, the ticket were no-refundable and I had about 5 minutes before the deal ended and my computer was still giving me problems. I luckily was able to trade one of the tickets for a night in Cancun. Despite the stress my computer caused, something cool still happened. My receipt said I paid a much higher amount than what I actually paid. I didn’t have to pay the extra amount ever either. Lucky I know. I don’t suggest trying it though because I’m sure it was by freak chance that I was so lucky.
So this trip was the second of the trips. I went to the Cayman Islands on the 24th of April and returned on the 25th. Not much of a trip I know, but it was still nice to get away.
Something nice to remember is that the Cayman Islands are that, islands. There are multiple of them. When you are booking your hotel, make sure you verify which island it is on. I found this really great hotel and was very excited about it. When I landed on Grand Cayman, the main island, I was horrified to discover that the hotel was in fact on Little Cayman. I would have had to catch another flight over there and by the time I would have gotten there it would have been late and I would have wasted the entire trip. Thankfully, the help desk at the airport was able to help me find another hotel and get me there.
This hotel was nowhere as nice as the hotel I would have been staying at, but it was right on the beach and very chill. I was able to just dump my stuff there and head out to explore.
I wasn’t able to swim right away as I had stupidly forgotten to bring my swimming shorts. So I decided to take a walk down the Seven Mile Beach in search of a shop to buy one. It didn’t take long to find a shop (being that I was on an island and next to a beach) but the only real swimsuits they had were speedos. So I’m proud to say that I bought one. It wasn’t the typical crotchrocket kind, but the boxer brief kind. They are awesome. I still have them as well.
From there I caught a public taxi down the beach to Cayman Turtle Farm. That place was pretty cool. There were hundreds of turtles in the pools there. There was also a caiman in it’s own. Since I was there, the farm has grown into a complete interactive experience. There are two different tours you can go on: the Turtle Farm Only tour ($30) or the Full Experience tour ($45). If I was there again, I would definitely go on the Full Experience tour. There is so much to see there that the extra 15 dollars is a bargain.
From there I began searching for Hell. I sadly was unable to find it. I saw the signs for it, but somehow was still not able to find it. Most likely I was in it just didn’t realise it. It is definitely a place to visit when you go there. If you go by the public transport, you are more likely to find it than if you do what I did and try to find it on your own. Maybe I was just unlucky. Either way, I need to go back just so I can go there. And so I can scuba in Sting Ray City.
After a fruitless search, I caught the public transport and headed all the way to end of the line in the city. Georgetown is a very picturesque city. Being an old Caribbean port town, it had a wonderful, piratey feel. There were gem shops everywhere and I was even able to watch glass blowers in action. They were from England as well. I bought some of the glass for my family. I was sadly not able to visit the museum they had there as it was closed for renovation. Go figure.
The last activity I got to do was swim. Swimming there was incredible. The water was crystal clear and a really nice temperature. At some point I had to actually walk in the water so I just stood there and watched the tropical fish swim in an endless cycle back and forth. It was so relaxing. That was until I cut my foot and saw something big (not huge but bigger than the little fish I had been watching) splash not 15 feet away. Terrified me and I got out as quickly as possible. I really didn’t want to die there.
Overall, I love the Cayman Islands. There is still one half of the island that I still have yet to see as well as some of the other islands. While it is beautiful and an incredible place to vacation, I suggest planning on some diving or getting yourself certified for diving or otherwise you will quickly run out of land activities to do. Sting Ray City is by far a must do for divers. I wish I had done it while I was there, but as I will go back I will do it then 😉
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From the Mind of C.E. Tracy 