Yes, it really was that special.

This was the photo I took on Thursday morning right before our car came to pick us up for the airport. We were a bit worried about getting there on time, about the plane taking off, but as it turned out, everything went smoothly.

Especially as we were flying first class all the way and got priority check in, priority lines to go through security and looked after so well on the plane. Now, THAT'S the way to travel. SIGH.

The flight down to Miami was great. I could see out the window, all down the coast. I adore seeing the land from the air. I was so spell bound and have all sorts of ideas in my head about a series of paintings looking at the land- the difference between the wild, unspoiled meandering rivers and the controlled, contrived landscape of development. Plus, it's so awesome to SEE the country. It's a BIG country, and we're never going to even see a small part of it by land- it's fantastic to see it from the air. By the time we flew out of Miami, the sun was setting and that in itself was spectacular.

We arrived on Grand Cayman in the dark. While we were waiting for our bags to come in, I turned around and noticed Matt talking to a girl. I went over, and she turned out to be a girl he used to work with in Sydney when they both started at the law firm there- 13 years ago. She couldn't believe he remembered her. She's living in the Caymans now, and they exchanged details- she took us out for breakfast on Saturday morning. EVERYWHERE we do, Matt knows someone- it's a little freaky. Unfortunately Matt's co worker and his wife who were traveling with us lost a suitcase, so there was a bit of waiting around (in the gorgeous outside balmy air) while paper work was filled in and before we could get a cab. That meant it was quite late by the time we got to the hotel, so we couldn't really see the lovely view. Matt and I got upgraded to an ocean side room, and the first thing we did was put our bathers on and go down for a swim on the beach in the dark. Even in the dark, you could see how clear the water was. I couldn't comprehend that it was actually SALTY SEA water and not pool water it was so clear. But salty it was and just divine. By then it was 10:30 or so, but we had a quick shower and went and had some dinner in the sushi restaurant in the hotel.

In the morning we woke up to see the view from our room...

We had breakfast and then Matt went off to his board meeting. I was quite happy to settle myself down on the beach for the morning. The hotel had lounges out there and they set them up with towels and brought you drinks. I sat and read and watched the ever changing blues of the sea.

It was quite a cloudy day and the difference in the colours when the sun came out was astounding. Matt came down after his meeting and we happily passed the morning away on the beach. We caught a cab to a local place for lunch- actually it is apparently Tiger Woods favourite restaurant on the island. It wasn't posh, but it was yummy. We shared the signature "lobster pot" dish- lobster and crab. Very yummy. We were right on the beach (although indoors, unfortunately) and watched the heavens open in a down pour- and all the cruise ship passengers get ferried back to the boat. We had a bit of a nap when we got back to the hotel and then went back down to the beach to sit and watch the sun set.
I've never actually watched the sun go down in the west. I've always been on the EAST coast of everywhere. In fact it took me a while to even realise that I was facing west as I'm so used to looking east. We watched the cruise ship slip away, drank the most awesome pina coladas and had a dip in the sea in the dimming light. It was truely heavenly.

Oh, I had to get this photo of this sandcastle. I'd watched some kids and their grandfather working on this castle all day. The sand is so fine and clean and so lovely- you could make anything with it.
Then Friday night the four of us were taken out to dinner at the very posh restaurant in the hotel where we had ridiculous amounts of gorgeous food ( mostly sea food) and some very amazing wines. We met some really lovely people- an English guy and his Canadian wife, and Gary who had organised the trip for us (a South African) and his Canadian wife. It never ceases to amaze me how much commonality of experience there is between expats- particularly those from with in the commonwealth. It was a lovely evening.

On Saturday morning we woke to rain, but fortunately we met up with the girl from the airport for breakfast- once again, it just astounded me how much we had in common. It was fascinating hearing about life in the Caymans- they lost their house in hurricane Ivan. The rain had cleared by the time we got back to the hotel and we had to have another afternoon enjoying the beach- which is called, by the way, 7 mile beach. Then we were picked up by Gary and taken for a drive around the island. I snapped some photos from the car...

Then we stopped for a drink at this place right on the beach- this photo is looking back towards the hotel.
And saw the cutest little lizards. We'd seen some iguanas at the hotel that morning, but I didn't have my camera with me.
Then Gary took us to meet up with his wife and another co worker- a gorgeous local girl for an afternoon on a boat he'd hired. His boat was too small to fit us all in. Our captain's name- Hotshot. You have to say it in a Caribbean accent "huut shuut". Fantastic. We went across the bay on the east side of the island and put the anchor down close to shore. Then the first mate (a Zimbabwean) took each of us out for a spin on the jet ski.
Holy MOLY! That thing went FAST. Here it is rising out of the water as it accelerates. Matt went before me- apparently they got up to 75 miles an hour.
I was terrified- you had to hold the straps on his life jacket and my nails were digging into my hands. I don't think I breathed until we got back to the boat.
It was so awesome. Here we are on the boat. We were so close to land, but it dropped off really quickly.
Look at that- that's how close we were to the shore.
While we were anchored there, Matt spotted a Tarpon swimming close to the boat. We'd seen one when we had lunch at the lobster pot. He was so excited and captain Hotshot got him a rod and a piece of cheese as bait and they hooked it.
Matt struggled with it for a while, with it flipping around everywhere, then it jumped right out of the water and broke the line and swam away. Didn't matter- I think it was a highlight of the trip for Matt.
Then we moved out a bit further and the boys jumped in with snorkels to try and find the local star fish.
I was so beautiful. We had it out for a bit- amazing to feel them- it was hard and knobbly. I was frantically taking photos of it. Can't wait to paint it.
From there Hotshot sailed the boat around to a place on the beach called Kaibo. Just a hut really (that's Dean, Matt's colleague and Gary our generous host).
The started to go down while we stood on the sand and had a drink.

That's the dock we walked down to get to it.

Then back into the boat for a sail across the bay to a restaurant you can only reach by boat. As we went across the bay, a spectacular full moon started to rise up in front of us. Everyone went up to the front of the boat to see it, and I grabbed my camera to follow. Unfortunately, I'm not so good on boats in the dark when I'm looking up at the moon. I whacked my pinky toe into some kind of metal thing sticking up and broke it. Not a full blown break- probably just a little crack, but ridiculously painful just the same. Hence no photos of the gorgeous moon. We arrived at the second restaurant (I can't remember the name), I hobbled up the dock, into the restaurant (all bare foot- so wonderful) and promptly asked the waitress for a bucket of ice to put my foot into. And as much as I was in pain, we had another lovely sea food dinner.

Dean managed to get Matt and I with the moon in the background. Look at that! We sailed back so satisfied. It was truely one of the most special days I've ever had. Wonderful company, and I just felt so spoiled. We were looked after so well. I'm totally spoiled now. Who says money doesn't buy happiness- maybe not, but it does buy paradise!

Unfortunately our flight was first thing in the morning. We left the hotel in the dark and didn't get one last swim. The flight back wasn't quite so pleasant- I had my suitcase randomly searched before we left the island, we had to go through immigration in Miami which meant standing in lines, and Miami airport is enormous and walking that far with a broken pinky toe is anything but fun. I was worried I was going to get stopped and searched for drugs as I was shaking so much after the long walk. But once again we flew first class and that SOOOO makes up for all of that. But we didn't want to leave. Usually I'm ready to go home after a trip, but I just didn't even want to think about home while we were there. And it's so hard coming back to snow and cold after all that. It really was the best early birthday present for Matt and I. A trip of a life time. Which is why this post is so long- I want to remember everything.