Cay Man

We got back late Wednesday night from Cay Man (that's how they say it- with the emphasis on both syllables). A fantastic week, but not long enough. It rained and the wind blew for the first 4 days (and it's supposed to be the driest season right now- we seem to be able to affect any weather, any where).

A view from our balcony out to the beach- and rain.

This is where we stayed- right on the beach. We were on the left hand side 5th window back , on the middle level. The apartment was really nice and had the most comfortable bed.

We hired this funny little skinny van for the week. They drive on the left hand side of the road in Cayman and having got my license over here in the US, I was a little scared about driving. I did once- to the supermarket and had to take Oscar for moral support. I kept putting on the windscreen wipers.

The kids and I spent a lot of time hanging out on the beach as Matt had a few meetings. Even though the weather wasn't the best to begin with, they had so much fun snorkeling and playing in the sand.
This cover for Kit's arm was a God send- he swam EVERY single day- in the sea, in the pool, he played in the sand. It was brilliant.

Ella and I made it our job to make a sand creation every day. This one was Sand City. We had lots of people stopping and admiring it.

There are bits of coral all over the beach and they make fantastic additions to sand castles.

The kids became obsessed with coconuts. Remi shimmied up a tree to get this one while we were having dinner on the beach. They spent ages trying to husk it until the waitress took pity on them and showed them how to do it.

Inside was a tiny coconut they named "Mon". He became the trip mascot.

The apartments where we were staying were right next door to the Marriot. Matt met a guy he knew on the way down and caught up with him (I tell you, EVERYWHERE we go). And on the other side happened to be our friends who looked after us last time we were down. They have an 8 year old girl, so one night Ella had a sleep over and Oscar babysat them, Remi and Kit stayed home and the parents went out to dinner.

The colour of the water is amazing- and so changeable. Here I was trying to take a photo of Oscar's eyes which were the exact colour of the water.

Oscar was more into making mud castles.

This is Ella and my second creation- coral henge.

Even though the weather wasn't great to begin with, we did get some great sunsets later on.

Iguanas are all over the island. But the Blue Iguana is very rare. Remi and Ella found a statue of one...

The wreck of the 10 sails- we wrote a poem about this. On Saturday the weather was pretty bad, but we drove all around the island- stopping to see cool things. I think this works better as a dive site as we couldn't see any wrecks.

We went back to Kaibo for drinks on the beach. The kids discovered Shirley Temples. Apparently there's a Tasmanian working there!

The grave yards on Cayman are amazing- right on the beach; ALL of them. Just like this.

Here's the public beach access right next door.

My favourite photo from the trip...

Saturday afternoon Matt and the boys went to watch a local rugby game and picked up fresh fish from the fishermen on the way back. He BBQed it and we had fish tacos and watched the sun go down.

Playing with the self timer- I should have had us facing the sun.

On Sunday our friends took us out on their boat- it was a bit of a squeeze, especially as we brought the "viper" along- the inflatable that gets dragged along behind the boat.

We went back to Kaibo (much quicker on the boat) so that we could off load some of the passengers - the boat was too slow with all of us on. The viper was wicked.

Ella and Karinya did a great job. Matt, Oscar and Remi had come back wet when they fell off, but the girls stayed on. I even had a go. I was determined not to come off, but Gary caught me on a wave and I went over the front. My arms and chest were hurting for days from holding on so tight.

We then went in search of star fish...

...parked the boat on a sandbar and walked around to Rum point for lunch on the beach. This is the hot spot for Sunday lunch and there are bo

ats everywhere.

After a gorgeous lunch of more fresh fish we took the boat to Sting Ray Sandbar where we all got out to swim with Sting rays. Gary had to keep the boat running as the battery had gone flat over lunch. So there are no photos of the sting rays. The water was shallow on the sand bar and it's a huge tourist area- the sting rays float through the water like dark clouds. I was a little freaked out by it to be honest.

Then we moved right to the edge of the lagoon. The kids went over with their snorkels to look at the reef.

See those waves breaking? On the other side of that is the Cayman trench- it drops off to 2500 feet. The waves actually keep you in the lagoon, so the kids were safe, but even so, I was impressed. It was still a little choppy out there, so they didn't last long.

But look at the colours of the water!

It was such a lovely day- and even though Kit wasn't allowed to ride the viper, he had a good day too.

See the iguana?

We had another fantastic dinner on the beach- this time I went with another friend to a very local place for takeaway- yummy- curried goat, oxtail and fish and chicken.

Our last night we walked up the beach to a great little restaurant. So gorgeous to sit out an eat like that.

And of course our last morning the weather was perfect- the sea was like glass. But as I came down the beach, I could see them all looking at something- well trying to. Itty bitty Jelly fish.

They stung a little bit- were more annoying than anything. Matt took the kids up to the pool, but Oscar and I braved it for a bit longer.

Gorgeous.

It was hard to come back, but we've hit the height of Spring here and it is so beautiful.

The kids of course are all dying to go back. We didn't get to do half the things we thought we would, but we still had such a lovely time.