Since it was overcast we decided to head into town. With four newbies I was up for the tour guide challenge!
We wasted away in Margaritaville for quite awhile – the service was terrible for the place being nearly empty!
All newbies must be officially welcomed to GCM!
The closest anyone on this trip would get to stingrays! I think Ed may have been a willing partner to join me at Sting Ray City!
We hit a couple of souvenir stores for shirts, shotglasses and koozies before heading back to the villa. Best koozie bought…”The last mosquito that bit me was hungover for a week!”
We did not see many real iguanas this trip so this was the only picture I got of one of the four legged natives!
Best koozie bought…”The last mosquito that bit me was hungover for a week!”
Day 2 did not look promising for a sunset. In fact everyone stayed on the porch (I refuse to say lanai!). I thought I would just walk to the beach for a “no sunset on Day 2 picture” and got quite a surprise!
I think it may have been an omen for Easter Sunday!
So off we went to La Dolce Vita! It is giving Casanova’s a run for the money as my favorite Italian restaurant on GCM. All they need is some guy playing a harp and it would be perfect! The food is delicious, the wait staff phenomenal, and the view from the porch is priceless! We ran into our friends from home, the Swieteks, who were having the last dinner of their trip. They were leaving to come back home the next day. They have a place at the Cayman Reef Resort and come down for spring break every year.
Limoncello for everyone!!!
Decadent is the only word to describe this!
Easter Sunday looked very promising! We went to a great mass at Christ the Redeemer in West Bay to start the morning. Fr. Paul and the choir put a little pep in everyone’s step with a very uplifting celebration! We had breakfast in the villa and spent the day at the beach and pool! We ended the day with a great dinner prepared by Debbie, Kay & Eileen! Ed and I handled clean-up duty!
In most of my previous trip reports, I would take a picture of the snob floats in front of the Ritz as we took our morning beach walks. As they say “when in Rome…”
Debbie & the kids got me a Nikon AW110 Coolpix camera for my birthday. It has underwater capabilities along with color specific options. What a cool camera!
Black & white highlighting only the blue!
Wait a minute…could that actually be Pete on the beach near water? And the water actually touches him? The challenge was on!
The newest toy on GCM…the waterjet pack! This was pretty cool to watch!
No, it doesn’t quite get that high!
The Easter Sunday sunset…
Hey! How did he get in here???
Rockin’ out to some oldies to end a perfect Easter Sunday!
A very promising start to Day 4 on Monday. Another beach day and the official debut of the underwater camera!
First visitor of the trip!
It actually cleared out a little bit from the far too crowded “for me” Ritz! It was the first morning that we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to reserve pool lounges!
I can never remember what these blue fish are called…
The winning underwater pic…
Pretty busy day in port…
Deb and her noodle return from the snorkeling adventure. She took Kay, Eileen and Ed down to the Governor’s Beach where they had a field day looking at the fish. I was limited to walking on the beach because of my new hip. I offered my camera but no one took me up on it. They said they saw some spectacular fish.
We had to get a picture on a $600 day bed. Of course we waited until they took the sheets off and the booze out of the mini-fridge so we wouldn’t get charged!
Kay wanted to try conch fritters so we had a couple of cocktails and appetizers at Bar Jacks.
Serious discussion about the Final Four…
Sunset and Duke’s for dinner…
One-legged blackbird chowing down on coconut shrimp…
Someone was having a romantic dinner…
Nice sunset…
We were headed to the Sunshine Grill but the former best kept secret on the island is no longer a secret! A two hour wait! They need to consider taking reservations or they will turn off people from even attempting to go there. It was my biggest disappointment of the trip!
So off to Duke’s which was on the schedule for Tuesday night…
What happens in the Caymans…
Back on the porch for a nightcap…
Ed & Eileen were leaving on Wednesday morning so Tuesday was spectacular! The four of them rented wave runners at the Westin (yes Pete actually got in the water) and had a great time.
Then off to the Calypso Grill for lunch and the debut of Sticky Toffee pudding for the group! These tarpon must be cousins to the fellas at The Wharf!
You did not want your fingers anywhere near Kay and that pudding!
With my best friend!
No trip would be complete without a visit to HELL!!!
The grand finale for Tuesday night was the sunset sail with Sail Cayman! It is one of the annual highlights of the trip! Even last year’s Gilligan adventure was unique!! This year’s skipper was O’Neil and he very patiently answered all 1,000 questions thrown at him by his inquisitive passengers! Why he didn’t make us walk the plank will remain a mystery to this day! I think a few of the newbies were a little leery at first but O’Neil reassured them it was safe and off we went from the Cayman Yacht Club!
Eileen still wasn’t too sure if this was a great idea as we broke into the North Sound from the marina harbor…
Pete seemed relaxed. He even took over as O’Neil raised the sail.
The one that got away was this big…
Here we go…
Ed’s turn…
Eileen is now in full “this was a great idea” mode…
Eileen has a new friend…
Debbie has come a long way from wanting no part of being on the “open” sea…
Oh yeah, the sunset…
Take us home skipper…
We wrapped up the perfect day with some card tricks from Ed. He does magic tricks for kids that are in local hospitals in Chicago, especially in the isolation wards. Debbie was convinced she figured them all out!! It was sad to see them leave and a pleasure to get to know them!
Is this your card?
Is this it?
Deb thinks she has it figured out…
Wednesday was another perfect day! Pool not too crowded, Pete was out early, sea was calm and I learned how to use the panorama setting!
Another popular GCM sport…
Hmmmmm, who’s crocs and socks could those belong to???
Psssst, hey buddy, wanna buy some insurance??
See ya!
Wednesday sunset…
Off to Casanova’s to see Eugenio…
I love this panorama setting! Kay, Deb & Pete in the middle…
Casanova’s-by-the-Sea and Eugenio Leon and his Paraguayan harp! And the food is not too shabby either!
Oh Danny Boy…
I did it My Way…
He’s pretty good Pete!
Groupies waiting for Eugenio to finish up…
Genie told us he was trying to cut down his wine consumption to one bottle per night! The man is hilarious!!!
Back on the porch at the villa sipping a little wine…
And now, the end is near! Final perfect day spent at the pool reading, swimming along with two huge surprises!
Debbie & Kay sent this to Ed & Eileen…
Off to Eats for breakfast then back to the final day of the pool and sea….
This little guy cracked me up! He kept trying to do cannonballs but kept going in face first! He was a persistent little guy as he did this at least a half-dozen times!
He’s outside, that’s good…
Last time I’ll ever be in a snob float…
Wait, another visitor to the snob float?
What is that?
Not that!
Are my eyes deceiving me?
Is that who we think it is?
Oh-My-God!
Let’s get some beers!
You could not have surprised me anymore if you told me I won a Cayman condo, than to see Pete in the water from more than the ankles up! I accomplished my goal!
But wait, a final surprise from Eugenio and his wife Denora…two dozen homemade empanadas!!! Mmmm, mmm, mmm! Thank goodness we were leaving the next morning or I would have eaten the entire batch!
The final sunset was a good one. We ate dinner at the poolside bar and made it an early night as we had the cab coming at 5:00am Friday morning.
I got a peaceful, easy feelin’…
