Spent
the night with Rachel at our friends' house, Mike and Melanie. Had a
nice night watching football and had some beers and ice cream before
getting to bed. Our flight was at 7:00am, so we planned on getting to
bed early since we wanted to be at the airport at 5:30. However,
Cloud Atlas was on cable, and I got sucked in, so I didn't go to bed
until about 2:30. I didn't have any trouble getting up since I was
super excited for the trip, but had only gotten about 2.5 hours of
sleep.
We
got to the airport, got through security in about 20 minutes and I
got a crappy Pizza Hut egg pizza and then we were off to Charlotte
for our connecting flight. Charlotte's airport was pretty cool, lots
of open areas with live plants, rocking chairs? and some interesting
décor. Rachel and I got some tacos at a taqueria and hurried to our
plane. They were calling our names as we walked up to the counter.
The
flight to Grand Cayman was about 2.5 hours from there and I
identified Cuba on our way over it. Rachel was so excited to be on
this trip, it was a privilege to be able to experience it with her.
We
land in the Caymans and it is 80 degrees and a little humid. My
sweatshirt was definitely out of place. The airport was small,
quaint, but pretty cool. Our plane landed on the strip, then pulled
180 degree turn and parked. Not sure why, maybe one way in, one way
out type thing. We walked down a staircase they wheeled up to the
door and onto the tarmac made of brickwork. They had a 2 piece band
playing live music as we walked into the airport. Pretty cool. Got
through immigration and customs with not too much trouble and we were
met by our driver from the hotel.
My
name was spelled wrong on the sign, making it the third time, and
every time, this has happened to me. Sidney, a Caymanian, was a very
interesting driver. He had little grey curls hanging out the back of
his black fedora. Most native Caymanians are very dark skinned,
African looking.
He
gave us quite the tour on the 20 minute drive to our hotel. #3 in
scuba diving in the world, #5 in banking, low crime rate, 98%
literacy, excellent education, population 55,000, over 100
nationalities represented, etc. We stopped by a few sites of note,
went through downtown Georgetown, the capital, and then onto our
hotel. We noticed right off the bat that they have wild chickens
running all over, pretty neat. Very “islandy” stucco type
housing, palm trees, very tropical. Reminded me a lot of Hawai'i.
Our
hotel is a dive resort called Cobalt Coast. Rachel and I took scuba
lessons in November and got our schoolwork and pool training done in
Omaha. We need 4 open water dives with an instructor and we are
certified scuba divers. We get to Cobalt, they welcomed us at the bar
with paperwork and a free drink. I had a dark and stormy and we go to
ur room. #17. We are right on the water, it is gorgeous! The room is
great. Living room, fridge, desk, bathroom, large bedroom, 2 TVs,
etc.
We
settled in, had a couple drinks at the bar and went to dinner after
watching the sunset from the dock. Gorgeous. The hotel has about 20
rooms, a pool, dive shop, bar, restaurant, and cabanas across the
street. There are neighborhood dogs that wander around and hang out
all over the block. They like the hotel though. One named Ivan,
coincidentally also the name of the last hurricane to hit the island
in 1996, stayed by our table while we ate our dinner.
Dinner
consisted of several choices on the menu. I had conch fritters,
mahi-mahi, and key lime pie. Rachel had lobster bisque and salmon.
Not so much. The fritters were ok, but the conch was tough and the
texture was a bit off. The bisque tasted like seafood/beef gravy.
Both fish dishes were overdone, and the pie didn't taste like lime
and the crust was cheap tasting.
We
walked down the street and looked at the stars and stretched our legs
after dinner, then came home and went to bed.
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