The Cayman Islands

   In a previous post I detailed a cruise my wife and I took to Jamaica a few years back.. After leaving Montego Bay we sailed one day and the following morning arrived at George Town, Grand Cayman Island. As the ship neared the coast we could see commercial lights along the shore, and fittingly for us, the first establishment to come into view was a Harley-Davidson dealer.

     Yes we were on a Carnival ship... 'the Conquest', and it was a dream. Smooth sailing all the way and no problems to report. When we arrived at George Town there were several other cruise ships there and they park them side by side, and smaller pilot boats come out to ferry passengers to shore. The Cayman Islands were established by pirates several centuries ago, but they play up the pirate theme now. We made arrangements and got to go out on a pirate ship to sail around the cruise ships with the pirate crew in command. 

   In these two photos you can see my wife fraternizing with the crew of the pirate ship. The top photo is the captain of this band of renegades and in the lower photo she has taken a turn at the wheel as she uses her womanly charms on the helmsman. I fell victim to those same charms many years ago. The water is so clear you can actually see the bottom here, but the captain assured me it was over sixty feet deep otherwise the big ships in the background would be aground. 

   If Momma can flirt with the crew I figure I can do the same. This is Mary,..a wench onboard to service the crew. Actually she was serving rum to the passengers who wanted to partake. Naturally, she and I got to be good friends immediately and for the duration of the trip. She and her boyfriend worked on the pirate ship, she as the wench and he as a deckhand. This is her boyfriend, Rain, doing a backflip from the yardarm. 

   Bottom photo is Rain...displaying a smile that captivated all the ladies onboard. We got his email address and sent photos of Mary and he that we took. Nice couple.
   

    We were not the only 'pirate ship' making the rounds and above you can see another ship passing by our Carnival Conquest. In the far right of the photo are several of the smaller boats to shuttle passengers to shore...and naturally they all display the Jolly Roger as their flag.  Arghhhh !
   The weather in the Caymans was similar to Jamaica and rarely gets out of the 60-80 degree range, but as I said in the posting on Jamaica, they are the direct path of hurricanes coming through the Caribbean Sea.

   We did discover Jimmy Buffett's hangout before leaving the island. He was NOT there at the time of our visit and the bartender refused to let me drink on Jimmy's tab. They do mix a mean Margarita there and I highly recommend them.
   All too soon it was time to depart Grand Cayman and we had to watch this beautiful island disappear behind us. I can't even attempt to describe this lovely island, but if you are in the market for a cruise destination, this is the place to visit. I can't think of a single negative thing to say about the Cayman's. It was a little bit of heaven here on earth.