patriciawatt

The Cayman’s hold a special place in my heart and I was really looking forward to this return visit after…. ahhhh… too many years to think about.

I was not disappointed.  It is still a beautiful island, with lovely beaches and turquoise water and lots of tropical fish.  it also has an important turtle rehab and rescue farm.  You can snorkel, scuba, swim with the mantas, or just sit back and enjoy a delicious rum punch on the beach.  Seven Mile beach – title photo –  still seems to be the place to be, even though it is dotted with condos and apartments.

The downtown area has grown since my last visit, but in a nice way.  It feels clean and fresh, unlike some of the other Caribbean islands we visited when we started this marvelous journey six month ago.  There are lots of Canadian banks there, so I really started to feel I was almost home.  It is considered to be a major off-shore financial haven for international businesses and the wealthy.

The Caymans are made up of three islands, Little Cayman, Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac.  It is a British Crown Territory and has a population of approximately sixty thousand.  I spent the day snorkelling at two different locations, and was not disappointed.  Although, I now think there is no where that can hold a candle to French Polynesia.  Afterwards Judy and I found a lovely restaurant, Rackham’s, overlooking the water, where we could watch and feed the fish – Tarpin – and boats and swimmers.

Back on board, we were told to keep our bathing suits on and meet on the pool deck. The next thing I knew, we were all jumping in the pool.  Some of us with beach attire, but many with shirts, and pants and dresses and sunglasses and hats and uniforms….  77 “sophisticated world travellers” began to act like 10 year olds at a birthday party….. including our cruise director Ray, GM Damien, our senior concierge Connie, the band and many others.  What fun!!

Someone said we should have done this on the first day to “break the ice”.  I really think we didn’t need a lot of motivation for that.  We gelled pretty quickly as a group, and if not before Cape Town, then certainly at that great unforgettable ATW party that had us all up dancing and singing the night away, way back when.

It is getting really busy on board now as we get down to our last couple of days.  Lots of hugs and kisses and some tears are starting already.  In six months together, we have made some beautiful new friends and we know they will be special for years to come.  Many have already booked future ATW cruises together and are looking forward to great reunions.

I had booked the second half of the ATW 2019 cruise starting in May from Dubai to Miami.  I have never been through the Suez Canal and it seemed like a good opportunity.  But then another opportunity presented itself.

On board friends, Helen & Norm have organized a Trans Siberia Railroad trip, also starting in May.  This is something I have always wanted to do and so I cancelled the ship and booked the train.  Now we have around eight others from the cruise who are also going to be joining us.  I am a firm believer that one should always have something to look forward to, and I am so excited about doing this.  Bonus – doing this trip with friends from the ship.  Thank you Helen & Norm for doing all the “leg work”.    How wonderful.