George Town, Grand Cayman - Feb 27, 2015

Off the east coast of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica you will find the largest of the three Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman. Spanning 22 miles in length, this island offers five districts to discover with plenty of chances to enjoy the culture and catch some warm rays of sunshine. Some have been known to hide some money here in the Grand Caymans as it does house some 600 banks, yes six hundred. For us today it wasn't about money in banks but about banking some sun, internet time and a most enjoyable excursion of a discovery scuba dive. We had a wonderful half day here in the Grand Caymans. 

Earlier in the cruise I had signed up for the discovery dive here in George town only to receive a phone call yesterday morning from HAL having to cancel the program. I was disappointed but knew that could be a chance of happening. Later in the afternoon the phone rang again and once again HAL pulled a rabbit out of the hat and ran the program with just me signed up, amazing, thanks once again HAL and Ingrid at Shore-ex. Coincidently, it was Ingrid that was managing the Shore excursions on the 2013 Grand Voyage when they ran the program and had only me a participant, hmmm. Was this different than the beginner dive in Rangiroa, yes, better or less than, no not really, if was just different. Remember I am still learning this amazing sport, any experience is welcomed. Danni at Don Foster's divers did a great job as my instructor, in fact she had me do some things that Thomas (instructor in Rangiroa) did for me. So it was great, Thomas gave me the basics and had me just enjoy the experience, Danni forced me to think much more down there, she did not weight and unweight me with the vest and had me learn to read the gauges and learn more of the under water communication skills. So you could really call it my second lesson in Scuba. We did start in a pool this time and graduated to the a beach (ladder off the dock) entry into the ocean. After about five minutes of hard pan we saw the shelf drop off and the reef allowing us to descend down to close to 40 feet. We did have one person join us from the ship as a walk in, he was a previous diver but did not bring his certification with him so he had to take the same class as was in. No problem, if anything he may have thought that I could have been a problem as a newbie. After our forty minute dive he was very impressed with how the dive went as was Danni, no problems, no complications, no issues. Great experience and this time I do have photos, yeah. 

Jan jumped on the 10 o'clock tender, did a little walk about, took some picture and then found a cafe with internet, so great. We met up after my dive experience for some more wandering around town before heading back to the ship. No, I did ask her, she did not open up a bank account - or at least that what she told me. lol.

If you are visiting this island there is plenty to do right off the tender dock. Walk over the 50 yards to the Paradise Bar and enjoy the view and free internet, better bring your snorkel gear and jump off the stairs for immediate great snorkelling. Seven mile beach is a four dollar shuttle bus ride away and the town itself has plenty of shopping, restaurants and bars to while away a day. Interested in doing the Atlantis submarine experience, well it is right there as well, right next to the north tender dock.

Hope you enjoy the days pictures…