Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

Grand Cayman Travelog #5
At the Westin, Grand Cayman - Mon, 15 May 2023, 10pm

It's been a pretty good first day here on Grand Cayman. Though we didn't finish lunch until sometime after 2 we made good use of the rest of the day, striking a fine balance between relaxing and enjoying things.



First up we headed outdoors. The skies were cloudy, threatening rain, but the air was plenty warm so we figured we'd enjoy it as long as we could. We walked past the hotel's pool and hot tubs, planning to come back to them later. Our first order of business was the beach.



We got a great pair of lounge chairs on the beach. The hotel has a team of "beach ambassadors" to manage assignment of chairs. I figure that's to solve the problem that exists at many resorts of people rushing out early in the morning to reserve a chair by throwing a folded towel on it, then leaving it there all day long while they do other things. We also placed our towels on our chairs to do other things— but other things for us was to get in the water right in front of our chairs!

The ocean here at 7 Mile Beach is walk-in warm. It's not bathtub warm, the kind that requires no acclimation, but acclimation was fast and easy. The water's also calm and very clear. As I was wading in 5' deep water I could see straight down to the white sand at my feet.

As we waded in the ocean we met up with a pair of colleages who were doing the same. The four of us talked "shop" and travel for a whle, until it was almost time to get out and dry off. We went back up to our chairs to sit for a bit. Alas the cloudy skies with humid warmth weren't enjoyable for just sitting around to soak up the sun, so we picked and moved to one of the hot tubs.

After a good soak in the hot tub we went up to our room to recharge for the evening event. We got to the room around 4:30pm, showered and changed, and then relaxed until just before 6pm. At 6 we went downstairs for a reception dinner.

The evening soirée was nice. The food was at least decent, and the drinks (and the food) were free. Our group was a bit on the small side. I don't think we had more than around 25 people there— and that includes employees who made club plus all our +1s. It felt like at best two-thirds of the people who should be here. Of course, at least two people are still MIA from weather related flight cancellations last night. But more than that, a number of club winners weren't able to make this trip because the date was only announced 5 weeks ago. For example, one of my colleagues already had a two-week trip to Italy booked.

Those of us who are here had a fine time, though. After the caterers shut down the bar in the reception room, the head of our department urged us all to move over to the hotel's beach bar. After that shut down we all moved inside to the lobby bar. 😂 Well, we didn't all move at each step. There was some attrition each time. The hour felt later than it was. For example, the beach bar closed at 9. To a lot of us it already felt like 10 or 11.

I had one more drink with the team indoors then called it a night. It's only 10pm now but this seems like a good time to wind it down. Hawk and I have plans to get up early tomorrow for breakfast then visit the beach again before we leave for a snorkeling trip just after noon!

Grand Cayman Travelog #7
On the water off Grand Cayman - Tue, 16 May 2023, 2pm

This afternoon we went on one of the organized outings of our group trip. Normally we prefer not to do group excursions, but this one a) was a group of my colleagues, people I know, and their +1s; b) was paid for by the company; and c) was an opportunity to go snorkeling— something I've never done before— with guides to help.

The boat motored out across the bay on the north side of Grand Cayman. I could tell by watching the water we passed over that it was not very deep. Mostly it maintained a light green/aquamarine hue, and we could more or less see the white sand bottom. One of the guides explained that until we hit the reef establishing the northern edge of the bay the water's generally no more than 20' deep.

Up ahead I could see it got even shallower than that. It got to about 2-3' deep— though we were at least a mile from the nearest shore— and I could see dark rocks almost breaking the surface. ....Except they weren't rocks. They were moving. They were stingrays!



It turns out stingrays are generally gentle creatures. And like a lot of creatures, they react well to getting their bellies rubbed. The ray in the picture above is "Chip"; she's a female in the school of rays living in this area that's recognizable because of a notch in her right fin from an injury year ago. Female rays are much larger than males. Chip here is almost 6' across. Males are generally only 2-3' across. Chip is also pregnant. That bulge in her topside toward the rear is where she's pregnant with a litter. Stingrays are fish and related to sharks but have live birth.