Living in Grand Cayman

One of the great pleasures about being in Cayman is to have guests over. I recently had the privilege of having my dad over for a week.  Its obviously different from “back home” where we see our friends and family for a day or less most of the time. So when in Cayman, we get to spend lots of quality time with our loved ones and in a great place.

I also got to discover something new about my 77 year old dad: The man is a snorkeling manic!  He had only snorkeled once in his life before (in Cayman a few years back, but not in ideal conditions) This time we did it right and started with easy stuff and moved on to bigger and better snorkeling.  What a great time we had!

Here is a great shot of us in the very calm waters that week-end – we were really lucky as the conditions were close to perfection. Although he’s a good swimmer, I insisted he wear a life vest for which he did not put up much of a fuss 🙂

We also got to see some lovely turtles at Spotts Beach

As well as all kinds of coral formations with plenty of fish!

Here is a short video of him snorkeling at Cemetery Beach – with all the fish around, its easy to see why he had such a good time.

What do to after all that exercise in the water?  Head over to CayBrew for a cold beer of course 🙂

We our course went to the beach, the Crystal caves, a Sunday brunch, the Submarine,etc.  Essentially to many of the things residents don’t really do unless we have friends or family in town. Of course, each time i’m more than happy to do them all over again and again.

Many locals have been following the whole UK “Brexit” from the European Union with much interest.  Its widely known that the Queen has waning influence in the island and that some local politicians are looking north, about 500 miles north for new opportunities in the wake of the UK’s historic departure from the EU!

So it was announced two days ago that a closer link to the US will be sought after – ideally joining NAFTA – the free trade deal between the US, Mexico & Canada. That deal is currently being renegotiated so the timing to get Cayman included in the deal was right.  In fact, during one of US President Trump’s week-ends at his Florida estate, he came for a series of quick meetings with local officials to indicate his support in including the Cayman Islands in the Free trade agreement, stating that he loves our local Rum and Stingray City.

Here is the President with the local minister of foreign affairs, Bobby Conner.  Things are sure looking up for Cayman exports!

In future years, there is room for negotiation on Cayman getting a status not unlike the US Virgin Islands as a sort of “Quasi US state”.  It makes sense, we already use the US$ so we already have a foot in the door so to say.  That would also allow major chains such as McDonald’s, Walmart and Hooters to open stores in Cayman.

According to local reports, the second wave of the negotiations to become part of the USA will start on April 1st. 2018 – next April Fools day 🙂