Living in Grand Cayman

One of the “wilderness” activities in Cayman is the Mastic trail.  We know many people that had done this relatively easy hike, so figured we had to do it!

The trail starts/ends near Frank Sound Road (The road the crosses the island) and on the North Side on the drive to Rum Point.  The trail is about 2 miles long and is not a loop, so whatever you walk, you will have to walk back unless you park a car at each end.  Julie & I walked about 3/4 of the way starting  from the North side.

The trail is the red line below.  If you go, you will see the signs that are easy to see if you are looking for them.

The trail took us into relatively thick woods.  However, due to (I assume …) hurricanes in the past years, most trees where very short.

Quite a few pretty flowers & plants to be seen.  A word of caution: we were told to wear long pants since there are some venomous plants along the trail. Beware of what you touch.

We saw two rather large snakes during our 1.5h hike.  No worries … there are no venomous snakes in the Cayman Islands 🙂

A woodpecker! I had no idea they had these here. We heard a few Cayman Parrots, but did not actually see any.  If you are lucky, you can also see blue iguana’s along the trail.  In summary, if I were in Cayman for only a week, it would probably not be at the top of my to-do list. However, if you are here for a while and want something different than the beach as well as a leisurely stroll, the Mastic trail is a lovely afternoon activity. Oh, and there are no entry fees!

Long time no post!  I have been extremely busy at work, traveling and enjoying the beach with my wife & in laws who just went back to Canada a few days ago.

We had a great time with them as do most expats when family comes to visit.  Here is a family picture at Spotts beach.   Notice Bijou, our lovebird on Julie’s shoulder 🙂

One of my travel destinations took me to the Island of St-Lucia!  WOW.  What a nice place. Unfortunately I only had one day to see the island. However, I took full advantage of it.

Here are the most recognizable landmarks of St-Lucia (and a UNESCO world heritage site), the “Pitons”.

At Soufrière, there is a dormant (or semi-dormant if you ask me) and very smelly volcano.   It smells like a million rotten eggs but is super interesting.  You can see the hot steam and bubbling mud in the pits. Definitely something you do not see everyday.

Final picture from St-Lucia ; there are 10 or so natural waterfalls around the island like this one.  Its refreshing and lots of fun! I think you will agree.

The title of this post is “Bio-bay” which is a definite highlight and discovery we made in Cayman just 2 weeks ago.  The Bio bay Kayak tour is as follows.  From the Kaibo yacht club (Near Rum point for those unfamiliar with Kaibo), you leave just after sundown on sea kayaks for a +-45 minute paddle. You follow the shoreline and the guide/owner Tom who really knows his stuff, so no danger at all even though its dark. The real payoff is once you reach a closed bay.

The water becomes bioluminescent when you move the water such as with your paddle or hand!  Seriously … we were all freaking out! 🙂 Its amazing and totally not what you would expect.  You unfortunately cant take a picture of the phenomenon since it apparently does not come out.  In any case, I highly recommend you try it out.  Its well worth the price and the evening drive to the North side.  Just make sure that you are able to paddle a Kayak for 2X45 minutes (there and back) Below is the link to the Web site.  Tell Tom that Micho sent you!

http://caymankayaks.com/bio-baytour.html

Happy new year everyone!!!

I wish everyone health, happiness  & prosperity in the new year.   Lots of fireworks here in Grand Cayman last night. As soon as the clock hit midnight, we went out side to see the numerous firework displays.  There were lots in our neighborhood, but we could also see those all the way in George Town & elsewhere. They lasted till around 12:30.

About that prosperity thing above, it would seem that those prospering enjoy spending new years in Cayman.  Cant really blame them! Here is a quick picture of the private jet parking at the airport. I counted around 15 or so Lears, Challengers & Gulfstreams.  Normally there are only 2-3 at any given time.

I had the opportunity today to do something I had wanted to do for a while. I doubt many locals actually do this : walk the whole 7-mile beach from one end to the other.

This morning, along with Julie & my in-laws, we started just north of George Town, near Treasure Island condo’s where the beach starts all the way to West Bay public beach. We were armed with plenty of water and sunscreen lotion.

Below is what we walked ; from the lower point to the one near the top.

Most of the beach is pristine sand, simply a gorgeous beach. Near West Bay it gets rocky sometimes.  Its actually quite pretty if you ask me.  Beware though, its slippery! My years of playing ice hockey came in handy on one particularly slippery bit.

I definitely liked this place and the “staircase to the beach”!

Reminders of Hurricane Ivan and its destructive forces.

The end! West Bay public beach. Very pretty place.

It took us 2h45 minutes from one end to the other walking a “medium” pace with two short stops for swims to cool off and to drink water. Very easy to get dehydrated in this climate.  At a brisk pace and with plenty of water it could probably be done in +-2h, but what’s the rush … such a pretty beach.

One final picture I took in West Bay … an orange Iguana. I had never seen anything like this one and quite frankly though it was fake/plastic when I saw it at first.  Somewhat camera shy, it only allowed me one picture and darted into the bushes.

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope that you are all enjoying time with family and friends as we are here in Cayman.  What a great place to be at this time of year.  Nice & breezy, not too hot, no hurricanes, etc.  There are lots of Christmas lights on homes and businesses, so people are in the festive mood. I even wore my amazing Christmas tie to work and saw someone with antlers on their head.  Speaking of antlers, here is Aipa with hers …

Christmas eve dinner was amazing and something you cant do back in Canada.  Sunset supper at the beach.  My mom in-law was taking the picture so is not in it, but as you can see it was pretty neat to dine like that at Spotts beach!

Later that evening we went to Crightons place on Shamrock St.  Very popular this time of year for the lights & all.  Its open to all and free admission.  Regular readers will remember pictures of this from last year.  Its so nice, that it deserves a second posting! 🙂

Here you can seen a general overview from the other side of the street and the traffic in the area due to many people stopping and parking their cars along the side of the street.

His house amongst the decorations.

One of the many very pretty theme displays.  The picture does not do them justice. They are hand crafted and have mechanical movement.  Very impressive.

More lights!

The path in/out of the property.

A final note.  While we were leaving the lights show, I saw a guy and he said “Thats Micho”. I had no idea what that meant or who he was!  Then, the guy and his wife introduced themselves as Damian & Traci, two of my blog readers who just recently moved to Cayman and who used my blog for some help. We had also exchanged some emails a few months ago!  How cool is that! 🙂 

It was great to meet you both and thanks for introducing yourselves to us!  My wife still cant believe that because of the blog you “picked” me out of a crowd!  Looking forward to seeing you again for drinks/dinner sometime in the new year!