Today, as the memory of a tough passage starts to fade, we decided to hire a car for the next 3 days to have some fun touring around the island.
It started off by me walking to the airport to pick up our rental car ....it is only an 8 minute walk from our Marina...don't worry, I have not gone native yet....getting close though. Was good to walk again, as Guds and I use to walk every morning together before work...mainly to talk about and plan our "future" trip that we are now living ;)
Of course got a bit hosed at the rental car with all the extras, as we no longer have any car insurance we use to carry in the States...of well, what you gonna do ;) Drove it back to the marina and loaded the team Cool Runnings crew into the minute Kia Picalo and were about to take off when we saw another boat coming into dock in strong winds. We could tell they were struggling so all hopped out to help them dock before taking off again.
Basically there is one long road around the island that runs along the coast. What a beautiful drive!!!! The water is just spectacular. Our 1st stop was at the "blowholes" which was pretty cool. Ben and Gaby got some impromptu lessons on blowholes, fossils in the rocks etc.
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| Blowhole |
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| Learning about fossils and blowholes |
Next stop was "Wreck of 10 Sails"...a memorial site along the ocean front from a small cliff overlooking the ship wreck site of a vessel that wrecked there in 1794!!!! My mind raced with images of those poor souls and how brave they were to sail the ocean with essentially nothing compared to how we now sail (gps, autopilots, digital chart plotters, radar, water makers etc).
We stopped at a few other spots along the road, and eventually made it all the way around to "Rum Point" and then finally "Starfish Point" This place was awesome...huge starfish just under the surface....we waded out and picked a few up (yes its permitted, despite my rule enforcing Gaby's protests that we should not pick one up!). Oh well another good learning opportunity and the kids were fascinated eventually touching, holding and examining them before putting them down and watching as they scurried along. We spent some time here and then eventually started heading back home.
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| Hanging out at Rum Point |
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| Starfish Point |
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| Absolutely incredible...crystal clear water with beautiful starfish! |
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| A close look at the starfish |
One other memorable stop was a single bench overlooking a deserted beach, with a shade sail hung above.....I conveniently had no glasses at the time so could not make out what the sign said as I sat down to enjoy the view. After later zooming in on the pic I discovered it said "Private Property"....oooppps sorry!!!
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| Yes, Dave...it says "Private Property" |
On our way back we found this beautiful tiny little shack on the beach that a couple of locals seem to be queuing up for take away. So we stopped and walked up to check it out. I must say we did look a little out of place, but what the hell....when in Rome!!! So we ordered up some fried Mahi Mahi, and the lady cooking directed me to the gas station across the road for beer/wine as she sold no alcohol. Off I went and came back with a six pack and dinky wine bottle for Guds. This place is literally on the beach complete with rickety wooden tables/benches, chickens walking around etc. VERY COOL setting. We sat down and enjoyed some out of the way real local cooking.
Video link below of our dinner on the beach described above...place was called "GrapeTree Cafe":
Team Cool Runnings beach dinner - Cayman Islands video
We stopped at another couple of spots along the way before finally hitting a super market to replenish a few stocks.
That's about it for today's update....made it back to the boat around 8.30pm exhausted!!!!! Time to hit the sack and recharge those lithium ion batteries ;) Thanks as always for the comments, and great to hear from everyone! A few more pics from today:
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| Near The Reef Resort on East End |
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| Those Starfish were just amazing |
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| No caption needed...! |
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| Our 12 year old - just because Guds loves this picture of him! |
PS: Gary and Brenda....we have some pics we want to email you of your boat in Dry Tortugas, but don't have your email....we left you a comment under your comment on yesterdays blog post ;)
Hi Hibberd Family! I cannot believe Ben is 12? And Gabby looks so beautiful as well. Everyone is growing up:) The stories are great and I love every picture. It is so great living your story every week with you - thank you for including us:) Miss you all and so happy you are doing great! Guds, Vegas was not the same without you!
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