Friday, August 16, 2019
Bradley's Birthday
Brittney and Michael did Bradley's 3rd birthday party a little bit early so they could do it before baby Bryce arrived. It was a swim party at Brittney's mom's house and the kids had fun.
Thursday, August 15, 2019
Final Day
Tuesday was home day so we got up early to snorkel one last time around our beach. On a couple different occasions throughout the trip we saw a turtle and a sting ray but today our exciting find was an eel! Madison spotted it and we enjoyed watching it slither around in and out of coral.
We couldn't leave the Caymans without going to Hell so we stopped by on the way to the airport. It's a small area of dark rocks and a popular tourist spot. We mailed post cards to our self and Gram and Grandad. The girls couldn't wait to tell people that they have been to Hell.
There were tons of roosters in Hell
I can't say enough good things about the Caymans. Every aspect of this trip was fantastic and it's one of those trips that we will compare every other trip to in the future. We are so used to going to an all-inclusive, which are wonderful, but this was a totally different experience. We loved leaving the condo to go on adventures each day and felt 100% safe doing it. Everyone spoke english and was super friendly, we could drink the water and not worry about getting sick, there weren't any sketchy people that we ever encountered, never once did we encounter an algae which is a big plus in my book, and the water most places everywhere but Spotts Beach was like glass. It sprinkled briefly at lunch one day but passed after a few minutes and the rest of the time was beautiful weather. All around it was a very family friendly place to go and we hope to go back some time. A few things that looked cool but we didn't get to do that I would put on the list for next time:
consider swimming with the dolphins
take a catamaran over to rum point for dinner-we called to try and do this but it was booked so need to make a reservation before we go
swimming at night with bio-luminescent algae got great reviews and was recommended by one of the locals at Eden Rock.
I would absolutely snorkel at Eden Rock and Spotts Beach again, and we would probably seek out another tour to Sting Ray City in hopes for calmer water. We used Sting Ray City Tours and I would consider using a different company next time. I absolutely loved the turtle farm and would go back there again too. They were the cutest!
Coral Stone Club was fantastic and our condo was both beautiful and spacious. It was perfect for us and we adored the screened in porch overlooking the ocean, all the condos had these. The 3rd floor was great but we would consider the 2nd floor for less stairs. There is an elevator but we didn't use it much. Snorkeling was great right out in front of the condo and the water was always super calm. You could rent paddle boards and do other things like para sailing and ride a banana boat but we were too busy snorkeling. The pool was not super fabulous but it was over looking the ocean and had an infinity edge so that was fun. We don't go for the pool so not a super big deal to us. There were not a ton of chairs but we never had a hard time finding a spot and you didn't have to rent them, they were open to grab what you needed. Supposedly summer time is the slow season so not sure if its always this quiet.
The only challenge was driving on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car and finding a parking place at dinner.
We used Avis car rental and they were fine. Not all cars have steering wheels on the wrong side of the car.
We couldn't leave the Caymans without going to Hell so we stopped by on the way to the airport. It's a small area of dark rocks and a popular tourist spot. We mailed post cards to our self and Gram and Grandad. The girls couldn't wait to tell people that they have been to Hell.
There were tons of roosters in Hell
I can't say enough good things about the Caymans. Every aspect of this trip was fantastic and it's one of those trips that we will compare every other trip to in the future. We are so used to going to an all-inclusive, which are wonderful, but this was a totally different experience. We loved leaving the condo to go on adventures each day and felt 100% safe doing it. Everyone spoke english and was super friendly, we could drink the water and not worry about getting sick, there weren't any sketchy people that we ever encountered, never once did we encounter an algae which is a big plus in my book, and the water most places everywhere but Spotts Beach was like glass. It sprinkled briefly at lunch one day but passed after a few minutes and the rest of the time was beautiful weather. All around it was a very family friendly place to go and we hope to go back some time. A few things that looked cool but we didn't get to do that I would put on the list for next time:
consider swimming with the dolphins
take a catamaran over to rum point for dinner-we called to try and do this but it was booked so need to make a reservation before we go
swimming at night with bio-luminescent algae got great reviews and was recommended by one of the locals at Eden Rock.
I would absolutely snorkel at Eden Rock and Spotts Beach again, and we would probably seek out another tour to Sting Ray City in hopes for calmer water. We used Sting Ray City Tours and I would consider using a different company next time. I absolutely loved the turtle farm and would go back there again too. They were the cutest!
Coral Stone Club was fantastic and our condo was both beautiful and spacious. It was perfect for us and we adored the screened in porch overlooking the ocean, all the condos had these. The 3rd floor was great but we would consider the 2nd floor for less stairs. There is an elevator but we didn't use it much. Snorkeling was great right out in front of the condo and the water was always super calm. You could rent paddle boards and do other things like para sailing and ride a banana boat but we were too busy snorkeling. The pool was not super fabulous but it was over looking the ocean and had an infinity edge so that was fun. We don't go for the pool so not a super big deal to us. There were not a ton of chairs but we never had a hard time finding a spot and you didn't have to rent them, they were open to grab what you needed. Supposedly summer time is the slow season so not sure if its always this quiet.
The only challenge was driving on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car and finding a parking place at dinner.
We used Avis car rental and they were fine. Not all cars have steering wheels on the wrong side of the car.
Ship Wrecks
Today we channeled our inner Ariel and snorkeled at 2 different ship wrecks. The first one, wreck of the Gamma was a shallow ship wreck and the top of it actually sticks out over the water. Chase researched and found out where this one was so we parked at the Poinsettia condos and walked across the street. I don't think its a common spot because we were the only ones there so we had it to ourselves. This was a cool spot with lots of fish and we saw the most beautiful, gigantic, green/turquoise rainbow looking fish. We all gasped when we saw it!
It was pretty rocky where we walked down to the beach from the condos so we had to walk down the beach to the right, away from the ship wreck, to find a safer spot to get in the water.
After this wreck we went to wreck of the Cali, which is a more well known dive spot and actually has a dive shop that you have to enter through to get in the water. We didn't know this at first so had to ask a few people where it was. We had all our own gear so just had to pay $10 a person for use of the dock. The dive shop was called Divers Down. This was another cool spot with a larger ship. It was much deeper in the water and we saw a big school of Tarpon and saw the giant rainbow fish that we saw at the other ship wreck.
After the ship wrecks we went shopping in the cruise port and found some souvenirs.
Emma loved all the chickens and really wanted to hold one.
Tonight we went to Casanova for dinner and it was outstanding. For me, this and the Wharf were my favorite meal nights. Casanova was Italian and and it was actually the most affordable. We sat outside and they too fed the Tarpon so the girls loved that. This restaurant is right by the dive shop so these were the same tarpon we swam with earlier in the day. We didn't know it but there is an outside patio and an upstairs patio. We sat upstairs and it was totally fine but the girls wished we sat down closer to the water so will request that next time. It's a good thing we went to snorkel at Wreck of the Cali earlier today because they told us where to park and Casanova shared the same lot so we knew right where to go. Parking is limited in the Caymans, especially when you are driving a 9 passenger van, so that was really the only challenge of the trip.
It was pretty rocky where we walked down to the beach from the condos so we had to walk down the beach to the right, away from the ship wreck, to find a safer spot to get in the water.
After the ship wrecks we went shopping in the cruise port and found some souvenirs.
Emma loved all the chickens and really wanted to hold one.
Tonight we went to Casanova for dinner and it was outstanding. For me, this and the Wharf were my favorite meal nights. Casanova was Italian and and it was actually the most affordable. We sat outside and they too fed the Tarpon so the girls loved that. This restaurant is right by the dive shop so these were the same tarpon we swam with earlier in the day. We didn't know it but there is an outside patio and an upstairs patio. We sat upstairs and it was totally fine but the girls wished we sat down closer to the water so will request that next time. It's a good thing we went to snorkel at Wreck of the Cali earlier today because they told us where to park and Casanova shared the same lot so we knew right where to go. Parking is limited in the Caymans, especially when you are driving a 9 passenger van, so that was really the only challenge of the trip.
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