We stayed at the Ritz Carlton hotel. The beautiful picture they show at that site was not the area we stayed in with the ocean view etc. If you go there get the oceanside view or don't stay at the Ritz. We had a basic poolview and looking beyond that- a construction and road view. That said, we spent a lot of time on the ocean side of the resort which was obviously great.
We got to take a big catamaran boat with a large group of work people on an all-day adventure on Monday. First, they took us out to a reef and I got to try snorkeling for the first time. Although I drank a fair amount of salt water and the sea spray stung my eyes it did not reduce the fun and amazement of it. I swam close to the fish and took a lot of pictures. I show a few of them in this blog entry. Next, they took us out to a shallow sand bar where sting rays actually swim with people and are very friendly. You can feed them and pet them! I got in the water and experienced this but did not feed them. I did pet them- they were kind of rubbery and slick. Some people were even hugging them and feeding them pieces of squid- pretty wild. After this, we sailed out to Rum Point which is a popular party and recreation place on the beach near the tip of Grand Cayman island. It took about an hour to sail out to it. They have some bars there and my company served us a great caribbean barbeque lunch. There was a lot to do. The company rented several types of watercraft for us to use, we had beach lounges to rest on, and the ocean to splash around in. The entire trip was very hot with direct sun and you could burn by being in the sun for about 10 minutes without any sunscreen but the ocean was cool and refreshing. (hmm, how do I know it would only take 10 minutes to burn???).
Jamie and our friends Cliff and Tia were hanging out in the ocean and I used one of the sea kayaks and paddled out to the limits of where we were allowed to go and back. I loved it and was instantly addicted. I decided if I could paddle around on a sea kayak every day that would be great with me. (I know what you're thinking, how could I give up daily cubicle life?) After all of this fun at Rum Point we sailed back.
We had a couple of nice dinners while in Grand Cayman: The Grand Old House in Georgetown, the main city, and at Papagallo. They were both good but Papagallo was better. We snorkeled once more on Wednesday at Governor's Reef off of Seven Mile Beach near our hotel. It was neat- you could just walk off the beach, swim out a bit and there was an awesome reef. During that snorkeling time we got to see a school of squid swimming in precise formation (2nd picture below) - it was very cool.
Ater doing all of this snorkeling off of Governor's Reef I decided to use the Ritz's sea kayaks to do some kayaking with my boss. We were done and he was heading back when suddenly a big wave hit me and I could not recover. Kayaks are by nature very prone to tipping over and suddenly I found myself hugging the side of my kayak instead of sitting in it. I was in the endless cycle of ocean waves out in the recreational boating lanes way beyond the swimming area. I tried to pull myself up 3 times into that narrow, unstable kayak in the middle of the waves- it wasn't going to happen. I would get my body across it but couldn't make the adjustment to sitting in it. I kept getting flipped into the ocean again. I got more exhausted, out of breath, and actually sick to my stomach each time I tried. My boss had headed in so he didn't realize I had been knocked off and he was back at the Ritz when he saw I was missing. I kept trying to get onboard and after my attempts failed I was so exhausted I almost vomited in the ocean. I decided I had to try to push against the waves and the current and haul the kayak and myself back to the swimming area, and eventually back to the beach. I did get a little scared for a moment as the only thought I had in my mind was, "I wonder if I have the strength while holding this kayak to pull myself and the boat all the way back to shore." Yikes. I did my best while kicking my feet and using one arm to hold the kayak and the other to paddle. Suddenly I heard a motor behind me. A lifeguard on a Waverunner from the Ritz had come to help me out. God bless him. Then, a little dingy boat came up to help as well. They helped me to climb back on the kayak (yah, the one I wanted to do every day instead of my cubicle) and they asked me if they could tow me back to shore. I was breathing too hard to speak for about 30 seconds but when I could finally breathe again my (stupid) guy pride said, "no, I'll just paddle back myself." As I took a deep breath and forced my shredded and oxygen deprived body to paddle back I saw many people standing up on the beach watching the scene. It was embarrassing. But I was going to paddle that stupid thing back if it killed me. (it never occurred to me it would be more embarrassing if I threw up or passed out on the beach in front of a bunch of fancy Ritz Carlton guests- but like I said I was oxygen deprived). I finally made it back in and some beach workers came to the shore to help me drag the boat in. They were all asking me if I was alright etc (a couple of the little farts were smiling at me like it was amusing) What do you think I said? Yep. "Oh yah, I'm fine thanks so much for your help, I probably would have been alright out there but thanks so much for coming to check on me because you never know." Mmmhmm, yah right. I would have been JUST fine.
Anyway, other than that drama we had a great time.... and no I don't want to sea kayak every day anymore so don't be a wiseguy..
I got to spend some good devotional time as well with the Lord (where I'm sure I repented of my stupid pride) and Jamie and I both got to relax.
I'd like to take the kids there someday to swim with the stingrays, go to Rum Point, and snorkel- but perhaps not to sea kayak.
See you guys!
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