Grand Cayman Memories ~ August 2000

After seeing another Gather friend's pictures of their vacation in Grand Cayman recently, it put me to mind of my family's trip there in August of 2000.  At that time, we still only had a "point-and-shoot" film camera, my Canon Sureshot, and so all of these pictures needed to be scanned in before I could share them here.  So keeping that in mind, they will be interesting but won't have quite the resolution as my newer Canon SLR digital camera. 

So, here goes!


One of the first things we did (after swimming and snorkeling in the Caribbean) was go the the Grand Cayman Turtle Farm" (read more at http://www.grandcayman4u.com/attractions/boatswains-beach.htm), also known now as Boatswain's Beach.  The turtles pictured here are the "babies" and are the smallest turtles at the farm.  The centrepiece of the park began life in 1968 as a commercial farm providing local folk with a source of food, and reducing the need to hunt for wild turtles. Nowadays, the farm also plays an important role in the conservation of the turtle by releasing thousands into the wild every year. The highlight of any visit for most is the chance to hold one of the smaller turtles.


These turtles are older and were the ones we were allowed to pick up and say "Howdy!" to! ;-D


Here I am with Heather, my younger stepdaughter (10 years old here), both of us holding our very own turtle.  Mine was very anxious to get back in the water, and he dived back in there immediately after this picture was taken!


Dinner Time!  This big guy is chowing down the special turtle food they feed them there.  It looked and smelled a lot like dry cat food!


Hail! Hail! The Gang's all here!

This is Rum Point Beach, on the northern most tip of Grand Cayman.  We hung out here a lot, as the food and drinkies were ALL good, and you could relax on any of the many hammocks they provided, as well as do some swimming and snorkeling.  Nice little family beach!

Here's Melissa, 15 years old, wearing her Dad's funny hat and having a great time at Rum Point!

Here I am with Heather (also wearing her Dad's hat ;-D ), just enjoying ourselves and taking it easy.  I think I'm having one of their wonderful Mudslides here.  Oh, boy, were they fantabulous!

...and here we all are, hanging out at our picnic table at Rum Point.

One of my favorite pictures of Melissa with her Dad...

The other side of Rum Point Beach...

This is George, the unfriendly parrot on Rum Point beach, who would throw his metal bowl at you if he thought you were getting too close... ;-D

Heather and Melissa playing on their hammock...


All tuckered out...aren't they cute? ;-D

A beautiful Rum Point sunset...


Departing Rum Point on the Red Sail Sports boat for Stingray City...

Our tour guide, giving us the lowdown on Stingray City and also trying to sell us some conch shells in the process... ;-D

Heather, Bill, and Melissa on the boat eating fresh fruit on the way to Stingray City...

My little hubby peeking around the corner while eating some fresh fruit along with the other passengers on the way to Stingray City.

Here comes your 19th Nervous Breakdown...  Only kidding! ;-D  This is a stingray, swimming quickly toward our boat, as he knows full well a bunch of passengers will be getting off with handfuls of raw shrimp to feed him!

...getting closer!

A stingray swimming toward me hoping for a handout!


It was so pretty underneath the water...Mister Stingray over there on the right...

Doesn't this guy look like a B2 Bomber or a portabello mushroom with wings? He's coming in for a landing!


Melissa hand-feeding a hungry stingray at Sting Ray City...no scardy-cats in my family!


A stingray taking food from my hand...

Bill taking a picture of a stingray...

Our tour guide playing with one of his favorite stingrays while we all watch on...

Bill standing up while a friendly and hungry stingray flaps all around him, hoping for some food.  It was the strangest and funniest thing how they did that to all of us, with those "wings" flapping around our waists (or higher, depending how short you were! ;-D ;-D ).

Another stingray swimming among peoples' legs (those are my hubby's legs, in fact...)

Leaving Stingray City after a fantastic adventure, to return to our Port of Call, Rum Point...

Queen Elizabeth Botanical Park - a beautiful garden park that we visited in Grand Cayman. Read more about this lovely place at http://www.botanic-park.ky.

Melissa and Bill strolling under a lovely trellis at the gardens...

Heather & Melissa on the porch of one of the many lovely little homes and cottages in the park.

Heather, Melissa, and a very bedraggled me at the gardens.  It was August and over 100 degrees and extremely humid here!  My hair just does such wonderful things in this kind of climate! ;-D

Heather and Melissa pausing while walking along a path...

Some lovely flowers and foliage...

A blue iguana who happened across our path while we were strolling around there...

Something ELSE that happened across our path while we were walking... Oh, happy day!

This big guy was in one of the iguana cages at the park.

We went to "Sandy's Cove", a public beach, after our enjoyable, but hot, visit at the Botanical Park.  You can just relax, swim or snorkel here.  It's at the southeast side of the island on the way back to our hotel which was on the northeast side of Grand Cayman.

Sandy's Cove after everyone left to go home for dinner, and we had it all to ourselves...ah, now *that's* the life!

Heather and Melissa observing one of many "blow holes" that are located at the southern most tip of the island.

A lovely sunset over the blowholes and looking back toward the land.

My three cuties at sunset standing among the blowholes...

Oh yeah...it's a geyser!  What a loud noise it made!

Waiting for another one...

Bill and Heather peeking up from the beach where the blow holes were at sunset and on our last day...

                                                          ~ The End ~