My Month of Traveling Part Two: Little Cayman

My brother Doug and his fiancee Stacy got married on June 11th on Little Cayman. Ricky couldn't afford to take off work, so he stayed home and his mom (who was in town from CA) watched the kids. So I had a Caribbean vacation of my very own! I missed them, though. Maybe if I win the lottery we can all go back.

But anyway, the trip was amazing. I didn't know what to expect: tons of tourists and crowded beaches, I guess. But Little Cayman is so tiny and remote (plus this is the off season), there were very few people there except residents and there's not very many of those. The wedding was the talk of the town that weekend, so you know there's nothing else going on! The island has basically one restaurant, one grocery/hardware store, one liquor store, one policeman--you get the idea. The island is only a mile wide and ten miles long, most of it undeveloped.

So Doug and Stacy, my parents, and most of the other wedding guests stayed at the Southern Cross Club (the wedding and reception were there also), but my grandmother, aunt Kay, cousins Alan and Paul and their friend Nicole and I stayed at a trio of little cottages about a mile away down the beach. Food was incredibly expensive, so it was good that Kay and I had brought a lot of cereals, dried fruit, peanut butter and such with us. We bought bread and milk and butter and cheese at the local store and freaked out at how much everything cost, because of course it all has to be brought in by plane or boat.

But it was beautiful. The sun was very intense; I was slathering on 50 spf sunblock at least three times a day and still got fried, so I broke down and bought a funny floppy sunhat at the liquor store. It helped a lot. The colors in the water were gorgeous: vivid blues and greens and turquoise. I went swimming every day and snorkeling, all just right there at our own beach, literally just a few steps from the porch. The water was wonderful: warm and clear and quiet; our part of the island is surrounded by coral reefs, so there's no big breakers or large waves, just smooth water. I saw probably twenty or thirty different kinds of fish, and an octopus!

I took so many photos, at least 1800, so if you want to see more there's an album on Flickr.

On the little puddle jumper flight from Grand Cayman to Little Cayman, flying through the remnants of a storm while the late afternoon sun filters through the clouds and hits the water.

Sunset on my first evening on Little Cayman. This was taken from "our" beach where our little bungalow sits.

And here's the cute bungalow we stayed in. There are two guest cottages next to it with one bed and bath each, while this main house has a kitchen, bedroom, living room, and bath. And it has a big screened-in porch that wraps around two sides of it, facing the beach and water. The "yard" is just sand.

T

The water was just incredible. Photos don't do it justice. It seems like the colors there are so intense and bright and vivid...

Bougainvillea growing next to our cottage.

The long pier near the place my parents, my brother and his fiancee, and other wedding guest were staying. The brownish patches in the water are turtle grass.

Doug and Stacy!

It was a simple and very sweet ceremony. I'm so grateful I got to go.

One of my last sunrises on Little Cayman. I was up at ridiculous hours every morning, usually around 5 or 5:30 am. But I got to enjoy these gorgeous sunrises!

So it was a fantastic trip and the wedding was wonderfully low-key and relaxed, and everyone was having a great time. It was just nice to be lazy and swim if you wanted to, or sit in the shade and read or draw, or go for a bike ride, or whatever. I loved it. Hopefully I can go again some day and take the kids and husband too!