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Once the sun came out we really enjoyed our stay. The Morritt's Tortuga Club and Resort is very nice. Grand Cayman is a scuba divers paradise.  We do not scuba dive; but we do snorkel; and once the water settled down after the storm, it was great.  For someone living on the east coast it would be a great resort on own and frequent.  Given that we are on the west coast, we will probably bank out weeks and exchange for an alternative location.  Anyone out there that has a comparable resort in Mexico interested in trading resorts; let me know. Fish are abundant. Seven Mile Beach on the west end of the island.   We had booked a snorkeling tour to Sting Ray City for the day before we were leaving. The tour was canceled because of rough seas. It was a great vacation in spit of the weather in the early part of the week.

Finally Sun on Grand Cayman.  Put on the bathing suits and head for the pool. And the Hot Tub. We also took a long walk down the beach.  The area along the beach in front of the resort is alway pristine. But as you get down a ways you begine to see all the things that wash up on the beach. Plastic bottles and such you come to expect. What amazed us was the number of shoes that had washed up.  And then we came to the shoe tree. And a few more picture. And one of the locals. And then back to the other pool.

When we returned to our room we went on line to find out about the storm.  The storm had a name; Ida. Great! It had a projected track to the west of the Cayman Islands.  But it was sure producing some weather.  Lots of wind and heavy rain on and off. We went out to a nearby store and got some provisions and to the liquor store to get some wine and spirits.  Talk about sticker shock.  The food was somewhat more expensive than we were used too; but after all we were on an island. But the liquor prices were what really got our attention. We found a large bottle of Yellow Tail. Back home we would expect to pay about nine dollars. Her they were about thirty-two dollars. Sunday was more of the same. More wind and lots of rain.  We did catch a break in the rain to take a quick dip in the hot tub. We had heard about roadside fish fry that was only open on Saturday and Sunday.  So Sunday evening we decided to drive south about 10 minutes from the resor...

We got up the next morning and noticed that it was a little windy and the sky was overcast. It did not look like the kind of day that you go to the pool and soak up the rays. So we decided to take a drive. Did I mention the you drive on the wrong side of the road in the Cayman Islands.  You get used to it pretty quickly. But you have to stay focused, go into auto pilot mode and you are in trouble.  We took the road along the north end of the island over to Rum Point. It is a nice drive. Not a lot of traffic. You pass a lot of family cemeteries right on the waters edge. Stopped to get a bit to eat and found them closing up the restaurant and bar. Seems there was a weather advisory.  Found another restaurant still open and decided to have some fish and chips before heading back to the resort to check on the weather. Continued tomorrow.

We drove to Portland the day before our departure, as we typically do when catching an early morning flight out of Portland Airport. We use park and fly hotels, since they are typically a better deal than parking at the airport. We have become fond of staying at the Staybridge when flying out of Portland.  www.staybridge.com  Not only do they have very nice rooms at a reasonable rate; but on Tuesday through Thursday they had a complimentary meal in the evening. With Wine and Beer.  In the morning they have a buffet breakfast, though we typically have flights that leave too early to allow for breakfast. This trip was an exception in that our flight did not leave Portland until about Noon. We were flying on American Airlines so we had a layover in DFW on the way to Miami.  For those that are wondering; yes we were using our frequent flier miles with American Airlines.  The Layover was brief and we arrived in Miami at 10:30pm.  After retrieving our lugg...

We have had a timeshare on the Grand Cayman Island for a number of years.  I had originally purchased it through a barter organization that I used to belong too. We had always banked our week and traded it for some other location. And we had enjoyed the trades; many in Mexico, one on Kaui, and a few in Orlando, Florida. The Resort is the Morritt's Tortuga Club and is located on the east end of the island. Finally we took a cruise on which the itinerary included a stop in the Cayman Islands.  The cruise ships stop on the west end of the Island and the resort is located on the east end.  We had signed up for a city tour which only took about an hour and a half. Then we decided to rent a car and drive out to the west end to check out the resort.  The Island is not that big but speeds are kept low, so it is about a 45 minute drive. It turned out to be a very nice resort and the light blue waters were fabulous.  We decided that we would have to come back a...