Grand Cayman

It has been mostly overcast and rainy these last two days, which is like a knife in your heart when all you want to do is lie on the beach and snorkel. 

Grand Cayman is a very flat island with a ribbon of road circling ¾ of its perimeter. I’m sure baring traffic you could probably do the whole drive in an hour. The driving is on the left side, despite cars being both left and right drives. A multitude of traffic circles defeats me but not Kyran the intrepid. Along  the drive there are many signs for public beach access. These short pathways lead to various types of sandy beaches – almost all completely empty.  The beaches on the less populated east side are strewn with small pieces of litter. Definitely mars the pristine nature and makes you less inclined to put down your beach chair. Most of the beach approaches are quite shallow which is potentially accessible for me but sometimes the waves have carved out quite the sand step which is almost impossible for me to step up when the waves are pulling you back in. 

Getting here was quite dramatic. Kyran and Paul had to work 15 hours from Friday afternoon until Saturday early evening trying to get the second exam room finished for the locum. It meant we got a very late start to Spokane on Saturday. We ended up having to try 2 border crossings as the Metalline crossing closed at 4pm.  By the time we got to Spokane we were forced to eat supper at 1am. Walking back from the diner to the Davenport my knee suddenly collapsed and I fell and severely sprained my ankle. The pain was excruciating. By Sunday I could barely walk. A few steps and I would become shocky. The only positive thing that resulted in was being whisked around in a wheelchair in the Seattle, Miami and Cayman airports. The staff were diligent in accessing short cuts even through customs so it made our airport experiences almost stress free. Luckily despite my foot remaining hugely swollen the pain abated very quickly and I was walking without significant pain by Tuesday.

The population of Grand Cayman went from 6000 in the 1960’s to over 60,000 now. That rapid gain has manifested in very significant traffic and lots of condo developments that are partially finished. Some look abandoned. Covid has been hard on the islands on the tourist front  - they still have mask mandates and several restaurants that were listed in the guides just 2 years ago have permanently closed. There still is not the tourist numbers that they usually have. I love it because it means almost no one on the beaches. The history of the island is very interesting and unusual. There were no native human inhabitants so when it was initially discovered in the 1600’s it was teaming with unique wildlife – apparently sea turtles were everywhere. It didn’t see much development for several hundred years – partly because mosquitos were introduced in 1802. Mosquitos loved the island so profoundly that horses and cows would die from inhaling clouds of them. Mosquito control didn’t happen until the late 60’s. Before then it was unimaginable according to a local in his 80’s and people had to walk around with smoking pots to be able to breath. Weirdly he still pines for the days of the closeknit community that existed prior to the 70’s. There were no roads, electricity – just very tenacious people that lived off the sea, -marketing turtles, ropes and seamen. Very few men remained on the island as they had no way of having an income. They would leave the island to work as seamen and send money home. 

The locals are exceptionally friendly. We frequented an open pub/ restaurant and met several gregarious types. The lack of any type of taxation is worrisome. It is hard to know where the government gets the money to provide infrastructure etc… I think the bubble will burst soon. It just doesn’t seem tenable with extremely wealthy people moving in – paying a nominal tax to buy land and then no taxes again. There really isn’t any way of making money for the locals other than tourism. They are marketing themselves as a destination for water recreation – diving etc… It might work for awhile but it isn’t enough to lift the locals out of a subsistent type lifestyle.

The snorkeling was wonderful. Not as much coral as I hoped but fairly vibrant fish populations and very friendly sting rays. We did a day trip to Stingray city – just a shallow area in the middle of the large bay on the north side. They are so habituated to being fed that they are quite aggressive in their eagerness to see you. One collided with me so aggressively from behind that my legs collapsed. I hustled back to the boat to avoid more collisions.

Our days were spent exploring beaches, some historic sites and museums and then out for dinner. It was a very relaxing and addictive way to wile our days away. I already miss it profoundly.