Day 5– Thursday, May 27

Port of Call: Grand Cayman Island, Grand Cayman

Ring . . .Ring went the telephone.

“Hello?” May I speak to Pepper?
”May I ask who is calling”
”This is Reggie (from Kansas City). Get up! It’s time to go to Grand Cayman”
”Reggie, What time is it?
“8:00 a.m.”

I thought to myself “I wonder if I can get my number changed?”

The captain announced we had arrived in Grand Cayman and the last tender back to the ship would be leaving at 3:30 p.m. ship’s time. We were instructed to be careful and watch our time because the ship time and the island time were different. The ship time was in Eastern Standard Time but the island was on a different time. If you get left behind, you may as well take up citizenship or find a way back home.

Land Tour

After eating breakfast, we caught a tender over to Grand Cayman. The coast was aligned with many banks, jewelry and fine crystal shops, Internet café’s, drug stores and souvenir shops. We even found a Subway, McDonald's and Burger King. It was partly cloudy and 89 degrees. Shopping was the first item on most people's agenda but water activities were first on our agenda. There was not a lot of bargaining power like in Haiti but you could find some good deals if you looked hard enough. After shopping, we went to hang out at the Hard Rock Café and ran into that crazy crew of skaters from Jersey while waiting on Ty (Detroit) to finish his Scuba Diving certification and take us to the beach for some water sports.

Treading Dangerous Waters

Ty Houston (Detroit) had more on his agenda during the cruise than the average skater. He had plans to get his Scuba Diver certification. The open waters off the coast Grand Cayman Island was his second dive during this cruise. Between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon, he went down about seventy feet to the ocean floor. At that level, the elevation pressure causes dangerous physiological effects on the human body which you must adapt to. Ty knew this going down but what he did not know is that his physical barriers would soon be coupled with outside threats when he came face-to-face with one of the most dangerous sea creatures in the Caribbean waters. Along came a six-foot long Moray Eel in his path. These eels are dangerous creatures. Morays are brightly colored tropical marine animals that are ferocious and have razor sharp teeth. They will attack humans as a defense mechanism if provoked or disturbed. Some islanders eat Moray eels but it is not recommended because the skin of the eel contains toxins harmful to humans.

Seven-Mile Beach

Many of us were directed to Seven-Mile beach which was about four miles down the coast. There you could partake in parasailing, snorkeling, jet-skiing and more. We did not arrive in time to parasail, which was our intention so we decided to go jet-skiing. Boy did we have a ball riding those beautiful blue waves; teal, turquoise, royal blue, aqua and several shades of green. When you hit a wave at a high rate of speed you will definitely fly up into the air and you have to be careful not to fall off the jet-ski. Before we left the shore, we were instructed not to go past a certain point where the water turns deep blue. That is the point where the ocean floor suddenly drops to 4000 feet! "Not a problem, I will definitely stay in the lighter shades of the ocean, I can’s swim anyway".

 

 

Evening Activities on the Ship

That evening there were plenty more activities on the ship. There was an ice show which skaters found extremely enjoyable. There was also a Karaoke Idol Search. One of our skaters, Maxine (Detroit, MI) took home the first place price for her solo performance.

Roll Call

It was our second and final night of skating. Those who went Monday, the first night, new what to expect but was pleasantly suprised by how much better the floor felt. The seas were not as choppy as they were that night and that made for a better roller skating experience. Some of the skaters who didn't make it the first night (because they were laid up in bed sick) did make it to the second night. We partied and even had a roll call. Among the cities and states that represented were: Columbus, California, Atlanta, Macon, Saginaw, Flint, Brooklyn (NY), Springfield (VA), Maryland, Indianapolis, Bronx (NY), St. Louis (MO), New Jersey, Chicago, Kansas City (KS), Florida, Canton (MI), and the host city, Detroit.