Grand Cayman Vacay

 

GRAND CAYMAN, WOW!!

We had an amazing time together! We got to ride horses bareback in the ocean, kiss wild stingrays, hold starfish, laugh a lot, swim a lot and eat lots of yummy food! Everyone was so friendly and everything was so beautiful! The trip wasn't even ruined by me dropping my phone and watching it fall to its death seven stories down from our balcony...on our last morning! I got access to my pictures two days later and was so thankful!!!

Day 1...

Early Flight means 2:30AM alarms to be at the Airport at 4AM!

Sunrise on the flight!

We made it before our room was ready, so we chilled on the hammocks after we walked around the property a bit!! All so pretty!

Headed up to our room!

We love it here!

A little pool time and some rain!

We all love the creatures especially Fyn!!

We got back to our room and found this surprise!

A walk to dinner...the taxi driver suggested Eats Cafe...so we went there for dessert and pizza...in that order! Favorite dessert of the whole trip and we went back another day for more!

The walk to and from was nice, safe and clean!

Day 2...

Good Morning!!

We had to stop at the little cafe each morning for drinks and snacks!

Headed to the Beach

It was a 3ish minute walk from Hotel Indigo to the beach.  There were chairs set up, right next to Bonny Moon, just for Hotel Indigo guests with a server walking around to get anything we needed...just perfect! 

Back to the Hotel for the Pool...

We took a bus ride to Camana Bay...for lunch and some shopping!

It's a beautiful area at the Marina!

Observation Tower...116 steps for a view! The view wasn't much;)

Lunch at Karoo was perfect!

Bus Stop...we waited too long and realized that we were at the wrong kind of bus stop:)

More Pool Time!!

Ready for dinner at Catalina!!

Rylie's favorite...gnocci! 
It was all so good!

Day 3...

Morning Workout!

Ryan's down there getting our pool chairs, such a sweetie!

The cutest!

Lunch at Coccoloba...on the beach at The Kimpton! 

We loved it...except for the birds trying to steal fries! 

Fyn went out for a swim while we waited on our food:)

Beach Time!

Back to the Pool!

Then we got picked up for our horseback riding adventure with Pampered Ponies!!

We went over to the other side of the island near the Barkers National Park for our ride...

It was all so beautiful and fun!!

Rylie's and Fynlie's horses weren't' wanting to stay up with mine so they would have to trot a bit when they lagged too far behind.  My horse was trying to pass the leader, and I was having to hold him back.  

We passed many "huts" or little makeshift small structures along the beach in the foliage.  We were told that they are for Easter weekend.  It's a tradition in the Caymans to camp out along the water, fly kites and have festive gatherings.  So, they leave their camp areas for the next year.  

We also came up on a man and woman sunbathing nude and they jumped up and put their clothes on before the whole family saw:)

Then the coolest part...we unsaddled and took off into the water...

Ryan had the prettiest horse!

Fyn was pretty uneasy with this. She had the shortest horse, so it had to swim earlier than the others and she felt unsteady.  My horse started pooping in front of her and it was all floating towards her legs, and she was yelling "mom, mooom, mooooom" in a very panicked tone!! Our guides helped her navigate through.  She ended up loving the experience once she calmed down!

Back to land and back in saddles for our walk back!

The horses seemed a little more energized for the walk back:)

yeehaw!!

Ready for dinner at Luca!

Our overal favorite dinner was at Luca! So delicious!

Day 4...

We had a quick breakfast from the cafe and then got picked up for our Boat Excursion with Red Sail!

Love these girls!!

Love this man!

We made it to Stingray City!!

This was all so very cool!

Wild Stingrays right in our arms! 

They're smooth on their underside like dolphins and a little more rough on top.

A kiss for Good Luck!

Fyn was nervous about the kiss...ha!!!

Kiss for Good Luck!

So special!!

Ryan got the full package and allowed our guides to put this guy on his back:)

Rylie was going to feed the Stingray some squid, but it snatched it so fast, it startled her;)

Time to Snorkel!!

Katie was chasing this turtle for a pic!!

Starfish Point!!!

We learned that starfish can't be completely out of the water for more than a minute without causing problems, so we were sure to keep them near the water! Fyn would wander off and find more and bring them to us!! She had the time of her life! At the end, we asked what this dark blob was that we saw in several places and our guide told us that it was un upside down jellyfish.  Thankfully none of us got stung!!

I'm so glad we got to do this!

Back to the hotel, back to the pool!!

and then it POURED!!

Ry thought she'd wait it out under the umbrella.  The rest of us retreated to a building;)

Ready for some pics and dinner at Tillies!

Tillies was great!

Found this cute little guy on our way back from dinner!

Day 5...

Cafe Stop!!

Pool Time!!

Love this family of ours and thankful for this time together!!

Katie's Kid Club!!

They gravitated to her and wanted her to play:)

Back to Coccoloba for lunch on the beach...

Dinner at Bonny Moon!!

We were excited for the fire show that they had advertised but were a little surprised by the very loud and crowded soccer party that was going on when we arrived! We ate outside so we could hear ourselves and then enjoyed the little fire show...

MY BEAUTY QUEENS!

Beautiful Sunset

Ready for the Show!

Ordering room service dessert when we got back!!

Day 6...

Katie and Rylie went out for some "sunrise" photos by the beach.  They did get a few shots and then got a downpour!! They came back soaked and laughing!

Then we saw the most beautiful rainbow!!

The sun would come and go along with the rain...so we played when we could and hung out under the beach umbrella when we wanted!

FUN in the SUN!!

So glad that Katie brought her watercolor paints to keep us entertained...we used the rainwater for our paints! 

This pizza was YUMMY!!

The chickens were entertaining!!

More Fun in the Sun!

Our last dinner...Saltwater Grill!

It was good and we enjoyed!

A little funny story...Fynlie bumped her drinking glass with her little sauce ramekin, and it just busted and broke onto the table and floor.  She was so scared and embarrassed.  It was the craziest thing!

She wanted a night swim before we left:)

Day 7...

I was out on the balcony, like I had done many mornings, looking around and on my phone and chatting with Ryan.  I had decided that it was time to get up and pack up and I bumped my phone against the railing and it hit just right, that it flung out of my hand, over the railing and down seven stories to its demise on the concrete below.  I just let out this loud "ugh" and couldn't say anything else.  Ryan said that the yoga class below (and to the side) looked up and he waved that everything was okay.  I'm so glad that the phone didn't hit someone as it was very near the entrance.  I immediately got teary thinking about all the pictures that I just lost, from this trip. I hate having to pay for iCloud so I wasn't sure if I had updated that recently.  I always transfer pictures to a hard drive but of course, that's not immediate.  Ryan went straight down to find it.  He did and it wouldn't even turn on.  It was very busted up.  I felt so lost on our travel day home, since all our travel stuff was on the phone and I didn't know if I could get our photos.  While at the airports, I tried to log into my icloud/apple accounts, but it would only send my security code to my phone, by text, so was still struggling on how I was going to get this done.  But we still had fun...

Miami Airport!!

Back in Dallas...last stop Chick-Fil-A!

We had a delay getting out of the parking spot because I had no QR code or email with my reservation, but they finally found us in the system and closed the transaction and let us leave!

On the way home, I decided to charge my phone just to see what it would do and by doing that, it connected to my car through CarPlay and my texts came through!! So, the next morning, I was able to log in to my accounts, using the computer, and getting the security codes from the texts showing up in my car! I learned that I had have access to all my photos on iCloud and was the happiest girl!!