Hot, sweet and sticky

This time of the year Cayman is getting over its nice warm and comfortable temperatures and moving into the 'if you move, you sweat' time.  90 degrees and high humidity does that to you!

It had been a while since I've been in Cayman so I was interested to see what had happened since the last time I had visited.  Cayman was on a growth spurt whilst my home island Bermuda was struggling.  Projects were starting, building was happening, growth was happening.

I just wanted to see it.

Cayman has been great about attracting cruise ships, one guy I spoke with said in one day was his record.  I don't know what time of year that was but this week there was 4 on one day -- at 4,000 passengers per ship, that makes 16,000 cruise ship passengers looking to do things on Cayman, use transport, buy stuff and go to the beach.  Given that there's no dock facility and that cruise ship passengers have to catch a tender in, I was impressed that that logistical nightmare could be achieved successfully.

4 cruise ships in George Town Harbour

But as I didn't know until I spoke to Mike at tennis one night that in actuality passengers had to pass through security akin to Miami Airport each time they went back on the boat.

And if that wasn't bad enough they had to wait in the bobbing tenders while 200 other passengers were cleared first.

And if THAT wasn't bad enough, the cruise line would take all duty free booze and any food from passengers (to be returned at the port of origination for sure) as they wanted passengers to eat and drink ON the boat, not off it.

Little wonder that some passengers, in fact quite a lot, don't bother getting off at all!

The new Shetty Hospital at the east end is finished now although the car park was empty which to me suggests none if any patients yet.  Mind you the Cayman Compass reported a couple of major sounding heart procedures taking place recently so I guess it is working… just not much at the moment.

Shetty Hospital's car park

Talk abounds about this project taking off, that one breaking ground and for sure there is some activity going on but not as much as I'd heard.

But I did see this house being built near Kaibo on the north coast.  Whoa!

Not too shabby a place outside Kaibo.  

And I did have a great game of golf at the North Sound Club where my 2-year old shoes lost their soles on both feet but on different holes.  The pro at halfway laughed himself silly and told me it was the heat and humidity that melted the glue that held them together.  He did kindly lend me his golf shoes though so I didn't have to waddle round the back 9 -- I actually shot 42!

And I did see the greatest sunset on 7-Mile Beach!

I also found a great new app for my iPhone called Track My Tour.  Its a great toy that tracks your travels on what looks like Google Maps.  I used it all over Cayman… and annoyed everyone I came into in the process.  Fun though!!