After a mind blowing day yesterday, we were still mesmerized by the colour of the water and our stingray interaction. Unlike Jamaica, it was much easier (and safer) to get around by car, so we hired a little red Mercedes-Benz to hoon around the island. No when I say Mercedes, you instantly think of quality and prestige, well this one wasn’t like that. The seat adjusting handles were either missing or fell off in your hand and the high beam on the indicator stick come on when even you used the indicators. Oh well… it still did the trick.
It was quite nice being able to jump in a car and drive without worrying about what side of the road you were on. Driving on the left side is much more natural than on the right. We drove straight through the heart of the city, George Town, a mix of duty free shops and jewelers catering for the ever present cruise boat tourist which pour in every day. We stopped at a little local arts and souvenir shop further down the road which actually had some tasteful local things (and the ubiquitous ugly ones as well – like massive balsa wood macaws and rock carved stingrays).
Really, it was just a side stop before the main attraction. The Cayman Islands has the second largest skate (not sting rays) park in the world. I’ve seen a lot of skate parks in my time but this was a transition skaters heaven! Not much in the way of banks and stair but lots of capsuled out bowls, ¾ pipes, pools, half pipes, snake runs….. everything you could imagine and at all different heights. I ran around the park taking photos with Tan (not so interested) in tow! I didn’t have a board and there were no skaters there but it didn’t matter… this place was awesome!
More driving and we stopped to look at some mostly demolished houses on the coast from all of the recent hurricane activity. I found the most prickly 40 cornered jack which dug into my skin at all different orientations. I was more impressed by the way it dug than the pain it inflicted.
In Bodden Town, we visited the Pirates Caves. 
Part zoo with “exotic” animals and a traditional pirate cave where they stored their booty centuries ago. There were some caged animals including the Cayman Parrot (national bird) and a cocky who Tan teased with a piece of paper.
The blue iguana, different to the ones we saw in Mexico, are a endangered species that only inhabit the island. We chased them around for a while too. 
We hit the dark and eerie Pirate’s Caves which was a Disney Land style mock up. Lots of skulls, cemented in coins and the pirate sculptures. A bit kitsch but in reality these caves were actually used by pirates centuries ago so from that side it was interesting.
More exotic animals were present including goats, ducks, turtles and a horse.
The highlight was Percey the Pig who was quite lack luster until our taunts got him fired up (to eat). It was a nice warm and sunny 28C day and poor old Percey was thirsty so Tan gave him a shower and a drink which he seemed to appreciate. 
This chicked in the water bowl flew off in a ball of feathers when we approached. One thing we have noticed about this island is the prevalence of roosters and chooks. They are walking wildly(?) everywhere and we nearly run some over. 
We have seen quite a number of macaws on this adventure through Central America, but these two we saw were quite nasty. They wanted to have a go at anything even remotely close to the cage. Repeated strikes with their upper hooked jaw made us want to sitr them up (so Tan did).
The lady that runs Pirates Caves was quite nice, from England, though she has been on the island for three years without leaving. It is a beautiful place but like outback mining towns there isn’t much in the way of choice for shopping etc. (for women). For blokes it is a fishing paradise and you wouldn’t want to leave!! She said there were some people that come the cruise boats that visit who are so ignorant about everything. There was a container of plastic replica pirate coins on the bench near the till and one guy asked if that was the currency of island (and was serious about it!).
We drove to the northern side of the island and her recommendation we had lunch at “Over the edge”. A restaurant with a large deck over the sea. It was a nice place for lunch and beer/wine. Wahoo fillet for me! Yum. Service was terrible though.
Rum Point is a delightful place. Sun lounges in the white sands over looking the turquoise waters under the shade of casaurina trees (yep.. the Australian trees are everywhere on the island). Tan relaxed while I went out snorkeling. The wind was a bit gusty and it made it hard to snorkel under the pier (especially as I haven’t snorkeled with flippers for a fair while). The fish were good but not spectacular and the water was nice. 
Rum Point is adorned with many signs, such as a city/country locator post, history of cyclones and just plain old interesting information signs. 
Like the Pirates Caves, Rum Point also had a macaw who was just as nasty!!!
The fibreglass iguana, like this one, are dotted around the island’s beaches.
On the way home we stopped at the Blowholes which weren’t too bad.
We tried to race home for sunset but without a good map we missed from our hotel and ended up on a beach near George Town. 
It was quite nice being able to jump in a car and drive without worrying about what side of the road you were on. Driving on the left side is much more natural than on the right. We drove straight through the heart of the city, George Town, a mix of duty free shops and jewelers catering for the ever present cruise boat tourist which pour in every day. We stopped at a little local arts and souvenir shop further down the road which actually had some tasteful local things (and the ubiquitous ugly ones as well – like massive balsa wood macaws and rock carved stingrays).
Really, it was just a side stop before the main attraction. The Cayman Islands has the second largest skate (not sting rays) park in the world. I’ve seen a lot of skate parks in my time but this was a transition skaters heaven! Not much in the way of banks and stair but lots of capsuled out bowls, ¾ pipes, pools, half pipes, snake runs….. everything you could imagine and at all different heights. I ran around the park taking photos with Tan (not so interested) in tow! I didn’t have a board and there were no skaters there but it didn’t matter… this place was awesome!
More driving and we stopped to look at some mostly demolished houses on the coast from all of the recent hurricane activity. I found the most prickly 40 cornered jack which dug into my skin at all different orientations. I was more impressed by the way it dug than the pain it inflicted. In Bodden Town, we visited the Pirates Caves. Part zoo with “exotic” animals and a traditional pirate cave where they stored their booty centuries ago. There were some caged animals including the Cayman Parrot (national bird) and a cocky who Tan teased with a piece of paper. The blue iguana, different to the ones we saw in Mexico, are a endangered species that only inhabit the island. We chased them around for a while too. We hit the dark and eerie Pirate’s Caves which was a Disney Land style mock up. Lots of skulls, cemented in coins and the pirate sculptures. A bit kitsch but in reality these caves were actually used by pirates centuries ago so from that side it was interesting. More exotic animals were present including goats, ducks, turtles and a horse. The highlight was Percey the Pig who was quite lack luster until our taunts got him fired up (to eat). It was a nice warm and sunny 28C day and poor old Percey was thirsty so Tan gave him a shower and a drink which he seemed to appreciate. This chicked in the water bowl flew off in a ball of feathers when we approached. One thing we have noticed about this island is the prevalence of roosters and chooks. They are walking wildly(?) everywhere and we nearly run some over. We have seen quite a number of macaws on this adventure through Central America, but these two we saw were quite nasty. They wanted to have a go at anything even remotely close to the cage. Repeated strikes with their upper hooked jaw made us want to sitr them up (so Tan did).The lady that runs Pirates Caves was quite nice, from England, though she has been on the island for three years without leaving. It is a beautiful place but like outback mining towns there isn’t much in the way of choice for shopping etc. (for women). For blokes it is a fishing paradise and you wouldn’t want to leave!! She said there were some people that come the cruise boats that visit who are so ignorant about everything. There was a container of plastic replica pirate coins on the bench near the till and one guy asked if that was the currency of island (and was serious about it!).We drove to the northern side of the island and her recommendation we had lunch at “Over the edge”. A restaurant with a large deck over the sea. It was a nice place for lunch and beer/wine. Wahoo fillet for me! Yum. Service was terrible though.
Rum Point is a delightful place. Sun lounges in the white sands over looking the turquoise waters under the shade of casaurina trees (yep.. the Australian trees are everywhere on the island). Tan relaxed while I went out snorkeling. The wind was a bit gusty and it made it hard to snorkel under the pier (especially as I haven’t snorkeled with flippers for a fair while). The fish were good but not spectacular and the water was nice. Rum Point is adorned with many signs, such as a city/country locator post, history of cyclones and just plain old interesting information signs. Like the Pirates Caves, Rum Point also had a macaw who was just as nasty!!!The fibreglass iguana, like this one, are dotted around the island’s beaches.On the way home we stopped at the Blowholes which weren’t too bad.We tried to race home for sunset but without a good map we missed from our hotel and ended up on a beach near George Town. 
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