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Friday, August 14, 2015

The Cayman Islands and the Terrible Tourist

There are many things I love about being a pilot, and a couple I don't. One thing I love is the opportunity to travel to tons of places I would never get to see. What I don't love is how little time I get to spend in some places. I am the worst tourist ever. I get to see places from afar but it's extremely difficult to really get to experience the life and culture. I dip my toes in and say good bye and I still get the stamp in my passport. But if I weren't a pilot I wouldn't get to see them at all. At least I have lots of time to go back. I pretend they are scouting missions so I know which places are kindred spirits to go back to :)

On that note: The Cayman Islands

This is the underrated jewel of a vacation spot for Texans. I don't know why the entire state doesn't shake the sticky mud of our sandals and head there for the summer. For a few months Cayman Airways has (pretty reasonable) direct flights out of DFW and it's an easy 2hr flight to GCM (Grand Cayman). The first night we stayed in a hotel on the opposite side of the island- The Wyndham Reef Resort. It was a bit remote, but it was adorable! They had multiple pools, restaurant and bar on the beach, hammocks and the hotel itself is on a beautiful white sand beach. The rooms were clean and spacious with huge balconies. It was perfect for couples or families with the only drawback being its distance to town and other attractions. (Also the food is NOT cheap...but its like that every where on the island)

We airlined home so that was the only night we stayed there.




On our way back we stayed at The Riviera. The Riviera is a great place to get your scuba license if you're 19 and looking for a chill scene. Not particularly where I would want to spend a family vacation though. It's right on the water but its rocky and not scenic but it does makes for great snorkeling. The motel provided free bikes, scuba gear, kayaks and pretty much whatever you want, and it was a lot closer to town. Again we only spent one night there and left first thing the next morning.