Grand Cayman - Vacation Day 7

Forgive me for dropping this thread for a few days....but the Brier was in town!  I spent the weekend at the rink watching Canada's best men's curling.  But I'm back with the continuing series from my February vacation.

Day 7 found us in George Town, Grand Cayman.  We had company in port that day, the Carnival Vista, a Celebrity ship, and a private yacht.

This is a tender port as well as the bay isn't deep enough for the ships to sail into.  The smaller boat you see there is one of the tenders from the Carnival ship.  

I haven't checked but presume, on average, there would be 4000 guests on each ship.  Assuming 75-80% of these passengers went ashore that day, the population of Grand Cayman increased by close to 10000 people.  

I've visited the island previously and had done the tour to the Turtle farm and the post office in Hell.  (Of course I sent a postcard from Hell....and I can truly say I've been to Hell and back).  This time I decided to wander downtown George Town. 

Directly across from the terminal is this lovely little church.  Actually this is the side view but there were so many tourists wandering in front, I couldn't get a decent photo.  I wasn't able to get a full photo from the side either, because of the vehicle parked there.

Inside the church were these beautfiul stained glass windows. 

It was a small church but beautifully maintained.  I certainly wasn't the only tourist visiting that day, so I didn't spend but a few minutes inside.

The road curves around the bay, and all along the way were various malls containing shops designed for the many visitors.  

I'm not certain what this sculpture is meant to portray but it was interesting none the less.  It certainly was a tourist magnet!

I gave up trying to get a photo of the ship from shore without other tourists in it.  Everytime I'd line up the shot someone would appear....not surprising really given the sheer numbers.   

I hadn't seen many flowers in bloom on this trip so was thrilled to find these.....oh, hum, what are they?  Bougainvillea...I think.  Pretty despite my inability to recall the name.

I did venture down this street (behind me) as I saw there was a local open air cafe.  It was getting close to lunchtime but there were no other customers and I was a bit timid about sitting on my own on a side street.

More color along the street! It was a bit faded in the sun, and I suspect will get a coat of paint some time soon.

I stopped in at the National Museum, where I paid an entrance fee of $8USD to wander about the building.  There was a short film available for viewing, about 20 minutes in length, which shared the history of the Cayman Islands and the people who lived there.

It was an interesting place, a portion of the building is the oldest building on the island, and housed the jail (a small one).  In the past, the building has served as a courthouse, a school,  and a church.  There was a gift shop on the way out but I didn't do more than just browse as it was small and there were quite a few tourists looking around.

By this time, it was definitely lunch time.  I thought about heading back to the small cafe on the side street but I decided to stop at Margaritevillle (since I missed it in Jamaica).  

I made my way upstairs from the store below and made my way out to the deck overlooking the street and pier.  I had just settled in when the waiter came by and sent me back to the center of the restaurant to be seated by the attendant.  She brought me back to the table I'd originally been seated at (i specifically asked).

Finally, I settled in with a cold Caybrew (a local lager) and ordered a cheeseburger in Paradise (what else?).  I posted the photo on Facebook; Sandra saw it from her table in Margariteville so she came and joined me for lunch.

My last stop in George Town was Sharkee's, a t-shirt and souvenir store.  I picked up a rum cake (for my adult children), fudge (for the office) and three keychains.  

I was back onboard ship by 2:30 or so, changed into my bathing suit and headed to Posh where Nestor poured me a refreshing strawberry daiquiri.  Good man!   Dinner that evening was at O'Sheehan's (the ship's Irish pub) where we played a game of "Getting to know you".  We learned one of our fellow passsengers survived a plane crash, another is a member of SAG (Screen Actors Guild) who had a bit part on Married with Children, and our cruise director is a cancer survivor.  

Six of us, Sandra, Amy, Sandy, Che, Helene and I, met up at 9:30 p.m. at the Epic Theatre to see "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert". In case you've not heard of it, the play is the story of three drag queens as they travel from Sydney, Austrailia to Alice Springs in a bus they affectionately call Priscilla. The ships show is an adaptation of the Broadway show and I loved it.  The costumes were  phenomenal, the music was great, and the story line was both entertaining and raw.  There were several warnings before the show, that some people might find the language and content disturbing...apparently true as some of the audience left early.  I didn't think it was that bad and the ending was very sweet.

This was my latest night, as I didn't get back to the cabin until nearly midnight.  Luckily the following day we were in Cozumel, where I had no intention of leaving the ship so I could sleep in a little later.  This guy was waiting for me.