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Grand Cayman 2004 Friday, March 26 Our flight from Indy to Atlanta was fine but we sat in the last row...oh well. We hustled from Concourse A to E and met up with the Corbets. The flight to Cayman was nice--a very good snack--we flew Delta. Rudy's Taxi Service took us to the Marriott. We had to wait about an hour for our room to be ready--and then it wasn't ready for another 50 minutes. But we got a view! It's a view of the courtyard--very nice. No extra charge for the safe or mini-fridge. We met up with the Corbets and planned to eat here at the Marriott but the Pirate's Buffet was full. So we had a great dinner at the Wharf. Michael dropped a sandal in the water and a tall stranger retrieved it for him. Then it was back to the room for a little TV and sleep. I called Becky. Daphne has an ear infection but everything else is well. Terry was going grocery shopping with Kathy so I decided to have my hair braided. The Salon at the Marriott wanted $175.00 and couldn't do it 'til Monday. So I went walkabout and finally found Iris. They did my braids right away for only $75.00 US. Then I bought mousse and shampoo. And I bought a hat on the way back. I was thrilled! I caught up with Terry, Kathy, Bridget and Alissa around 11:30. Pat, Jim, Brian and Sean went on two dives while Sue took Michael to be certified to dive. Terry and I had lunch at the Marriott. Michael's reaction to my hair was: "Wow............yeah." Jimmy's reaction was: "My God........My God Almighty!" I played Survivor with the kids and they all participated very well and seemed to have fun. I sure had fun. Brian, Bridget and Alissa were the Stingrays and Sean, Kyle and Michael were the Turtles. Everyone won treasures. We all went to town to shop. On the way, Bridget fixed my broken sunglasses! Very nice. Terry bought me a T-shirt and I bought a Christmas ornament. Then we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe--way too noisy but the food was good. I bought Daphne her first Hard Rock shirt because today is her first birthday. I called her but the line was busy so I called Becky again. We all spent serious time in our hot tub--very nice. Then we sat near the Corbets pool and chatted until almost 10:00 pm Wonderful Day. The two sunsets we had so far were too cloudy--oh well. Sean shared some Rum Cake with me. At dinner, Michael somehow got sauce from his buffalo wings in one of his eyes. Sigh. Terry and I had a very nice buffet breakfast here at the Marriott and headed to visit the Corbets. We lazed around. At noon, we all went to the blow holes and then the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. From there we headed to Rum Point. I had a great late lunch and shared fries with Sean who shared his Peach Daiquiri with me. Terry and I snorkeled for about an hour--and yes--we saw Terry's Barracuda. We were able to show it to Jim, Sean, Michael and Brian. I lost my mask and snorkel. Every time Sue opened one of her bags, I asked her if my mask was in it. She finally told me to shut up. I announced to everyone that Sue told me to shut up and I was putting that in my journal--so here it is! Michael let himself be buried in the sand. I called Jean and all is well. I spent 1/2 hour in the hot tub while Terry watched a movie. The Adult Corbets went to dinner at the Tree House and the kids had pizza. I had chips and Oreo cookies for breakfast. The Divers (Pat, Brian, Jim, Sean and Michael) went diving. The rest of us went to town where Sue and Kyle went on the Atlantis submarine. They went down 100 feet and were under water for about 45 minutes. I finally found a silver stingray necklace for Jean and got one for myself, Becky and Laura too. I got Alex and Hannah wallets and Bill, Jeff and Jimmy pens. And ummm, oh yes, ummm, I got a palm tree tattoo on my left forearm. It cost $50 US. What fun! We went grocery shopping and stopped at Captain Frank's to book a trip for Thursday. Then we stopped at Iris's because Alissa wants her hair braided like mine and Bridget wants a hair wrap. Actually they went parasailing instead of getting their hair done! Terry bought me a new mask and snorkel and fins for himself. We also had lunch at "our" Burger King on the ocean. Terry and I snorkeled with Alissa and it was great. Alissa and I saw the smallest stingray I've ever seen--cute. Brian pushed our sweet Alissa into the pool. So I pushed Brian in. Of course Alissa was in her bathing suit and Brian was fully dressed eating a sandwich--but he did save the sandwich! We saw a terrific sunset! A whole bunch of us clapped. Jim, Sue and their boys went to the Cracked Conch for dinner. Kathy and Alissa got us chicken, cheese, bread, sausage and apples--very good! Pat, Terry, Bridget and I played poker using silverware as chips. Terry and I dropped $5.00. We went to sleep around 11. Brian's out to get me! We had rolls and junk food for breakfast. I sewed our snorkeling bag. Jim and Sue were having company (Bob and Maureen and their two children---they were on a Disney Cruise ship and coming to Cayman for the day with the Cruise) so Terry and I went to the Turtle Farm and Hell with Pat, Kathy, Brian, Bridget and Alissa. Then Pat dropped off me, Terry, Kathy, Bridget and Alissa at Burger King and we walked back from there. Terry and I napped a little. Pat, Kathy and Alissa snorkeled with me and Terry at the reef off Treasure Island. It was very good. A bunch of us watched the sunset from our hot tub. Terry and I got pizzas from Pizza Hut for dinner. When Terry looks at my hair, he says, "Mongo Sante Maria." Pat came over and set up a parasaling trip for 10:00. Pat, Kathy, Bridget, Alissa, Sean, Kyle and Michael went parasailing while Terry, Sue, Jim and I watched from the shore. Sean was the only one who had ever gone before and they all had a wonderful time. Terry and I walked to a Dive Shop and bought wrist bands to put over my tattoo when I snorkel. We had lunch in the room and then relaxed. The Divers went diving again. My legs got sunburned--damn. I can't remember the last time I got sunburn! All of us except Brian went on the Jolly Roger Dinner Cruise and we all had a blast. The food was very good and the service was great. Very good time. I put aloe on my sunburned legs...sheesh. We had a great snorkeling trip with Captain Frank's (Our Captain on this trip was Ollie). I dove and got two conches. We got so many, Ollie had to tell us to stop getting them! We were on Frank's small boat with Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Kayla (7) and Riley (6) from Indianapolis. Bridget doesn't go in the ocean so she had to raise and lower the anchor. Brian gave me a pretty shell he dived for.....awwww. Alissa and I were snorkeling buddies and she took pictures with Terry's underwater camera. Sean shared Bar-b-cue potato chips with us. Kyle loved the stingrays---and they loved him. A few followed him around. Michael jumped from the top of the boat several times and tried to pet a fish. I brought my cell phone (it's a three foot inflatable toy Terry won at a golf tournament!)--it was a lot of fun. Bridget did go in the ocean at Stingray City. At Stingray City, Brian put bait in my hair! I got it out before I was attacked by the stingrays. Bridget drove the boat for about 1/2 hour! It was a great trip! Back at the room, I called Rudy for a ride to the airport tomorrow, returned the towels to the towel hut and took a shower. Terry and I had room service for dinner. My cheeseburger was great! We napped for a couple of hours and went looking for the Corbets. We couldn't find them so we returned to our room to watch Survivor. Pat, Kathy, Sue, Bridget and Alissa joined us. They had a great dinner at Hooks. Jerri was kicked off the island and Troy was fired from the Apprentice. I called Laura and all is well. The lovely shell Brian gave me yesterday had an ugly, gross critter crawling out of it so I had to throw it out---yuck! He got even with me for pushing him in the pool! We watched the last hour of Dirty Harry---"Do you feel lucky, punk?" I spent the last of our Cayman money on a palm tree T-shirt and two palm tree postcards! Rudy's picked us up a few minutes early--very nice. We got through security and customs quickly. We ran into Brian, Bridget and Alissa who were having their bags searched. Ha ha. I slept most of the way to Atlanta. Then it was very aggravating going through Immigration, Customs and Security again......sheesh. None of our bags were ever searched. We left the Corbets because they were on another flight. We had sandwiches for dinner. Some time today I remembered that we are an hour different from home so we would get home an hour earlier than we thought....nice. The flight to Indy was fine. We didn't know which parking lot we were in but a nice guy told us it was Premier. So we caught the shuttle and found my car right away. Terry drove home and he beat my record! He made it from the parking lot to our driveway in 1 hour and 42 minutes.....3 minutes faster than I have ever done it! I consider that a challenge! "While We Were Out," Becky painted our bedroom and bathroom. She took down the 30 year old wall paper. She also bought us towels, a new toilet plunger and brush, a new shower curtain, a new waste basket, a light fixture that looks like grapes, a bunch of hooks, a dresser for me, picture frames with lovely pictures in them and a fancy towel rack. What a delightful surprise! We were both thrilled! This was one of our best vacations ever! |