Why Do Vacations Have to End? – Beautiful Grand Cayman

 

Besides dealing with laundry and our daily routines, I have spent the week reminiscing about our wonderful time spent on the island of Grand Cayman!  Even after being home a week, it’s hard to get back to reality!

This was our 6th time back to the island (5th time with the kids) and each time I find it harder and harder to leave.  I literally had tears in my eyes while driving back to the airport.

What keeps bringing us back to Grand Cayman year after year?

There are just so many things but I would say the beaches are the number one reason we keep returning!

Seriously, how amazing is that water?

And on this trip, even more than previous years, it was all about the water!

We spent our first full day on a sailboat trip to the famous “Stingray City”!

After playing with the stingrays, we had a few hours to spend at the lovely Rum Point.  The shallow water at that beach was a perfect area for the boys to snorkel and we were pleasantly surprised with the number of fish we spotted!

After lunch, we rented kayaks and spent the day in the sun.

We rented a double kayak to share with my 10 year old and a single for my 13 year old.  He picked it up right away and even had a race with my husband.  Seriously, how do I have a teenager?!!…

And a trip to Rum Point isn’t complete without taking our traditional photo on the pier…

As you can see, my boys were much more cooperative in the early years…How sweet they were when they were little.  Now…not as much!

A couple days later we headed back to the Rum Point side of the island for dinner at the Kaibo Beach Barbeque.  Taking the ferry to dinner was a new adventure for us and being able to watch the sunset while on a boat made it extra special!

We spent the evening enjoying a barbecue buffet with live Caribbean music and dancing under the stars.

The full moon shining on the water that night made the trip back feel magical!

The next day we were back on a boat for a snorkeling trip.  Instead of traveling all the way to Rum Point this time, we only had to head over to the Westin a few doors down for sailing and snorkeling.  The trip was called “Swimmin, Chillin and Grillin” and ended up being my favorite excursion for the week!  A great time with a fun international crew who made us feel so welcome.  There is just something so charming about an Australian bartender who asks, “What can I get you, love?”…Ahhh vacations…

We sailed south on Seven Mile Beach and snorkeled off the coast of Georgetown.  This was the first snorkeling trip for my boys (besides the shallow water snorkeling they did on the beaches.) I will never forget how fascinated my 10 year old looked when we got into the water and told him to look down.  If you have ever snorkeled you can understand.  Putting your face mask in the water for the first time and seeing a whole other world below you is just amazing!

After the snorkeling portion of the trip, we sailed back up the coast, lunched on a delicious barbecue buffet and listened to live reggae music performed by the crew.  Yes, all this while stretching out in the sun drinking a rum punch.  I seriously did not want the afternoon to end!

In fact, we all loved the snorkeling trip so much that we booked another trip the very next day.  No lunch or live music on that trip but we did get to visit two different snorkeling sights.  The first stop was the USS Kittiwake Wreck which you could imagine, was so exciting for the boys!  This submarine rescue ship was sunk off the coast of Seven Mile Beach just a few years ago as a planned snorkeling/diving site.  You can read more about the fascinating history of the wreck – HERE.  After exploring the exciting shipwreck we sailed over to another beautiful reef and swam with even more fish.  Another memorable afternoon for us all!

When we weren’t off on sailing excursions, we spent most of our time swimming at the beach in front of the condo.

These cheap $5.00 rafts kept the boys busy horsing around for hours!

We would just walk back and forth from the beach to the pool all day.  Definitely a relaxing week for us all!

I also had plenty of time to read on vacation.  I can’t think of a better place to finish a wonderful novel!

Please note that this post contains affiliate links which means I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

I will write a full review on Kristy Woodson Harvey’s 3rd book, Slightly South of Simple this week but I can tell you now that you need to add this one to your summer reading list!

The nine days we spent in Grand Cayman blew by but were were left with lasting memories of a wonderful family vacation!

Of course, we were jolted back into reality as we lined up in the tiny, Cayman terminal to board our return flight. The cramped room was filled with not one, but two plane loads of people heading back to the New York area.  We were booked on the United flight to Newark, NJ and the other group was heading to New York on Jet Blue.  In a flash, I went from having Australian guys calling me, “Love” to having the loud New Yorker behind me yelling, “If everybody would just stay in line, we could get outta here!”

Yeah, the vacation was over…I guess all good things must come to an end!

I will need to write a whole other post just for restaurant recommendations because we ate in some fabulous places!

In the meantime, if you would like to see some previous Grand Cayman trip reports, feel free to click on any of the links below…

Grand Cayman 2013
Grand Cayman Restaurants
Island Shopping
Grand Cayman with Kids

What vacation was your most memorable?

I would love for you follow along so you don’t miss a post!
Follow by email – HERE

Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest