Land There?!?!

BUMP! DA DUMP!!! OK, landing gear down and I look out the window. Where are we landing! All I see is water! Lots of water! and then there it is. The Grand Cayman Island comes into view and I think to my self, "Land there! Where?! is there enough room for a plane to land there?! Ok. it was one of the smaller of the three islands but let me tell you the "grand" in Grand Cayman doesn't refer to the size of the Island. Texas it ain't! There was no turning back now. I was planted on a 22 mile by 2 mile island for the next few days.

Now things get good. First thing I notice when we land is the temp, 72 degrees, mighty fine, and there is a constant breeze. The little airport is not very busy but as I walked down the steps from the plane I had flash backs to "Boss, de plane, de plane". There were two guys playing that Caribbean music! Unreal, "mon".

OK, check through customs was like locker check at school. If you wanted to get it in, "no problem mon." Now things really get tasty. We stand around for a while waiting for the vans they have been rented for us to get around in. I'm still going in and out of sleep city, remember the pill/s but I'm eyeing the vehicles. Funny looking vehicles. Squirrel cars! I could see me getting almost in most of them. Then our vans arrived and although they were "different" we did fit and we headed to the church. GOOD GRIEF!! everybody is driving on the wrong side of the street!!! Except us!!! I was very glad I wasn't driving and that I was in the back where I couldn't see the on coming traffic.

Very nice church . (I'll post pictures when I can down load them.) Met some people and then decide to eat. YES! Restaurant, fine food, and tropic atmosphere, right? WE WENT TO A GROCERY STORE! Yes, they had a deli. All kinds of funny foods. Funny looking, funny smelling, but I, brave soul that I am, had grilled fish and BBQ chicken. They were putting out fresh bread like our sliced bread in the plastic bags but this was HOT bread, fresh from the bakery.

We left there and went to the beach to eat. WOW! not what I expected. No sand, just rock! volcanic rock. The whole island is the tip off a volcano and that was the bases for the entire island. Now I like rocks, always have so I was excited to see this. There was a walkway over the rock to the eating area and yes I made Libby mad by getting down from the walkway and looking at the "beach". FANTASTIC!!!! chunks of the reef coral were every where. Even Brain coral! Yes I did collect some and yes they did make it back to Madison MS. The water is crystal clear, like I mean super clear. I'm sure I could see the objects on bottom clearly at 4-5 feet depth. The diver in me was crying out, "no matter the cost I gots to get in this!!" Beautiful, beautiful and the best was that I was sharing it with my wonderful best friend and wife. She never looked better in our lives. Thank you LORD!

OK, left there and went to a couple of other spots. I discovered that some places do have sand but it appears more like ground up reef, of course, that was what it was. BEAUTIFUL WATER.

Back to the church for supper where we had that famous Grand Cayman dish spaghetti and garlic bread. I was pretty good to but not as good as the people of the church that served us. Wonderful Christian brothers and sisters.

Well, needless to say we all were pooped out and ready to get to our homes and find a bed. I really wasn't expecting much but Libby and I were delivered to this beautiful home on a bay. Beth, our hostess was a most wonderful person and we grew close to one another quickly. She shared openly of her life and the lives of those around her. She had lost her husband not to long ago. He sounded like a real man of God that was a leader to this community. Living with her was Matty her 21 year old son, Reggie her "poodle?", Max the golden retriever who has thyroid problems, and a parrot. As i entered the bed room my faith in a loving God was reinforced with the presence of a king size bed!!!!! WOW WHAT A GOD!

Day one ends quickly.