Welcome to Hell

My mind has been wandering back to our December get-away cruise. Most of my life has been a pictureless time. I had no camera. I took no pictures. What was I thinking??

I got serious about wagging a camera along after I retired and started going on more trips. I figured if I was going to go, I might as well take pictures so I could remember what I did. Otherwise, you forget. It's natural. That's why I like to take pictures and put everything into scrapbooks, being sure to journal about the events. Then I can look back and relive all the fun I had.

I took the above picture of our ship from the dock at Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. It was the first time that I could get far enough away from the ship to get a full picture of it. It was my first cruise, and I was truly amazed at the size of everything. It truly is a city on the water. I'll not even start carrying on about the food on this blog... oh, the food.

Our second of three foreign ports was Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. Since the ships can't actually dock there, they 'tender' the passengers. When I saw that little statement in the brochure, I asked questions. Just what did that mean and just what did they do, and just what kind of thing would we be put on to be tendered. I certainly can ask a lot of questions when I'm unsure of what someone is going to do that will involve me.

It really wasn't bad at all. I took this picture later when we back on board our ship. I loved having a balcony with our cabin as could stand out there and take more interesting pictures. So... this is the boats they used to 'tender' us. It was fine... no rowing or anything like that.

See... nice comfortable seats..

It was fine... really.




Here is a little slice of downtown with people just milling around. I don't see anyone carrying bags of goodies bought as souvenirs. Personally, I'm not a big shopper. I've been trying to get rid of stuff... don't want more, so didn't do much for their economy in the shopping department myself.







Now look at this nice little pirate looking ship docked and waiting. I do believe they have a tour available complete with pirates doing their pirate thing.


After going on a tour which involved a submarine, we wandered around town awhile. We found lots of people offering little private tours around the area, so decided to hop on one and head out to see more of the island. We were told right away that one of our stops would be Hell.

It amuses me, and yet states something about us as humans that we grab onto almost anything to promote whatever needs promoting. I can just imagine how someone ended up calling this place Hell.

You see... or I am just trying to see how it happened. Someone must have been standing gazing at this rock formation area.... perhaps scratching their head... trying to see what they could see in this small area of rocks. From the recesses of someone's mind, the thought must have crept slowly forward that this stark rugged look might compare in some way to the look of Hell. Who knows?

So... the idea took flame (pun), and as dollars and cents came into focus to use these rocks to grab a piece of the tourist pie, Hell was born. Now tourist guides take great effort to welcome everyone to Hell... They laugh and tell the tourists that if they don't pay for the tour now, they will leave them in Hell! Funny!

Of course, I did what tourists are suppose to do. I posed on the bridge with those craggy rocks behind me and figured 'What the heck, I'll have my picture taken in Hell.'



So you see... they have a Post Office there to prove that it is a real place. I'm afraid I didn't go so far as to purchase post cards and mail them to any of my friends. It just didn't mean that much to me.

However, there it is... you can see it... a little tourist 'catch em while you can'. After all, the tourist dollar is important. It is... really.

Oops... I didn't do my part. However, I did take pictures. So I guess I'm not completely immune to this kind of thing. Here it is on my blog, so what does that say? Humm...







Of course, pirates and islands must go together. So... we have our pirate standing outside. Someone is playing hide and seek with me behind the pirate statue.

You know there is a souvenir area... of course you do. I've already confessed that I didn't spend my money here... just took a few pictures and got outta Hell.


You've got one more picture coming, which probably was my favorite, or almost my favorite on Grand Cayman...








I LOVE this post office box. Note: Grand Cayman is still British. Just look at that cute drop box. Well... there is the crown and everything. I think that is just too cute.


We did have a good time on the island. It is always nice to get away from home and see a little slice of life that is different from our daily fare. We have a desire to know and see... something beyond what we do on a daily basis. It makes us more in touch with the bigger world picture, and that's a good thing. It even makes coming home again to the comforts of our own little world wonderful.

An added perk to our trip was the fact that we left in snow and ice. Here we had a much better time with the weather. No coats, just warm weather clothing. Worked for me. Tah Dah.