Every Day Fairytale: The Cayman Islands...Finally!!!!

So you probably think that THE great reason that I loved the Cayman Islands so much was because that is where my lifelong dream of swimming with the dolphins came true. You would be dead wrong. I could have swum with the dolphins in Cozumel or Jamaica and loved the Cayman stop just as much. Let me tell you some great things I learned about the Cayman Islands while on the bus ride to the dolphin pools as well as our exploration of the island after our dolphin experience:

*They have no welfare system except for elderly and disabled people. If you don’t work, you don’t eat.

*They don’t have a littering problem; if you litter a napkin, you get a $1000 fine and up to 7 days in jail, on your FIRST offense!!!

*Minimum wage there is comparable to 12 bucks an hour in the states but milk is also 5 bucks a gallon. Sea food though? Totally cheap.

*The Cayman Islands are still under the rule of Queen Elizabeth. She appoints a governor to rule there for 4 years at time. The governor is not allowed to rule for more than one term and he is never to return to the Cayman Islands again without being invited by the Queen herself. In all these years, she has never issued an invitation for any governor to return. All these precautions prevent corruption.

*They drive on the wrong side of the road there.

*The water was the most beautiful, clear, WARM water I have ever seen. We had to tender from the boat to the island and the tender ride was so amazing, you could look down into the ocean and see all the way to the bottom.

*Bartering and heckling are not allowed, in fact, they are illegal. This meant we could walk down the streets without people standing outside of their stores shouting for us to come in and check it out or street vendors talking to us or people constantly trying to sell us stuff. It was just like a regular day shopping, you go, you look, you buy it for the marked price OR you don’t, but either way the sales clerk just politely waits at the register.

*The people on that island were the friendliest people we encountered on our entire vacation.

*While there is always the risk of a hurricanes, our guide (who is a Caymanian) told us that they do experience tropical storms and occasionally hurricane winds, but that in the past 100 years they have only been truly devastated by a hurricane once. Those are pretty good odds in my opinion! AND they have such an awesome system in place they were up and running again within a month.

*Most Caymanian’s marry people that are not from the island. As a result, English is the primary language but 90% of the population is at least bi-lingual and 50% of the population is tri-lingual. How cool is that?!

* They have an open trade policy with Cuba and the Caymanians are allowed in and out of Cuba at will, however Cubans must attain a passport with permission from the Cayman Islands to visit there.

*They do not take refugees. Any refugees that wash up are immediately deported back to their home country.

*The most beautiful beach (according to most island locals) is the south beach, which is not accessible to tourists or cruise ships, as most of the south beach is lined with private homes which cost (on average) about 150K American dollars.

*The Cayman’s Boast the whitest and cleaning beaches lined with sand in the Caribbean (probably goes back to that whole littering rule).

Now, if all those reasons aren’t good enough for you to think you want to move there yourself, call me, and I will provide even more persuasive evidence. You see how, even without the dolphins at this island, I just fell in love? We also got to go to the turtle farm while in the Cayman Island, which was just phenomenal! Here are some pictures!