The motto of the Cayman Islands is:   He Hath Founded It Upon The Seas….   (Psalm 24, Verse 2)

This is the Coat of Arms for the Cayman Islands:

It was designed in 1957 and was approved in 1958 in Great Britain by Royal Warrant.  The Warrant notes that it was the “Queen’s pleasure to order the Grant of Arms to the Cayman Islands.” The three green stars represent the three islands that comprise the Cayman Islands – Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.  The Lion represents Great Britain.  The blue and white wavy bands represent the sea.  The turtle at the top represents Cayman’s seafaring history.  Beneath the turtle is a coil of rope, which acknowledges Caymans traditional (historical) thatch rope industry.  Last, the pineapple behind the turtle represents Cayman’s original ties with Jamaica.

We decided to go see what was going on in Georgetown one day.  This fountain is near where I usually park.  On cruise ship days this area is so busy that sometimes you can hardly see the fountain at all !

Harbor Drive, which is the main drag along the waterfront is typically jam-packed on cruise ship days. On any given day when the ships are in port, the street is absolutely overflowing with cruise passengers, taxis, tour buses…etc.  In 2019 nearly two million passengers spent a day on the island. Most of the souvenir stores and other things to see are found along the main drag.  Go a block or two inland and Georgetown turns its attention to matters of business.

This is what Harbor Drive looked like the day we were there:

Most of the stores were closed, but we did find one or two open as we walked along.  We happened to be there on a Friday and one store we went into said they were only open on Fridays and Saturdays these days.  The government has been very proactive in trying to help support businesses decimated due to the loss of tourism.

On a normal tourist day you could almost walk by the Fort George area without even noticing it.  At one time I’m pretty sure when you stood at the site of the fort, there was an ocean view -but as Cayman is wont to do, 2 square inches of land without a building on it was noticed between the fort itself and the shoreline  -so they built something without delay.

It is believed the fort was built in the late 1700’s to help protect the island from Spanish marauders and pirates.  The original fort had space for eight cannons.  Unfortunately, in 1972 a local man and the Planning Authority were locked in a disagreement about the man’s plans to develop the land where the fort was located.  When the government didn’t allow him to do what he wanted, he went ahead and started to dismantle what was left of the fort anyway.  Some citizens saw what was happening and banded together to try to stop him, but the damage was mostly done.  The site was eventually donated to the National Trust in 1987 -but there isn’t much left to see now.

In 2012 -2014 some basic restoration was done and a replica of a lookout house that was used in WWII to watch for enemy ships was added to the site.

Originally, the lookout was set in a silk cotton tree, not on a pole.  It was one of six lookout huts that were set up at strategic points around the island to keep watch for enemy activity.  They were manned 24/7 during the war.

I pretended to be a cruise passenger.

I’m laughing in this picture because I told Mike to not make me look old and stupid. He said, “I’m not a miracle worker!” HA HA

Looking out over Hog Sty Bay.  Normally you’d see several cruise ships anchored out there.

Mail box in front of the National Museum. I think this one is there mainly for historical reasons. Mailboxes elsewhere look more like ours in the USA.

The National Museum:

The building was built in the early 1800’s and is the oldest surviving public building on the island.  It was originally used as a courthouse and jail.  Over the years it was used for a variety of things – as a post office, library…even a bank at one time…among other things.  It was in the 1980’s that it was designated to be used as a museum.

Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to have a snack at a “new to us” restaurant called Da Fish Shack.

When I was snagging this photo, I thought I had the whole saying in frame.  I only took one picture too (typical). It says: Da Fish Shack Any Fresher & You’d Have To Slap Us!  I thought that was cute.

The next day, conditions were reasonably good for getting the kayak out.  At this time of year there is a pretty consistent breeze blowing on our beach from the North or North-West that makes it hard to swim, snorkel or kayak out front.  Every once in awhile, we get a day where we can get out there and we try to take advantage of it when that happens.

These birds hang out at the end of our dock this time of year.  They are called Royal Terns.  If someone walks out to the end of the dock, they just take off and circle around and land again, when the danger (human) is gone.

They thought we were a bit too close for comfort in the kayak.

On Sunday we went to get the bikes out for our weekly breakfast ride and my tire was flat.  Mike went rode his bike to Eats anyway, and I met him there with the car.  After breakfast, we stopped by Governor’s Beach as usual and I snapped this picture of Mike’s arrival.  The wall behind him encloses the Governor’s residence.

7-Mile Beach, looking South along the front fence of the Governor’s mansion.

The landscaping around our complex is decided by committee.  We have some owners that are very knowledgeable about gardening in general.  The island presents some challenges for gardeners since we need plants that can handle the salt air and the wind, among other things.  There are a few owners here at the moment whom are on the committee and they did a walk around the other day to make a list of things that need attention from the landscaping company.  They let me tag along and while I was not much help in general, I did enjoy the slow stroll around the property and paying attention to the various plants and flowers we have.  Here are a few -and I’ll add more another time.

Pandanus Tree

Frangipani (aka Plumeria)

Seven weeks seemed all the time in the world -even with two of them being used for quarantine.  Now we’re closing in on about 10 days left and we’re thinking that time really does fly!

Categories: Cayman 2021 - Part 8, Cayman In The Time Of Covid