Cayman Islands: Travel Day to Little Cayman
Last night at about 8:30pm, we drove to SeaTac to catch the first of four flights that ultimately brought us here to the Cayman Islands. We met the Sharps, and boarded the 10:45pm flight to Charlotte. The kids all slept the whole way... so did I. At Charlotte, we changed planes and flew on to Miami. Because we had to change airline carriers for our flight to Cayman Islands, we had to wait for our bags and then recheck them. After we collected our bags, we made it to the reservation desk with about 45 minutes to spare.

We were informed that the baggage doors close one hour before departure and that our seat assignments had been released... all because we were 15 minutes late! The <sarcasm>very helpful</sarcasm> clerk asked us which of our three bags we wanted to travel with us; the other two would would be delayed (did I mention we were only 15 minutes "late" and that there was still 45 minutes before our plane was to take off?!). We picked the kids bag. At the time, we weren't as concerned about the luggage as we were about our seat assignments. Our reserved contiguous block of seats had been raided and we were instead assigned 4 middle seats on 4 different rows. Uh... thank you Cayman Airways!

Fortunately, several people traded and the kids and Kristy were able to sit together, but I was placed a couple rows forward from them. The flight from Miami to Cayman is only an hour. So it was not as bad as I feared it would be.

Once we made it to the airport, we were delighted to find out that only the one bag did make it. My bag and Kristy's bag were back in the US. The Sharps checked in with Cayman Air at the same time we did - they got 5 of their 6 bags(!). The Sons barely made the flight because of a delay out of Dallas - none of their bags made the trip. Needless to say, we weren't very happy travelers.

But, we were assured that all of bags would eventually find their way to us. I wasn't so confident... we still had to fly from Grand Cayman to Little Cayman. But first we had to take all of our bags through customs and then check them (again) to get them on the plane to Little Cayman. So who will grab our bags tomorrow at the Grand Cayman airport, put them through customs, and then ship them out to us? Those were my questions for the baggage claim attendant that I asked while I was filling out the paperwork. Again, I was assured that the bags will eventually find their way to us.

We'll see.

Our fourth leg of our travels was on a little twin otter turbo prop airplane. The cabin held about 15 passengers and wasn't pressurized. Despite the fact that it was pretty noisy, Berkeley crashed hard. Even after we landed and had deplaned, he still didn't wake up. I laid him down on a bench outside the airport office. Check it out:

Berkeley woke up during our transfer to the place we are staying (Conch Club Condominiums). He was still in a bit of a daze because he was wondering "Why does the airplane have wheels now?"

So, here we are, after a crazy day of travel... with just one of our three bags. Our place is very roomy (1700 sq. ft) and includes 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms upstairs. There is a full kitchen, a dining room, a living room, a half bath, and a washer/dryer downstairs. The decor is a bit dated (my estimate is the mid 1980s), so these condos must be about 25-30 years old. The decor definitely could stand to be refurbished.

The Sharps and the Sons are staying at Southern Cross Club which is just 250 yards up the beach. We will eat all of our dinners at SCC... including a very fine buffet tonight that included some delicious barbecued ribs. After dinner, I stayed up late with Dave and Stacey catching up.

We'll be in Little Cayman for the next 7 nights.