The first time that Donna and I visited the Cayman Islands we did a bit of jewelry shopping and had lunch, without any sightseeing. This time we decided to take a guided tour of some of the island. One of the most fun was this "Trolley Roger" tour, which takes a little over an hour.

The tour is led by a female driver/guide dressed as you can see in 'pirate' style. They take you around the island on these open trailers pulled by jeeps, all the while giving you some of the history and legends of the island mixed with bad pirate jokes. It was a lot of fun and we even had a short stop at one of the many small public beaches (seen in the photo on the right) where both these pictures were taken. In the right hand side of the beach pic you can just see the backend of a large statue of one of the island's nearly extinct Blue Iguanas. It's dressed in shorts and shirt, paid for by one of the island's bars. I have a better picuture of if which I may put up on Shot's Shack later this week.

Did you know that Grand Cayman has almost no natural fresh water resources? The island's citizens and business places depend on rainwater caught in large tanks and by a number of desalinazation plants. One of the driver's jokes is that the island is called "Grand Cayman" because if costs the citizens about a grand a week to get by. Just about everything has to be imported.

While the island is still beautiful and prospering (you can see one of the multi-million dollar homes being put up behind the trolley, it's sad to see the amount of devastation brought about by a very bad hurricane season. Worst was Hurricane Ivan which savaged the island, destroying homes and uprooting trees. Months later the damage is still evident during the tour, but many homes are being rebuilt or demolished for new construction. Don't know that I'd actually care to live on the island, but it is quite beautiful.

After the tour we checked out a couple of shops, picked up some gifts for friends and then headed back to the landing. By the time we tendered back to the ship the grill was open and it was time for burgers & fries by the pool.