This year marks our 10 year anniversary!
It is amazing how quickly those years have passed, and Chad surprised me with a kid-free trip. Back on September 10th, our actual anniversary, he only gave me a card with my passport and a pair of flip flops. I knew we were going someplace warm, but that was all he told me. I did not know where we were heading until we got to Dulles and checked in to our flight.
GRAND CAYMAN!! I had a feeling that was our destination, and was so excited! We were in Cayman on our honeymoon, and we both loved it. And Chad made many trips there, as a kid, with his family. Grammy and Grumpa stayed in Gainesville to take care of the kids/dog/house, and we were off!!
We arrived on a Thursday, October 22nd, and made it to our hotel by noon. We couldn't check into the room until 3:30, so we changed out of our jeans (it was cold back home), and headed down to the water. We enjoyed fruity cocktails at the pool bar and made friends with the bartender, Eric, and a fun couple from London.
After checking in, we changed clothes again, and headed out to the Grand Old House for dinner. It was a gorgeous plantation house, on the water, and we enjoyed sunset cocktails in the garden. Our dinner was amazing, and our waiter was awesome. When I began eating all of Chad's shrimp risotto, the waiter brought out an entree sized portion for me to enjoy, in addition to my own entree! It was certainly one of the most romantic dinners we have ever had, and I am already looking forward to going back!!
The next morning, we woke up fairly early, and hit the beach. We had some quiet and relaxing time down at the water, and then headed back to the pool bar for some lunch.
Then we hit the road, and headed over to Captain Marvin's for an afternoon snorkel trip. Chad and I did this same trip on our honeymoon and loved it! We stopped in Stingray City to swim with the stingrays, and we made two other stops for snorkeling. It was so much fun.
On our honeymoon, we were lucky enough to have Captain Marvin take us out. Unfortunately, he passed away last year, at the age of 98, but we still posed for a photo like we did on our honeymoon. Amazing that it has been 10 years. I still can't believe it!!
That night, we had a delicious dinner at Hemingway's restaurant, which was part of the hotel, and went to bed fairly early.
The next morning, we had breakfast out on our room's balcony, overlooking the water, and then headed out to swim with some dolphins.
Chad and I were really looking forward to this. We suited up, and headed into the water. We were joined by two dolphins, Lucky and Curponico, and they were so cute! We spent some time petting the dolphins and getting to know them. Then we amped up the chemistry with a little kissing! =)
And finally, we headed out in to the water for some fun. Our first trip out, we had to tread water until the dolphins swam behind us and we could grab onto their dorsal fins. Then they pulled us through the water.
The second time out, we had to lay out, in the water, like Superman. The dolphins swam up behind us and with a nose on each foot, they pushed us up and out of the water. The more you locked your legs, the higher you went. And boy was it fun!!
Afterwards, we swam out together and had a little water fight with the dolphins. They won!! And then we said our goodbyes. They were so cute and really seemed to love when we rubbed their backs and bellies.
(There was a photographer along with us, and we gladly bought all of the photos. So I apologize for all of the dolphin pics)
After swimming with the dolphins, we headed across the street to visit the Sea Turtle Farm. It was fun to walk around and watch these large gentle giants swim. They really are amazing creatures. Then we were able to go to the tanks and see the baby turtles. They were approximately 2-3 years old, and most of them would soon be released back out into the wild.
We capped off our morning with lunch at the Cracked Conch, another amazing restaurant on the island. We sat outside, at the bar, and enjoyed cocktails, conch dishes, and an amazing view. It was nice to sit down at a bar, order grown-up food, and not worry about picky eaters or anyone throwing food around the table! =)
That night, we enjoyed happy hour at one of the hotel bars and took dinner back up to our room. It was raining and we settled in to watch hockey and eat! Once again, we were in bed early and got another amazing night of sleep.
Sunday, was our last full day, and we decided to stay in and just enjoy the beach. I woke up early, and headed down to the water. I spent 3 hours alternating between reading, napping, and floating in the water. It was perfect!!!! Then, I met Chad up at Hemingway's for their award winning Sunday brunch. We had a table out on the patio, by the water, and enjoyed breakfast foods, a pasta bar, an omelet bar, prime rib, sushi, and the best fresh pineapple. Oh, and did I mention the bottomless champagne?!? My glass never got below half full before they were filling it back up, and I think we drank enough champagne to cover the cost of the brunch. It was great, and filling.
I spent the rest of the afternoon back at the beach, alternating between reading, napping, and floating in the water...again!! I finally met Chad up at the pool bar, for happy hour, took some last sunset photos, and we made plans to get dinner with our new friends from London. It was a great night, full of good food, drinks, and laughter. Just what we needed on our last night in Cayman.
On our last day, we woke up, checked out, did a little souvenir shopping, and had one last drink/conch dish at the pool bar. We headed out to the airport around 11:45 am, and boarded our flight back home. We were really sad to leave, but promised each other we would be back before another 10 years have passed.
Then we remembered that we were going to be able to see our kids, and suddenly I was ready to be home!!
Cayman has always been a special place for Chad and I, and now we cannot wait to bring the kids here for vacation. We want them to love it as much as we do, and I am sure they will. But first, we might need one more kid-free trip to research fun things for the kids! After all, it is the responsible thing to do!! ha ha ha
