Kudos and Other Things Cayman

At the end of each trip, we like to acknowledge the people that went above and beyond, and made our trip better than it might have been otherwise. In addition, we like to tell you about things on our trip that for one reason or another didn't make it into a previous story. We'll start with the kudos ...

Kudos

If you remember our previous story, Featherstone House, a Paradise in Paradise, then of course you will understand why our first kudos goes out to Minnie Branch, the creator, owner and operator of Featherstone House. She's a little our senior but still a business woman and going concern. She made our stay on Brac very special in more ways than we realize. In addition, one of her strengths is her many contacts in the community and how she brought those contacts into our sphere.

The second kudos goes out to Lynn from Four D's car rental. Lynn is one of Minnie's community contacts. Lynn and Minnie have this partnership where Minnie set up the rental car deal with Lynn on our behalf. Upon our arrival, Lynn picked us up at the airport and guided us to Featherstone House in the dark on roads we were unfamiliar with. We used the car for 2 weeks, then just filled it with gas and left it at the airport with the keys over the sun visor. It was as simple as that. No waiting, no shuttling, no problem finding our accommodation in the dark, just convenience.

The next kudos goes to another of Minnie's community partners, Darvon. One day, we asked Minnie where we could buy some fresh fish. She said she'd make a call. A couple of days later, after some fisherman friendly weather, Devon showed up with his day's catch in a large cooler on his shoulder. We made our selection, he filleted it on the spot, and the deal was done. That fresh snapper was delicious.

Our fourth kudos goes to Hank. Hank is a native of Cayman Brac and is a man of the sea amongst other things. He went out snorkeling a number of times and each time came back with enough conch for a large meal or two. He cleaned them with mastery, explaining as he went. He was the one that helped identify Marlene's barracuda, and explained it wasn't dangerous and at most, curious. He also went on to explain that he feels safe when a barracuda that size is just hanging out, because if there was a large shark in the area, you would find him hiding in the shallows. Thank you Hank for sharing your wealth of knowledge.

Other Things Cayman Brac

Cayman Brac is the most laid-back place we've ever been to. The Island rhythm appears to be set by a couple of small airplane arrivals and departures each day, and the weekly supply barge of groceries and other necessities. Whenever we toured around the Island, we were often alone. There are no traffic lights on the Island because there's no significant traffic. This was so the case, that we learned that if we saw more than three or four cars parked anywhere, there was something special happening. However, we could count those occurrences over our two week stay on one hand.

Let me tell you more about the supply barge. The barge arrives on Wednesdays, weather permitting. So Thursdays and Fridays are the best days to grocery shop; not too early though on Thursday because they need time to stock the shelves. Things like fresh fruit and vegetables are available on those days, but by Monday, not so much. Often to shop Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, we had to get around to more than one store to get everything we needed. One of the grocery stores had 10% off everything just to attract a little business on those quiet days. The supply scenario wasn't a problem, it's just the way it was, and we learned to dance to the Island's rhythm.

We've mentioned more than once, the Island is laid back. I think Angel, the unofficial assistant to the Chief of Security here at Featherstone, exemplifies not only the laid-back Island culture, but also helps confirm that crime was pretty much non-existent on the Brac.

We enjoyed our Brac experience. If you, like us, prefer to take the trail less hiked, tour villages rather than cities, and shop in the grocery store rather than the souvenir shop, then we recommend it.

Another lasting thought about our adventure is the coronavirus. While home in our rural environment, we normally take our safety and security for granted. However from before we left, the threat of the virus was out there and changing every day. We felt the Cayman Islands and Brac in particular were pretty safe from the virus, but we had the air travel and in particular Toronto Pearson airport in the event chain. Mid- way in our stay, we were pleased when we learned the Cayman authorities turned away a cruise ship. We took some extra personal care on route and during our return, even though all seemed fine. There was just that uncertainty in a changing environment; another thing beyond our control while away from home. As it turned out, we were back less than a week when all hell broke loose on the virus and Canada's position on travelling abroad. Purely by good luck, we managed to have a wonderful trip and got home without adverse affects.

Before we say good-bye, I almost forgot, there's one more kudos, and it's for you. Thank you for joining us in the Cayman Islands; we hope you enjoyed this paradise adventure  as much as we did.