Thankfully, the rollercoaster ventured slightly upward today for me on Day 9 of vacation here in Grand Cayman.
It began with my sinus pain being considerably less than what it was for all of yesterday, of which I was exceptionally grateful. Unfortunately, we had our first full day of clouds, cool temperatures, and rain though. But that didn’t stop us from going outside, as we spent a good hour and a half sitting in two different hot tubs and socializing with other guests. I did attempt to swim in the ocean several different times in between my time in those hot tubs, except the waves and the riptide were so strong that I ended up getting hit by a piece of coral on my ankle pretty hard. That was enough to convince me to stay out of the ocean for at least today.
What most probably don’t know about cloudy and rainy days in the tropics is that it’s quite easy to get seriously burned during them. With the wind blowing as strong as it was today and feeling as cool it was, I wasn’t going to take any chances on getting a bad sunburn with only two full days remaining here. This is why we ended up taking a car ride along the coast instead of staying in those hot tubs any longer.
During our drive, our first stop was at The Shipwreck of the Twelve Sails, which was a monument for a number of ships that wrecked on the reef in front of it. Next we stopped by the blowholes again where the waves travelled up quite forcefully through the coral and with today’s rough seas, it set the ground for some pretty spectacular photos. Our last stop was at a local bird sanctuary. There, we walked out a short pier onto a pond where suddenly every living thing in the water from tropical birds to turtles came over to greet us, obviously hoping we had some food. It was rather funny to see this, almost like we had an audience. We also used our binoculars there to see some pretty large iguanas in stealth mode at the top of many of the trees that surrounded us there.
Later in the evening, after our drive around the island had ended, we went to the same Italian restaurant we had our first dinner at over a week ago, but this time ordering something other than pizza. My partner went for the traditional spaghetti and meatballs, while I opted for the chicken marsala. What was special about this dinner though was the couple who sat at the table directly next to us. They were from New Jersey and were very friendly and supportive of my partner and I, making mention that one of their own sons was gay. Being that Grand Cayman is a mostly conservative Christian-based island, it’s not very well-known for its support of gay couples. In fact, in 1998, a gay cruise filled with a few thousand gay men was actually turned away from the island by the government here. But it seems as if the times have really changed because my partner and I have found nothing but support of our same-sex relationship here.
So by the time Day 9 came to a close, I’m was exceptionally grateful to my Higher Power for feeling much better today, for feeling accepted instead of frowned upon, and for seeing a little more of this island’s beauty…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
