My first impression of Cayman would be a lasting one,… and subsequently a theme for the remainder of the trip: HEAT… like… sticky… you can’t take off enough clothes, oppressive, HEAT.

The only chilly thing we encountered within our first few hours on the island was the customs clerk who seemed to have not one – but three sticks up her ass. I’m sure she was probably used to, (and sick of), affluent Americans coming in and being obnoxious. I made it a point to be super-nice, polite and respectful and got a smile and an approving head-nod out of her.

Our Cayman-Based partners were there to meet us and we were swept off in vans to the rental condo to drop our bags off.

No sooner did our bags touch the ground in the condo – we split up… The bosses were off to close the deal on the resort we’ll be restoring.

The electrical contractor and Erin were off to walk the building with blueprints in-hand,….

Aldo was trapped in customs because of his Dominican Republic passport….

and I was introduced to a South African gentleman by the name of Warren who manages the bosses OTHER venture – two fully seaworthy pirate ship reproductions.

I grabbed my camera and jumped in Warren’s car and we headed off to the boats… (on the left side of the road… WOOOAH!)

Warren apologetically informed me that we’d be taking a “Dinghy” to the ships.

I shrugged it off not really knowing what the hell he was talking about.

NOTE: A Dinghy is a iddy-biddy boat with an outboard motor on it.

Mid-day chop from boat traffic and an incoming storm made the dinghy trip an experience.

Our pilot, the captain of one of the ships was a Jamacian named “Charger” – who I really have no idea what he and Warren conversed about over the roar of the outboard….. I did make out a lot of “Jah-Mahns”

The experience of scooting along in a DisneyWorld theme-ride-sized boat among huge ocean liners is surreal and a little terrifying.

I distracted myself with the sights, wondering how they got the water so blue and calculating if I did fall in, the water was so clear that they’d be able to find my body with little trouble.

I spent the afternoon taking snaps of the boats and discovering my “sea legs”…. or lack there of.

By the time I got back to land I was a shade of green that probably complimented the electric teal water wonderfully.

*verp*

I headed back to the condo – bypassed taking in the breathtaking view out the patio and went right to bed to nap.

And that was only part 2 of the day.

Meanwhile – this is part 0 of nothing.