The Cayman Islands are 3 islands with about 60,000 residents. However, they have over 2,000,000 tourists each year. It is a British territory, English speaking and has some of the best beaches and marine life in the world.
Day 1 - July 22
We flew out of DFW through Miami to Grand Cayman. When we arrived in Miami, we were scrambling to get all 8 of us and our 15 carry-on bags off the airplane to make our connecting flight. (In my years of traveling, I have realized it is much better to only travel with carry-on bags, so we never check baggage when we go somewhere). In the chaos, we managed to leave one of Triniti's bags on the airplane. We realized it when we all got off. I tried to get the gate agent to quickly retrieve the bag but he said he needed to wait until everyone was off the airplane. So we waited. After about 15 minutes, everyone had departed, the agent boarded the plane and came back with Triniti's bag. We had about 25 minutes to make our connection which was across the airport. So the mad dash was on.
This is just the first of several stressful times during the trip. Traveling with 8 people is always a bit of an adventure.
Here is the crew on the first flight.
We made our connection in Miami and landed safely in Grand Cayman at about 8:30. We went through customs and we were finally on the island.
In the Cayman Islands - The Rental Car Experience
The next adventure was the rental car. We rented from a company called "Firefly" - who I had never heard of. I rented through Kayak and Firefly had mid-size cars at a terrific price. I was a bit nervous but thought it cannot be terrible. We walked over to the rental car location, which was fairly close, and the Firefly location was closed. They had a sign on the door that told us to go to Hertz. I was so confused. But we went over to the Hertz door. The lady in front of me was trying to rent a car. She had a corporate reservation. But they were trying to sell her the insurance, which was more than the rental price. She was frustrated and did not know what to do. The Hertz representative was telling her that her insurance from the US would not cover an accident in another country. She had no idea if this was true or not. I am sympathizing with her. I have no idea how this would work. But I did know that I was going to do what I always do - deny all insurance coverages. I didn't know if my insurance would cover me or not, but I was not paying the hostage prices. When I got to the counter I gave him my reservation. He pulled up one reservation and then the other. We were all set with 2 mid-size cars. I told him I did not want any insurance. He was annoyed, but I was firm. (By the way, I have always assumed rental car agents get a commission for selling insurance, upgrades or gas. Apparently they do. Google it.) He confirmed the price and everything seemed in order. We went outside and he pointed to two white 2012 Hyundai Accents. Those were our rides for the next week. He had some trouble opening the trunk of one of them. The front bumper of the other was banged up pretty bad. That's when he told me that Firefly is the company that rents out the Hertz cars when they age out of the Hertz fleet. In other words, we were driving the Hertz hand-me-downs. Lovely. Oh well, at least they would get us from Point A to Point B.I got in one of the cars - no steering wheel. Actually, it had one but on the right side! I forgot. This is a UK territory. They drive on the left side and the wheel is on the other side. I got in the other side and we headed out. Driving on the "wrong" side of the road, using Google maps and navigating the round-a-bouts at night, I soon realized I certainly should have taken out the insurance.
Thank goodness for the lack of traffic at night. We actually made it to the house without incident.
The House
We pulled up at the Airbnb we rented and Patrick met us at the door. Patrick is a master diver and lives in the apartment by the house. He is a great guy from the UK who has been on the island for 25 years. He showed us around. The house was terrific. It was in a great location on Governors Bay and within walking distance of 7 Mile Beach (which is actually 5.5 miles long). The house had 5 nice bedrooms, a beautiful pool area, ocean access and was just immaculate. Seriously cleaner than many hotel rooms. It made me wonder if a family really lives in this house. Nice touches everywhere and perfect for a vacation rental. Every switch was labeled, the TVs were all set with Apple Airplay (allowing you to stream your iPhone to the TVs) and towels were ready by the pool. They seemed to have thought of everything. They also had a beautiful grand piano in the living room. We learned that the owner (George Davidson) is actually a fairly famous piano player (http://www.georgedavidson.com).
The Piano
Here is Triniti playing on George's piano. Because it is one of the nicest pianos on the island, when famous musicians come to Grand Cayman and need a piano, this one is often used. For example, John Legend actually played on this piano a couple of years ago. It was also reportedly used by Elton John prior to George owning it. It has been played by many others including country legend Ronnie Milsap and R&B star Anita Baker.
Day 2 - July 23
This was our first day on the island. We decided to do breakfast, the Turtle Center and the beach.
Breakfast - The Birds and Buggy Cereal
We got up fairly early and went to breakfast at a little place in Camana Bay. As we got out of the car we noticed these strange trees. They had vines hanging down that were part of the tree. At the end of the vines were flowers. They look like something out of a movie. As we were walking by, Shawn Jr. pulled on one of the vines. It moved a branch and a bird in the tree started squawking. Shawn yelled at the bird and in response the bird swooped down and attacked Skylin - hitting her hair. It was like something out of Alfred Hitchcock's - The Birds. Poor Skylin was watching for birds all over the island thanks to her big brother annoying a bird in the Camana Bay parking lot.
We made it out of the parking lot and into the restaurant. We all sat down and ordered breakfast. Josh did not really want anything big and so he ordered some boxed cereal. We all got our orders and it looked great. But when Josh opened his Frosted Mini Wheats he noticed something odd. Where they moving? Yes! There were bugs in his cereal! We called over the waiter and they whisked away the bowl. Josh ordered pancakes. We finished breakfast without incident.
Below is a picture of Skylin at Camana Bay.
This is a picture of Brittany driving the car with the steering wheel on the right side.
Traffic on the other side.
Cayman Turtle Center
The first stop on the vacation was the Cayman Turtle Center. It is a conservation facility for endangered sea turtles that has over 500,000 visitors per year. This was one of Noelle's favorite activities. Below are some pictures. 
A couple "small" turtles in the pool.
In certain areas you can handle the turtles but must be careful to do it in the right way.
Skylin was not so sure at the beginning.
This is an artificial hatching station where the turtle eggs are stored and hatched. The turtles hatch and dig their way to the top.
Here are some baby turtles recently hatched.
Dolphin Discovery
After we finished at the Turtle Center we stopped by the Dolphin Discovery. This is a place where you can swim with trained dolphins. We did not do the swim but enjoyed watching the dolphins being trained and swimming with others.
Cayman Public Beach
Next we decided to go to the beach and spend some time in the water. No agenda. We decided to go to Public Beach. Like the name implies, this is a public beach in the heart of 7 Mile Beach. The sand was white and the water was crystal clear. 
Here is the first picture of the family in the water.
A friendly Jamaican man walking past took this picture of the girls with Brittany's Nikon.
Noelle doing Noelle things.
After some time in the water we walked over to a little bar right on the beach - Calico Jacks - and got a drink.
Pool Time
After the beach we decided to go back to the house and swim a little before dinner. 
Skylin and Noelle are the only ones that actually don't mind getting their picture taken.
Shawn Jr and Josh getting in a little fishing in before dinner.
Skylin doing some dance moves. This was from her solo - The Mystic.
Iguanas
Iguanas are all over in the Caymans. They are like squirrels are in Texas. Just all over. This was one at the house. 
Dinner at Coccoloba
For dinner we walked over to Coccoloba a Mexican restaurant at Seafire, a Kimpton resort. .
Dinner was really good but it was more expensive than I thought. Part of that was the conversion to US Dollars. The CI Dollar is about 20% more valuable than US. Therefore, all prices were inflated by about 20%. Interestingly, some ATMs in the Caymans actually offered US Dollars. I guess that shows the power of US tourists on the island. Nearly every place was happy to take US Dollars but change was always given in CI Dollars.
Uno Game
The final activity of the day was a rousing game of Uno. Noelle won. 
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