Grand Cayman Day 2 - Driving to Rum Point

Day 2 - Driving to Rum Point

Waking up without the beeping sound of alarm felt so great....yes we are on vacation! Plan for today - driving to Rum Point; we originally scheduled a tour to Stingray City with Acquarius Sea Tours but they called us days ahead saying that the weather will not be good so we rescheduled to Tuesday. Today was Sunday and no cruise ship on port so it'll be a good day to Rum Point! While hubby was still sleeping, I went to the breakfast room to take some "grab and go breakfast" (free included in room price). The choices were limited but adequate for breakfast: muffins, bananas, cereals, oat meals, juices, yogurt, and milk. 

After the quick breakfast, I reviewed the direction to Rum Point with hubby and it was confusing with lots of rotaries. I went to the hotel front desk and grabbed some maps, the best maps I thought were from the Cayman Good Taste magazine and the Explore Cayman coupon book. We literally ripped the maps off from those books and marked the way according to Google Map on which exits to take on each rotaries!  Off we go again!

It was around 9 am when we left and early morning there wasn't much traffic which was great because we could drive slow. I was keeping track of each rotaries ahead and still we got off track when we were on Shamrock Drive but managed to get back on :) On Rum Point Drive, we saw a cute little marina and stopped for photos:

Continue on our drive, we arrived at Rum Point just before 10 so total time around an hour. There were plenty of parking spaces when we got there perhaps we were early. Got to have a picture with the landmark - Rum Point barrels :D

There were a few restaurants and shops there which owned the facilities so you can't bring your own food and drinks; that was fine since we planned to have lunch here anyways :)  Walking on the path to the Rum Point beach, I saw the colorful picnic tables with the gorgeous turquoise water on the background!!!

Here it was the beautiful Rum Point!

The colorful iguana, I didn't keep track of them though!

We got there just before people start to arrive so we quickly set up the tripod to take some photos of us! Aww the color of the water was too pretty, it looked just like in postcards!

It was a windy day so that was the reason why Acquarius postponed our trip to Stingray. But it was a perfect day for Rum Point! This place was so beautiful that I stopped at every few seconds to get some shots!

The hi-low dress looked great when windy hahahaha! Although it was windy but it was warm wind so don't need to worry about getting cold! It was so comfortable!

I told hubby to take a photo of me watching the beautiful turquoise water.....I wish that's the scene I see each morning waking up! 

The birds picked a great place to live, I am so jealous of them!

They wouldn't let me to come close LOL!

I spotted a couple went off snorkeling:

Yes...relax, you are in Cayman Islands!

Time for lunch at the Rum Point Wreck Bar & Grill, their menus were tied with a coconut on the picnic table, pretty smart right?

First, we started with the iced cold mango smoothie and virgin pina colada (I have zero alcohol tolerance, one drop of alcohol would make me cry LOL)! Hubby's mango smoothie was delicious!

Hubby ordered the catch of the day, the fish was grilled and poured with a curry sauce, pretty good!

I ordered the fried chicken tenders with BBQ sauce pretty good as well! Having lunch with good food and awesome view.....priceless!

Total cost of our lunch with jaw-dropping view: $45 USD included 15% tips :) After lunch, a group of people came back from sailing and all headed to the restaurant! We continued with photographing the beautiful area!  More photos to share:

Look at the view....paradise! I don't want to leave!

I did a pano as well, blue sky, white clouds, and turquoise water!

Last view of Rum Point before we leave:

I really don't want to leave but must move on to next stop: Starfish Point.  Ummm.....we couldn't find the pathway to get there, all we saw was an empty beach area with tons of grass and trees, oh well save for the Stingray City tour!  We drove back and on our way we stopped at the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. I didn't want to go there since I saw some photos in TA posted by other people of snakes (I can't tell you how much I am afraid of snakes, I would seriously scream and my legs will freeze). I told hubby I will not go into tree area; I will only stay on the path and if we see any snake, he has to carry me and run!! Compromised so we went in. 

I remembered I saw a coupon in the coupon book which saved us $2 per person so it was $18 USD for both of us. A model of the park:

Heading out first we arrived at the orchid garden....no orchid blooming at this time of the year so sad...we were here for orchids! Warning....we forgot our bug spray, there were tons of mosquitoes in this swap/bridge area. I stand still for few seconds for a photo and got bit at three places urg!!!!

We were amazed by the gold-ish color underneath the water, don't know what they are but we quickly ran away since the mosquitoes were having dinner on us!!!

But as soon as we got out of the swap area, it was fine!! On the path to look for the island Blue Iguana, we passed many strange looking plants and flowers:

I love how this yellow flowers hanging down!

Next, we arrived at the color gardens where each garden has a theme..this one my favorite pink:

Hum..is this a tree branch or the tree trunk?

This exotic plant..don't know what it called...it's weird that the flowers bloom inside like a pot of grass!

We got out of the color gardens and arrived at the palm tree area/ lily pond.....no blooming lilies as well :(

More unique plants and flowers:

Ahhh finally we spotted a Blue Iguana taking a nap underneath the picnic table!

Hubby was brave enough to slowly and quietly come up close to take some photos, careful don't touch it since it'll bite!

Mission accomplished, we can leave now LOL!  Hubby insisted to walk to the iguana habitat to see more iguanas....NOOOOOOO!!! I was in high alert walking the trail to make sure I don't see any snake on the branches!!! Hubby walked in front first to check before I proceed hahaha! More plants of flowers on the way:

We saw a bird as well, it stopped and posed for us :D

A little lizard on the tree:

A toad climbing on the tree too!

We arrived at the iguana habitat, it was walled, and hubby peeked inside, no blue iguanas!! Alright time to run back!!!

We made it out of the park without seeing any snake yay!!!! Don't forget to check underneath your car before leaving :D

The drive back to the hotel wasn't bad at all, just follow signs to Bodden Town, then to George Town, then to Seven Mile Beach! It was so much easier than driving to Rum Point! We made it back to the hotel around 3 pm and rested a little before we headed out again for dinner. We picked Duke's for dinner tonight!

I haven't seen those oil lamps for a long time!

For appetizers we ordered the baby back ribs, they were delicious!

The garlic and butter shrimps were great too!

I ordered the Seafood Jambalaya, it was like the seafood parella, a little bit salty for me!

Hubby ordered the classic seafood steampot, it was ok only.

Total cost of the dinner with a coke and a mango smoothie: $95.31 USD included tips!  Pretty expensive but it's Grand Cayman! Duke's appetizers were much better than their main courses we thought! 

We had a wonderful day today, took a lot of great photos of Rum Point!! Good night Grand Cayman..see you tomorrow!