Jer got up at 3:30am and let Jess sleep until 4am. We got ready pretty quickly, and our car (chosen via an Amazon Local deal) was ready for us at 5am. The drive to JFK didn't start auspiciously, as the Midtown Tunnel was partially closed for construction. Once past that, we made good time. The JetBlue security lines were awful, but we still made it to our gate with 15 minutes to spare. The flight to Grand Cayman was uneventful, other than a bit of turbulence and several screaming kids. Jer napped when it was quiet enough. Once on the ground, we got through Immigration and Customs and caught a taxi to Harbour View Apartments. Despite our early arrival, they had an oceanfront studio (No. 10) waiting for us. We met the owners and one of the staff members, Millicent, showed us around. We had booked a standard studio but the owners kindly upgraded us to a deluxe studio, which was basic, but cozy and spotless, and outside we had a deck overlooking the little pier.
We unpacked, Jer changed into shorts, Jess sent a few e-mails (including confirming the next afternoon's Stingray City snorkel trip) and then we headed out to get lunch. We walked down the not-so-scenic Eastern Avenue to Champion House II. Jer got the buffet, which had lots of tasty Caribbean fare: curried goat, stewed oxtail, two types of fish, callaloo, vegetables steamed with ginger, stewed plantain, rice and beans, plus delicious baked goods (banana bread and "bread pudding") for dessert. Jess had the "conch 4 ways" appetizer, which was yummy but definitely entree size: delicious conch chowder, cracked conch, conch fritters, marinated conch and a couple extras (a samosa and a spring roll). Everything was very good and pleasantly unfamiliar, and at US$30 for almost more than we could eat, it seemed like a pretty good deal.
After lunch, we had planned to snorkel, but the seas were too rough, so we decided to wander into George Town a bit. The main harbor area is an odd mix of cruise ship port-of-call (complete with Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritaville and duty-free jewelers) and working dockyard (with big cranes, stacks of shipping containers and port authority buildings). It was pretty touristy but will a bit of industrial backbone. We spotted the tiny ruins of Fort George, an 18th c. British fort that served as the site of a US Navy outpost during WWII. There's very little left beyond a few canons and some bits of the walls, but the plaques were interesting. The waves were crashing pretty heavily along the sea wall, so we couldn't resist walking along admiring the surf over the rocks, even if it meant that we got splashed a few times (including while having our photo taken)!
Eventually, we decided to turn around and head back toward Seven Mile Beach. Along the way, we stopped at Kirk Market for a few provisions — eggs, smoked English bacon, bulla, milk and soda (ginger beers and grapefruit soda). We returned to Harbour View Apartments to stash our goodies, then rested a bit. Deciding that naps would be a bad idea but that we weren't really hungry, we dragged ourselves outside. We headed back into George Town , locating the library (and, by it, the bus depot, which was a parking lot) in a Heroes Square, a little public square in which a family of the ubiquitous Caribbean feral chickens were roaming. Heroes Square also housed the 1919 Peace Memorial, the Wall of Honour (listing Caymanians who have contributed to the island), the George V clock tower and various statues, including one celebrating women's sufferage in the Caymans.
Our eventual destination was Breezes by the Bay, a "rhum deck" with happy hour from 5-7pm. We considered trying the local rum flight, but instead Jess decided to take advantage of their specials and try a hurricane (which turned out to be a yummy, fruity girly drink), while Jer decided to skip them and get an excellent classic mojito instead. We sat on the veranda, overlooking the harbour, enjoying the sinking sun and considering our light dinner options.
It turned out that we weren't really hungry and there were clouds on the horizon, so we decided to head back to Harbour View Apartments. After a walk along our short bit of beachfront (where we saw some crazy creatures in the rock pools that looked like trilobites, called chitons), we went inside and had some of the ramen we'd brought from NYC. While it wasn't gourmet, it fit the bill: quick and not-too-filling. We followed it up with herbal tea and an early bedtime.