favorite places: rum point (and starfish point)

When Brett and I vacationed in Cayman in 2011 (having absolutely NO idea we would end up living here less than three years later), we did a lot of the "tourist-y" things on island. Because we were tourists, obviously. We took a tour of Stingray City, lounged on Seven Mile Beach, saw the Blue Iguanas at the Botanic Park, and spent a day at Rum Point. 

Rum Point was, by far, one of my favorite beaches from our visit. I spent the afternoon sitting in the shade, in a hammock, reading a book. My ideal vacation. :)

When we moved here in August of 2012, we'd mentioned taking an afternoon at Rum Point on a day off... and we didn't get around to it until just a few weeks ago!

We made a short de-tour on the way to a beach called Starfish Point which, you can probably guess, is a great place to see starfish. We hadn't been there before, but many people had mentioned it to us. And it was beautiful.

We actually didn't see too many starfish (although, I guess that's relative since I definitely saw more starfish than I have ever seen in my life prior to that day, so...) since we didn't wade out too far. But there were some people paddle-boarding that kept yelling "There's one! There's another! Look, here's one!" so I imagine there were a bunch out in the slightly deeper water.

Then we finally made our way over to Rum Point. It was close to 3:30pm by this point (since we waited until Joshua woke up from his nap to drive over, plus the stop at Starfish Point) so many people had cleared out. We found some lawn chairs in a nice shady spot and prepared to chase Joshua anywhere his little legs carry him (since that's his default activity at the beach... or anywhere, for that matter). And we definitely did a lot of chasing (to be fair, Brett did most of the chasing), but he was quite content for a little while playing with his toys right at the foot of my chair.

Then his attention turned to covering Daddy with sand.

Brett returned the favor, by burying Joshua up to his knees. :)

We also spent a lot of time in the water. This beach is really nice since it's shallow for quite a distance, so Joshua could walk around. He took a few spills and got a mouthful of salt water once or twice, but he still loved it!

We only stayed for an hour or so (I guess that happens when you don't get there until 3:30!) but it was such a relaxing afternoon. I have since learned that there is a "resident barracuda" that lives under the pier, so maybe I won't be so relaxed next time.

favorite places tour: camana bay, part two

Yesterday I shared a little bit about Camana Bay and how much we love taking Joshua there. One Saturday morning we took him there to let him walk around and burn off some energy and he took a liking to one of the fountains. Nope, not one of the fountains for kids to play in... this is definitely a just-for-decoration fountain. 

favorite places tour: camana bay

One of our favorite places on the island is Camana Bay.

From the Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in November.

It's this "New Urbanism" development (I actually don't really know what that means, so don't question me on it:)) that has shops, restaurants, apartments, and workplaces all in one area.

The restaurants have lots of outdoor seating, most of the roads/walkways are pedestrian-only, and there are lots shaded grassy areas... it has a super laid-back vibe. It's also really family-friendly, which is a plus. They even go so far as to have two sets of fountains for kids to play in - the smaller set with a covering that keeps it shaded which makes it perfect for smaller kids.

We end up there a few times a week, usually... to go out to eat, to look at the bookstore (Brett's favorite place on island, obviously), to meet friends for a walk or a playdate, to kill time and let Joshua burn off some energy... It has actually become our "go to" option when we're looking for something to do. We love it.

In the past few weeks or so since Joshua has begun walking, we have taken him to Camana Bay in the morning to run off some energy. He likes to be out of the stroller so he can look at things, and stop when he wants to look up close...

...or try to get in.

Sometimes he prefers to push his stroller.

He loves exploring and feeling independent (probably like all toddlers:)) and there's enough space at Camana Bay to let him do his thing. And when the baby's happy... everyone's happy!