Days 1-2 (November 9-10, 2023): Off to the Caymans!

Last December 29th, we booked air tickets and a hotel for a few days in the Cayman Islands. It seemed like a long way away at the time, but time zips by quickly, as we all know. After a busy Fall that saw David retire on September 14th and Pam going at a crazy pace with her school and music work, the thought of a break in the sunny south started to excite us more and more as the Fall months progressed. Added to the excitement was the fact that our longtime friends, Andy and Nicole Johnson from Calgary, agreed to join us for the trip.

So with all that excitement in our pockets, here is the story of our short trip to the Cayman Islands, situated south of Cuba and west of Jamaica.

We had a late-night flight to Montreal, with a short sleep in a hotel near the airport. The next morning, we were up at 4:30AM to get an American Airlines flight to Charlotte, North Carolina and a connection onward to Grand Cayman. All went perfectly according to schedule, and we touched down in Grand Cayman at 3:30PM.

We picked up a car at the airport and drove the one hour west to the Wyndham Reef Resort Grand Cayman, located far away from Grand Cayman's tourist bustle, on the island's extreme northeast point.

It was 5PM when we pulled up to the hotel. Our friends, Andy and Nicole, quickly joined us, and it was so good to see them after all the planning and banter about the trip.

After an orientation stroll on the resort's beach, we had a great dinner on the beach at a placed called Tukka's and then called it a night. So happy to be here!

Halifax to Montreal on Air Canada Rouge. Despite the snowy day in central Canada, and our flight being late in the evening (which adds a high likelihood of accumulated delays from the day), our 9:40pm departure left on time and arrived a bit early at 10:30pm. By 10:59pm, we were in our hotel room in Pointe-Claire for a short sleep.

We splurged for an upgrade to business class for the flight. Disappointed, though, that there was no meal service - just a snack.

American Eagle has — CRJ900 jets, all made in Canada! While this was not our jet from Montreal to Charlotte, this one was behind us and is an exact duplicate to the one we took.

The iconic and original 1960s control tower atop the Montreal Trudeau terminal building.

A grey, chilly day over Pointe-Claire, Quebec, just west of the Montreal airport.

A hazy day in Charlotte, NC. A view of Charlotte’s Central Business District. Still lots of brilliant fall foliage here.

A small delay (from 12:10 to 1:05) in our flight from Charlotte to Grand Cayman. We ended up making up most of the time, and landed just 30 minutes late.

The Charlotte Douglas International Airport is huge. Just zoom in on the Google Maps image above to see how many planes it can accommodate. It is one of American Airlines’ bases, along with Dallas and Chicago.

Our American Airlines Boeing 737-800 to Grand Cayman was all shiny stainless steel, with just the retro logos of the 1950s.

The amazing colours of Turks and Caicos, as we were flying by. It gave us good memories of our two visits to that country, the most recent being in November 2021.