West Bay Heritage Day

Pirates Week has begun. We drove on down to the West Bay Heritage Day at the Turtle Farm yesterday. It was a fabulous hot day and after six weeks of rain, I'd completely forgotten how hot Cayman can really get. Amid the heat we were treated some of the things that were done yesteryear in Cayman, like how to thatch rope and to plenty of goods made using straw and of course spinning tops (both of which were and still are so similar to the ones made in India).

Many times I find souvenirs here are not really made here but rather 'outsourced', with the Cayman Islands stamp on it. It can be quite difficult looking for Made in Cayman souvenirs, but not this week. Heritage Week is THE place to take something truly and authentically made in Cayman by Caymanians. I snapped up one of the ceramic green turtles shown here and am now kicking myself for not also buying the ceramic orange starfish. But I think I shall get my chance this Thursday in Georgetown, where Heritage Day is set to take place there. If you're visiting, don't miss out on the chance to take home something truly Caymanian made and you get to support local artisans by doing so. Also shown are some old Cayman treasures that have probably been around for a century, of course none of those were on sale. And what was also interesting to see was the traditional garb that most of the women at the event wore. Interesting because until I saw their Gingham dresses, it never occurred to me that Cayman had its own distinct and traditional dress.

There was also plenty of local food to be had, of which I will get shots of later on this week. If you've never been privy to local Caymanian grub, then this is the time and place to try some out. Of course the Pirates had to show up and even though it was while we were leaving, they were gracious enough to pose for a quick shot with us. Of course this is not the only pirate shot I will leave you with this week. Stay tuned because there's plenty more to come. The revised Pirates Week schedule can be found HERE.