We visited Grand Cayman Island back in the 1970s, before it mushroomed into a popular vacation spot. 

Grand Cayman is one of three islands in the chain, and about 200 miles off Cuba.

My wife and I were looking for a getaway place, and our travel agent in Kirkland said he had just the spot for us.

At the time, the only thing I knew about the Cayman Islands was that people hid their money there so they didn’t have to pay taxes.

I didn’t have any money so it wasn’t going to be a problem.

At the time, the biggest island, Grand Cayman, was largely inhabited by descendants of slaves.

We aren’t talking big. Grand Cayman was only 22 miles long and eight miles wide at its widest point.

It is a British territory and was discovered by Columbus on his final voyage.

The island was poor. I mean really poor. I can imagine that the island was posted by a British man named Smith who had screwed up royally someplace, and the royals wanted to punish him. Boy, did they pick the right place. 

We flew to Houston where we were to catch the flight over water on a Cayman Island plane, probably the only one.

The plane was very old, and the Cayman line was probably its fourth or fifth owner.

I was sitting at a window seat, and, while looking out, I saw a rivet pop out of the wing.

We were over water, and I started having reservations about my travel agent.

The island was dotted with tiny, brightly colored houses. There couldn’t have been more than a couple hundred inhabitants at the time.

George Town was the only town on the island, and I remember how run down the place looked.

Our small hotel was located about half a mile from the town. While the hotel was clean, it didn’t have many amenities. It was staffed, fully staffed, by untrained personnel.

We had three men working our table. One to give us menus, a second to take our order, and a third to bring our food.

We wanted to explore the island, so we rented a run-down car and took off. At the end of the island was a sea turtle rehab center. As a gimmick, a person said that for $20 a sea turtle would be released in my name. So think about it, there might be my turtle still swimming around.

A white sandy beach stretched for seven miles on one side of the island.

I found out that the island was well known for its scuba diving. You could go out on a glass-bottom boat and see down to the bottom.

We went into a grocery store and found the shelves almost bare. A man told us that they were waiting for their ship to come in for supplies. I should have told him that I was waiting for my ship to come in also.

Flash forward a few years. Today, the island is very popular and full of resorts, and it has become quite expensive.

At that time, the Grand Cayman Island fit our budget, and the stay turned into a very quiet and relaxing stay. 

I hope things turned out okay for Smith.