The Road to Rum Point

Grand Cayman Travelog #20
Rum Point - Fri, 19 May 2023, 10am

Today we're doing a a road trip around the far side of Grand Cayman. We started with a drive out to Rum Point. From here we'll work our way around the East End, seeing sights in the more remote parts of the island.

We started the day with our new usual breakfast at the hotel at 7. We returned to the room and packed a bag to leave by 8:30 to beat the crowds. The drive out to Rum Point took about an hour. The first 30+ minutes of it was driving drudgery getting through the George Town area. The last 15 minutes or so of the drive, on one of the far corners of the island, were pleasant for how rural it all is.



We got out to Rum Point and it was... both more and less than I expected. More, because of its tranquility. And the water feels even warmer here than back at Seven Mile Beach. It's bathtub warm. But also Less, because there's almost nothing here. One of the crew on the charter boat the other day talked up Rum Point as if there were great bars and restaurants here to visit, including supposedly the place where the mudslide (drink) was invented. It turns out there are are no restaurants or bars here, only two food trucks— and they're not even open yet. A lot of other stuff seems to be under construction.



Aside from seeing a different side of the island, Rum Point is a bust. But we're near Starfish Beach, which is worth going back to... especially because the pictures I took when we visited a few days ago got screwed up. 🤣

Starfish & More at Starfish Point

Grand Cayman Travelog #21
Starfish Point - Fri, 19 May 2023, 11am

Today we're taking a drive around the far side of the island of Grand Cayman. Our first stop this morning, Rum Point, was kind of a bust. Just down the road from that is Starfish Point. Although we visited Starfish Point on Tuesday as part of a boat tour it seemed like a fun place to come back to on our own— without the crowds from the boats.



We had the beach mostly to ourselves for a while. It's beautiful in an unspoiled way. Soon the first tour boat arrived, though. With only about 20 people aboard it wasn't so bad.

While Hawk went looking for coral and shells near the shore I waded out into the clear, shallow water to look for starfish. Sure enough, I found them— and other fish, too. Here's a video montage I put together:

Watch on YouTube

Link: view video at YouTube

In the video are a few starfish, a tarpon, a jellyfish, and a sea cucumber.

Trade Show Day 1: Feels So Late

Vegas in May Travelog #3
Back at my room - Mon, 22 May 2023, 8:30pm

Day 1 of the trade show I'm working in Vegas this week is done. And I am done. It's only 8:30pm but it feels like 11. That's been the story all day: it's felt much later than it really is/was.

Early Morning, False Start

My day started shortly after 5:30am when I woke up and realized I wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep. Sun was already pouring through the window, and I'm probably suffering jet lag from getting up at 4-4:30 local the past several days when I was at the beach in Grand Cayman. I decided to get up and putter around the room while eating my usual on-the-road breakfast of a protein bar packed from home and a bottle of Coke Zero bought from a nearby convenience store.

Just before 7:30 I went downstairs to register for the conference and check out the networking breakfast. The one advantage of the room I was assigned is that it's in the same part of the casino as the conference. I just take the elevator down to the promenade level, walk a short quarter mile and there's the registration desk. It's another quarter mile to the exhibit hall. These are short distances by Las Vegas mega-casino standards. 😅

Except after I got my badge they told me I didn't qualify for breakfast. It turns out breakfast is only for "attendees", and I only have an exhibitor pass. That meant that not only was my plan of joining the networking breakfast to network shot, but so was my plan after that to attend the keynote presentation.

Dejected, I entered the exhibition hall— entering it outside of official hours is the one thing my second-class status allows me to do— and checked our booth. It was mostly set up but nobody else was there yet. I waited about 30 minutes and still no one else had arrived. I decided since I clearly had second-class status I was not going to work an 11.5 hour day today (the exhibition show runs til 7pm! 😱) and headed back up to my room to catch up on work emails from the comfort of my own desk.

I worked in my room until early lunch time at 11am. I went downstairs to the food court, home of the $10 pizza slice, to buy lunch since I wasn't sure I could get so much as a free sandwich at the concert with my indentured servant badge. I arrived at the show floor at 12:30, well ahead of my scheduled 2-7pm shift.

Afternoon Shift, Feels Like Forever

The thing about arriving early for that shift was that it perpetually felt later than it was. "It's got to be 3pm," I said to myself. I checked my phone; it wasn't even 2pm yet. "It's got to be after 4 already," I thought. It was 2pm. It was like that all afternoon. The day was looong. At least the 5:30-7pm part of the exhibit show was with drinks being served. Nobody on my crew pulled the sanctimonious card about not drinking in the booth. We all enjoyed a glass of wine/beer— or two, or three— while working.

We left shortly after 7. It felt so late at night that I was surprised walking past a window— yes, there are places in Vegas casinos with windows!— to see it still sunny outside.

One of my colleagues was interested in some after-hours stuff with me. ...No, nothing crazy, just getting a drink and chatting about job stuff. I was happy because he's an AE (account executive) I haven't had any truly unscripted time with yet even though he's been here 2 years. That's one of the downsides of the post-Covid remote work era. From a pair of seats at one of the umpteen bars in the casino we talked casually about company leadership, colleagues, roadmap, and strategy for the customers we're working on together. That is always one of the valuable parts of these in-person events.