As the aircraft doors opened I was hit by the a blast of warm air and the golden light beating down from the sky…..but don’t worry this story isn’t about to get hairy – I had just landed in Grand Caymen!
Grand Caymen is an island off the coast of Mexico (and South of Miami) and I had flown out to feature in a zombie movie called “Zombie Driftwood.â€
Instantly I forgot the intense 10 hours of discomfort I had endured on the flight as I drank in my surroundings. A hectic schedule was about to begin and my role in it was to play Marianne, an ex patriot who parties wildly with her comrades before becoming one of the walking dead! It was a great honour to play this character who doesn’t succumb to the usual stereotypes of zombie horror and instead transforms into a one track minded creature who knows what she wants and gets it!
The days on set were long and arduous in the baking heat but ended with a sense of learning and development.
Whilst on the island I also had the joy of experiencing a visit to stingray city, a long stretch of calm and crystal clear waters that were home to tame stingrays which gracefully swim past your legs with ease! I wasn’t quite ready to hold one but I did stroke a stingray who seemed to lap up the attention!
During this day off I also experienced snorkelling in the glorious depths of the warm blue ocean where I encountered many kinds of exotic angelfish, starfish and even two lobsters mating! I felt truly privileged to swim amongst such beautiful creatures in their natural environment.
The caves are also worth a trip if geology interests you and are also home to colonies of rare bats! I am told that there are plans to commercialise the caves and build a tourist attraction around them. I see this as a great shame as there are only so many caves that are the right temperature for the bats and so it is likely this may cause many to perish. Catch it whilst you can before it becomes over commercialised!
In fact Grand Caymen is very underdeveloped due to the devastating hurricanes that rape the island every 4 or 5 years, but there is a great deal of natural beauty to be found across the island and many will find great pleasure in escaping to an island that is not subjected to mass commericialism.
I am also told that the local rum is heavenly and I found the cuisine fresh and mouth watering – but if the film “Free Willy†made you cry be wary of ordering “Mahi Mahi†which is actually Dolphin! And if you are prone to mosquito bites you will need to cover yourself from head to toe in repellent. I got bitten in places that would make your grandmother blush and my arm swelled up with golf ball sized lumps on the first day! Thank heavens the make up artist Lucy Darkness was a whizz with a make up brush and concealer!
So what else did I get up to on set? Well I can tell you there is some on screen snogging but you’ll have to wait until September and watch the movie to find out anymore! 😉
