Little Cayman: Day 1

Dulles Airport 5:45 am

3 hrs sleep last night, up at 0300. Arrived at Dulles at 0410, gates didn’t open till almost 5. Seems like we just did this … Pete (our Dive Shop group leader) had to pay extra for his bag (53.5 lbs), but we got through even though Steve’s bag was 55 lbs. Sweet.

There’re 15 of us flying together, 5 more meeting us in Cayman, apparently. Should be beautiful when we arrive, water temp is ~ 80°. We’re leaving behind a nice weekend, the first of the season. It’s supposed to be sunny and mid-70’s here. The dogs should have a good time at day care; Frances will at least have a good time racing around the big yard. Scarlet will be more subdued, no doubt, but she will enjoy lounging in the fresh air. I miss them already.

Hungry, need coffee bad, but too tired to walk the 37 gates down to Starbucks. Maybe we’ll have time in Atlanta...

Little Cayman Beach Resort 6:45 pm

Wow. We finally made it, and it was worth the trip (including the last 30 minute flight on a 19-seat Twin Otter). This place is really, really beautiful. 10 miles long, not quite a mile wide at its widest, probably the most peaceful place I’ve ever been. After we checked in at the resort and the dive shop (a treat, more on that later), we walked “downtown” to get a few groceries. A ten minute walk and there it was, a tiny strip mall with a Cayman Bank (open Mondays and Thursdays until 4 pm, for your convenience!) and the hardware/grocery store. As we walked, the only sounds, literally, were of my flip flops, the birds, and the palm trees in the breeze. It’s maybe 80°, almost no humidity. The sun is plenty hot, though, and we kept thinking how glad we were that it’s March and not August!

As we headed out for the store (after admiring the resort and learning from the dive staff how spoiled we’re going to be this week), we decided it was pretty perfect. Except, we both said at the same time… we’re only here for one week (Steve) and no dogs yet (me, surprise). About ten steps later, however, as we neared the road, an old green minivan passed by, side door wide open, a beautiful white lab right at the edge like a paratrooper, just smiling and wagging his tail. Woohoo! Potcakes have been spotted; it’s officially paradise!

LCBR, Room 206 9:20 pm

Dinner was lovely. All meals are served in the resort’s dining room … there’s not really any other option on an island this small. But luckily it’s quite nice. Not the most vegan-friendly, but the salad was very good! There was also fresh garlic bread and roasted sweet potatoes. Yum. Steve, on the other hand, enjoyed two plates of ribs and jalapeno macaroni-and-cheese, which he pronounced very tasty.

After dinner we sat at the bar (Beach Nuts) and had a drink (Steve tried the local "Stingray" beer). The entire ceiling of the bar is covered with personalized, painted driftwood from divers all over the world … including one right above us that said in black letters on a small piece of white wood: C’VILLE VA CHUM 2-98. Small world indeed. At around 8, they set up a big screen on the patio and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zisou started playing. Nice touch!

At around 8:30 we headed back to the room so Steve could set up his camera gear and charge batteries for our dives tomorrow. But I soon heard the jacuzzi calling me … bathing suit and crocs on, grabbed a beach towel at the bar, and enjoyed another half hour of the movie from the hot tub. Steve came down, too, a few minutes later; we both decided the hot water was the perfect prescription for the mosquito bites — our legs are already covered. After a while we walked down to the end of the dock and just sat there looking at all the stars and the almost-full, very bright moon. There’s always a breeze, very much like in Bonaire, and it was so nice out there I think I could’ve slept right there on the dock.

So now we’re packing up our gear and getting ready for tomorrow. We’re pretty excited about the dives tomorrow. Bloody Bay Wall has quite a reputation, and we hear there are often manta ray sightings here. As Vicki at the dive shop (Reef Divers — great t-shirts) told us, what we need to do in the morning is this: put our bags outside our room by 7:30 am. That’s it. They’ll get it on the boat, set it up, change our tanks between dives, and rinse it after we’re back. Oh, we opted for Nitrox, so we do have to analyze our own tanks, but then we just mark them and set them aside, and they “will magically appear on the boat!” SWEET!

We’re on the Cayman Sister all week, all 20 of us from The Dive Shop. At least we know everyone already, so no surprises! Should be a fun group. So the plan is to put gear out and analyze tanks, have breakfast, and be on the boat at 8:15. Two am dives, lunch, then a 2 pm dive. We’ll also probably do the Tuesday night dive, and if that’s good perhaps the Thursday night dive as well.

VERDICT, first day of our LCBR vacation: a solid A. :-)