Little Cayman: the aftermath

So we're back home, suffering terribly from "re-entry syndrome." To make it a little easier, I've spent my first full day home looking through photos (a few favorites are posted here), looking online for an island nursing job (easy on Grand Cayman, a little tougher on the sister islands, as I expected).

I've also put together a "Little Cayman remix" iPod playlist (hoping to transform an hour on the elliptical in my basement into a mini-getaway); so far it includes:

• Blue Bayou (Linda Ronstadt ... but fondly reminiscent of Marjorie on karaoke night!)
• Dance: Ten; Looks: Three (aka "Tits and Ass" from A Chorus Line ... and Lisa the bartender)
• Don't Go Breakin' My Heart (Elton John & Kiki Dee ... and Simon & Marjorie)
• Gemini Dream (Moody Blues ... I listened to this favorite several times while enjoying post-dive afternoons in the jacuzzi)
• Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon (Neil Diamond ... and danced to by Mayumi, who does a great impression of Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction)
• Stonhenge (a clip of the brilliant comedian Eddie Izzard ... Jeff, Shannon & Nique, Christopher and I enjoyed, during an evening in the jacuzzi, a fun review of Mr. Izzard's work)
• Midnight Confessions (The Grass Roots ... a Trivia Night question that we got only half right, because Steve thought it was performed by Tommy James and the Shondells)
• Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond ... also performed en masse by the Cayman Sister divers)
• Let's Get Retarded (Black Eyed Peas ... a heartwarming little tune that was the "intermission" music on karaoke night)
• Your Song (Elton John ... and Simon & Marjorie again, the closing number on karaoke night)
• [You Gotta] Fight for Your Right [to Party] (Beastie Boys ... admirably performed Friday night by Paul, his friends Simon & Ben, and Andrew, Little Cayman's paramedic)

As it stands, my playlist does a fine job recalling some great times at the Little Cayman Beach Resort. However, if anyone can remind me of any other songs from the week, please let me know so I can embellish the list.

It was a really wonderful week, and we're already trying to work in a trip back. There are so many other places that we want to visit and dive, so Steve and I have a very short list of places we'll return to (Bonaire, maybe Dominica) ... but Little Cayman is a definite.

Stay tuned for our next dive adventure: the Nekton Pilot in Cay Sal Banks and Bimini in the southern Bahamas, coming this August (if we can wait that long!).

Little Cayman Day 7: St. Paddy's Day at LCBR

St. Patrick’s Day – woo! Our last day of diving – boooo. It was another beautiful day, same old blue sky, bluer water, warm sun and cool breeze. Simon and Ben, two of Paul’s (the dive manager’s) buddies from Thailand, joined us on our boat today, but some of our group took the day off to relax by the pool (which sounded terrific, but we can’t imagine giving up any dives on the last day). The diving here is so different from other places we’ve been. The visibility has been amazing, as has the truly awesome sheer wall. The underwater landscape is rich and full and has a little bit of everything. Beautiful coral and sponges, tons of small stuff, hiding in the coral, and in some places, many schools of fish. All that and the big stuff, too – spotted eagle rays, stingrays, sharks and turtles – lots of turtles!

Dive #1 — Randy’s Gazebo

Did I mention all the turtles? As soon as we got in the water, we were joined by a small hawksbill. As have the others, this one did not seem a bit concerned with us, and hung out and let us swim with him for a while. While we were still with the turtle, I saw a pair of balloonfish – one small and one even smaller – swimming about and popping in and out of a large red barrel sponge. They looked like they were playing a game, maybe hide and seek. Very cute!

Next, we swam through a small hole that led to a nice little swim-through (lots of those here, too), and we swam out right into a school of yellow and mahogany snapper. The coral around that spot was especially colorful, with lots of chromis, blennies, and pygmy puffers swarming around.

We dove a little deeper down the wall for a bit, and came to another wide pinnacle swim-through. It’s sort of like swimming through a corridor in an art gallery. It popped me out at about 80 feet, where Steve was waiting for me. Just as I turned to look out into the great blue, I felt something on my back, hanging onto my tank. At first I thought it might be Steve, tightening something up perhaps. But then there he was beside me, swimming off to the right. Just about the time I felt the thing on my back get a stronger hold and start to “giddy-up” on my tank, I realized Steve was taking a picture … a 360° turn revealed the sea monster (view the creature above) – Marc (our DM), hamming it up for Steve’s camera!

We then saw a couple of really large fish, some good-sized groupers and a big jack that came close when Marc made some slapping motions with his hands (he says it attracts them, but wasn’t sure why … maybe they think you’re ripping up some food – maybe?) A big gray angel (not many angelfish here, but the ones we saw were all quite large and pretty), and really big trigger fish, and two medium-sized groupers hanging on the sand, mouths wide open, getting a good cleaning.

We also saw a really pretty bright green cowfish, another balloonfish, a sleeping soapfish (I’m always afraid they’re dead!), a lone trunkfish, and then, while I was watching Trunky, I saw a really well-camouflaged scorpionfish – I think we’ve only seen two or three of those here.

Dive #2 — Mixing Bowl, our last dive

Unfortunately, there had to be a final dive. Some of the folks in the group put on the pressure, calling for a “four eagle ray dive,” bigger sharks, seahorses … We decided to just really enjoy our last hour in the water, whatever it brought us. Marc did mention that many of the few seahorses that had been spotted on Little Cayman had been seen here at Mixing Bowl, and that just last week he’d found a pipefish – “just a little brown stick” – here, near a "downed Gorgonian in a sandy patch just around the back side of the nearest coral head." We opted for a relaxing dive, hanging fairly shallow and mulling over the landscape for anything small we might find.

We saw a trunkfish with 4 distinct white spots on both sides of his head (I’m pretty sure I saw him earlier in the week), and as I was watching him, there right in front of me was a big old lobster, out and about. He took a little walk around, not even trying to hide from us. He stayed out for a while, and Steve got some good pictures. We saw Simon and Ben (Paul’s friends from Thailand) nearby, so Steve pointed out the lobster and they got some good video, I think, before he backed himself into a hole in the coral.

We also saw another large school of snapper, a couple of really cute pygmy puffers, a stingray foraging in the sand, some pretty flamingo tongues, a golden arrow crab, and a very curious diamond blenny that flitted about like a teeny hummingbird.

We looked for all around for that pipefish; we even found the exact spot Marc described (a great and quite precise description, we knew immediately that we were in the right spot) – but we never found him. No seahorses either, but it was still a completely enjoyable dive. To reward our patience, at the very end Steve found a very pretty and, based on the look of his tail, pretty big chain-link moray eel hiding in a coral. Only the second eel we’ve seen, and the first chain-link (even for Marc). We both got pretty cold on this last dive, especially after a full week of 79° dives, but there was no way we were getting back on that boat even one minute early.

Back on the dock, we took our time gathering our gear, having to deal with our BCs for the fist time all week. We were the last ones off the boat, and Marc looked at Brett and said, “See, what we have here is a clear-cut case of separation anxiety!” Indeed.
Our last lunch of the week was another feast: pizza, pasta, banana cream pie and cheesecake …groan! I had salad, pasta, and breaded eggplants, and enjoyed more than I would have if we’d had an afternoon dive scheduled. Steve tried a little bit of everything, including the cheesecake, claiming he needed the energy for all that napping and drinking planned for later in the day.

After lunch, it was back to the jacuzzi and then a nice afternoon poolside with the iPod. Steve came down about 3:30 and we made our first (of the day) trip to the bar. Stephanie made us a few daiquiris (strawberry for Steve, lime for me – it’s St. Patrick’s Day!), and the evening had begun.

Everyone came down to the bar tonight, partly because there was no more diving to be done, and partly because of the karaoke night that had been promised. We had a dinner break at around 7:00, and decided to eat inside to avoid getting any new mosquito bites on top of all the current mosquito bites. Mark and Lynn (of Long-Haired Republicans fame) joined us, and shared their bottle of merlot. Jim, the resort manager, came in after a while to introduce our dining staff one at a time. I made sure to let him know how well Chubby had treated me all week, and I also thanked Chef Tucker, a Jamaican man who, I had learned, was the vegetarian behind most of the delicious vegetarian meal options. Lucky for me!

Although Chubby had the night off, he’d passed on the torch of special treatment, and for my last dinner I was given a lovely vegan plate by John (I think that’s his name – a very tall, very dark Canadian man who beat us at trivia night because he was the only one who knew that the national sport of Canada was … not ice hockey (too obvious), not curling (our guess), but lacrosse. Lacrosse! Who knew?). My dinner was basmati rice, sautéed vegetables, and a beautiful tomato rose with pea pod leaves. Steve and the others enjoyed chicken vegetable soup, fresh rolls, marinated pork chops (they think, they could only be 100% sure that they were very good), crab and lobster ravioli, and a very big, very pretty apple pastry puff with whipped cream.

After dinner we all headed back to the bar, which was much fuller than usual – apparently the LCBR Beach Nuts bar is quite the happening place on Friday nights. I guess on such a little island, karaoke night has some extra-special appeal! It was an entertaining night all the way around, although Steve had to call it a night a little early (I’m sure it was the diving and not all the daiquiris and beer!).

Simon and Mayumi, our new friends from the other boat, were much fun. Simon is quite the karaoke veteran, and sang some Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, and Beatles for us, as well as some Elton John (Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart and Your Song) with Marjorie, the surprise star of the evening. Who knew she could sing like that? After the first couple of songs got the party underway, she sang a beautiful rendition of “Blue Bayou” that stunned us all. She had a good time singing along with the other stuff too, including our collective Cayman Sister group effort, “Sweet Caroline,” and a Beastie Boys number “sung” by Paul, the Thailand boys, and Andrew, the island paramedic that we finally got to meet (well, I met him … Steve had already crashed).

At some point Marc pulled out his Guinness “four pint” hat and some green Mardi Gras beads (which stayed on his neck), and then Lisa, the bartender, hopped up onto the bar and belted out a little cabaret number from A Chorus Line, pleasantly entitled “Tits and Ass” (officially "Dance: Ten; Looks: Three"). She did a great job, and the closet performer in her had no trouble coming out. Steve was sorry he missed that one!

It was great fun, but ended early, at about 11, when the party moved down to The Hungry Iguana (where, we later learned, the boys continued the party with much dancing on the bar!) But I said our goodbyes for both of us, and headed back to our last night in room 206.

VERDICT, day seven: A+. We will definitely be back!!

Little Cayman Day 6: Turtlefest!

Stephen says I shouldn’t even post anything, because today was just another crappy day of crappy dives. Every day it’s the same thing here: blue sky, clear water, turtles and eagle rays! Marc, one of our divemasters, even said Turtles! I’m so bored with turtles this week! Move outta my way, turtle, I’m trying to see that bloody blenny! Hey, someone’s gotta do it.

Beautiful morning, but a little choppier than it has been. We had a rougher ride out, but a Triptone and the view made it manageable. We saw the dolphins again! Three days in a row, a first for Little Cayman!

Dive #1 — Nancy’s Cup O’ Tea (aka The Magic Roundabout)

Marc hustled me into the water pretty quickly since the waves were rough, and I was grateful; once I got in the water all was well, no current at all. As soon as we got in, boom! There was an eagle ray, right on schedule. They are just so beautiful and graceful; this one took his time swimming past us, so we just hung there and watched him swim about. Then we headed down the wall to a big pinnacle with a spiral of swim-throughs, at 100 feet, 90 feet, 60, 45 … really neat. The swim-throughs were more like big, wide corridors through the coral – easy to navigate, bright with light from above, and lots of stuff to see.

After a few passes, we headed down the wall a bit, hung out with a good-sized hungry hawksbill turtle chomping on the wall, then up onto the flats to look through the coral heads. SO pretty. Lots of fish, lots of beautiful fans and coral, anemones, pure white sandy patches. More queen triggerfish (lots of those here), grouper, cowfish, blue tang, black durgeons, parrotfish, a few trumpetfish, skates … and, of course, another friendly hawksbill. This one was a bit smaller, just as hungry, moving from coral head to coral head chomping away (apparently they’re coraltarians). He really didn’t care if we watched him or not, so we did. He’d take a few bites, then check us out, then move in for some more. A few times we’d turn to head off, and he would turn right around and head back toward us, like he enjoyed the company. Steve got some great video, and it was a great way to end the dive. Very, very fun!

Dive #2 — Donna’s Delight

By the time we got to our second dive, the waters had calmed a bit. We had both been a bit cold on the first dive, so I bit the bullet and put on my new hooded vest. I’ve decided to reserve it for when I really need it, because as warm and cozy as it is, it’s a pain (literally) to get on and off. But I’m glad I wore it, the water’s still 79-82°, but it starts to feel colder at the end of the week!

We saw even more fish on this dive – where were they all hiding earlier in the week? More queen triggers, one doing some sort of dance (someone said it was a mating dance, but he looked like he was eating tiny bits out of the water to me) – completely vertical in the water, mouth open, spinning around in little circles. Pretty cool to watch.

In order of appearance: the queen trigger parade, a large turtle, some really cool reddish corkscrew anemone with odd little white balls on it (like Lily of the Valley buds), a grouper being cleaned by tons of little fish and a coral-banded shrimp, an abandoned weight pocket with way too much weight in it to recover, another turtle, and another turtle (this one tagged on both flippers), and a really big fish that looked like a permit.

There were also beautiful fans and big, bright sponges; and the stars of the dive, Benji and Mini-Me, the two large puppy-dog Nassau groupers. They slide right up to you and give you a look much like Frances when you’re standing in front of the Greenie jar. What they really want is for you to wave a squirrelfish out of the coral so they can have a snack. But in lieu of that, they’ll gladly take a pet. Behind the gills, back toward the tail, and they’ll follow you anywhere. The larger of the two, Benji, also enjoys being petted under his “chin” (see above!). He sort of half closes his eyes, relaxes, and gradually moves from horizontal to vertical while you scratch him. If you stop, he’ll just follow you around and stare at you! And Benji was especially interested in Steve’s camera; he tagged along watching Steve take pictures for quite some time. The two of them hung out with us till the end of our dive … I got my Scarlet and Frances fix!

Dive #3 — Coconut Walk

I was still chilly, but couldn’t bear to pull that hooded vest on again (next time I’ll be sure to pack my 5 mil hyperstretch hood), so Steve let me wear his Red Baron beanie. Just right! We saw some more of the beautiful Bloody Bay wall, getting there through a cool drop-down hole that turned into a swim-through. We were the first ones in this one, so Steve was able to get some good pictures. It was a little dark, but the water was so clear the shots still came out.

We saw a pretty dark purple scrawled cowfish, another “dancing” queen trigger, a small piece of coral that looked like an orange hat, the cutest little pygmy puffer, and, as I was trying to point it out to Steve, he pointed right next to where it was, assuming I’d meant that GIANT lobster! We saw another turtle having a coral lunch, a golden/spotted skate of some sort, a nurse shark, and a giant parrotfish that looked like a blue or midnight parrotfish, except it was dark green. This was our last afternoon dive, but it was another great one!

We pretty much crashed after we got back to the room, never even made it to the hot tub! Down to the bar for a few drinks at 5:30, met some folks who just got in today (booooo), and then headed to dinner: chicken piccata and risotto for Steve; veggie risotto, asparagus, and refried beans for me. Chubby will be getting a very nice tip before we leave!!

We went back to the bar at 8:00 for a viewing of The Blue Planet, but we were wiped out. Must rest up for our last two dives tomorrow …

VERDICT, day six: an easy A+

Little Cayman Day 5: the Tides of March

Wow. Four dives yesterday + a little seasickness = cranky morning. We saw a t-shirt in the dive shop that says “I’m probably too old for this” … that’s how we felt this morning! We even had to get up a bit early, as the dive boat headed out for the wreck at Cayman Brac at 8 am. Neither of us felt much like breakfast, but we knew we needed to eat a little something. Eggs and sausage for Steve (and he didn’t feel like eating!); fruit, spinach, and little fried plantain for me.

And … even without a calendar or newspaper, we definitely know it’s mid-week. How can we tell, you ask? Despite our finest cleaning of wetsuits ever (the Simple Green washing after Key Largo last month), the gear is starting to ripen. Nothing like pulling on a cold, wet, slimy, stinky rubber suit first thing in the morning. Yee-ha.

The weather today was just perfect: dry air, a small cool breeze, water calm as glass. Sublime.

Dive #1 — M/V Captain Keith Tibbetts (Russian Missile Frigate #356)

Now this is a wreck dive!! I enjoyed this one more than any other wreck we’ve done (not that we’ve done a lot). More than the Hilma Hooker in Bonaire, more than the Spiegel Grove in Key Largo. It’s a large ship (330 feet), in relatively shallow water (we hit 82 feet max, and that was lying in the sand), with near perfect visibility (reportedly 200 feet, but we all swore we could see from bow to stern). The ship twisted apart in the middle upon sinking, with the bow end now resting on its port side, stern upright, with an interesting debris field in the middle. Lots of easy swim-throughs, although you did have to watch out for exposed metal beams and iron bars everywhere – I can't imagine it being allowed open for public diving in the US. (My octopus did get caught up at one point, and I had to pop it out of its holder to untangle it).

We saw the engine and missile rooms, the captain’s tower, the gun turrets, and an old stateroom that is now home to Natasha (Marc's "girl") and Ivan, two resident Goliath grouper who patiently put up with the stream of divers swimming in to shine lights on them. The ship’s been down nearly ten years, so the growth is impressive.

Rich, Reef Divers’ videographer, was with us, so we saw quite a bit of him getting footage of the ship and of us divers. We followed both Marc and Rich for a while, figuring they'd be going for the good stuff! They did, and Marc even found some sort of hopping clam to show us. It was white outside, deep red inside, and had long silky tentacles; when released on it's "spine," it hopped along the surface of the ship with the tentacle fingers wiggling up in the air. We'd never seen a clam do that before, and it was pretty neat to watch. Even our safety stop did not disappoint -- a large stingray swam to and fro right underneath us, which helped pass the three minutes at 18 feet quite nicely.

On the way back to the second dive site, someone spotted dolphins again. Marc navigated and Brett drove the boat slowly around in circles. Then, there they were, ready to put on a show for us. There were four of them, and you could definitely tell that one was a baby. IT WAS SO COOL! They raced us just under the bow, played with us, flipping up and out of the water, 3 or even all 4 at a time leaping out together, one even flipping over to swim belly up, then ending with a giant splash of his tail! They stayed with us for probably 30 minutes, and even hung around a bit while Rich (who said he’d never even seen dolphins in Little Cayman, much less been able to swim with and video them) hopped in with his snorkel and video housing (we're hoping for some great footage of that). IT WAS SO COOL!!

Dive #2 — Marylin’s Cut

Just beautiful. We saw so much! Several rays, a turtle, cowfish (a big and very pretty one), another enormous Caribbean spiny lobster, goliath grouper, lettuce sea slugs, blennies galore. Unfortunately, it was so awesome I can’t remember everything we saw! (I think I’m going to get a dive notebook at the shop to keep in my pocket … ) This was easily just as great as the first dive, though we cut the dive itself down to 40 minutes so we could get back for lunch and then the afternoon dive (we ate up a good chunk of time playing with the dolphins!). I really hope we go back to this one.

We made it back around 1 pm, so we grabbed a quick lunch – waiting for me today was a big plate of vegetable lo mein, just the right balance of veggies and starchiness to make my belly happy! Steve had a reuben and …. some other meat stuff … I didn’t really notice, but he enjoyed it. Then we headed back for the 2:00 dive.

Dive #3 — Mike’s Mount

Steve, believe it or not, decided to skip the afternoon dive. He says he was just tired, and based on his level of crankiness, I believed him. So for once, I dove without him! Christopher didn’t have to help with training (he’s working on his AI – assistant instructor – while he’s here), so he was buddiless. He also has a camera, so we decided to find lots of cool stuff to show Steve. Well … the dive obliged!

It was just beautiful, I really love the terrain of the dives here. Tons of mountains and coral heads with wee little sandy patches in between, just big enough for something cool to “hide” in. Let’s see, Christopher and I saw a big French angel, several Nassau groupers, tons of little fish and all kinds of blennies (including a very playful diamond blenny), 2 big stingrays, a BIG reef sharks (6-7 feet long, very cool!), and, at the very end of the dive, a very curious little turtle (swam right up to us and admired himself in Christopher’s camera lens), a big, beautiful spotted eagle ray, and another big reef shark. Christopher even got the eagle ray and the shark in the same picture! Definitely a first, and waaaaaaaaay cool. :-)

I came back to find Steve just waking from his 2-hour nap, and in a decidedly better mood. We went down to hang in the hot tub for a while, then reclined poolside with our iPods and a few drinks ... Stingray beer for Steve and a Cayman Colada for me (that would be a frozen pina colada with Chambord - !!). At one point Steve said, Well, I guess this could be better, but I’m not sure how … Indeed!

Before dinner, we all met at the bar to watch Rich’s video. It was great!! Good shots (not too many fat pictures, even! good job, Rich!) and great music. This is the first one we’ve ever wanted to buy, and we certainly will. We had a good time talking with him and with Marc and Brett – we may join Marc and Sarah in Crystal River in November to spend Thanksgiving weekend with the manatees.

And after dinner (linguini with marinara and veggies), it was back to the bar for Trivia Night. I got there a bit late, and Steve had already joined some folks from our group as part of "Team Instigators." There was one couple all on their own, so I joined their team, the "Long Haired Republicans" (ha!). Steve soon seceded from his team and joined us, where he fit in a bit better. One question was about music in the late '60's. Mrs. Long Hair said "... but I was only 4!" Steve said "I was 2!" and Mr. Long Hair said quietly, "and I was stoned!" (We got the question wrong.) Later, our dive club leader Pete joined us, but after several martinis was of questionable value! (just kidding, Pete!) He insisted that the person with the most Sports Illustrated covers was Cheryl Tiegs! (Not the SIs in your basement, Pete, all of them! Ever heard of Michael Jordan? Just kidding again!) It was a fun time for all of us, and I think we came in second, thanks to the "number of bones in the human body" question (206).

VERDICT, day five: a well-earned A! No, make it an A+ … dolphins, turtles, sharks, eagle rays, 300-ft visibility … can’t ask for a whole lot more! (That being said, we are greedy, so we did ask about the possibility of a whale shark. Seems they have been seen here, though rarely.)

Little Cayman Day 4: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

We missed the alarm clock this morning, and didn’t wake up till we heard the breakfast bell! After fruit and tea and a quick trip to the dive shop, we gathered our things (or so we thought...) and headed out for our morning dives. I ran back to the room to make Steve a PB&J, and when I got down to the dock everyone was yelling at me to “run! Hurry up!” – even though it wasn’t even 8:10 am! Jeez! I hopped on to much teasing (we’re supposed to be on the boat ready to go at 8:15, it’s not my fault everyone else got their early!!), and we got underway. About 1 minute out, Steve realized he’d forgotten to grab our wetsuits from the gear room. Panic! It was too late to turn around though, so we spent the ride out trying to decide if we should give it a go anyway. Most dives have been 80-82° near the surface, 79° at any major depth. Scary!

Well of course, we get to the first dive site and Dottie says the word “hammerhead,” and that was all she wrote. We were going in sans rubber, despite the fact that the story went on to report that there had been only one (unsubstantiated, at that) report of a lone hammerhead at this site, years ago, and not a one since. Nonetheless … who’s willing to take that risk?!?

Dive #1 — Lea Lea’s

Named for Lea Lea, the famed hammerhead sighter, we’d heard great things about this dive site. Dottie tried to take us there yesterday, but the current was a bit too strong and we had to go elsewhere. But today the sea was calm as glass, and we were a go. Steve and I waited until everyone else was in, then bravely started donning what little gear we had – booties, fins … yeah, that was about it!

Dottie, sea goddess that she is, offered me her mini-beanie and her hooded vest. The vest was a bit big, but I gladly took her up on it and quickly put it on over my measly DAN t-shirt and floppy blue shorts. Steve had a t-shirt and his “Snoopy” beanie.

The bad: Well, I won’t kid you. It was cold. But we kept telling ourselves “It’s not 70° cold like Florida was” and “It’s definitely not 42° cold like the @#%$@! quarry!” Hm. Well, it was still pretty cold, but we managed – a 40-minute dive no less! We saw another beautiful landscape, alternating sandy patches and coral heads, and lots of fish (more every day, it seems). Trunkfish (two this time!), a good-sized balloonfish, a nurse shark sleeping in the sand under a coral ledge. There were more Grand Canyon-like deep crevices in the coral; they look like someone took a giant knife and stuck it into the wall and then just dragged and zig-zagged it about. We found one neat sharp cut, Steve went down into it at one end, with a deep hole like a well. Then he swam along below me and I followed him about 20 feet above. It was quite cool.

Overall a nicely salvaged dive, thanks to Dottie. I don’t think I’d have made it ten minutes without those hoods!


Dive #2 — Great Wall East

I was encouraged after the first dive, having stayed much warmer than I thought I would. But then I did have to give up the mini-beanie, as Dottie was our DM for the second dive. Still, we figured the worst that could happen would be that we’d take a quick look around and come on up if we were too cold.

Results: BIG balloonfish, barracuda, two more trunkfish, a small, very pretty scrawled filefish, and a big stingray right at the end, just as Steve got up the ladder! (D'oh!) We were much cooler on this dive, but we did make it 30 minutes at least.

We were pretty ready for lunch – being colder really does make you even hungrier than usual! Today’s lunch was a Chinese dish (sweet & sour chicken, I think), rice, and some sort of beef sandwich with "juice." But I got mixed veggies, red cabbage, rice and sautéed Chinese veggies. I could really get used to this personal chef thing! Everyone was raving over the desserts – chocolate iced brownies, coconut cream pie, and authentic (and obviously homemade) chocolate chip cannoli. Impressive!

Took a small nap, then headed out to MAKE SURE we got our wetsuits. The silver lining here was that while everyone else had to put on cold, slimy suits, ours were perfectly dry and toasty!

Dive #3 — Barracuda Bite (BB)

The good: Awesome dive! We had Brett again (he’s from Alberta, we’ve learned) and Paul, the young British dive director here at Reef Divers. Dottie was feeling ill this morning, and apparently my two measly sudafed didn’t help the “ice pick between her eyes.” Bummer, she is quite a hoot. (Jokes told by Dottie on the morning dives were very funny, but not entirely suitable for a family blog … you understand.) We buddied with Christopher, too, so he and I were Steve’s lookouts. Great stuff! Christopher found a COOL web burrfish (very shy, but you can see him peering out from behind some coral, above), an arrow crab, a huge lobster, a small skate hiding under a coral. Steve stared right at it for approximately 6-1/2 minutes before he finally saw it! I pointed, pointed, pointed ... drew a line above it from head to tail, drew an outline of its shape in the water … he kept shrugging his shoulders: what? Finally I practically poked the thing in the eye (not really!), and he saw it. Phew!

We also saw a big crab, trunkfish, cute little blennies, queen triggers (one looked odd – either sick or a little … slow). A barracuda, a baby balloonfish, schools of jack, and a couple of BIG Nassau groupers. This dive was 65 minutes – 3 mm does make a difference!

Night dive: Windsock

It was much choppier than our morning dives, but still a very pretty ride out, with the full moon shining over the water and illuminating our wake. Christopher, Steve and I were the only takers from our group, so we buddied up again. We were warned to keep our lights off above 15 feet, as the sea wasps hang there and love the light. Solid advice. We made it down unharmed, and right away saw a a great big lobster hanging out right out in the open, on a ledge. Crabs, big grouper, shrimps (big ones, not even hiding, with bright shining red eyes – very cute, like something off of SpongeBob or Finding Nemo!). Also lots of little sleeping fish, some tiny but extremely colorful lettuce sea slugs, and …. a sleeping turtle! We’ve never seen one before; he was on the bottom between two coral heads, camouflaged, with his head tucked in. Then, at the end of the dive, I saw a large, blooming West Indian sea egg. Very pretty!

The ugly (almost, anyway): I was quite queasy on the way out, obviously because of the chop, but also likely due to the big dinner I had eaten barely an hour before (won’t do that again!). I’d probably have been fine, except for the constant surge underwater, rocking me back and forth the whole time, swaying me about regardless of depth or what coral head I tried to hide behind. As such, unfortunately, my belly didn’t have time to recover, and I felt pretty nauseated the whole dive. Ick.

Tomorrow we’re going over to Cayman Brac to dive the M/V Keith Tibbetts, a 330-foot Russian frigate, purposely sunk on September 17, 1996. Should be cool!

VERDICT, day four: a solid B+ (even with the seasickness!)

Little Cayman Day 3: Bloody Bay Wall remix

An all around great day! Beautiful weather, cool breeze, warm sun. Brett has today off, so our DMs du jour are Marc and Dottie – what a hoot. She wears a fluorescent orange, green, pink, purple wetsuit ... and she has spiked blond hair (that's her, above, wearing her skin from the dive goddess). As we were gearing up for our first dive, she called out “If you have trouble finding me, I’m the one with the yellow fins!”

Two in our group, Sarah and her significant other (David, I think, who does not dive), weren’t with us. They headed over to Grand Cayman to get their marriage license ... they’re getting married on the LCBR dock tomorrow! Christopher lent Steve his “Team Zissou Intern” t-shirt. That and the red beanie and he’ll be ready to start making up his own species. ;-)

On our way out to the first dive, we passed the Cayman Aggressor offshore at the far end of the island. Not too bad a ride, from the looks of it!

Dive #1 —Cumber’s Caves

This dive site, we’re told, is named after one Mervin Cumber, the founder, apparently (and if I remember correctly), of Island Air. A very nice dive, lots of cool caverns. We started with a really pretty swim-through, more of a deep crevice as the light shone down on us except for in one enclosed spot. It dumped us out into the big blue at about 78 feet. It was amazing to “burst!” out (as Dottie called it) into the great open water like that. Awe-inspiring. Beautiful mountains of pillar coral ... reminded me of the underwater mountains in the north of Bonaire – just south of Witches’ Hut, I think.

We saw a small stingray right as we got started, with some fish hanging out with him while he stirred up food in the sand. He let us watch and follow him around for quite some time, even getting very close. I hope Steve got a good picture. At the end of the dive, just as we were hanging at our safety stop, there was a big spotted eagle ray foraging in the sand. We watched him for quite some time, too. Lots of conch, I saw two that looked to be “racing” (it’s all relative), trails behind them both, little eyeball sticks poked all the way out, chugging along, one right behind the other. A very nice dive.

Dive #2 — Cumber's Caves/Busch Gardens

My favorite dive so far; Steve’s too, he says. Beautiful cuts in the coral, with sand “highways” up to the shore. It’s rocky and craggy, with mountains and overhangs everywhere. Just a really gorgeous and unique landscape. In some of the cuts and overhangs, you feel like you’re in a big bowl with sunlight pouring down in on you. One is even called the “washing machine,” because you can hear and even feel in your chest the turbulent water all around you (see me in it, above). We saw more fish than we have so far, and a few different ones, too. I finally saw a trunkfish, a good-sized smooth one, all white. Tobacco fish, tons of blennies, white tilefish (we think), lots of snapper. There’s also an o-l-d anchor and chain; Dottie says that scientists have analyzed the links and determined it’s from the late 1700’s or very early 1800’s … a pirate anchor! Cool! I almost didn’t see the anchor itself, Steve had to take me back to show me. It’s now its own reef, a very large (crossbar is probably 7-8 feet) anchor-shaped coral.

When we got back, I went for a dip in the pool and then the jacuzzi, then took in a little sun before lunch. Today Chubby made me steamed squash, broccoli and cauliflower and spicy refried beans. He is the man! Steve had grilled cheese and homemade onion rings. I’m hooked on the iced tea. Nothing special about it, I guess it just hits the spot.


Dive #3 — Ringers

Awesome dive! Dottie parked the boat just at the edge of the reef, and we entered the water looking straight down the side of the wall – the wall that keeps going for 6,000 feet! It’s a bizarre feeling at times, but I love it because it feels like I am flying. You can just soar – up, down, somersaults – in the open water, an abyss that gives you the feeling of being in outer space (or so I imagine being in outer space would feel like). The wall is beautiful, and the fish, as Dottie pointed out, are oriented as if the vertical wall is their “bottom,” so to us they appear to be swimming sideways and upside down. We swam down the wall for a while, then over the top and returned to the boat over the flat coral gardens – very nice. We saw two big lobsters, a scorpionfish (our first here), a couple of white-spotted filefish, chromis, Creole wrasse, blue tangs, and another first, two large queen angelfish, deep along the wall. Yesterday we did see a few large gray angels, but these were the first queens. We saw a large crab in a coral head, absorbed in munching on some tiny little things.

And! Near the end of the dive, Steve spotted a small hawksbill turtle. We watched him swim toward us, then surface for a gulp of air. Then he seemed to look down at us, as if trying to decide if he trusted us enough to come back down. He did eventually, and let us swim with him for probably close to 5 minutes! We got so close that I saw that he was tagged on both front flippers. Then he let me get even closer, and I could read the tags. They were different numbers, so he’s been around! The left tag was WE5667 or WE56667. The right tag had a “79” in it. I’m going to try to see if there’s a way to look him up, some tracking site or something. It was VERY cool!

After we returned, I sat in the jacuzzi for a bit and then napped beside the pool. After a shower, we walked the whole 100 yards or so to the little shop, Mermaids, where we saw some great framed photographs (including one of Bloody Ball Wall that was featured in National Geographic mural project back in 2001) and some very cool jewelry – old coins from the Atocha, but also other wrecks, land finds from Mexico and Guatemala, even some Roman coins dating back to ~300 BC! That gave me goosebumps, thinking of the very coin in my hand being around that long ago. Who knows whose pockets (did they have pockets back then?) that coin has been in!

We chatted with the Canadian gal who works there. She found the job on the internet and moved here from Manitoba (wowie!) almost 3 years ago. She says she tries to "recruit" folks who enjoy the island, and then proceeded to tell us how their new medical staff consists of a nurse and a paramedic (and one brand-spanking new ambulance, fully decked out with lights and siren, as if that's necessary!!), and that their contract just happens to be up in September. Well! Food for thought, perhaps!

Dinner was announced around 6:30, with the clanging of the dinner bell – the same one that clangs at 7:15 for breakfast and around 12:30 for lunch. Simple, but very effective! As soon as we walked in, one of the staff said “Chubby has something for you!” Indeed he did. A mélange of mushrooms, asparagus, onions and peppers, and a bit of pasta, all in a tasty balsamic glaze, with grilled sliced tomatoes on the side. Dessert was sliced pineapple, melon, grapes, and strawberries. I finally had to wrap the grapes up in a napkin for later, I couldn’t eat another bite. Steve has grilled chicken pasta, grilled pig—I mean pork, and asparagus. Which was HUGE, by the way. Asparagus that big at home would be so tough you’d never be able to chew it, but this was tender and quite tasty.

Afterwards we sat at the bar with some of the folks from our group, chatting about what we saw today and other places we’ve been. Sarah and Dave got their marriage license today and are getting married on the dock tomorrow at 2:30 – she planned it that way so she could make the morning dives with us!

One small last note to give you an idea of the attention we’re getting here: we were a bit chilly last night and pulled down some extra blankets. Instead of folding them up and placing them back on the shelf, the housekeeper (who has come and gone by noon every day) made up the beds with the blankets neatly placed between the sheets and the comforter. Minor detail, I know, but quite observant and a nice touch.

VERDICT, day three: B+ (Steve says it would’ve been an A had we seen more sharks!)

Little Cayman Day 2: The Life Aquatic with Steve Who?

Our first day of diving! We were up at 7, no problem, excited to start the day. (The beds are not the resort's strong suit; comfy, but a little too soft and a bit tough on the back.) We packed our dry bag, set our gear bags outside the room, and headed out.

Breakfast was nice; Stephen was thrilled to see the omelet station, manned by Chubby – “like Chubby Checker.” I had a huge plate of very fresh fruit – melon, pineapple, grapefruit, kiwi. And good coffee! Chubby overheard me talking to Kristina (another diver in our group) when she asked if I am a vegetarian. He actually came over and started asking me: “So ... you don’t eat anything with a face, right?” Turns out he’s one of the head chefs, and tomorrow he goes off "breakfast duty" and on lunch & dinner duty. He said he wanted me to enjoy my vacation as much as everyone else, and that he would be sure I’d have some good lunches and dinners. Nice!

Diving: Full service; the staff truly does everything for you. Our DMs (divemasters) Marc and Brett set up our gear, double checked everything when we got to the dive site, then carried it to the back of the boat for us to put it on. Great briefings with whiteboard-drawn maps worthy of an art showing – so detailed I took pictures of them to add to my dive log (see above!). It’s weird diving with folks from our shop – everyone has “our” gear. All the ladies have the same black & purple Henderson hyperstretch suits. We all have TDS mask straps. THREE other people have my yellow force fins!! (Must remember to put my name on them.)

Also, stocked in the boat cooler was not just water, but fresh whole fruit, individual bags of Baked Lays potato chips, Nutra-grain bars, and Gatorade and Propel (the drinks cost $2.50, but they just charge your room and at least you don’t have to go back to the shop to get one).

There’s a dock dog (woo!), an old Irish setter named Paddy. He seems to take it all in stride, sitting in the middle of the dock in the morning, right where everyone can pet him on their way to the boats. But when we got back he was in the shade, out of the way while everyone (the staff, I mean, not us!) lugged gear.

Our boat for the week is the Cayman Sister, and all 20 of us are on it. It’s comfortable though, and not having to struggle into your gear on the bench right next to everyone else certainly does help!

Dive #1 — Jackson Hole & Wall

Excellent visibility, definitely over 100 ft., but often dark in the shadows of the wall, especially down around 80 feet. Cool (narrow!) swim-throughs that dump you out on the deep side of the wall. Fish are not as plentiful here as elsewhere (say, Bonaire or Dominica) but definitely unafraid. Lots of black durgeon, more than I’ve seen anywhere else. We saw a BIG barracuda and a turtle. Others saw a reef shark and an eagle ray, but we did not. There were also several large conch with endless trails behind them, a pretty cool sight. Water was about 82°, but we're still feeling chilly. Steve's new Underarmor jacket and beanie, however, not only keep him warm but cut quite the stylish figure, as you can see. He's the spitting image of Bill Murray as Steve Zissou, isn't he? Sans only the Glock in the leg holster, of course!

Dive #2 — Mixing Bowl, aka 3-Fathom Wall

Beautiful section of Bloody Bay wall, shallow with lots of crevices and more swim-throughs. Saw lots of barracuda, a good-sized male reef shark, a large eagle ray, 3 queen triggerfish swimming about together. Lots of black durgeon, yellow snapper. Also goatfish, squirrelfish, and parrotfish. More conch trails, 3 BIG “donkey dungs” (sea cucumbers), and a large pile of empty crab claws (big ones!). No hole nearby, so I don’t think it was an octopus house. And we saw another turtle on the surface during the ride back to shore, which took about 20 minutes - not too bad.

Lunch was salad, bread and stuff for sandwiches (meat and cheese), fried potatoes and onions, sliced meat, pork, tilapia. Chocolate cakes, coconut pie, and pastries; iced tea, juice, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Wow.

Quick nap for Steve and then back to the boat for our 2 pm dive … more later!

Dive #3 — Great Wall West

As Marc put it, this is the wall dive by which all other wall dives in the world are measured. Wow! It’s literally a sharp 90° angle, a sheer and straight wall that drops down about 6000 feet. It reminded me of diving the Blue Hole in Belize, only without the stalactites. Again, much less fish that you’d expect at the only “buffet” in the area (though it is quite a sizable buffet!). We saw much more on this dive than we did on the ones in the morning – a very big green moray getting cleaned, a big spiny lobster hanging out in a perfect little condo-hole in the wall, the back half of a good-sized nurse shark hanging out in a large coral. With him (her? I couldn't tell) were a big old grouper and a balloonfish. Lots of barracuda, more queen triggers and black durgeon. There was also a very cool black coral bush down around 80 feet, but I just eyed it from 60 feet; Steve went down and got a few pictures. This dive also reminded me of The Blue Hole, I just realized, because even though there wasn’t a ton to see, it was really, really cool – almost eerie – and I’m really glad I did it.

After we got back to the dock, I hung out in the jacuzzi for a while, then grabbed us a few drinks and headed up to the room. Steve worked on his pictures, I put on my iPod and took a nice little nap. At 6, we headed down for the Manager’s Rum Punch Party. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres on the house while the (new, as of 6 weeks ago) manager, Jim, introduced himself and all the staff – a great group. Marc and Brett told us that if we cheered loudest for them during the introductions, that they’d take us to the coolest dive spots. So we did, and I think we embarrassed them a little, actually! We chatted more with some of the other folks in our group today, they’re all very nice. There’s a nurse manager from Sibley (Mindy), and a doctor (medical director, I think) of some sort (Sarah), a patent lawyer (Kristina), another lawyer (Gail), a retired Army/government contractor from Springfield, Jeff, and his two daughters, Shannon and Dominique. Pete and Christopher are here from The Dive Shop, as well as another TDS instructor, Jim (he's with Mindy). Then there's Ken and Marjorie, from Vienna, Larry, Mona, and John (I think!). I know that's not everyone, but that's who I can remember right now!

Dinner was great. Chubby was watching for me, and came right over to show me what he had to offer: rice and fresh sautéed vegetables, and a beautiful pasta primavera. It was fabulous and I was stuffed, but when I went in to thank him and get a cup of coffee, he dashed into the kitchen and brought out my dessert – a small, beautiful plate of strawberries, kiwi, and pineapple. Must remember to let the new manager know how much this guy has gone out of his way for me! Sometimes I think it’s a challenge for chefs to come up with vegan cuisine, they often seem to really enjoy “having” to make my stuff.

Steve headed to the bar and I ate my fruit plate with Jeff, Shannon, and Nique. Then we all went to the bar and looked at Steve’s underwater photos and Jeff’s video from the day’s dives. The mosquitoes were out again, so we moved to the jacuzzi to soak our legs and chat about movies and such ... Jeff and the girls saw Eddie Izzard live in Philly! We were all envious.

Stayed out a bit “late” tonight (back to the room at about 9:15), time to sleep and get ready for tomorrow, another crappy day in paradise!

VERDICT, day two: B-B+ (but only because we were a wee bit cold, and we suspect the need to leave room for improvement! It just keeps getting better!)

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. :-)

Little Cayman: 30 hours and counting

Now that I've survived my last shift of the week at work, it's time to pack! Our flight leaves Saturday at 6:30 am, and sometime around 2 (-ish), I think, our feet should be hitting the sand at Little Cayman Beach Resort! This is our first trip to the Caymans, and we hear the diving is fantastic. We've been going through withdrawal since our last trip (Bonaire, above, our most favorite place to dive, last October). (We did manage a few days (and 10 dives!) in Key Largo a few weeks ago, but the water was 72 degrees, so that hardly counts!)

Must finish packing, stuff all my dive gear and at least a few clothes into a suitcase that weighs no more than 55 pounds, buy dog food, and drop the girls (Scarlet and Frances) off at doggie day care (but only till my mom comes down Sunday night to spend the week with them). It's still early, but I'm already dreading leaving them. At least they love it at day care, and I know they're in good hands. *sigh* My friends with kids say "just imagine leaving a child!" But really, it can't be any harder. They're my babies, my poopins, my sweet, sweet potatoes. If only we could teach them to wear fins and breathe through a regulator ...