Saturday – April 17, 2010

Our last full day on Grand Cayman and the day we were finally going to get to go to Sting Ray City.  A call in the morning let us know that the seas hadn’t yet calmed down and the afternoon looked to be better.  No problem, I could pass on the Lion Fish hunt.  About noon, we called to check and were told that the afternoon wouldn’t work either.  So, no Sting Ray City, but I did get to go on the Lion Fish Hunt. 

We left about 1pm and got a very complete briefing on the history of the entrance of Lion Fish into the Atlantic (they belong in the Pacific).  Apparently, Hurricane Andrew destroyed an aquarium or two and the pet lion fish ended up in the ocean.  They found each other and did what lion fish do naturally.  DNA testing has shown that all the fish in the Atlantic are descended from at most seven original parents.

We were also carefully briefing on how not to touch the fish (the spines are  VERY poisonous) and the Caymanian rules for their capture.  We were to locate and summons one of the divemasters with nets.  They dealt with the actual capture.  On the first dive we found four and  captured two.  Because we knew there were more right where we were, there was no reason to move the boat so we did  out surface interval and then went right back in.  This time we found three more and captured three more.  All in all, it was a useful and very enjoyable afternoon.

Friday – April 16, 2010

Today was supposed to be an all-day-in-the-water day.  Bob was scheduled to dive in the morning, we were both set to visit Sting Ray City in the afternoon, and Bob was doing a night dive after dark.  Unfortunately the weather caused a cancellation of both the afternoon at Sting Ray City and the night dive.

The morning dive went very well.  Our first dive was at a location called Trinity Caves.   It wasn’t really caves, but rather tubes in the edge of the coral reef.  We started at about 50 feet and ended at the drop off near 100 feet.  The structure was interesting but the fish at the 50 foot level were much more interesting to me.  I did see a barracuda cruise by looking for a snack.  There wasn’t anything highly different from the Wednesday dive sites, but there were a lot of fish and it was very entertaining.  One thing that was interesting was a anemone with white arms and fluorescent green tips.

Our second site was called Oro Verde after the freighter of that name that was intentionally sunk on the site to make an artificial dive reef.  The name originally referred to the banana cargo it carried, but could have equally been applied to the herbs it later carried over from Jamaica.  It was this later cargo that got the ship seized and then abandoned to be sunk.   Since it has been on the bottom, the annual storms and hurricanes have broken her up completely so there is a lot of steel, but little that looks like a ship.  Right on the bottom, was a large sandy patch with a large colony of garden eels.  These are one of my favorite creatures, large colonies that look almost like a sparse grass field.  There were all sorts of really interesting fish and this was one of my favorite dives ever.  Our dive leader pointed out a sole that was so well camouflaged I never would have seen it without her help.

In the afternoon we went into town to look at the shops.  They are set up to cater to the cruise ships that flock to this island.  Since there were no ships in port today, town was very quiet.  Maxine was able to spend time looking at  emeralds, sapphires, and rubies with the occasional diamond tossed in.  She was able to resist them all.  Good for her!!!

Tomorrow we try again for Sting Ray City.  Wish us luck.

Thursday – April 15, 2010

While the rest of America was worrying about the income tax deadline, we were in the Caribbean worrying about whether it would stop raining.  The rain wouldn’t have been an issue since we were scheduled to go out to StingRay city for some snorkeling, and ray viewing but the wind did get in the way.  We got a call that the trip had been cancelled so we slept in, then drove into Georgetown to find it as crowded as yesterday.  Four cruise ships in port will do that.  Tomorrow is a cruise ship free day.

In the afternoon we went out to the Turtle Farm (where we had skipped yesterday because of the Cruise Ship crowds)  based on advice that everyone would be gone by 2:00pm.  The advice was dead on…it was really quiet.  We got our own private guide to take us through the turtle ponds.  They keep about 400 mature turtles for breeding stock on a ratio of 300 females and 100 males.  Good odds for the guys!  From that they get about 30,000 eggs a year of which about 2/3rds hatch.  In the past, they would keep a few for breeding, kill a few for turtle stew and release a significant number back to the sea.  The ones they killed actually contributed the substantial revenue they needed to be able to fund the release of about 10,000 year olds every year.

With the Cayman Islands joining the Endangered Species Treaty, they were no longer able to export the turtle meat, the primary funding collapsed and they could no longer afford to raise turtles for release.  Now, they have the farm open for tourists, kill some for local consumption and release a few, but very few.

They have the large tank with the mature turtles and then a few smaller tanks with the 6, 12 and 18 month olds for the tourist to observe and handle.

Wednesday – April 14

Up early for a 7:00am pickup for a two tank Scuba trip.  Kind of hard after a travel day and a two hour time shift but well worth it.  The dive boat was a large platform catamaran that they just drove up on the beach to pick us up.  Our first dive site was a reef/wall combination called the Sand Slope.  Apparently some years ago the Grand Cayman Tourist Board shot some publicity pictures with a diver on skis on this sandy slope about 60 feet under water in an attempt to lure people to come here rather than go skiing in the winter.  One couple arrived from Canada with skis and really wanted to do it.  They got upset when informed it was just a publicity stunt and the ad was pulled forever.  (At this point would a Canadian joke be appropriate?)  

We jumped off the boat and descended  to the reef bottom at 50 feet.  We then worked out way down to about 100 feet to see the creatures there.  I can’t really tell that there is much difference between 50 and 100 in either the way it feels or the sea life.  In all levels there were interesting and beautiful fish.  Lots of colorful corals and sponges provide a fabulous background for the fish.

The second dive was a much shallower reef dive.  We dropped in to about 25 feet and never went below about 45.  Again, color and interesting shaped fish.  One of the more interesting things on this dive was a sea turtle that came swimming by.  He had a medium size fish directly underneath.  The fish wasn’t cleaning him, more like just using him for a moving shade screen.  After the dive, they just drove the boat up onto the sand directly in front of my hotel.  I hopped off and walked right in.  Now that is the way to dive.

In the afternoon we decided to take a drive around the island.    We started of going to the west in an attempt to visit the Turtle Farm and the town of Hell.  After our visit, I can tell you that Hell isn’t all its made out to be.  At least the Hell here on Grand Cayman is really just a small area, perhaps an acre of very strange looking rocks.   From there we tried to go to the Turtle Farm.  Unfortunately, there were four cruise ships in port today and the Turtle Farm was zoo with more buses than could find parking.  We decide to come back another day. 

Similar to Kauai, there is no way to drive across the Northern side.  Kauai has a mountain range, Grand Cayman has a swampy bay.   We drove around the East end to a beach area called Rum Point.  Other than being far from civilization (and some might consider that a benefit) it is a perfect, sandy, calm beach.

April 13, 2010 – SFO to Miami to Grand Cayman

Since I am not tied to a work schedule and Maxine had a free week, we are on our way to Grand Cayman for some scuba and sun.  The best flight schedule was to leave SFO early (6:15am) and connect in Miami.  That meant leaving home about 4am….way too early.  At least at that time of the morning there was no traffic so the trip was pretty quick.  The flight left on time and arrived on time.  Our original schedule called for a four hour layover, but as we arrived the Departures Board showed that the earlier Grand Cayman flight, one that should have left before we arrived had been delayed and was still there.  We hurried to the gate, were informed that there was space, but that since we had checked a bag, international security regulations required that we fly with out bag.  So right now we are sitting in the Miami Airport Admiral’s Club lounge comfortably passing the four hours.