May 20, 2010
I finally got caught up on everything and posted some of the photos from our trip to Grand Cayman. You can view the photos here. Next I will be working on all the video footage that Sheila took.
Eric
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Grand Cayman Day 8
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Well, today was our final full day in Grand Cayman and we had an awesome day of diving with Adam and Brooke, our friends that we met at Ocean Frontiers. Adam and Brooke met us at Turtle Nest Inn at 9:30 a.m. and we all headed to Sunset House for our first dive.
For our first dive we headed out to the mermaid and then to the shipwreck. Thanks to Brooke we were able to get some really good photos of the two of us with the mermaid. As we started our dive we spotted a very colorful flounder and then later in the dive we saw a lion fish. We did run into our friendly gray angelfish again, but other than that it was just a very nice dive. After our dive the four of us had lunch at the bar at Sunset House and made plans for our next dive.
For our next dive we decided to head down to Turtle Reef. This is one of our favorite dive sites on Grand Cayman. We all geared up and headed out to the right on the wall. This is a very pretty mini-wall dive with lots of colorful corals and sponges and lots of interesting fish. We saw an eel, a Scorpionfish, a Spotted Drum, Queen Angelfish, Gray Angelfish, French Angelfish, Trunkfish, Pufferfish, Barracuda, plus too many other fish to name. The visibility was very good on this dive and it turned out to be a very nice last dive for us.
After our dive we joined Adam and Brooke at the bar and had a drink and a snack and some good conversation. We are very glad we met them and hopefully they will keep in touch. Unfortunately, we had to leave our table in the shade by the water to head back to the Inn to get our laundry done and all our gear repacked for the trip home tomorrow. All good things must come to an end, but now we can look forward to our next vacation to Belize in a couple months.
Keep checking the website in the next several weeks as we will be working on posting some of the 1000+ photos and video we have taken while here.
Well, today was our final full day in Grand Cayman and we had an awesome day of diving with Adam and Brooke, our friends that we met at Ocean Frontiers. Adam and Brooke met us at Turtle Nest Inn at 9:30 a.m. and we all headed to Sunset House for our first dive.
For our first dive we headed out to the mermaid and then to the shipwreck. Thanks to Brooke we were able to get some really good photos of the two of us with the mermaid. As we started our dive we spotted a very colorful flounder and then later in the dive we saw a lion fish. We did run into our friendly gray angelfish again, but other than that it was just a very nice dive. After our dive the four of us had lunch at the bar at Sunset House and made plans for our next dive.
For our next dive we decided to head down to Turtle Reef. This is one of our favorite dive sites on Grand Cayman. We all geared up and headed out to the right on the wall. This is a very pretty mini-wall dive with lots of colorful corals and sponges and lots of interesting fish. We saw an eel, a Scorpionfish, a Spotted Drum, Queen Angelfish, Gray Angelfish, French Angelfish, Trunkfish, Pufferfish, Barracuda, plus too many other fish to name. The visibility was very good on this dive and it turned out to be a very nice last dive for us.
After our dive we joined Adam and Brooke at the bar and had a drink and a snack and some good conversation. We are very glad we met them and hopefully they will keep in touch. Unfortunately, we had to leave our table in the shade by the water to head back to the Inn to get our laundry done and all our gear repacked for the trip home tomorrow. All good things must come to an end, but now we can look forward to our next vacation to Belize in a couple months.
Keep checking the website in the next several weeks as we will be working on posting some of the 1000+ photos and video we have taken while here.
Grand Cayman Day 7
Friday, May 7, 2010
Again, we started our day by getting up at 6:20 a.m. and getting our stuff ready to head to Ocean Frontiers for our final two-tank morning boat dive. When we arrived and checked in at the desk we were told there were only six divers on our boat, which was a very nice surprise. Normally there are about 12 divers per boat, which is okay, but six makes it a lot nicer.
Our first dive was at a dive site called Three Sisters. Again, this was our deep dive. We went to about 110 feet. There was a very strong current at this dive site that made it very challenging for all of us to get back to the boat, but we all made it back safely, just a little tired.
The next dive site we headed to was called Grouper Grotto. This was our shallow dive. We did several swim-throughs here and saw a bunch of Tarpon but nothing else out of the ordinary. I did manage to get some good video of a lot of fish swimming around on the top of the reef. The current was much milder here, which made it much easier getting back on the boat.
This was our final dive with Ocean Frontiers. We would definitely highly recommend them to anyone looking to dive on Grand Cayman and will definitely use them the next time we come back to Grand Cayman.
We then came back to the Inn and had some lunch and headed down to Sunset House to do another dive. Right after we got into the water we came across a very friendly turtle who let us get some really good video and photos. We then headed out to the mermaid and the ship wreck and then headed back toward shore. When we got most of the way back in we came across a very friendly Gray Angelfish. Eric was trying to take its picture and it was practically swarming him. According to some people we talked to,Cathy Church (well-known photographer with a shop at Sunset House) used to feed the fish, so a lot of them are very friendly and used to photographers.
After this dive we decided to come back to the Inn and get cleaned up and go out for a nice dinner since we had been well under budget for food this past week. We went and had dinner at Casanova's. We highly recommend it. It is not cheap, but the food is out of this world. Plus we had left-overs, so we have dinner for another night. It also has very nice ambiance. We dined on the patio right at the water's edge with the breeze blowing in off the water as the sun set into the ocean. What more could you ask for.
We met a very nice couple that was on most of our dives at Ocean Frontiers, Adam and Brooke, who were also very much into underwater photography. We made plans to meet them tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. to do some shore diving. We are thinking we will probably return to Sunset House as the subjects (fish) there are very amenable to having their picture taken.
Again, we started our day by getting up at 6:20 a.m. and getting our stuff ready to head to Ocean Frontiers for our final two-tank morning boat dive. When we arrived and checked in at the desk we were told there were only six divers on our boat, which was a very nice surprise. Normally there are about 12 divers per boat, which is okay, but six makes it a lot nicer.
Our first dive was at a dive site called Three Sisters. Again, this was our deep dive. We went to about 110 feet. There was a very strong current at this dive site that made it very challenging for all of us to get back to the boat, but we all made it back safely, just a little tired.
The next dive site we headed to was called Grouper Grotto. This was our shallow dive. We did several swim-throughs here and saw a bunch of Tarpon but nothing else out of the ordinary. I did manage to get some good video of a lot of fish swimming around on the top of the reef. The current was much milder here, which made it much easier getting back on the boat.
This was our final dive with Ocean Frontiers. We would definitely highly recommend them to anyone looking to dive on Grand Cayman and will definitely use them the next time we come back to Grand Cayman.
We then came back to the Inn and had some lunch and headed down to Sunset House to do another dive. Right after we got into the water we came across a very friendly turtle who let us get some really good video and photos. We then headed out to the mermaid and the ship wreck and then headed back toward shore. When we got most of the way back in we came across a very friendly Gray Angelfish. Eric was trying to take its picture and it was practically swarming him. According to some people we talked to,Cathy Church (well-known photographer with a shop at Sunset House) used to feed the fish, so a lot of them are very friendly and used to photographers.
After this dive we decided to come back to the Inn and get cleaned up and go out for a nice dinner since we had been well under budget for food this past week. We went and had dinner at Casanova's. We highly recommend it. It is not cheap, but the food is out of this world. Plus we had left-overs, so we have dinner for another night. It also has very nice ambiance. We dined on the patio right at the water's edge with the breeze blowing in off the water as the sun set into the ocean. What more could you ask for.
We met a very nice couple that was on most of our dives at Ocean Frontiers, Adam and Brooke, who were also very much into underwater photography. We made plans to meet them tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. to do some shore diving. We are thinking we will probably return to Sunset House as the subjects (fish) there are very amenable to having their picture taken.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Grand Cayman Day 6
Thursday, May 6, 2010
We had another good day of diving. Again, we got up around 6:20 a.m. and had our breakfast and packed up our gear to head down to Ocean Frontiers for a two-tank morning dive. We got there a little early and checked in and then headed down to the boat. We departed about 8:30 a.m. and headed southwest for about 20 minutes to the first dive site. As is usual, the first dive was our deep dive, so we dove to about 100 feet. Eric and I decided to stick with the group on this dive. No large pelagic sitings on this dive, just the usual marine life. However, the crew did spot a Lion fish, which they captured and brought on board the boat.
We all got back on the boat and headed to the next dive site not too much further back east called Tarpon Terrace. Eric and I decided to go off on our own on this dive so we could take pictures and video at our leisure. I got some really good video of a midnight parrot fish, a gray angelfish, a French angelfish, and several lobsters. The crew also captured three more Lion fish on this dive. Lion fish are very pretty to look at, but they are a nonnative species that are moving into this area and if left unchecked will kill off many native species of fish. The Lion fish is equipped with poisonous spines that run down its back and unfortunately it has no predators to keep it under control. It is very unfortunate, but when the crew sees one they catch it and bring it on board to dispose of it.
We then all climbed back on the boat and headed back to Ocean Frontiers. When we started our day we heard a rumor that we had made it onto the night dive trip, so when we got back to Ocean Frontiers we checked at the desk to see if the rumor was true. We were amazed to find out that we had made it onto the night dive for tonight, which kind of surprised us because we were number three and four on the waiting list.
We returned for out night dive about 6 p.m. and headed out about 6:30 p.m. We went back to Sunset Reef, which is where they do all the night dives as it is a nice shallow dive with lots to see. We decided to go off on our own on this dive too. We saw several lobsters (one of them gigantic), an eel, a couple tiny squid, a sting ray, some banded shrimp, and a giant parrot fish After we climbed back on the boat we toweled off and enjoyed some hot chocolate and homemade blueberry muffins before returning to the dock.
We had another good day of diving. Again, we got up around 6:20 a.m. and had our breakfast and packed up our gear to head down to Ocean Frontiers for a two-tank morning dive. We got there a little early and checked in and then headed down to the boat. We departed about 8:30 a.m. and headed southwest for about 20 minutes to the first dive site. As is usual, the first dive was our deep dive, so we dove to about 100 feet. Eric and I decided to stick with the group on this dive. No large pelagic sitings on this dive, just the usual marine life. However, the crew did spot a Lion fish, which they captured and brought on board the boat.
We all got back on the boat and headed to the next dive site not too much further back east called Tarpon Terrace. Eric and I decided to go off on our own on this dive so we could take pictures and video at our leisure. I got some really good video of a midnight parrot fish, a gray angelfish, a French angelfish, and several lobsters. The crew also captured three more Lion fish on this dive. Lion fish are very pretty to look at, but they are a nonnative species that are moving into this area and if left unchecked will kill off many native species of fish. The Lion fish is equipped with poisonous spines that run down its back and unfortunately it has no predators to keep it under control. It is very unfortunate, but when the crew sees one they catch it and bring it on board to dispose of it.
We then all climbed back on the boat and headed back to Ocean Frontiers. When we started our day we heard a rumor that we had made it onto the night dive trip, so when we got back to Ocean Frontiers we checked at the desk to see if the rumor was true. We were amazed to find out that we had made it onto the night dive for tonight, which kind of surprised us because we were number three and four on the waiting list.
We returned for out night dive about 6 p.m. and headed out about 6:30 p.m. We went back to Sunset Reef, which is where they do all the night dives as it is a nice shallow dive with lots to see. We decided to go off on our own on this dive too. We saw several lobsters (one of them gigantic), an eel, a couple tiny squid, a sting ray, some banded shrimp, and a giant parrot fish After we climbed back on the boat we toweled off and enjoyed some hot chocolate and homemade blueberry muffins before returning to the dock.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Grand Cayman Day 5
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
We got up about 6:20 a.m. and had our breakfast and headed down to the east end to Ocean Frontiers for our three-tank safari trip. We boarded the boat and headed out about 8:30 a.m. We traveled for about an hour to reach our first dive site called Babylon. Our first dive was to about 100 feet. We did not see anything remarkable critter wise, but there were some very beautiful coral formations on the wall.
We all climbed back onto the boat for the trip to the second dive site, Sting Ray City. The water here was only about 12 feet deep. Everyone basically formed a giant circle around the dive master who had the bucket of squid. The dive master then made his way around to each person and fed the sting rays right in front of and around them so they could pet the sting rays and get pictures, etc. The feeding frenzy went on for about 40 minutes and then we all got back on the boat. I got lots of video of the sting rays and the other fish who were trying to collect some scraps. At one point I thought Eric had come over and touched me on the shoulder. I turned slowly to see what he wanted and was staring into a large red eye of a very large fish who was hiding behind my head. We sat there looking at each other for a few minutes. Most of the time we were down this large fish hung right around me. Eric said for a good portion of the time he was parked right underneath my butt.
After the Sting Ray City dive we headed toward land and had a very good lunch at Kaibo. After lunch we all climbed back aboard the boat and headed out for another hour plus trip to our final dive site, Snapper Hole. Eric and I decided to do our own thing on this dive so we could take our time taking pictures and video. We saw more fish and anywhere we have been before. I got lots of good video of schools and schools of fish. There were fish everywhere. Unfortunately, we did not see any sharks on any of our dives today, but just about the time we were ready to get out of the water on the last dive we saw the biggest turtle we have ever seen. Unfortunately, he/she was too far away to get any good pictures or video.
We then made the trip back to Ocean Frontiers from the third dive site, arriving about 4:30 p.m. It was a very full day, but a very enjoyable day of diving.
We got up about 6:20 a.m. and had our breakfast and headed down to the east end to Ocean Frontiers for our three-tank safari trip. We boarded the boat and headed out about 8:30 a.m. We traveled for about an hour to reach our first dive site called Babylon. Our first dive was to about 100 feet. We did not see anything remarkable critter wise, but there were some very beautiful coral formations on the wall.
We all climbed back onto the boat for the trip to the second dive site, Sting Ray City. The water here was only about 12 feet deep. Everyone basically formed a giant circle around the dive master who had the bucket of squid. The dive master then made his way around to each person and fed the sting rays right in front of and around them so they could pet the sting rays and get pictures, etc. The feeding frenzy went on for about 40 minutes and then we all got back on the boat. I got lots of video of the sting rays and the other fish who were trying to collect some scraps. At one point I thought Eric had come over and touched me on the shoulder. I turned slowly to see what he wanted and was staring into a large red eye of a very large fish who was hiding behind my head. We sat there looking at each other for a few minutes. Most of the time we were down this large fish hung right around me. Eric said for a good portion of the time he was parked right underneath my butt.
After the Sting Ray City dive we headed toward land and had a very good lunch at Kaibo. After lunch we all climbed back aboard the boat and headed out for another hour plus trip to our final dive site, Snapper Hole. Eric and I decided to do our own thing on this dive so we could take our time taking pictures and video. We saw more fish and anywhere we have been before. I got lots of good video of schools and schools of fish. There were fish everywhere. Unfortunately, we did not see any sharks on any of our dives today, but just about the time we were ready to get out of the water on the last dive we saw the biggest turtle we have ever seen. Unfortunately, he/she was too far away to get any good pictures or video.
We then made the trip back to Ocean Frontiers from the third dive site, arriving about 4:30 p.m. It was a very full day, but a very enjoyable day of diving.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Grand Cayman Day 4
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Today was a wonderful day. Eric was feeling much better today. We slept in a little and then got up and had breakfast and decided what we wanted to do today. We eventually decided we would try diving at Sunset House. We had never dove there before, so we thought we would give it a try. Our first dive was fabulous. We had the best dive of the trip so far. We headed straight out and found the wreck that lies in about 65 feet of water. The visibility was fantastic and we saw three turtles, a couple barracudas, a sting ray, and we came across a large grouper at a cleaning station being cleaned. I got lots of good video footage and Eric got some really good photos also.
After our first dive we decided to have lunch at Sunset House. The food was very good and fairly reasonably priced (for Grand Cayman standards). After our lunch we checked out the dessert menu and decided we would do a second dive and then come back for dessert.
We headed back out on our second dive and decided we were going to try to find the mermaid statue that was placed in front of Sunset House in about 60 feet of water. Unfortunately, we never did find her. However, in the process of looking for her, we both heard a strange noise in the water that we could not quite pinpoint. About that time we both looked over to find the Atlantis submarine passing us on our left-hand side. We turned and gave those inside a wave and then went on about our dive. The visibility was not quite as good on this dive and we really did not come across anything too interesting, but it was still a good dive.
After our second dive we headed back to the bar to have our dessert. We ordered a decadent slice of chocolate cake and some chocolate ice cream. Hey, we are on vacation so we are allowed to splurge!!! Boy was it good.
After our dessert we packed up all our gear and headed back to the Inn. We stopped in to change out the batteries in Eric's camera and check out the video and photos we had captured earlier in the day. Then we packed up the gear again and headed down to the east end for our night dive we had scheduled with Ocean Frontiers. We got there at about 6:15 and boarded the boat. About 6:30 or so we headed out to the dive site at Sunset Reef. The dive site was only about 25 feet at the deepest but had lots of coral heads with tons of anemones. We had a really nice dive. We saw several lobsters, a slipper lobster, a couple of eels, a small ray, and some brittle stars. I think this was our best night dive ever.
After we got back on the boat the crew had hot chocolate and homemade blueberry muffins waiting for us. We enjoyed the dive so much I think we are going to see if we can schedule another night dive for Thursday night as Ocean Frontiers only offers night dives on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Tomorrow we head back to the east end to do a three tank safari with Ocean Frontiers which also makes a stop at Sting Ray City. So that should be fun.
Today was a wonderful day. Eric was feeling much better today. We slept in a little and then got up and had breakfast and decided what we wanted to do today. We eventually decided we would try diving at Sunset House. We had never dove there before, so we thought we would give it a try. Our first dive was fabulous. We had the best dive of the trip so far. We headed straight out and found the wreck that lies in about 65 feet of water. The visibility was fantastic and we saw three turtles, a couple barracudas, a sting ray, and we came across a large grouper at a cleaning station being cleaned. I got lots of good video footage and Eric got some really good photos also.
After our first dive we decided to have lunch at Sunset House. The food was very good and fairly reasonably priced (for Grand Cayman standards). After our lunch we checked out the dessert menu and decided we would do a second dive and then come back for dessert.
We headed back out on our second dive and decided we were going to try to find the mermaid statue that was placed in front of Sunset House in about 60 feet of water. Unfortunately, we never did find her. However, in the process of looking for her, we both heard a strange noise in the water that we could not quite pinpoint. About that time we both looked over to find the Atlantis submarine passing us on our left-hand side. We turned and gave those inside a wave and then went on about our dive. The visibility was not quite as good on this dive and we really did not come across anything too interesting, but it was still a good dive.
After our second dive we headed back to the bar to have our dessert. We ordered a decadent slice of chocolate cake and some chocolate ice cream. Hey, we are on vacation so we are allowed to splurge!!! Boy was it good.
After our dessert we packed up all our gear and headed back to the Inn. We stopped in to change out the batteries in Eric's camera and check out the video and photos we had captured earlier in the day. Then we packed up the gear again and headed down to the east end for our night dive we had scheduled with Ocean Frontiers. We got there at about 6:15 and boarded the boat. About 6:30 or so we headed out to the dive site at Sunset Reef. The dive site was only about 25 feet at the deepest but had lots of coral heads with tons of anemones. We had a really nice dive. We saw several lobsters, a slipper lobster, a couple of eels, a small ray, and some brittle stars. I think this was our best night dive ever.
After we got back on the boat the crew had hot chocolate and homemade blueberry muffins waiting for us. We enjoyed the dive so much I think we are going to see if we can schedule another night dive for Thursday night as Ocean Frontiers only offers night dives on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Tomorrow we head back to the east end to do a three tank safari with Ocean Frontiers which also makes a stop at Sting Ray City. So that should be fun.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Grand Cayman Day 3
Monday, May 3, 2010
We woke up around 6:30 a.m. to have breakfast and get our gear all packed up to head down to the east end of the island for our two-tank boat dive with Ocean Frontiers. This was our first boat dive on Grand Cayman. All our other dives have always been shore dives. We were really looking forward to diving on the east end of the island as it does not get a lot of divers and its reefs are touted to be close to pristine.
We boarded the spacious dive boat a little after 8 a.m. and headed out for our first dive. The first dive spot was just a short trip out through the channel and over the barrier reef to the open water. Eric and I decided to stick with the group for this dive. Our guide took us through many swim-throughs and we were lucky enough to spot a Caribbean reef shark at the end of our dive. I actually managed to get some video of the Caribbean reef shark before it swam off. We climbed back aboard the boat and headed about 20 minutes down the coast to reach our second dive spot.
When we reached our second dive spot we again decided to stick with the group instead of going off on our own. Our guide again took us through a bunch of swim-throughs, arches, and tunnels. Unfortunately, we did not see any sharks on this dive, but I did manage to get some good video of an angel fish and a school of blue tang. We then climbed back on the boat to head back to the dock. Unfortunately, Eric got sick after his second dive and ended up feeding the fish a couple of times.
When we got back to the dock we loaded all our gear in the car and headed back to the Inn. Since Eric had a headache and was still feeling nauseous, we ended up going back to our room and laying down and napping most of the afternoon. By about 9 p.m. or so he was starting to feel a little better. Hopefully he will be feeling much better tomorrow.
We woke up around 6:30 a.m. to have breakfast and get our gear all packed up to head down to the east end of the island for our two-tank boat dive with Ocean Frontiers. This was our first boat dive on Grand Cayman. All our other dives have always been shore dives. We were really looking forward to diving on the east end of the island as it does not get a lot of divers and its reefs are touted to be close to pristine.
We boarded the spacious dive boat a little after 8 a.m. and headed out for our first dive. The first dive spot was just a short trip out through the channel and over the barrier reef to the open water. Eric and I decided to stick with the group for this dive. Our guide took us through many swim-throughs and we were lucky enough to spot a Caribbean reef shark at the end of our dive. I actually managed to get some video of the Caribbean reef shark before it swam off. We climbed back aboard the boat and headed about 20 minutes down the coast to reach our second dive spot.
When we reached our second dive spot we again decided to stick with the group instead of going off on our own. Our guide again took us through a bunch of swim-throughs, arches, and tunnels. Unfortunately, we did not see any sharks on this dive, but I did manage to get some good video of an angel fish and a school of blue tang. We then climbed back on the boat to head back to the dock. Unfortunately, Eric got sick after his second dive and ended up feeding the fish a couple of times.
When we got back to the dock we loaded all our gear in the car and headed back to the Inn. Since Eric had a headache and was still feeling nauseous, we ended up going back to our room and laying down and napping most of the afternoon. By about 9 p.m. or so he was starting to feel a little better. Hopefully he will be feeling much better tomorrow.
Grand Cayman Day 1 and 2
Saturday, May 1, 2010
We got up about 3:45 a.m. To get ready to head to the airport for our 7:10 flight. My dad was nice enough to get up at 4:30 in the morning to take us to the airport. After we checked in for our flight, we managed to make it through security without much trouble. However, they did pull Eric and his bag to the side and open it up and swab it for explosives. After we made it through security, we grabbed some breakfast and waited for our flight to leave Phoenix for Dallas Fort Worth. When we got to Dallas we had to get off the plane and take the train all the way around the airport to get to a different terminal to make our connecting flight. As soon as we got to the gate, we got right on as they were already boarding.
We made it to Miami without incident and had about a two hour layover there before our flight to Grand Cayman. We walked around the terminal to see what there was to eat, as the Miami Airport has a very limited choice of places to eat. We finally settled on a slice of pizza and pasta. It definitely was not gourmet by any means, but you will eat just about anything when you are hungry.
We made it onto our flight from Miami to Grand Cayman, which is only a little over an hour long. I ended up sleeping most of the flight. I think Eric managed to catch some Zzzz's also. We landed in Grand Cayman and zipped through Customs and Immigration and luckily both of our bags made it safely too. They seem to be much quicker at getting people through Immigration in Grand Cayman than in Bonaire that is for sure.
We then headed out the front of the airport with all of our bags and proceeded across the street to pick up our rental car. They are also much quicker about getting you in your car and on your way in Grand Cayman. We loaded all our bags into our Dihatsu “microcar” and headed for Turtle Nest Inn in Bodden Town. Once we made it to the Inn, we unloaded all of our luggage and headed to the grocery store to get some bottled water and breakfast foods as the grocery stores are all closed here on Sundays. We got our groceries and head back to the Inn and crashed for the night. What a long day!!!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Needless to say, we slept in. We eventually crawled out of bed and Eric started getting our stuff ready for the first dive of the day while I fixed us an omelet for breakfast. We have a very nice apartment here at the Inn. We have a full kitchen with stove/oven and a full size refrigerator. The room is actually very spacious and has one bedroom and a bath. We actually have an excellent ocean view also.
After getting everything rounded up and loaded into the car we headed down the road and stopped first at Sunset House. We checked out the entry and decided to go on down the road to some place we had already dove before. So we drove on down the road to Eden Rock. We rented our tanks and jumped in with all our camera equipment and headed out. Eric had a new fish-eye lens that he was trying on his camera and I had an entirely new setup with an HD video camera. This was kind of a test run for both of us getting used to our new equipment.
We finished our dive there and headed over to Paradise Restaurant for lunch. Eric had a huge chicken sandwich and I had a chicken quesadilla. We actually managed to keep the bill to around $30 (which is surprising because the last time we ate there our bill was usually around $50 each time). Eating in Cayman is not cheap!!!
After we finished lunch we headed down the road to Turtle Reef, which is another place we had dove before. We rented our tanks there and jumped in. The water was a bit choppy today as it was very windy, but we really did not have any issues. I managed to get some really good video of a stingray and Eric got a few good pictures of some stuff also. We did not really see anything amazing or out of the ordinary, but got some good practice working with our new equipment.
Tomorrow we are heading out on a two-tank morning boat dive with Ocean Frontiers to an area we have never dove before, so it should be interesting.
We got up about 3:45 a.m. To get ready to head to the airport for our 7:10 flight. My dad was nice enough to get up at 4:30 in the morning to take us to the airport. After we checked in for our flight, we managed to make it through security without much trouble. However, they did pull Eric and his bag to the side and open it up and swab it for explosives. After we made it through security, we grabbed some breakfast and waited for our flight to leave Phoenix for Dallas Fort Worth. When we got to Dallas we had to get off the plane and take the train all the way around the airport to get to a different terminal to make our connecting flight. As soon as we got to the gate, we got right on as they were already boarding.
We made it to Miami without incident and had about a two hour layover there before our flight to Grand Cayman. We walked around the terminal to see what there was to eat, as the Miami Airport has a very limited choice of places to eat. We finally settled on a slice of pizza and pasta. It definitely was not gourmet by any means, but you will eat just about anything when you are hungry.
We made it onto our flight from Miami to Grand Cayman, which is only a little over an hour long. I ended up sleeping most of the flight. I think Eric managed to catch some Zzzz's also. We landed in Grand Cayman and zipped through Customs and Immigration and luckily both of our bags made it safely too. They seem to be much quicker at getting people through Immigration in Grand Cayman than in Bonaire that is for sure.
We then headed out the front of the airport with all of our bags and proceeded across the street to pick up our rental car. They are also much quicker about getting you in your car and on your way in Grand Cayman. We loaded all our bags into our Dihatsu “microcar” and headed for Turtle Nest Inn in Bodden Town. Once we made it to the Inn, we unloaded all of our luggage and headed to the grocery store to get some bottled water and breakfast foods as the grocery stores are all closed here on Sundays. We got our groceries and head back to the Inn and crashed for the night. What a long day!!!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Needless to say, we slept in. We eventually crawled out of bed and Eric started getting our stuff ready for the first dive of the day while I fixed us an omelet for breakfast. We have a very nice apartment here at the Inn. We have a full kitchen with stove/oven and a full size refrigerator. The room is actually very spacious and has one bedroom and a bath. We actually have an excellent ocean view also.
After getting everything rounded up and loaded into the car we headed down the road and stopped first at Sunset House. We checked out the entry and decided to go on down the road to some place we had already dove before. So we drove on down the road to Eden Rock. We rented our tanks and jumped in with all our camera equipment and headed out. Eric had a new fish-eye lens that he was trying on his camera and I had an entirely new setup with an HD video camera. This was kind of a test run for both of us getting used to our new equipment.
We finished our dive there and headed over to Paradise Restaurant for lunch. Eric had a huge chicken sandwich and I had a chicken quesadilla. We actually managed to keep the bill to around $30 (which is surprising because the last time we ate there our bill was usually around $50 each time). Eating in Cayman is not cheap!!!
After we finished lunch we headed down the road to Turtle Reef, which is another place we had dove before. We rented our tanks there and jumped in. The water was a bit choppy today as it was very windy, but we really did not have any issues. I managed to get some really good video of a stingray and Eric got a few good pictures of some stuff also. We did not really see anything amazing or out of the ordinary, but got some good practice working with our new equipment.
Tomorrow we are heading out on a two-tank morning boat dive with Ocean Frontiers to an area we have never dove before, so it should be interesting.
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