Grand Cayman 2013 Day 5

January 9, 2013

We have been here long enough that I think we have all reverted to Island Time.  None of us were very motivated to do much this morning but we finally managed to get moving, eventually.  We had plans to do two dives today so we packed up the car and drove through town to the other side of the island to dive at DiveTech which is just down the road from Turtle Reef and the Turtle Farm.  Eric and I had never dove there but heard from other people that it was good.  

On the way through town we noticed there were four cruise ships docked in the harbor today.  What a madhouse--a good day to stay away from downtown.  We made our way through town and on to DiveTech.  They actually have a really nice facility with dive shop and a little cafe with somewhat healthy food.  

After we got in the water here there was quite a bit of current so we did not go out as far as we had planned.  We did see a midnight parrotfish, queen angelfish, and the usual reef inhabitants.  There was a pretty good current for the whole dive, so we got a good workout.  After we got out, we decided since it was lunchtime to try out their cafe.  Jody, 

Tim, and Eric had the Curry Chicken and Hummus wrap/pannini with sweet potato fries and I had the herb chicken wrap with sweet potato fries.  I also had a mango, pineapple, peach, strawberry smoothie and Jody and I had a slice of their berry crisp for dessert--Yummmm.  

While we were hanging out waiting for our lunch we had fun petting the shop cat--Ginger.  They also had some really nice T-shirts at the dive shop, so I ended up getting one--also with some souvenir Ginger hair on it (apparently she spends some time napping on the T-shirts in the shop).  

After lunch we loaded up the car and made our way back through the rat race in downtown to the dive shop at Eden Rock.  We decided that Devils Grotto with its many swim-throughs would make a good final dive of our trip.  Tim and Jody really enjoyed doing the swim-throughs.  We saw some jacks, tarpon, a really big green eel, a turtle, and a couple schools of blue tangs.  

Unfortunately, this was our last dive of the trip so we rinsed all our gear and loaded the car.  Then we headed back to the condo to attempt to de-skankify our stuff and the poor rental car and do some laundry and pack before our flight home tomorrow afternoon.

Our plan was to attempt to have most of our stuff packed up tonight and early tomorrow morning so we can tour the island a little bit and do some shopping before we head to the airport.

Grand Cayman 2013 Day 4

January 8, 2013

We slept in a little this morning and then I went out and joined Jody who was sitting on the beach watching the sunrise.  Unfortunately, there were too many clouds for a good sunrise, but the weather was really nice with a cool breeze blowing off the ocean.  

After breakfast we loaded up the car and drove across the island back to Turtle Reef for our first dive of the day.  We thought we would attempt to find the seahorse that Jody had found the other day.  We spent quite a bit of time looking for the seahorse, but never did find it.  However, I did find a well camouflaged little pufferfish and a bunch of other really, really small fish.  We continued on with our dive, in a bit of a current, and saw some big gray angelfish, three or four sting rays feeding in the sand off in the distance and at the end we saw the same octopus as the other day but in a different hole.  

After we got out we rinsed all our gear off and picked a nice shady table by the water to sit and have some lunch.  Jody and I enjoyed “The Salad” which was a refreshing salad with orange slices, sugared walnuts, avocado, and goat cheese in a citrus vinaigrette.  After lunch we loaded up the car and headed back to Sunset House so Tim could do some naughty things to the Mermaid.  

As soon as we got in the water to start our dive I heard the engine from the submarine.  Right after we got to the site where the mermaid was, here came the Atlantis submarine.  They pulled right up in front of the mermaid and we could see a bunch of the passengers inside vigorously waving at us through the windows.  So this is the second time Eric and I have had our picture taken at the mermaid by multiple tourists on the Atlantis submarine.  

After we got some pictures and video of everyone by Amphitrite (the mermaid) we then went over to the Nicholson and got some photos there and then headed back in.  After we rinsed our gear off we went to settle up our bill and because there was a large group waiting there to get gear we decided to go over to the bar and have a drink while we waited.  The bar at Sunset House is a large open air structure right by the water--very nice.  

After we settled up our bill we drove back to the condo to get ready to go out to dinner.  We had made a reservation earlier in the day for Casanova restaurant--a very nice Italian restaurant downtown by the water.  Jody and I brought dresses especially for this occasion since it is a nicer restaurant.  

We had reservations at 6:30 for the patio.  We got there just after sunset and got a table by the water.  Jody enjoyed watching the divers doing a night dive just next door to the restaurant.  We had a very nice dinner.  Tim, Eric, and Jody had a couple bottles of wine and we had several appetizers, salad, some really good entrees (everyone had a different type of pasta), and of course dessert.  They also gave us some complimentary port for after dinner.  I just want to say it was very interesting driving this bunch home after dinner.  Eric and I don’t need to have kids, we have Tim and Jody instead...

Grand Cayman 2013 Day 3

January 7, 2013

We had reservations at Ocean Frontiers on the East End to do four dives today.  We needed to check in by 7:30 so we had to get up early in order to get going.  It is about 1/2 hour down the road from Turtle Nest Inn where we are staying.  On the plus side we got to see a really pretty sunrise on the drive to the dive shop.  

We managed to get all our gear loaded and get on the road by 7 a.m. and arrived right at 7:30 to check in.  We did the first two dives on their boat the Ocean Hawk.  I think there were about 11 or 12 people on the boat.  The water was a little rough, especially once you got out on the outside of the breakers.  We did two dive sites on the morning trip, Jack McKenney’s Canyons and Maggies Maze.  

At Jack McKenney’s Canyons we saw three caribbean reef sharks (that is more sharks and we have ever seen in all of our caribbean diving combined), lobsters, really big groupers, and of course lots of colorful coral.

Unfortunately, the boat ride was a little too rough for Eric and he ended up feeding the fish his breakfast.  The only other time he has ever gotten sick on a boat was when we were here diving with Ocean Frontiers on the same boat two years ago.  Back then we thought it may have been what he had for breakfast, but I guess that theory is now dead.  

At Maggies Maze we saw another caribbean reef shark and a bunch more Lobsters, and several different types of jawfish.  Also, at the end of the dive we saw a nurse shark.  After the second dive we headed back to the dive shop.  We had to be back within an hour to check in for our afternoon dives.  

So we all hopped in the car and headed down the road to where we thought there was a Subway.  On the East End there are not a lot of choices as far as places to eat.  Unfortunately, we wasted about 15 minutes driving around trying to find the Subway that the the sign said was “just ahead.”  We finally drove back to the dive shop and asked them where the closest best place to eat was and they told us right across the street at Bamboo Chopsticks or another three miles down the road at the Subway.  

We decided to go just across the street to the Bamboo Chopsticks.  It was actually a really nice little restaurant.  We finished our lunch and headed back to the dive shop to check in.  This time we went out on a different boat--the Nauticat, which is a catamaran style hull.  We thought this might make it a little more stable out in the rough water.  Getting through the breakers in the channel this time was a real ride.  Just as we headed through the channel a huge wave hit the front of he boat.  The entire boat almost went vertical.  

It was not too long after lunch when Eric started feeding the fish again.  He pretty much spent the whole day feeding the fish.  The two dives for the afternoon were Three Sisters and Big House.  We saw another two caribbean reef sharks, some really big lionfish, flamingo tongues, pufferfish, barracuda, a turtle, and at the end Jody and Tim saw a squid after they dove back in for a bathroom break.  

Then the boat headed back to the dive shop and we rinsed all our gear and loaded it into the car.  We sat at the picnic table outside the shop and had some sodas and snacks before heading back to the condo.  We all took a shower before dinner and then we all went over to the gas station to get some ice cream for dessert.

Grand Cayman 2013 Day 1&2

January 5-6, 2013

Tim, Jody, Eric, and I headed for the airport at midnight for our 2:30 a.m. flight.  Our flight from Phoenix included a couple hour layover in Charlotte  before our flight to Grand Cayman.  At around 12:30 we arrived in Grand Cayman, picked up our rental car and headed to the condo at Turtle Nest Inn.  We dropped our luggage off in the room and then went down the street and had lunch on the patio by the beach.  

After our lunch we came back to the condo and got all our gear ready to go for our first dive.  We loaded up the car and went down to Sunset House to do our first dive of the trip so Jody and Tim could see Amphitrite (the mermaid).  We saw her and also the Nicholson before heading back for shore.  

After we rinsed our gear off we decided to have a drink and some snacks at the bar before we headed back to the condo.  We all got showered and then ran down to the grocery store to get some food for breakfast and dinner, etc.  We were pretty tired after getting back from the store, but Eric stayed up to get the camera gear ready and I got busy making my famous peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.  After traveling and diving, we were all ready to go to bed for sure.  We decided we would sleep in the next morning.  

I think I finally got up about 9 a.m. (of course I was the last one up and out of bed).  We all had our breakfast and then loaded up the car and headed down the road to Turtle Reef by the turtle farm.  

Jody predicted we would see a spotted eagle ray on our first dive and sure enough we saw a spotted eagle ray plus a bunch of tarpon hanging out sleeping and some lobsters.  After our dive we rinsed all our gear and decided to hang out at the bar and have some snacks and decide what we wanted to do next.  We ended up deciding to do another dive there, so got suited up and headed out.  This time we headed in the other direction on the wall.   

On our second dive we saw some large groupers, eels, triggerfish, filefish, angelfish, an octopus, a midnight blue parrotfish, and for the grand finale Jody spotted a tiny seahorse about 1-1/2 to 2 in. long.  It was pretty amazing how well it blended in with its surroundings.  Eric never did see it and did not believe that we saw a seahorse until he saw it on my video.  After we got out of the water and told him about he even got back in the water to go see if he could find it again.

We were going to go back to Sunset House and do a third dive but decided it was getting too late, so we hung out at the bar and had some drinks before heading back to the condo for the night.

Palau October 2012 Day 6

10/20/12

It is sad to say but today was our last day of diving.  It is amazing how fast time passes when you are on vacation.  We met up at the boat at 7:55 a.m. to get an early start to head out to Ulong Channel again.  I was hoping the visibility and current would be good again so I could get some video here after the mishap with the camera.  Unfortunately, the visibility was not as good and the sharks were not hanging out where they were last time.  Instead of drifting down the channel, we criss-crossed back and forth along the wall and found a large school of jacks and also a group of sharks that were hunting some small schools of scads.  Because we did not go down the channel I did not get any video of the large lettuce leaf coral formation.  

We slowly motored to our next dive site, Saies Corner, which is a corner similar to Blue Corner where they can get some really good currents flowing.  After our surface interval we all back-rolled in and dropped down.  Again, there was not really much current here either.  We were told that the currents really have not picked up here yet because the winds have not changed direction for the season.  We did see a few bumphead parrotfish, a gigantic puffer fish, and lots and lots of sharks circling around in what current there was--of course they were just a little to far out of range to get any really good video or pictures of, but they were amazing just to watch.

We then had lunch on the boat as we slowly made our way to our third and final dive of the day and of the trip, a site that is not really known about by many people and is not a regular dive site.  This is the site of a Japanese Zero from World War II that was discovered by Mandy in the 1980s and Eric’s dad became involved in an effort to raise and restore the plane to be displayed as a museum piece in Arizona.  The plane is pretty much intact laying upside down in the sand at about 50-60 feet.  The day before Shallum had mentioned to Eric that he now had the GPS coordinates to its location.  Eric and I and Fabio had attempted to find the site when we were here in 2010 to no avail.  Back then Fabio, Eric and I swam around for about an hour in a horrible current and extremely bad visibility and never did find the plan.  

Since Shallum had the GPS coordinates he sent a boat out and placed a buoy at the site so that we could find it.  Once we reached the site Eric gave everyone some history on the site and then Eric and I dropped down first to get some pictures and video before everyone else got there.  Everyone really enjoyed seeing the plane and knowing some of the recent history behind it.  Eric and I stayed behind after everyone went up and got more photos and video.  

Unfortunately, this was the end of the diving portion of our trip.  Tomorrow we have a free day for everyone to do whatever they would like to do.  I think some people are going to go watch the boat races, some people are just going to hang out and relax, and at least one person was going to go do a kayak tour of the islands.  We were very fortunate on this trip to have such wonderful people to dive with and wonderful weather to do it in.

Palau October 2012 Day 5

10/19/12

We all made it to the boat around 8 a.m. to set out a little early to see if we could hit the current right at Ulong Channel.  I think this is one of the prettier dives here in Palau, but like I said before, they are all pretty.  This dive can vary greatly depending on the current.  If there is a really strong current this dive can be a pretty wild ride.  Today we dove when the current was in its change-over from incoming to outgoing.  

The water was extremely clear and the current was very mild.  There were quite a few sharks at the beginning of the dive on the outside of the channel and quite a few people got some good photos and video.  Jody got some really close up video of a shark that swam right toward her.  She is becoming quite the shark enthusiast.  Unfortunately, I did not get any video on this dive because when my camera got installed in the housing Eric did not notice that the silica packet was in front of the lens.  This is unfortunate because I could have gotten some awesome shark video.  

Even thought the current was pretty slack we did manage to make it to the huge wall of lettuce leaf coral.  This is one of the most amazing underwater formations of coral I know I have ever seen.  I think everyone else that had not seen it before was pretty much in awe also.  Eric and I like to call it the giant fish condo.  We ended this dive right after the two giant clams that can be found fairly shallow on the reef.  

For our surface interval our boat captain took us over to Ulong Island (the Island where Survivor Palau took place).  This is a beautiful island with a very large incredibly soft white sand beach.  We spend about half an hour here wandering around checking out the island.  Fabio took some group photos of us on the beach.  

Then we headed out for a dive spot called Sandy Paradise.  This is a very pretty dive with tons of beautiful coral of all different colors and a nice sandy bottom where you can sometimes see white tip sharks resting and sting rays in the sand, etc.  Fabio took some group photos of us underwater here.  We saw another crocodile fish on this dive and the usual school of big eye snapper that hangs out here.  

After we surfaced we had lunch on the boat and slowly headed for our final dive site of the day--Chandelier Cave.  This is an amazing four-chambered underwater cave.  The first chamber has a really amazing formation hanging down from the ceiling, thus the name Chandelier Cave.  Everyone had fun checking out the different chambers.  We then turned off all our lights and exited the cave simply following the glow of sunlight coming from the exit hole.  It was really neat seeing everyone’s silhouettes as they exited the cave.

After we exited the cave we found the resident group of razor fish that hang out there and then spent some time trying to see if we could get some photos/video of the mandarin fish that live in the coral head just outside the cave.  I spent quite a bit of time there and finally got some good video of the male (probably the best video I have gotten to date of a mandarin fish).  They are extremely hard to get pictures or video of because they tend to dart in and out of the swiss-cheese like coral head that they live in.  They generally only come out of their coral head to mate every evening.  This is an amazing site to see if you ever get the chance.  Just after sunset (every evening) the male and female will rise together above the coral and in a split second they mate and dart back down into the coral.  We actually got an opportunity to witness this on our trip to the Philippines earlier this year.  It was pretty amazing.  

I also got some good video of a really cute big eyed goby or blennie type fish that was living in a coral head just next to where the mandarin fish were living.  After that we surfaced for the short boat ride back to the dive shop.  We all got cleaned up and several people met us in our room for drinks and snacks and to swap and look at photos before we met up with Fabio in the lobby at 6:30 to head to dinner.  We decided just to go back over to the Drop Off because it is so handy to the hotel, the food is good, and they have free internet.

Palau October 2012 Day 4

10/18/12

We met up at the boat again around 8:15 this morning.  Our first dive site of the day was  the Iro Miru, a large Japanese freighter hauling gas and supplies that was blown up in World War II.  A lot of the guys in the group wanted to dive a wreck and this is one of the best ones in the area to dive.  Visibility was actually pretty good today for this particular site.  We started at the bow and made our way down the top of the ship, swimming through the engine room and the crane operators room, etc.  There are tons of coral and clams and anemones covering the surface of the ship after all these years.  

Our next dive site was Ngerchong inside.  This was a very nice, easy, fairly shallow dive with very little current and lots of little critters.  There was a large coral head with glass fish and an eel living underneath.  There were also cleaner shrimp, garden eels, gobies, etc., but the highlight of the dive were the cuttlefish.  I took a lot of video and Eric got some really good pictures.  They make nice subjects because they usually stay in one spot.  

After our dive we got back on the boat and headed to a nice sandy beach for lunch.  We spent quite a bit of time hanging out after lunch, waiting for the current to be right so we could go and dive German Channel again.  When conditions looked good we headed out for German Channel.  We ended up diving between the change of the currents, which was not great but gave us a fair chance of seeing something good.  We actually did end up seeing a one manta and there were tons of schooling fish and of course sharks.  

After this dive we headed back to the dive shop/hotel.  We all got cleaned up and then met up over at The Drop Off for dinner and so everyone could compare and share their photos from the day.  Several people were pretty tired so they headed off to bed early.  We are meeting at 8 a.m. tomorrow so we can see if we can hit the current right at Ulong Channel.