sharks and rays and big baracuda, oh my!

Yesterday was quite the day!

Saw a nurse shark - it was beautiful as it glided right past me on to better places for a siesta.  I don't even know how to properly describe watching it swim.  Motionless.  Effortless.  Totally comfortable with all around it in the world.  It looked like his tail had been through a battle or two but his shark skin was so beautiful and looked so soft.  Don't worry, didn't try to touch it...

We saw two rays, just the regular sting ray type variety I think.  Their underbellies are soft!  That I know but not from yesterday.  When here long ago with Howie and his family over on Grand Cayman we went to Sting Ray City where one can pet them and feed them.  Sitting on sand and having about 30 swimming all around you and ogling their maneuvers and gliding through the water.  So beautiful.  Now, after what's his head got shot through the heard by a sting ray, I didn't venture to close to the wild ones we saw yesterday.  In fact I didn't even stay behind it as it turned on a dime to sift through the sand for dinner.  One has to respect these creatures and give them room - just swim by the side and watch them in their glory.  They are a funny creature too.  Eyes on the top of their bodies and mouth and nose underneath - makes for entertaining viewing.

Then there were the barracuda.  We saw about 5 - 6 of them, all in one spot.  One was probably 41/2 feet long.  The smallest closer to 18 inches.  They glide through the air with their chins jutting out and their teeth protruding, looking ominous.  We didn't mess with them.  You'd think that after all our time diving here we'd know it they actually bite or not, but we didn't.  Last night we ran into Doug, our dive master and captain, and asked him.  He said no, they're just very shy.  Again, we will continue to watch and admire from afar though.

So this was all on a snorkel trip out at Jackson's Bay.  Wow, it is still amazing to me how many fish there are here.

Last night we went to a free talk by the scientists who have been around in the Caribbean for about 15 years now studying Nassau Grouper.  It was a cool talk.  All about why their kind has come to be on the endangered species list, like polar bears, and how they are working to save them.  I'll have to find a link to their site and find out more.  The funny thing to learn is that they are just like cats - and this is just perfect to explain their behavior while diving with them.  As we have dived Bloody Bay Wall in the past, one of them always seems to latch on to one of us and follow us around, sometimes getting curious enough to be petted and search us for food.

They are big and kind of ugly fish but I've decided to become part of their crowd.  Apparently the older and fatter females rock at helping the population keep going.  They have more eggs and their eggs are of better quality and develop more healthily - sounds good to me!  Sure I could carry lots of them as I swam to the mating place at the west end of the island and carried on in a fantastical event of spawning during a winter moon. Apparently they (all of the grouper) release BILLIONS of eggs and sperm into the big blue over a few days and hope for the best - around 0.001% will actually survive the cycle to turn into a grouper.  So cool.

The dive yesterday was cool too.  I was in charge of the camera for the first time and it was eventful to say the least.  I'm going to leave it there for now.

So maybe I should introduce you to my new friends here on little cayman!  I have lots of pics that Howie has taken over the past several days, so they are originals.  Some will be pretty crappy quality because the blues are hard to reconcile between ocean and camera and computer, and because some of them are pretty amazing at  hiding in plain site.

May I introduce some of the fish and other sea life here on Little Cayman:













Today has been different.  Howie went diving without me - at my request.  There was an incident yesterday that freaked me out a bit but I'm not going to share yet.  No worries though!  Still in paradise here!

So Howie went diving and I tried to hang and read.  That lasted a couple of hours.  Then I showered and put on my suit and hat and went to scooter down to the dive place, hoping to meet up with the boat and hear of their grand adventures.  Just missed Howie and Clare, but talked to Doug for a minute.  Sounds like they had an amazing day - he even got to dive a site called Ron's Rocks that he's only ever dived once before.  Only available on days like today - CALM.  NO current.  Couldn't wait to go home and see Howie's videos!

On the way I stopped to get a few meat patties and found a Red Bull.  First one I've had in 8 days :) but certainly my last until we return home.  Darn thing was 5 CI!

Since he's been home, we've downloaded the videos from yesterday and today and watched them.  So fun to look and remember how amazing the dives are.  Great selection of fish, super viz, something new every dive.  The only problem is they don't look nearly as cool as they do in person.  Hoping once Howie works on them on the Go Pro app we can spiff them up and give them some color.

Now, Howie is napping.  It's his third or fourth while we've been here.  I love it!!!

Think I'll go hang in the hammock for awhile and listen to the waves.  Awwwww

Tile Fish

...and the hole he's about to dive into...

Brown Chromis (there are blue ones as well - I know, hard to tell color in this photo)

this is Howie's favorite - Sharp Nosed Puffer

they're just little guys - so cute!

Baby Grouper

he's so cute I added two pics :)

 same baby grouper, different angle

Spotted Moray Eel

scary

great find Howie!

  these guys are as yet unidentified... will get back to you

  this guy is as yet unidentified... will get back to you

Sponge

 Hawksbill turtle

 Yellow-headed Wrasse

Blue Parrot Fish flying over a Yellow Ray 

Spanish Hogfish 

Burred Fish - like a puffer but with burrs :)

 Queen Trigger Fish

 Queen Angel Fish (notice her crown on her forehead!)

  this guy is as yet unidentified... will get back to you

  this guy is as yet unidentified... will get back to you

 use your "I Spy" eyes to find the Puffer in this pic

 Green Moray Eel

 another Queen Trigger Fish - lovely frown from Her Majesty

 French Angel Fish

 Nassau Grouper

 White Spotted File Fish

 Tobacco Fish

Hawksbill Turtle and Rock Beauty

*disclaimer - these pics are taken right from Howie's Go-Pro, put onto an external hard drive then, as we watch the videos Howard has taken down below, we take a picture with my phone of a frame from said video off my laptop then from my phone I downloaded the pic onto this blog... once we get home, Howie will use a cool app to help these pictures look more like they did when we actually saw them with our beady little eyes ...

It's Wednesday already?!?

Well, our date with the eels got cancelled.  The diving company must really  not have needed the business as they cancelled the dive... because there were only seven of the eight needed to go out! Bummer.  We were really looking forward to it - Howie was still shocked I agreed to go.  Another time I suppose.


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 This is our dive boat - getting ready to head out this morning.
Captain Doug is there in the red shirt.

 It was a magnificent sunrise!

again

 Gotta order these books - way cool and so easy to find what you're looking for

 One of our dive masters' "teeny weeny chevron striped bikini" found a nice place to dry out.  Totally cracked up Howie and me!  - what is the best grammar for that?  Mrs. Rich would have written AWK.  Yup. Awkward  We thought maybe they were using the dive tank as a mannequin 😆

 We love this boat!  Actually just the name.... 

we have a fish named "Grumpy Fish" in our tank at home!

 Lunch at the Little Cayman Beach Resort is over, time to scoot on home.  

PARADISE - have I mentioned its what I imagine paradise will be like? 💟

We even had the Iguana Patrol watching our scooters while we ate.  We leave the keys in them - haven't taken them out since the scooters arrived at our place!  If someone really needs one, they're more than welcome to borrow one.  Not like they could hide it here on the island - haha.

 Yes.  They love their iguanas 😙

and so do we!
We didn't see very many on our fist day here but since the winds have stopped whipping around and calm has settled, we have seen lots of tween-agers running around.

 I love seeing Howie relax.  

Read a novel (he's on his THIRD!)  Take an afternoon nap.
He says he loves coming here to SCUBA dive, but I think he appreciates the time
to really relax and disconnect from the real world just as much.

 Found this garbage on the beach today while walking.  So sad.  So much garbage lands here...

 The conch shells are much cuter!  They are everywhere on the island.  

More conchs than garbage??? idk...

 "Fail" at trying to be artsy fartsy.... colors were cool though.  

One foot... after the other... One step at a time... so many thoughts come to mind though!

Sunset from the front of our cottage.
I've been calling it a cottage but I suppose I should stick with the name its been given by its owners.
Paradise VILLA.
I love our villa!
And sunrise and sunset are beautiful from both the front or the back 😁

So my thoughts for the day?
(yep, actually think every once in awhile while on vacation.  It hurts, but not too much)

While we were out diving the Great West Wall today, I had several epiphanies.  The first was realizing how scary it was when I turned from the wall and all the beautiful coral and sea life and sponges and everything and faced out into the 6000 foot drop of big blue vastness.  It was disorienting and sometimes easy to imagine getting lost when the "safe" wall was just inches or a foot away from me.  I would finish my turn quickly so that I could re-orient myself, get on "stable ground" so to speak.  Sometimes the wall would get redundant or boring and I'd look for some excitement - look up or down and sometimes look out into the big blue for maybe a shark or a ray or a turtle... but every time I found solace when I had the wall to anchor onto.  Then I would look more closely and more intently at the things the wall had to offer.  Tiny fish, tiny corals, tiny  or not, just looking at things that when bombarded with all of that at once can become overwhelming, but turning away is not the answer.  Face the wall, notice the little things and I'm amazed at the things I've learned and seen.

That, and I think it would be fun to write about different items found as trash on the beach and imagine a back story for each one of them.  A women's size 9 fuchsia pink flip flop, an empty water bottle, a plastic chair with all but one leg missing, a zip tie... I'm going to have to work on this...

Valentine's Day on Little Cayman

Good afternoon!  It has been a lovely Valentine's Day today.  You'll be relieved to know that I told Howie I'd be happy with Caymans for Valentine's any and every year! 💓

We went diving again this morning.  After being picked up bright and early (7:15 is the middle of the night when on vacay! but worth every minute of missed sleep!) by Reef Divers, we headed to the boat and got ready to head out.  Our first dive was to Bus Stop - what?! - and it was absolutely amazing.  So many fish in so many colors and variety, as well as purple sea fans and red barrel coral and sponges and other exotic things that I don't know the name of.  My mask was actually seeable through today which I think made a huge difference over yesterday.  I don't know if it was just foggy or what but it was hard to be too impressed when I felt like I had macular degeneration.  Now my heart goes out extra strong to Joanne and Grandmom Thelma!

Our second dive was to Barracuda Bight - haha fun play on words  We did see barracuda was well as a turtle and a monster hog fish that was orange - was it a hog fish?  I'll find out and get back to you on that one.  I wish I could download some of Howie's pics from his go-pro but no can do.  Apparently he doesn't have the right cord... might have to go ask our neighbors who seem to have all the gear you could ever imagine and then some.  Anyway, again it was amazing to see so many fish.  Proof again that the diving here is some of the best around the world.  

Emily, one of our dive masters went to Cuba last fall and said that Little Cayman was more pristine than the diving there - and one can only imagine Cuba!  Her opinion, true, but works for me.  Doesn't mean I don't want to go to Cuba some day anyway :)

After diving, we did a little shopping (not saying girls ;)) and then had a nice lunch.  We shared a turkey club sandwich and salad, I even shared a little lettuce a cute iguana... then Howie said I couldn't anymore.  After a debate on whether it was okay to feed the natives but not the aliens, I conceded defeat.  Especially after I saw a sign on a fence that said, "Please don't feed the iguanas"

Yup, even here I'm breaking the rules.  Hope he enjoyed the lettuce anyway!

On our way from the dive hotel that I can't remember the name of, we heard about a night dive.  Now normally I would say no way! Scary!  Not into that!  But today, I caved and now I'm really excited to go out into the dark water and see eels and octopus and lobsters - its a full moon so it shouldn't be tooooooooo dark.  Ya right.  We'll see.  Hard to believe but I am actually looking forward to a new adventure.  

This trip has been great for my SCUBA experience.  I think going for 5 days, two dives each, has made getting used to things and feeling more comfortable out there for me.  I'm not scarfing down air and I find myself getting lost in just looking at each community of fish as we pass over, or get close up to see their babies and juveniles.

So Howie and I have a hot date planned for Valentine's Night - eels included!

This is Howie sitting on the boat with all the tanks behind him.  There were probably about 15 people on the boat today - most of whom are really competent divers.  We have met a few nice couples and families - even got my baby fix this morning!

 In the red shirt is Emily.  She is from UK and has been here for about three years.  She was here when we came before and is, of course, our favorite.  She can be seen here sporting her full face sun protection!  To her left, in the blue shirt, is the boat captain and another dive master named Doug. He's hilarious and makes the dives pretty entertaining.  Don't know who that is posing in the white top though... oh well.  

 Hit it!

 our little island and the big blue all around it.  paradise.  I know I keep saying that but it's true.

 more blue.  i think blue might be my new favorite color.  i'll always love yellow but the blues here? innumerable.

 at the northeastern part of the island - just a few homes dot the land

this little bunch of bungalows or cottages is where we call home for now.  The big building to the left is The Hungry Iguana Restaurant, under / behind the trees is a small pool and deck and a few cottages. We are staying in #4 so count left from the far right and you'll see ours.  Just remember, there are two rooms? / bungalows? / duplexes? per each house looking thing.  Wow now I've confused you as well as myself!  Anyway, a water view is one I haven't taken before - fun to see this angle.

 between dives, trying to warm up and dry off a bit, we are headed to the next spot - Barracuda Bight

 This guy is a teenager who came to welcome us to his digs

 and this is my lunch buddy, let's call him Lettuce Head.  I promise I didn't make his tummy that fat!  I think he is really good at his job - looking cute so people will share their lettuce with him.

 and this guy lives under our cottage.  There are other funny lizards here called "curly tailed lizards" so its easy to tell which are iguanas (straight tail) and which are lizards (you guessed it, curly tail.) Whew!

a panoramic view of our view from our front porch.  Quiet.  Peaceful. Waves crashing.  Breezes blowing.  Puffy clouds swinging by.  paradise.

finally, just a quick shot of what we see when we wake up in the morning and before we head in to sleep.  Sand.  Water.  White railings.  ahhhhh

Well that's it for now.  Time to go get ready for our dive - this afternoon as we were diving i got a bit of a headache and chuckled to myself thinking, "If this is it, my time to move to the next life, at least my last view of this world is pretty darn beautiful! But then... oh.  That would be bad for Howie."  my thoughts ran from there - into a prayer of gratitude.  The Lord has created so many beautiful places on His earth and I feel blessed to be in this place at this time.  So blessed.