Living in Grand Cayman

Well, its about time!!!

In all the time I have been in the Cayman Islands (or should I say Grand Cayman), Little Cayman had not been visited … until now that is. What an awesome little place 🙂  I took a large volume of pictures and struggled to keep it to a reasonable number for this blog.  Here goes.

First: Owen Island.  Its a deserted island +-500 meters from shore on the southern coast of the island.  Its a fun and relatively easy kayak paddle out.  Note the first picture below : I felt like a kid and that i was going out to Gilligan’s island ; the resemblance of the island used in the show is quite strong.

Once on the island … the view back to Little Cayman.  Not a single soul to be seen on the island.

On Little Cayman, they have the native “Little Cayman Rock Iguanas”  They are very similar to the Grand Cayman Blue Iguanas, but are not blue.  My uneducated guess is that they are somewhat related due to the very close resemblance.  As you can see, they have right of way on the island and are cherished.

Here is one that was outside the home of a friend of mine.  I was told this iguana was very friendly.  So I approached very slowly and then petted him/her!  As you can see on the picture, the iguana enjoyed it and even closed its eyes.  This was a great experience with such a beautiful animal.

Here is a very large specimen I spotted resting along a coral fence at a remote part of the island.  Must have been over 4ft long from tip to tip.

Now to Point of Sand.  An awesome beach with great snorkeling just meters offshore. The day I was here there was not a soul to be seen (Note: end of summer is low tourist season in all of the Caribbean)

One thing I noted was how many Conch’s there were while snorkeling anywhere on Little Cayman.  Here is a lovely specimen. Note that the shell is not empty and it is inhabited by the Conch.  Its great to see since in Grand Cayman the population is much smaller due to more people hunting them during Conch season.

Here, at the bottom of the picture is Point of Sand. As you can see, its quite a deserted area.

Getting to Little Cayman is half the fun.  One must take Cayman Airways Express and one of their Twin Otter airplanes. Its a +-25 minute flight from Grand Cayman.  The airport is very interesting.  Here, note that the airplane needs to cross the road (yes an active road accessible to cars) and then enter the runway.  There are also no fences around the runway.  Not something you would see pretty much anywhere else.   Little Cayman is definitely like things were many years ago in most places ; and that is a good thing!

Here is the airport terminal and fire department.  Very efficient use of space in my opinion.

Someone put this sign up on the side of the airport where we walk to the aircraft ; obviously someone with a very good sense of humor! 🙂

On one of the evenings, we had a fabulous sunset ; no clouds blocking the view and I got to see my very first “Green flash”. What that is, is that at the very last moment, just before the sun disappears 100% … it turns green.  The phenomenon is something to do with the reflection on the ocean and atmosphere.  It was my first time seeing it so was quite pleased.

So I hope you liked this post as much as I enjoyed going to Little Cayman.   If ever you are in Grand Cayman long enough, I highly recommend taking a hop over to Little Cayman, even for just a week-end.  You can ride a bike almost everywhere and chances are you will not see a single car while cycling around.  There are only +-180 full time residents on the island which is 1 mile wide x 10 miles long.

So I guess a visit to Cayman Brac needs to be scheduled now. 🙂

I recently tried a neat activity that has gained a lot of traction in recent years both in Cayman and in the Caribbean.  The activity is Paddleboarding.

If you are not familiar with it, Paddleboarding is essentially a large board (like a surf board but i’d say 30% bigger) and where you are standing and have one paddle in your hands.  Anyway, I like to try new things so here is my review of this activity!

First : Here are the boards.  I estimate these boards to be 10ft long by 2.5ft wide, so they are quite big.  Read: They are nice and stable for standing on in water.

Once the board is in the water, getting up is quite easy. In fact it was much easier than I thought!  Once on it, you then get on your knees. Then with the paddle in both hands and flat across the board, at a right angle, you “stand up”.   The board is wide that it is actually very stable.

Here is a picture (NOT of me – just a random picture I found on the Internet) of what this whole thing looks like.  As you can see, its wide and stable. Anyway, if you fall it is not from high up and in nice warm water 🙂

I was stable enough to take a selfie!

So here I went exploring Seven Mile Beach – 200-300ft off shore.  I was really neat to have a new perspective. I have walked SMB so many times, that it was nice to see it in a different way.

The water in this day was absolutely calm and of course crystal clear.

As I said … a different perspective.  This is, as many of you know, the famous Grand Cayman Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

So, what is the conclusion?  Its a lot of fun and quite easy to do.  For the record I did not fall a single time I was out (I did 1h worth).  If you are on Seven Mile Beach and feel like doing an easy (its not tiring at all) and different activity, I highly recommend giving Paddleboarding a try.

Note : this is my 300th post 🙂

Ok, there was no shark attack or the likes in Cayman. Relax.

I was recently in the Bahamas on a business trip and got there a day early to participate in an activity I have wanted to do for a very long time : a shark dive.   This dive, which takes place in +-30ft of water is where sharks get fed.  By sharks I mean 20-25 full size Caribbean Reef Sharks.  Think of this as Stingray City on steroids.

Ok, here we go! So the setup is as follows.  All the divers assemble at the bottom in a circle formation.  There are rocks which make out the circle. Each diver holds on to a rock between their legs. We all have additional weights (more than on a “normal dive” so that we don’t have a tendency to float up at any time.  Once we are all in position, the guy with the food (which is what attracts the sharks) enters the water and the show begins.  At the peak there were around 20 or so large sharks, at least one nurse shark, a few large Groupers and of course numerous small fish hanging around.

Here is one coming within maybe 5ft of me.

This one ever close. What a majestic animal!

This fellow passed directly above me ; got a good view of his mouth.

Of course had to do a “selfie”.  This one was quite well timed 🙂

At the end of the feeding, we were told we could check for teeth.  Sharks apparently lose lots of teeth when they eat. I found a few and kept them as souvenirs. As you can see we were in the water quite a while since my hands were starting to get quite wrinkled.

Here is a 2-minute video of the ordeal!  Note around 1:36 the camera jerks all of a sudden. A shark ran into me (no joke).  The guy feeding was quite close so they were all swimming around close to me.  I’ll admit …was not afraid one bit. I was an awesome experience and sharks are gorgeous creatures.  They had zero interest in the divers, only the food.  Once the food was all eaten, they lost interest and left.   All-in-all, this was a fabulous experience, but definitely not for everyone!  Julie thought I was nuts when I signed up 🙂

So I had a friend who was on island and only had a very short time.  He had no car and really only 4 full days ; one being with me.  So this post would be for people who only have a very short time on Grand Cayman.

Day 1: Recuperate from travel 🙂

Day 2: He went to town (one can check out the duty free stuff & tourist merchandise),  Seven Mile beach & Camana Bay. No brainer

Day 3: I had him go to Stingray City.  Easy peasy and a no brainer!

Once those are checked off, there is really one last piece of the puzzle for a short trip to Grand Cayman : Go east young man! 🙂

Ok … here we go and with pictures for most of the places of course.

So leaving town, we took South Church Street and essentially kept the water to our right the entire time. We slowed down at Smith Cove, but did not stop. It’s a great beach but time did not permit!

Now … much more east. A stop at the Blowholes just before East End village. Today there were good size waves and we got a good show.

Next up; the wreck on the Ten Sails and a nice view due east of the island and of the far away reef.

After a quick stop at the small strip mall at east end (near Reef Resort – there is a small Fosters grocery, quite convenient for water and snacks) we headed to one of my favorite secluded beaches.  Here, assuming the ocean is calm, you get great snorkeling and also have underwater cold/sulfur vents ; quite neat to see.  I made a post about this place a while ago … if you missed it here it is.   https://micho.org/cayblog/?p=1205   On a sunny & calm day, this place is really pretty.

Now for lunch.  We stopped at “Over the edge” which is on the north side on the way to Rum Point.  I found the food to be very good and prices quite affordable.  As you can see the view was great (we sat inside though … at this point we were getting more than our fair share of sunshine)

Next stop … Starfish Point.   Awesome place to see starfish.  Remember, don’t take them out of the water.  If you do, no more than a few seconds.  If you do, the water will seep out of them and they will then float and die, which we obviously don’t want.  Just holding gently them underwater is quite fun anyway.

Rum Point … does this place really need an introduction? 🙂 After hundreds of times here I never get tired of this place.

And finally, on this whirlwind day, a stop at the Queen Elizabeth Botanical garden to see the Blue Iguanas.   Such awesome creatures … they really are like dinosaurs.  We saw two while on the path (one of them using the bench as below) and one (second below) was right in the parking lot while we were leaving.  Here is my friend getting some up close and personal pictures of this lovely fellow.

We actually did a final stop after ; a snorkel at Spotts Beach ; a place I have snorkeled many times and which was featured here a few times.  We saw many turtles and even a few stingrays.

All-in-all this was an awesome day.  Here is the route we took and back (he was staying in West Bay and I picked him up in town)  We kept the water to our right and on the way back to town took the road that crosses the island.  This was a lot of fun but I was quite beat afterwards! 🙂

I recently went for a dive to see a new neat underwater attraction … no, not the Kittiwake again!

I went with two of my regular dive buddies who had also not been to see this new thing.  The new “thing” is the Guardian of the Reef ; a statue which is in about 60ft of water a few hundred feet from shore in West Bay. This new statue is not unlike the mermaid at Sunset House in George Town that I discussed a few years ago.

Here is the plaque at the base of the statue which provides some details.

Ok, so here we are!  I love this picture.  I’m on the right.   The water color is great and it gives you an idea how big this fellow is. He is 13ft tall (17ft with the base) be exact and is made of bronze.

A cool black & white shot!  My friend has one of those “GoPro” cameras and it seems to do a great job.

Along the dive we saw this large lobster.  FYI, taking lobster while diving is illegal.  Hence, those of this species that live in >25ft of water are likely to live a long time and get very large.  Also note that contrary to lobster seen in stores in North America (which usually comes from Atlantic Canada or the Maine in the USA), these guys do not have the dangerous claws.

Finally, a green sea turtle stayed with us for a few minutes.

This was definitely a lovely dive!   Since it was a “shore dive” (aka no boat needed) where you normally only do one dive, it is not very time consuming and for someone who owns his own gear, the cost is quite low : +-8-10$ to rent the tank for air and that is it.

Here is an article in the local paper about this new diving attraction

http://www.compasscayman.com/caycompass/2014/03/26/Dive-operator-prepares-to-sink-reef-statue/