Living in Grand Cayman

After many tries, we finally bought a car … online via the auction process I described a about 4-5 weeks ago. If you have not read about how we can buy a car via the internet, click on “February” (right menu) and then on “next page” at the bottom.  Check out the post “Leap of fait”.   This purchase is indeed a leap of faith ; buying a car with two small pictures and a report all in Japanese.

 Here is the car we “won”.  It should be here in 5-6 weeks by boat from Japan.  Its a 2002 Honda CRV with all the bells & whistles.  We really wanted a white one just like this one, so I am quite pleased. 

 I am in Turks & Caicos right now, but the weather is lowsy. If it gets nice before I leave I will take some pictures and post them.

Some of you have asked me about where I work.  I took a few pictures today to give you an idea of my work environment.  Our office is in the heart of Georgetown, about a 10 minute (if walking slowly) walk from the ocean & Georgetown harbour.

 This week-end we will probably go to the newly revamped Turtle Farm.  I will most certainly post pictures in the next few days.  Last time we visited it, in 2005, it was in pretty bad shape after the hurricane.  Now that have completely renovated it and created new attractions and even have a tank with (I am told) a shark.  Should be interesting.

 This is the building where we are located.  KPMG has 2.5 floors out of 4.  Very soon to occupy 3.5 floors out of 4.

My desk!  I’m a busy guy. 🙂

Here is a random sunset picture we took last week-end on Seven mile beach.

One of the great places in Cayman is beautiful Rum Point. It was Julie’s friend Genevieve’s last full day with us so we figured it was a great way to finish up her vacation.  Before heading out to Rum Point, Gen & I went to Eden Rock (in Georgetown) for a quick snorkel.  Eden Rock is like “jumping into an aqurium” ; there are loads of fish and they are not afraid of humans.  However, many humans are afraid of the resident familiy of Tarpons.  These Tarpons vary from 3.5 – 5 ft in lengh and not very pretty.  They are HUGE though and could easily be mistaken for a shark by someone who is not familiar with the local fish.  Tarpons are totally harmeless though.  Its amazing to be able to swim up close & personal with these giants (you can easily get to within 2 feet of them)

After the snorkel, we went back to Savannah (our house) to pick up Julie & drive to Rum Point.  Run point is about a 35 minute drive from where we live.   Rum Point is on the north side of Cayman, on the eastern side of the Sound (the Sound being the large U shaped bay which eats up about 1/3 of the islands surface.

At Rum point there beach chairs, a white sandy beach, shade, hamacks & the most amazing blue turquoise water you will every see.  The picture at the top of this page (the pier ; is at Rum Point)  Julie & I have been there quite a few times now and are always amazed by this place. Anyone who comes to visit us will for sure want to spend at least half a day here.  Its a great place to swim, snorkel, enjoy a Fish & chips at the outdoor restaurant or just read a book & take it easy. Here are some pics of our day.

 Standing at the end of the pier.

Here is Gen.  It was great to have her over. I am sure she enjoyed leaving the cold Canadian winter for a week! 🙂

Im back in Cayman now.  The flight back from LA was quite uneventful. On my last day in LA, I had my one & only “celebrity encounter”.  On my ride down in the elevator at my Hotel (Hyatt West Hollywood), I saw Mike Tyson. Needless to say I did not speak to him since I wanted to keep both of my ears.

While I was gone, Julie was holding the fort back in Cayman. When I got back, she had painted the guest room, corridor & dusted all the walls/ceilings.  Plus she started the garden and coordinated the whole dish installation effort. Funny coincidence, the day after she finished painting the guest room, Genevieve called up to tell us she was coming down and my friend Michel emailed me to enquire about coming to Cayman in April. Julie & I are pleased about the guests we are about to have.

 Since moving here, we had not yet installed the TV & satellite dish.  Since we are far from North America, we needed a very large dish to get the TV feed here ; the standard “pizza sized” dish we are used to in Canada & USA dont work here.  So we had a 6ft dish installed in the backyard.

Here is the picture of the dish with me to give you a better idea of the size. Oh yeah, it cost 1100$US to have it delivered, installed & hooked up to the TV.

Today, ash wednesday, was a public holiday here in the Cayman Islands.  There is an annual agriculture fair held every year at the same date.  So we decided to go & check it out.  Its basically a place where you can see cows, sheep, local farmers with their produce, etc.  There were also “fruit contests” (see pic below) and load of plants and local stuff to buy.  Nothing hugely exciting, but nice to see nevertheless.

 Once home, I was doing some random chores outside at the back of the house and Aipa was staring into the tree.  It turns out there was a couple of (very rare) Cayman Parrots.  They stayed there for quite some time and we got some great pictures of them. Thanks Aipa 🙂  Most of the Cayman Parrots died during hurricane Ivan in 2004, that is what made them so rare.

 Here at the fair, the Leader of Government Business (AKA : Prime Minister) of the Cayman Islands  Kurt Tibbets is taking in the sights.  You would  not see this in North America ; no body guards, etc. It definately feels safe here.

 At the fair, here are some animals we saw.

Also at the fair, here is the “fruit contest”.   There was judging on all types of fruits, vegetables, etc. I guess it was for beauty.  Not exactly sure how all of that worked.

Here are the gorgeous Cayman Parrots.  They actually look a lot like Bijou, just a lot bigger.