Living in Grand Cayman

No, Ana and Bill are not some crazy members of our families or friends from Canada. Ana and Bill, the first named storms of the year have formed, sort of in tandem. Both are Tropical storms right now and could become hurricanes.

Early forecasts put both systems north of Grand Cayman, but that can change in a hurry!

Below is their current position. This is definitely the first time I have seen two storms following each other like this.

Since I had been procrastinating with the hurricane supplies, last night I did some shopping ; some canned goods, pretzels, water bottles & the likes.   Got  some beer too! 🙂 Also filled up the car with gas.  If any of the two systems gets closer to us, then the gas stations will be clogged with people trying to get gas. For regular readers of this blog … no Vienna sausages this time around 😉

If there are any significant developments in the next few days I’ll be posting here.

A new building near where I work is almost completed. A local law firm has erected what I think is the most original building on island.  The look is debatable, but I think it looks good ; very modern.

The center part of the building will be an atrium that will provide almost all offices with natural light. On the roof, apparently there are solar panels that will provide hot water to the building.  Also, note the windows ; they are small for two reasons.  1. Hurricanes. 2. Less blazing heat from the sun.

Here you can see that it has been “built up” from the street level and standing on concrete pillars.  The building starts at 18ft above sea level.  It may not seem like much, but for storm surge, which is one of the biggest risks in George Town, it should be plenty.

The building has been designed to withstand a category 5 hurricane ; the worst it can get!

One thing I noted before the building was painted white. On top of the concrete, a 2-3 inch think Styrofoam “paneling” was put over the entire building.  Once the styrofoam on, then some sort of concrete paint was put on top.  For insulation from the heat, this is apparently very efficient.

One final note. I saw this tree close to where we live ; wow!  So much orange.   No idea what it is though. Anyone out there know?

Last night I was browsing the “FailBlog” ; a blog with loads of funny situations, or a “Fail” in Internet language.

I came upon this jem of “Fail” for hurricane preparedness and though I would share it with you.  It sure gave me a good laugh.

This person will definitely lose their car if a big storm rolls by, not to mention that the carpet will only keep the water out for the first few drops of water.  I hope that all those living in the tropics have already stocked up on supplies and other items in case a storm develops.  I’ll be doing that soon.

A system that is looking more & more like a tropical depression may be our 1st named storm of the season.

I am currently off island, but definitely monitoring this system very closely as I am sure everyone on island is.

Here it is, just outside of the Caribbean.  Notice that there is already two more potential systems out there ; one in the middle of the Atlantic and one just off the coast of African, where these storms originate.

The potential trajectory … still early!  Good chance for lots of rain in a few days.

On Saturday, I swam in the 17th annual Flowers sea swim (Flowers is a local company!) The swim is 1 mile (1.6km) and goes along Seven Mile beach from the Royal Palms (not too far from the Marriott Beach Resort) for those not too familiar) then north to the Ritz.  The path can be seen below.

Here we are “getting ready” for the race and showing our race identification !  I am with my very good friend Marie (from the UK) and her friend Catherine (from Australia)

Over 730 people participated in this years event.  These pictures should give you an idea how popular an event it is.  There were even four Olympic medalists who took part in the race.  Needless to say I did not finish before any of them.

Here people are getting in the water and lining up for the start of the swim.

… and we are off! I don’t think I am in this picture.  In any case, I had a different strategy. I was at least 200ft offshore.  I was pretty much alone the whole swim and did not get kicked by anyone. I think it was a smart move as many people stayed close to shore and had to constantly deal with other swimmers.

Here I am, 49 minutes later!  Not too bad for a guy that did 0 practice runs and who did the breast stroke 100% of the time!  I came in 562nd out of the 730 contestants.  There was a 75 minute limit, so I came in with plenty of time to spare.  The winner did it in just under 20 minutes; quite impressive.

We were then rewarded with sandwiches, pizza, water bottles & Gatorade.

In closing, let me tell you that 1-mile is a very long distance to swim!

If you want to participate in next years race, it will be held on June 19th, 2010. It is open to everyone, you dont need to live in Cayman to participate. Cost is 30$US and you must register on the Web before.  More information can be found at : http://www.flowersseaswim.com/