Living in Grand Cayman

The neighborhood we have to watch is called … the Caribbean! Unfortunately the 2008 hurricane season is underway (since June 1st) and the first major hurricane has formed; its called Bertha and is thankfully not coming even close to the Cayman Islands. Bertha is now a category 3 storm (1 being the “smallest” and 5 a catastrophic type storm) and may be headed to Bermuda. Lets hope is stays away.

To be sure we are fully aware of the situation and ready, we use the following as our main sources of information:

• http://www.nhc.noaa.gov The National Hurricane Center of the US government is a great site for Hurricane information and frequently updated news on approaching storms. They even send out email alerts which I get on my Blackberry a few times a day to inform about the progression of a storm.
• http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/?index_region=at This is probably the most comprehensive site. The “computer models” for each storm is great and shows what respected weather forecasters around the globe think the storm will do by using sophisticated modeling techniques. (see picture below) Of course, they are not always correct. Last year with dean they all though it would be a direct hit on Grand Cayman and in the end it missed the island by 150miles.
• http://www.stormcarib.com/ This site is great since there are “collaborators” from many islands that send in reports of what is happening in their area. Its great reading. I send in a message once in a while in the Cayman section.

If anything comes towards Cayman, we are 1000x better prepared than last year. We now have full shutters on the house, have already fully revised our hurricane kit/list and would be ready in less than one day. All we really would have to do is get important stuff to my office, bring stuff inside (e.g: satellite dish) and go to my office with dog & bird. Lets just hope we don’t need to!

The computer models I was talking about. Bermuda is the small spec just below 35n and along 65w. If the storm does not turn as planned, then they may be in for some rough weather.

Part of living in the Caribbean is traveling.  Since we are on a small island, that means jumping on a plane and going to the USA or elsewhere.  Sometimes its for business, sometimes for pleasure.  I know many people that simply jump on a plane each long week-end and go to Miami, Atlanta or NY for shopping. Anything to get off “the rock” as many expats call Cayman.   Thankfully Cayman is only a 1h flight from Miami ; almost like in my days of Montreal-Toronto trips.

On a recent trip to Miami, I had the opportunity to go up to the heliport where the final scene of the season (2007 season) in CSI:Miami was shot.  Here is the picture of Horatio Caine on top of that building for fans of the show.

And here I am on that same spot:

The 360 degree view of the whole Miami area & the ocean was amazing!  Its quite rare to be able to have such an unobstructed view so high up.  It was also very windy up there (notice my tie) and probably a great place to get a nasty sunburn in a hurry.

After the Miami trip, I headed off to London.  Upon landing at Heathrow, I got to see the plane I had been hoping to spot : The new Airbus A380.  Notice that it is right next to an A340 which is definitely not a small aircraft.  The A380 is noticeably larger with its double deck.

On to London and the ever popular Tower Bridge and the HMS Belfast in the front.   On the day I had in London (I was there on training) it was windy & cold.  Thank goodness I put a thick sweater in my luggage before leaving Cayman!

Ever since I saw the movie “a good year” with Russel Crowe a few months ago, I had been looking forward to seeing this landmark; The Gherkin as the locals call it. (which is a type of pickle) It is virtually all glass and is very spectacular to see.

Finally, the trip home.  A 9h flight via Miami. Here is lovely picture I took of the massive wing on this British Airways Boeing 747. I must admit that the service and overall trip on BA was very pleasant.

Rainy season is now with us and so is hurricane season which started on June 1st. We sure hope that no hurricane will come our way, but thats all we can do, hope!  We get automated email alerts of possible storms and any potential storm gossip quickly spreads to everyone.  Our main reference for hurricane alerts is the national hurricane center in Miami. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Now with rainy season, an annual phenomenon is back : the crabs.  There is a breed of “land crabs” that inhabit the island and that are not seen for most of the year. They live in burrow’s just like rabbits and only come out once there is heavy rain.  They come out since their underground homes are flooded and they cannot breath underwater like their sea cousins (or so were were told by a local group of kids)

In our neighborhood, there are lots of them.  When we go for a walk with Aipa (and often with Niko in tow), we have to watch our step since they come out after dark and cross the street.  Stepping on one and potentially getting our feet snapped is not a good idea.  They have large claws and can potentially cut off a finger (or toe for that matter). The crabs are eaten by many Caymanians.  On one occasion, we saw a car driving around slowly and when a crab was spotted, a person would jump out of the car, grab the crab and jump back into the car.  On another occasion (just last night ; I wish I had my camera), a group of 8-10 kids were walking around our neighborhood with sticks, a bucket and flashlights and were obviously having a great time looking for crabs.  They showed us their bucket; they had caught 6-7 of them. Julie & I have decided not to catch/eat any of these since they have a reputation of being “bottom feeders” and eating pretty much anything they will find, which includes garbage and anything you can imagine.  Some people say they are great to eat ; we will take their word for it.

There was even an article in the local paper about “crabbing safety”, just to show you how popular an even this is.

http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1031119

We even had a hermit crab on our back porch.  These guys are definitely not dangerous though.

Here is Niko chasing a crab and the crab is showing him his claws.  We did not allow Aipa to get anywhere near that crab.  🙂

Now in a concrete driveway.

Here is one resting in the grass.  Quite a large specimen.

Hope everyone reading this is doing well. Here in lovely Grand Cayman, all kinds of stuff happening!

First, this week was great for me professionally. I developed a presentation at work called “Your children and the Internet” ; its about the dangers kids face on the Internet. I gave the presentation twice in the office and at a local school to a group of about 60 parents.

Well, it made for good news. In fact I made the 1st page of the business section of one newspaper (Cayman Netnews) and also made the business section of the Caymanian Compass. Needless to say I am quite pleased. I am also very pleased that people are obviously concerned with their children’s Internet use : they should be!

Here are the links to the newspaper articles:

http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1030962

http://www.caymannetnews.com/news-7576–5-5—.html

=============

In 2 days … June 1st, the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season officially starts 🙁

To prepare for an eventual hurricane, we have been working on new hurricane shutters for our house in the last few weeks. Its a long project, so we have been working on the the last 3-4 week-ends. This week-end, all of them should be ready to go if a hurricane comes to Cayman. Lets hope we dont need them!

Hurricane shutters come in 2 main types. The first type (and most expensive) are “metal curtains” that you simply pull across (or down for some models) the window. The second (and most popular type) are to simply put plywood panels. Thats the option we took. In any case, our landlady would probably not have been interested in spending 20,000$ or so for metal shutters.

So she supplied the plywood & other hardware, we supplied the labor. One of the best ways to install plywood shutters is to use “barrel bolts” (like those that are used for yard doors). You install them on the shutter and make a hole in the concrete to hold the shutter in place. We also painted them for durability and so that the house does not look like an abandoned house with non-painted plywood all around.

Here is the garage window before installation of the shutter.

Here I am making the hole in the concrete with the drill.

Here is the shutter installed. Since its already very hot here, we have installed about 1/2 of them to keep the sun out of the garage and rooms we use less frequently ; the house will be cooler during the steamy summer days. With all the holes pre-made for the remaining shutters, the rest of the shutters will take 30 minutes or so to install. Not a bad job would you say?

Summer is almost here (and hurricane season too unfortunately) and the heat is definitely back! After a nice and warm winter, the hot, humid and sweaty summer is back. Thank goodness for A/C. However, with the use of A/C, comes much bigger utility bills also. Oh well, nothings perfect!

Aipa for one does not seem bothered by the heat, which is quite amazing for a Husky. Here she is, in the blazing midday sun lying down in the driveway. I even called her to come inside and she did not move an inch. A few minutes later she slowly got up and came inside. Go figure!

Here is out window thermometer ; a lovely 34 degrees IN THE SHADE. In the sun its probably much more. Either you stay indoors or hit the beach with lots of water (or beer)

Finally, here is a place we love to go on week-ends. Its at the bitter east end of the island. Its always cool & breezy and a great place to pic-nick and read a book. BTW, no news about the Iguana deaths. So far there is a 12,000$ bounty, but no one has given the cops the information they need for an arrest. Hope they do find the person responsible.

Miles of deserted beaches … not much happening at this end of the island.

Those 4 cabanas and virtually always empty. There is rarely anyone else at this small beach, since its a 35-40 minute drive from Georgetown, so not many locals & tourist come all the way out here. The beach is not great for swimming (lots of algae) but simply a great place to relax, read or do nothing at all.