Hermit Crab Prize Fight

Okay, so I like hermit crabs. I admit it. I find them very amusing. The two pictured were engaged in a prize fight when we came upon them down about 30 feet on a shallow mini-wall dive. They were face to face duking it out. Finally the one on the right delivered the knock-out punch and caused the other one to flip over. TKO!

Climbing Hermit Crab

This hermit crab was having an energetic morning. He scaled the screen of my screened-in porch. I'm not sure exactly why. Then he down-climbed it -- and as any climber knows down-climbing is harder than ascending. And...he down-climbed it inverted!!! He gets my vote for extreme crustacean.

Drawn Butter

This lobster lives in the Bloody Bay Marine Park, so he's livin large. But other Little Cayman lobsters had better be practicing their stealth skills, since lobster season begins on Dec. 1. Several friends are planning midnight lobster hunts to get the biggest bugs. The butter is already melting...

Buoy Painter Snaps

Our day on the water today became quite exciting when the painter on the mooring at a site called, ironically, "Uncle Lucky's" snapped. Fortunately, Captain Michelle was aboard and saw it release. After a 3-minute safety stop, we rose as a group to the mooring ball and all depoyed our safety sausages. Then Michelle carefully came round to us and I swam up and scrambled onto the boat first. After that some great team work took place recovering all the divers and their equipment in rough seas and 20-knot winds. Bob kept all the divers herded at the mooring; Michelle kept jockeying the boat back to the group; Gay swam buddy teams to the ladder, and I got each buddy team, their cameras and fins aboard and seated. The only temporary casualty was my camera (I wasn't supposed to be working today!), which I tossed as I came aboard because I couldn't hand it up with no one on the back of the boat to get it, and I needed to come aboard and get on with recovering divers ASAP. But one of the other diver operators in the area looked for it and amazingly found it!!! Pictured is the photo they left on my camera when I went over to their resort this afternoon and picked it up. Ha! I'm headed over there tonight to pay up.

Crouton Fish

Check out this tiny Crouton Fish! Actually this is a juvenile smooth trunkfish, but I think of them as croutons. This one was miniscule, about the size of the end of my pinkie finger. I found him on Jackson Wall and Reef in Jackson Bight. Incredibly hard to shoot a clear shot of this little bouncing ball, but I got him! I've been slow to post, so this shot was take on Nov. 22.

A Fine Ride on Little Cayman

Behold, a classic Little Cayman vehicle, owned by Bob, one of my fellow divemasters at Pirates Point. This car, some indeterminate vintage of Suzuki Tracker, features wooden floorboards (the original metal ones have rusted out), seats that are more foam than vinyl, and a dashboard that lights up like a Xmas tree with every warning light the car has. But yes, the Tracker does run....well rattle would be a more accurate description. Getting into it, that's a bit more problematic, as neither door handle operates from the outside. So Bob must remember to leave the windows down in any weather, or crawl through the back, where the plastic window used to be. What are those stickers you ask? Well Bob is the island's best lionfish culler and has now killed more than 1700 of those evil suckers. So one of his buddies on the island decided his vehicle should be decorated with lionfish kill stickers, much like a fighter plane.

All our vehicles at Pirates Point have at least a couple of "special" characteristics too. The truck we use to haul scuba tanks has a petulant transmission, which can make backing onto the dock (which is only slightly wider than the truck) even more exciting. The brakes work, but the emergency brake doesn't. No worries Mon, that's how we roll on LC.

Little Cayman Birthday

Celebrated my birthday today on Little Cayman. Worked on the boat, above the water and below -- it was a great way to enjoy the day. Pictured below is my favorite spot on the island, Point of Sand, which is on the far east end. The little sand crab seemed to enjoy posing for the camera.

I was on the boat at 11:11 a.m. on 11/11/11. Wish I could say I felt something special, but...ah no. Just a beautiful day in the tropics, the breeze blew, the boat rocked and the fish went about business as usual.

Tale of Two Lighthouses

One small island, two tiny lighthouses. Pictured to the left is the west end lighthouse, the one in my hood. Pictured to the right is the east end lighthouse, which is visible from Cayman Brac, our sister island. Okay, so they're not very impressive but they do the job and are easily rebuilt when the next hurricane blasts through. In front of the west end lighthouse are some tide pools. After a run the other day, I visited the pools and watched a small octopus as he crept around, looking for a meal...and trying to avoid becoming one before the tide came in.

Pirates Point Halloween

Last night's Halloween Party at Pirates Point was a big success. Most of the island turned up and the costumes were outstanding. The first photo is our award winners. Then, Ed shows off his Gladys Howard costume and attitude. And finally Divemaster Mike came as an African tribe member... and I came as Divemaster Mike!

Installing the Dock

Our weather has finally calmed down enough to enable the installation of our floating dock. Each hurricane season, when the resort shuts down, we pull the dock out so the big storms can't tear it to bits. Tomorrow we go diving on Yellow Rose!

In the foreground of the first photo, Divemaster Mike is in the water and Divemaster Bob is on the dock (in the red t-shirt). Ed, our maintenance manager (gray t-shirt), is further down the dock. In the second photo Robin, one of the contractors on the island (and Chef Dianne's husband), is driving the loader, pulling dock sections down to the water.

Our guests start arriving this afternoon.

It's Wet, Damn Wet

Been on Little Cayman since Saturday...it's been rain and t-storms the whole time. And the humidity is intense. Feels like I'm sleeping in a steam room (no AC in my oceanfront condo). Hurricane Rina is passing to the west of us and hitting us with bands of tropical fun. But the waves in front of the condo are cool (see pic at left). In between cloudbursts, we're trying to get all the work done that needs to be completed so we can reopen on Saturday. We've managed to squeeze in a dive too...yesterday. Came up in a pounding squall. Yeeha.

Back to Little Cayman, Round 2

I'm returning to Little Cayman for another stint as a divemaster this fall. I leave in a week. These are photos from last winter in Truckee. Yes, those are buried power lines. And yes that's me shoveling my roof, which is three stories high. So, do I need to say more about why I'm going back to the tropics? I didn't think so.

Home?

I flew home on Jan. 13-14. My route was Little Cayman to Cayman Brac, then Brac to Grand Cayman, then on to Miami. Then I flew Miami to L.A. and finally the next day I flew L.A. to Reno. The in-flight photo is my last flight from L.A. to Reno. You can see the California Coastline and Channel Islands in the background.

I'm home, I think. I have dreams of Little Cayman every night...

Last Boat Day, Last Work Day

I'm done. Today was my last day working as a divemaster at Pirates Point Resort. I led 4 divers and did two dives. Pictured are Divemaster Mike, Divemaster Me, and Boat Captain Michelle. We had a nice day, in pretty calm conditions.

So how did I do? Well, I never caused any damage to the boat; I never fell overboard or hurt myself; and I never got any divers lost or injured. So I guess I did okay as a divemaster. :-)

I have 2 days to play on the island and then I head home. It's been a great adventure, now I must return to my land life...of sleeves and pants, real shoes (ugh), long underwear and parkas.

Only One Week Left

Tonight's sunset (pictured) from my condo was spectacular. The day was warm and calm, with only a hint of breeze. Ahhhh. I worked on the boat and led a dive at a favorite site, Mixing Bowl on Bloody Bay Wall. The dive was uneventful...until the very end when a large eagle ray cruised past in the shallows. Yay! I only have four days of work left and I leave in six days -- only a few more sunsets and a few more dives. Here I'm surrounded by water... meanwhile my home in Truckee is surrounded by frozen water, walls of snow. It's going to be a rough transition...

Fireworks and Flying Friends

Happy New Year from the tropics! As you can see, we enjoyed some great fireworks, three fireworks shows to be exact on one 10-mile-long island! I took all of it in, riding my trusty bike from point to point, with sustenance from a special libation in my water bottle!!! Couldn't stay out too late though, as I was divemastering the next morning. Led divers yesterday and today -- excellent dives with lots of critters, including sharks, turtles, barracudas, crabs, lobsters and nudibranchs.

Also, pictured one of my heron neighbors. He likes to hang out in pond, and the road...we've had a couple of near collisions at night. The bird life on the island is excellent. We have herons, egrets, frigates, boobies, terns, whistling ducks and other winged residents and visitors.

Rare Critters and Party Plans

Pictured is a rare harlequin pipe fish cohabitating with a red-spotted hawkfish and a brittle star. I took this shot a few days ago on a dive site on the south side of the island. The water here has cooled down, but the diving is still critter-filled.

The holiday season continues in Little Cayman...tomorrow is our New Year's Eve celebration. Little Cayman Beach Resort will have its fireworks, then Southern Cross Club will have its sparkler show. After that, I'm told the locals often head down to Point of Sand (a very cool beach on the East End of the island) for a beach party. Count me in for all of it!!! I'm only here for another two weeks, so I plan to ring in the new year with all the island festivities. Of course, hitting the water to lead a dive the next morning might require extra strong coffee, but I'll rally. Spending the first day of the new year underwater will be an excellent start!

Tropical Xmas

How do you like our Xmas tree at my condo complex on Little Cayman? I took the photo after last evening's sunset on Xmas Eve.

Merry Xmas to all, wherever your travels take you!!!

Cool Wall Diving Photo

That's me, leading my dive group on the famous Bloody Bay Wall on the north side of Little Cayman. One of the divers in my group took this very cool shot.

I love our groupers, but our wall dives are spectacular and they're what brings people to Little Cayman.

Update: Santa was listening...our barge came in yesterday, finally! Everyone is very relieved. So we have our Xmas presents and our holiday food supplies.

All We Want for Xmas is a Barge

Dear Santa,

We've been good, really we have. So we know you'll listen when we tell you that all we want for Xmas is a barge. Pictured are our barges, which are currently anchored on the south side of the island when they should be unloading on the north side. They've been stuck over there for days, waiting for a weather window to allow them to get to the pier, which has been getting slammed with wind and waves. All of the supplies for the resorts on Little Cayman come via the barge from Grand Cayman, which is supposed to come every week. But we've only had 3 barge deliveries since the beginning of November. Needless to say, the cupboards are getting a bit bare and some of our Xmas goodies for our holiday meals are, well, adrift at the moment. In fact, it got so desperate that the resorts went in together and chartered a plane that flew in a load of food today. But we really need the barge supplies as well. We're counting on you Santa...

Grouper Love

One of the fun things about some of our dive sites here on Little Cayman is our friendly groupers. Some of these guys just love to follow us around and enjoy a scratch under the chin or a belly rub. We don’t feed them – they’re just begging for attention. The red grouper pictured followed me around for a good 10 minutes the other day underwater. But the funniest part is he didn’t like it when another diver got between him and me and he nipped the other diver on the heel! That’s never happened before. So not only do I have a grouper boyfriend, but he has a jealous streak!

Underwater and Island Romance

Been busy, so I’ve been remiss in updating the blog. PPR is gearing up for Xmas – Santa will visit on the 25th in the morning, then we’ll all go diving.

In the meantime, love has been in the air (or in the scuba tanks) here on Little Cayman. Pictured at left are David and Andrea. David proposed to Andrea the other day while diving from our dive boat, Yellow Rose. He took the engagement ring down on a dive and pointed it out in the sand to Andrea, as if he was just finding it. Then he pointed to his underwater slate (pictured), on which he proposed (he laughed about the misspelling....just blame the nitrogen narcosis). Andrea didn’t seem to mind, she accepted and came up wearing the ring. We toasted them with sodas and took pictures.

Then today I set another guest, Ralph, up with champagne. He was planning to propose to his girlfriend, Katrina, at sunset. They’re teachers from the U.K. who are currently working teaching high school on Grand Cayman. It’s their first trip to Little Cayman, and it’s sure to be a memorable one.

Tropical Sunset

Had the day off, so I was able to enjoy the sunset from my condo. Just thought I'd share...

Truckee and snow are hard to imagine.

Seasons Greetings to all from the land of pink light and warm breezes.

East End of Little Cayman

We dove the East End of Little Cayman today, an area that is rarely accessed by the dive boats due to the predominate winds. But it was calm today, so Captain Michelle, Bob and I took our 14 divers and went exploring. We did two great dives on sites called Splitsville and Lucas' Ledges. Saw a lot of interesting critters, including two good-size green moray eels (pictured). We also saw turtles, a 5-foot baracuda, blue lettuce leaf slugs, lionfish, a spiny lobster (better hide Buddy, it's lobster season) and a nurse shark.

This was my fifth day of diving in a row. And even though I'm convinced I was a fish or other sea creature in a previous life, I'm feeling a bit water-logged. No worries, I'm off tomorrow and can dry out a bit.

Grand Cayman Driving Adventure

Had a day off today, after working 27 days in the month of November. So I decided to treat myself and fly over to Grand Cayman for the day to do some shopping, touring and have a nice lunch. I rented a car for the day, which was brave of me because in the Caymans they drive on the left and my rental car was a right drive car (see photo). Not so easy for a dyslexic, ha! The wiper control was on the left of the steering column and the turn indicator was on the right – needless to say each time I turned it looked like a rain squall had hit.

I drive the Pirates Point trucks and vans on Little Cayman, but we have just one road, little or no traffic (if you don’t count iguanas) and no traffic lights or traffic circles. Anyway, I did well on the driving – didn’t crash, sideswipe anything or go down any streets the wrong way. I enjoyed shopping at a variety of stores (we have just two stores on all of Little Cayman) and I took myself out to lunch at the Sunset House (pictured), which is on the water on the south end of Georgetown, Cayman’s Capital.

Tomorrow, it’s back to the boat…

Dive 'Wisdom'

Divers say some amazing things…here are three that had the staff falling down laughing:

“What kind of air do you have here? Because I find that different air makes a big difference in my bottom time.” (And no, he wasn’t talking about Nitrox.)

“Do you have Nitrox available, because when I use Nitrox my mask doesn’t fog.”

And my personal favorite:

“I take Valium when I dive because it helps me clear my ears. It makes the hairs in my ears stand up and that helps with the clearing.”

I SWEAR all of these are direct quotes, though of course I’m not going to provide attribution. Pictured at left divemaster Michelle pets a friendly grouper, as others wait their turn. Over and out.

Gladys: Pirates Point's Leader

Gladys Howard is the owner/manager of Pirates Point Resort. She’s a 78-year-old Texas tornado. She’s also an award-winning cookbook author, who studied cooking with Julia Child, James Beard and Jacques Pepin. And she operated a cooking school and gourmet catering service for more than 20 years before coming to Little Cayman.

In 2003, Gladys was awarded the Queen's "Badge of Honor" by Prince Edward during the Cayman Islands Quincentennial for her volunteer work in environmental conservation with the National Trust in Little Cayman.

And Gladys is going strong – next year will be Pirates Point’s 25th anniversary. Guests will find Gladys greeting them at the dinner buffet, organizing bird watching outings, playing dominoes into the evening or costumed for a party. Gladys LOVES any excuse for a party. She’s pictured here in a dining room portrait and at this year’s Halloween Party – she called herself “Princess Laos” and she’s wearing a headdress from Laos, which she picked up on her tour of Southern Asia this fall. Despite two knee replacements, she also made 23 dives around Komodo and took the two-hour dragon walk on Rinca Island.

Toilet Bowl Surprise

Look what appeared in my toilet this afternoon. Yep, somehow this little green frog was chillin in the bowl. When I left for the boat this morning, the toilet was empty and I left the lid down. So his navy seal invasion is another one of those weird little island mysteries. And yes, I did execute a man overboard drill, or in this case a man in the bowl rescue drill. I put my hand in there and nabbed him so I could release him outside; no I didn't send him for the big spin.

But what if I hadn't noticed him before, um, recycling some ice tea??? Let's not go there.

Diver Betty

Meet Betty, a diver who’s staying at Pirates Point this week. Betty took up diving at age 56 and now she’s 84 and still at it. She’s an inspiration. She’s been diving at Pirates Point for 11 years, but she also dives all over the world. In February of this year, she went diving in Truk Lagoon in Micronesia. She says she loves diving in the South Pacific, in addition to diving at Little Cayman. She’s pictured here with her dive buddy Walt; they’ve been diving together since 1993. They met diving in Cozumel. Neither of their spouses dives, so they team up to dive down.
Betty dives using Nitrox and recently learned about Pirates Point's new Nitrox analyzer. So she not only keeps up her dive skills, she stays current with the latest dive technology too. So when you’re whining about some aching muscle or stupid little wrinkle, think of Betty and just get over it.

Divemaster 'Skills'

Think being a divemaster is all about guiding divers underwater? Certainly that’s part of the job. But here’s a list of divemaster skills that you might not have contemplated:

1. Slinging 25 to 50 scuba tanks in a typical day.
2. Lassoing elusive buoys with tangled lines in choppy seas.
3. Helping divers up a bucking boat ladder, without getting throw off the boat yourself, or if in the water without getting smacked in the head by a tank, fin, weight belt.
4. Observing inexperienced divers do some amazingly clumsy and hilarious moves, without spitting out your regulator laughing. And still offering to help them even when they haven’t listened to last five things you’ve suggested.
5. Watching guests blow chunks, without gagging, and then offering them water and a paper towel, and rinsing the boat, gear, their buddy, if needed.
6. Responding to different Captains’ styles of driving/docking/anchoring/etc./without comment or complaint even if you’re secretly thinking he or she might be a distant relative of Captain Bligh.
7. Responding to equipment failures quickly, with calm action, even if you’re thinking “holy shit that could have been bad.”
8. Answering the same questions every week with new guests, all with a smile on your face and laughter in your heart.
9. Having creature encounters that result in a happy dance underwater by the divers and the divemaster.
10. Seeing the daily different moods of the water and loving every minute of it.

Pirate Parade

This is Pirates Week in the Cayman Islands, an annual celebration of the nefarious part of the island chain’s history. Little Cayman kicks off the festivities with its Pirates’ Parade. Resorts and businesses build floats and drag them down the main street, ending up at the Hungry Iguana, the island’s only stand-alone eatery. It’s an excuse to dress up and party down. Pictured at left "pro" pirates from Grand Cayman, blue Avatar pirates and Pirates Point’s float, depicting greedy pirates of yesteryear, and green eco-pirates of today.
Diving news: We’re diving the south side of the island due to some strong north winds and big swells. Yesterday’s excitement included a small, curious Caribbean reef shark bumping a diver’s video camera. It’s clear from the video footage that the little shark scared herself more than the diver.
The temperature dropped below 80 degrees last night, burr! But weather service promises improvement by Wed./Thurs.

Waves and Work

Enjoying my first day off after 7 days of work. It’s a blustery day with high winds and waves at the condo (seas in front of condo pictured, along with a picture of the front of the condo). We’ve had rain squalls go through the past couple of days and I expect we’ll see more today.
I’m working very hard trying to learn all the boat skills, tank handling and filling tasks and the restaurant and serving duties. Divemasters at Pirates Point do it all. About the only time I feel relatively competent is underwater. I’ve guided 5 days of diving now and I haven’t gotten any divers lost yet. Success! But getting divers to pay attention to their environment, the dive route and their safety is definitely like herding unruly, excited kindergartners at times. The job also is very physically demanding. I spent 2 hours underwater yesterday, loaded a truck with gear, loaded and unloaded gear on the boat and helped move a truckload of scuba tanks. I also cleaned up after breakfast and helped set up the dining room for dinner…and that was a short day because I didn’t have to come back and work dinner. One of the guests said to me this week, after observing all that the crew does, “this isn’t a slow island pace is it?” Nope, far from it.

Sharks, Dolphins and Whales

Attended a presentation last night by researchers from the Cayman Islands Department of the Environment. They're in Little Cayman for a few weeks doing research on sharks, dolphins and whales. Although the Caymans aren't a tourist destination known for these animals, they're definitely here. We have a variety of sharks, but the ones we see most often are Caribbean Reef Sharks, Nurse Sharks (pictured at left) and Blacktip Sharks. The researchers are tagging sharks, so it was fun to tell them last night that we'd seen one of their tagged Caribbean Reef sharks on one of our dives that day at a site called Mixing Bowl on the north side of the island. They've asked divemasters and divers to report back to them when we see tagged animals. The bad news: They've seen Honduran fishing boats finning sharks in the Caymans, and they're worried about declining populations of sharks. They've also been hearing some dolphins in our area with their hydrophone (they heard one just last week). The Cetaceans in our area include Bottlenose Dolphins, Atlantic Spotted Dolphins, Pantropical Spotted Dolphins, False Killer Whales, Pilot Whales, Beaked Whales and Sperm Whales.

Yesterday, I guided my first divers. We had 2 great dives and all returned to the boat safely. Whew! We saw Caribbean Reef Sharks, a seahorse, a turtle, a huge barracuda, several big lobsters, and many other fish and creatures. The resort is up and running for a new season and is filling up. Now it's go, go, go!