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…