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.