Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010 9:30 CI

This morning we work up early and prepared to leave our house. I said goodby to my tiny coconut tree that we planted on the beach. He has to make it on his own now. I will not be there to water him anymore.

The air was very still this morning and the water was super smooth. We just had to take our kayaks out. We glided along effortlessly. We just didn't want to get out of the water. It was so pretty.

Richard managed to get all the hurricane shutters on. We finished off all our food and washed dishes. We rinsed off our kayaks and put them in the house. We drained pipes and shut off the power and pump. There were many things to accomplish. We did a last sit in the hammocks and took them down. The little gecko that lives by our steps came out to say goodby. He has become very friendly. I wonder if he will remember us when we return?

This trip to our new house has been such an adventure. We enjoyed every minute of it. It is so exciting to know we can come back next year.

At 3:00 we loaded up the rental car and headed for the airport. After dropping off our luggage, we headed to Iggy's "Hungry Iguana". I had a pina colada and Richard had a Corona. We saw our airplane arrived so we ran over and got on. It was only us and one other girl on board.

After about 25 minutes we arrived at the Grand Cayman airport. We got a cab and went to our hotel on 7 Mile Beach. Then we had a very nice meal at a open air restaurant on the waters edge. Tomorrow morning we catch an early plane to Chicago and then on to Des Moines. Hope it won't be too cold.

Carolyn

Friday, Feb. 26, 2010 8:21 pm CI

Today is our last full day at our house on Little Cayman Island. Tomorrow at 4:10 pm we get on the plane for Grand Cayman. We will spend Saturday night there. The weather couldn't have been more perfect today and the water was calm and beautiful. It is sure going to be hard to leave. We'll be back before we know it though.

We accomplished a lot of detail things today and did a lot of just enjoying our property. This afternoon we rented a car and visited some of our new friends at their houses. It was fun. While just standing awhile on the beach close to the water a nurse shark swam up to us about 1 and 1/2 feet from us. Then a nice barracuda and even a little grouper. The water is so clear. I should add, we did the friend visits after we saw the fish on our beach.

Tonight I made leftover chicken with Sauteed celery, carrots, onions & garlic over it and rice & black beans. We are trying to use up all our food. It will be interesting closing up the house. We will put the kayaks in the house. The bikes are hanging in the storage room downstairs. Our mattresses will arrive Sat. right after we leave. The builder who is putting on our porch and new roof is going to pick them up at the barge and put them in the house for us. Yes, we are also putting on a new roof. We just decided not to wait as it will work best with the roof over the porch. Our house will be busy while we are gone.

I sure have a lot of memories to take home with me.

Carolyn

Thursday Feb. 25, 2010 7:52 pm CI

This is a shot of the house from the beach .
The moon was almost full.



I am pointing to a little coconut tree we planted.



Here I am lounging today in my hammock.
Notice the nice white paint on the house.




This is the driveway entrance to our house
from the street. The picture is small but you
can see the hammocks in the far back.





Another shot of the entrance from the street.




Thursday was a glorious day. Overnight we had a thunderstorm. The temperature cooled and there is hardly any humidity. The sky was clear all day and the sun was warm and perfect. It was the kind of weather that made you want to get some work done. I washed windows this morning and the blinds too. I still have more to do but they aren't going anywhere so I'm not worried. I worked at least an hour picking up Sea Grape leaves left laying around after the thunderstorm. Richard worked putting the storage room in order and putting the open area under the house back together. Everything sure looks nice. After lunch we worked on the beach some more. It is really looking good. We took more photos. We can't seem to take enough photos. It is so fun to see the before and afters.


The moon is almost full tonight. We walked our beach tonight and it was so pretty. Tons of stars are out and the moon is so bright. It is also very quiet as the breaker waves are being sent out to sea. It is hard to put into words how much I love this. It is so relaxing.


Tomorrow we are planning to rent a car and drive around the island. Should be fun. I will do laundry in the morning as we leave soon and I don't want to come back to dirty things. It will be hard to leave here but we have a beautiful home in Ames and more important, our kids are there and close by in Minneapolis. In the meantime, I am still here in paradise.

Carolyn

Wednesday Feb. 24, 2010 9:00 pm CI

Richard's big bone fish


He is a good size fish.

Our house can be seen in the background. It

is in the center. This shot is on Owen Island.

Now our house is right up from the tip of the

yellow boat.

It is raining right now at our house. It smells so good. We went to SSC for dinner as it was Wet Your Whistle Wednesday. Richard had checked the radar & said it would rain. I called Lynne Lock to see if she was going and asked if she would pick us up. It was so nice of her to give us a ride. I did not want to chance getting stuck in the rain on my bike.

Boy, did we have a good meal at SSC. They really know how to feed you. We got to visit again with several couples who come for the winter and have homes here like we do. It is fun.

Today Richard went up on the roof early and made sure everything was in good repair. He had to work on a pipe up there. Then we took the kayaks to Owen Island. We had to go against waves and it was quite a job. Well worth the effort though. We took photos. Richard did some fishing over there while I read my book. I am reading "Where is Joe Merchant?" by Jimmy Buffett. It was here at the house. On the way back (easy work with the waves this time) Richard caught a big "bone fish". Very exciting. We had a late lunch. We left here at 10:00 am and didn't get home until 2:00 pm.

After our fun, we went out to our yard and worked on clearing some more brush etc. on the sides of our driveway and entrance to our driveway. It is nice and wide and looks beautiful. We were definitely ready to get cleaned up and go to dinner tonight.

The house and grounds look so much better than when we arrived. We are both very proud of all the work we have done. It will be interesting to see how it looks when we arrive next year. We have already talked about what we want to work on next year.

I'm expecting to sleep good tonight with this rain shower. Last night I slept like I was dead. It was wonderful!

Carolyn

Carolyn

Tuesday Feb. 23, 2010 9:00 P.M. CI

Here is photo of Richard working on the beach today. This was taken from the house.

After snorkeling at Bloody Bay.

Here is Richard's fish. It is a Blue Runner.

Today was a busy day again. Richard went fishing early and caught a nice fish. There is a photo included. Then we started painting and finished it. It looks very good. We are pleased. After lunch we headed back to Bloody Bay and went snorkeling. We went out to the 40 ft drop off. We saw really big colorful fish and brain coral. The waves were coming in pretty hard and I was worried if I could get in to snorkel. I did fine. After getting back we worked on the beach some more, had supper and are ready to call it a day. This post is short. I had a very nice post written and somehow I blew it away and had to start over. Darn.

Carolyn

Monday, Feb. 22, 2010 9:00 pm CI

It is Monday in paradise. What a day we had today. We had to buy our paint for the house and all we have is bikes to bring it home with. We tried unsuccessfully to get a ride. Richard took the pull behind cart and brought home a 5 gallon jug of paint. Now that was a work out. While he did that I raked a hugh area on the side of the house that was covered very deep with sea grape leaves. What a job. I had sweat running into my eyes and mouth and my pants were falling down like a plumbers. The sweat was pouring so bad and I was so dirty that I couldn't keep pulling up my pants any more. I guess they get heavy when wet. It was all worth it as the area I cleaned up looks so nice now. I worked on the beach some today also.

After all that work, we had a good lunch and decided we deserved some fun. We got on our bikes and headed for Bloody Bay. The water was as smooth as a babies butt. We saw a turtle that was bigger than me. I am not even exaggerating. He was just swimming along so beautiful. We also saw our big nurse shark. We like to believe it is the same one we saw last year. Of course, there were many beautiful fish. And the deeper the water the more giant the fish. Boy are they colorful. We really enjoyed ourselves.

When we got back home we got cleaned up and started painting the house. We are 2/3 finished already. In the morning we'll paint again unless the bone fish are out front of the house. Then fishing will be the order of the morning.

After a nice supper, we are both sitting here in a stupor of shear exhaustion. It is time for bed. If only the days could be a little longer. We get up at 6:30 a.m. One just can't wait for the fun to begin. I could use another month here. Today we saw some pretty terrifying pictures on the internet of Des Moines snow. People were wearing heavy coats!

Carolyn

Sunday Feb. 21, 2010 8:46 P.M. CI time

Today was a warmer day and very sunny. There was a good breeze though and if in the shade it was glorious. I love it here. I held my hammock down for awhile this afternoon. It just doesn't get any better than that.

We changed our minds, and decided to paint the lower half of the house white. What can I say! We couldn't get paint and start today, as planned, as it is against the law to sell hardware on Sunday. Nothing is open on Sunday in the Cayman Islands. It is a day of rest. Richard built a new hurricane shutter today as per his new design. It really works nice. Good job Richard! Only 10 more windows to go. What a job. It will make it easy for us to come here when we get old. We celebrated with a lovely kayak adventure.

I made potato salad today and for dinner we had it and chicken and broccoli. A summer time meal. We made a bike trip to pick up some food supplies also today (they would sell us food). We seem to be eating OK here. I was very worried about that before we came. Next year I'll know what to bring and how to get it over here. All will be easier.

Tomorrow we hope to go the Bloody Bay Wall to snorkel. We will probably paint too and move a few rocks. We always have plenty to do. It is good to be busy in paradise.

Carolyn

Saturday Feb. 20/2010 7:30pm

I am sitting here in the house with the windows open and the ceiling fans on low feeling just right. We had a good supper (roast beef with sweet potatoes and vegges) and I am feeling ready for bed already. We had an exciting day today. At 8 am the guy from the store showed up and wanted his paint sample booklet back. Luckily we had made our decision on the color shade. I was doing laundry while brushing my teeth when suddenly I had no water left and Richard came flying in and started shutting off breakers in the box. The pump pipe snapped in half. Water everywhere in the storage room. We had absolutely no water. Too bad the guy from the store had already left, we could have hitched at ride to look for parts. Richard jumped on the bike and luckily was able to get parts and fix the pump. He is the "jack of all trades". Luckily, they use plastic for pipes here as I don't allow him to solder with copper piping. We have not had good luck using that material. So, our water is flowing and my teeth are clean.

We finished our sealer/primer on the whole house. Tomorrow we will paint. We are putting our bodies in high speed mode. We also worked a little on the beach again. It is looking better every day. Yea! Soon we have to stop and take photos again.

Carolyn

Friday 2/19/10 8:30 p.m.

We are still here in paradise. Everyday is just perfect. This morning Richard went diving. The water was very rough and his patch didn't work well. He got sick. His dive was wonderful though but he couldn't do the second one. He made it home and rested. After a late lunch he was functioning again. We worked out on the beach again. We were going to finish the prime coat on the house but it was a late start. This place is looking good. One of the builders came by with his estimate for our changes to the house today. He is coming again tomorrow to do a few yard things for us. He has a little tractor to do some quick rock moving.

I was fixing supper tonight when my microwave died. We will get a new one and put it above the stove so I don't have it sitting on the counter anymore. I fixed rice and beans with vegges all mixed together. I was trying to do a Caribbean thing. The grocery store had sent me actual rice. I had to soak it and then cook it for over an hour. It was brown rice and looked like mush. It actually tasted quite good. Natalie would have enjoyed it I think.

Now that I have the dishes done, we are sitting here on our computers just plain exhausted. We spend every bit of our energy every day.

This morning I went on a beautiful kayak ride. It was nice. This was the first time I went totally by myself.

This house is pretty comfortable for the two of us. I think we should keep it. I'm glad I have lots of photos to look at because I will certainly miss being here. Especially since we are going back to winter weather. We seem to have really settled in now.

Carolyn

Thurs. Feb. 18,2010 8:00p.m.

This has been another busy day. We have accomplished a lot. Richard started the morning early with burning some more piles. We can burn here. I worked on moving rocks and raking again. I sometimes feel we could do that forever and not finish. Of course, I pulled weeds. We also moved some big tree trunks together. They were heavy! Then we headed to the store on our bikes and bought paint sealer for the outside of the house. We lucked out and were also able to get some lumber that Richard needs for his newly designed hurricane shutters. I asked the guy at the store if he could deliver us, all our purchases and our bikes home since we bought so much stuff. He said yes! That was nice. When we got back I made lunch. We borrowed (hired) a worker from Southern Cross Club to help haul a bunch of metal and debris to the dump for us. At l:00 he came by. It was nice to get rid of all of that. Obviously, we had a lot of cleaning up to do after the previous owners of this house.

Finally, we started to paint. The sealer is white. The house looks so different. We got about half done. It is so exciting! We will paint it pastel pink. The top half is light blue and our trim is white. How Caribbean is that!

Tomorrow morning Richard is going diving. The water surface is a little rough right now so I am not riding along to snorkel. I will work here at the house and maybe take the kayak for a spin. In the afternoon we will probably paint some more. If suddenly conditions change, I will snorkel instead though.

Our time here is going by very quickly. We have been super busy. We are enjoying every minute. Even when we are working hard.

We forgot to take a picture of our handiwork today so I don't have a photo of the newly primed house. Tomorrow I will do that.

For supper tonight I made leftover pork roast with fried potatoes and peas & corn. Boy, were we hungry. I seem to get along fine without a dishwasher and clothes dryer. I feel just like a pioneer. If only the pioneers had it so rough!

Till tomorrow,
Carolyn

Wed. 2/17/10 9:15 pm

Here is our bathroom. It is actually pretty
large. The washer is on the right. We are
going to put a new vanity with two sinks
eventually.


Here is our bedroom. To the right of the door
is a big closet also.


Another shot of the bedroom. We have a new
bed arriving on the barge tomorrow. Yea!


Today we worked in the house. We cleaned windows and screens. It was a perfect day for it as early in the morning we had a little rain. We also cleaned out some more "stuff" around the house. We think we might start painting the outside tomorrow. After lunch Richard went fishing as the weather couldn't have been more perfect. I layed on my beautiful teak lounge chair on the beach and read a good book. Then I got bit by the work bug, and started raking the sand and moving rocks. Then I came into the house and had a grapefruit and then went back out and settled on my hammock with that good book. Is this a good life or what!

For dinner tonight we rode our bikes to Southern Cross Club. What a feast! I am so full that I'll just need to go to bed to sleep it off.

I'm going to search my photos to see if there are any more I can post on this. Hopefully, I am not being too obnoxious bragging about this wonderful life I am living. Today was a nice relaxing day. I think Richard and I both enjoyed it.

Feb. 16,2010 Tues. 8:00 p.m.

This is the entrance. Living room on right, bedroom door on the left.

This shows pretty well what the place looks like.





Now you can see both sofas. There is plenty of
room to have the one open and still keep the
table there. A TV is on the wall across from
the sofa on the bottom of the photo. We have
a DVD player for movies but no TV reception.
That is our choice. Both sofa beds could be left
open and still have plenty of room.



This is just another shot of the dining area.





Here is the kitchen.

Today we had a breezy, shadier day. It was perfect for getting some yard work done. Slow but sure this is starting to take shape. We are both exausted. A second builder came by today and he seems more interested in getting our project going. Next year when we come the place will look different. When I was working today I got bit by a thousand fire ants. Good grief! I ran for the shower as fast as I could. It was terrible. What we are essentially doing here is clearing out a jungle. One can get bit up. Tomorrow is "Wet Your Whistle Wednesday" at SSC again. We will go as all the residents of the island go. Fun, fun. We took some photos of the house today. I have many books to read but so far we are so busy that there is no time to read. When we aren't working we are biking, kayaking, snorkling, and fishing. Go Carolyn and Richard, go!

8:00 Island time, 2/15/10 Monday

On the left is Richard in a hammock after we had both of the hammocks hung. How cool is that!

This photo is me in the hammock. These are hung on the street side of the house.





















Here is the coconut and you can see the kitchen in the background.




































Photo of Southern Cross Club's outside bar. These are some people we met last year who come as regulars.













Last night was another good sleeping night. We woke up refreshed for another day in paradise. We did the breakfast thing and then Richard went fishing for a bit and I did my usual load of laundry. I love hanging it out to dry. It is so much fun. After fishing we got out the bikes and headed to the store. We needed some rope to hang our second hammock & a few other things. It was fun as we met a few acuaintences while shopping. One was "Robin the builder". He is coming by tomorrow at 9:00 to give us prices on the changes we want to make to the house too. We met him at Mardi Gras. Turns out he built Johnny Johnson's place right next door. Boy is his place nice, right? We also passed the fuel tank truck and flagged it down. He filled our grill tank so now we can barbecue.


I forgot to mention that yesterday we got a coconut from our very own tree. We cracked it open (took a lot of work) and boy was it ever good. The milk was super sweet. It is so similar to soy milk.



In the afternoon we rode our bikes over to the north side to Bloody Bay to snorkle. The waves were about 10 feet tall. There was no way we could snorkle. We hustled back home and I put potatoes and carrots with my meat that was in the oven and then we got in our kayaks and found a perfect spot and snorkled over here. We saw some cute fishy's and on our paddle back we saw a big shark. He was about 4 feet. When we parked our kayaks and started to walk to the house you could smell our supper cooking. Boy was that cool! I took a shower and served dinner. I do have to mention, that was a lot of bike riding today. It is no small trip to the north side of the island. There are even hills that challenge you. Be strong!


Carolyn

Feb. 14, 2010 Sunday 9:30 pm

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a lovely day here today in paradise. The temp. was just perfect and breezy too. We took advantage of it and got tons more work done. Wow, did we work. It was fun. I made supper here tonight as we have been eating out so much. I made spaghetti and my homemade meat sauce and a nice salad. It was good. Hopefully we will have more photos tomorrow to show off the fruits of our labor. This was the fist day we didn't ride our bikes somewhere.

2/13/10 Saturday 8:50 pm (Cayman time)

We just got back from Mardi Gras. It was tons of fun. Everyone was at Pirates Point Resort.
All the resorts brought food after the parade. The best food you've ever had in your life. We rode our bikes to SSC and they gave us a ride to Pirates Point. All the Island folk were there.

Early in the morning today we had a nice rain. Then it cleared right up and was beautiful. We worked in the yard again. It is really taking shape. Of course, we have a couple more years of work to do. We really enjoy doing this. It is really not work to work here.

Tomorrow is Sunday and everything is closed here at the Caymans on Sunday. Like it used to be in the States when I was a kid.

Time for bed,
Carolyn

February 12, 2010 Friday

Today was another busy day. Richard went fishing after breakfast. He took the bike and went to his favorite spot and also tried the tarpon pond. I did my usual laundry load. I am trying to wash all the linens so they are fresh for next time. There are a lot of linens. Then I went out with my book. But I didn't make it. I got out the wheelbarrow instead and went to the water side and picked up several loads of nice flat rocks and moved them to the driveway side of the house. I put them by the hose hookup so we can wash our feet there easily. We also have the outside shower but the hose works great for just feet. We just have it all! I had a little gecko keeping me company while I worked. He was hoping he could get my ice water with a lime slice in it. My project turned out nicely. Richard got back and we had a quick lunch.

After lunch our food was to be at the airport. The store delivered in the morning to Cayman Express. So we rode our bikes (it was hot out). Only one small box arrived. They said the rest would be on the 3:30 plane. So we headed back to the house to drop off our box. Then we went back again and it didn't arrived on the 3:30 (plus it was an hour late at 4:30). This is horrible as my food was melting. It wasn't even in coolers. Then we waited for the next plane and it was super late. Finally at 6:15 our food arrived. I was upset as we paid for our food on the plane. It should have taken priority over suitcases as they don't spoil. So we peddled home, put the food away, and I made supper. It was good to have a meal at home. I boiled some potatoes and then fried them in butter with rosemary and salt & pepper (I didn't buy many spices). Along with that we had fresh green beans and hamburger steaks and some fresh fruit.

We had a visitor at the house in the afternoon too. We were getting ready to leave and there was a ruckus under the house. We rushed out to find a hugh iguana. Somehow, he had pushed open the storage room door and it closed on him so he pushed the screen out of the window and fell out. Poor guy. I think he would have enjoyed a treat, but if we feed him he will come everyday and want to eat.

Tomorrow is Mardi Gras here. It is a big deal. There will be floats and a parade and a big meal after. Everyone attends. We will be there with bells on, or should I say beads on.

The temp is still in the 80's and perfect. We couldn't be happier. Back home it is snow and cold.

February 11, 2010 Thursday

Today is a beautiful day. Not so hot and very little humidity. It's perfect. We had breakfast and then SSC picked us up to take us to the barge to pick up our kayaks. On the way we stopped at the bank to open our account. Now we have Cayman money. We took lots of photos of our kayaks. Fun, fun! Also this a.m. I e-mailed my grocery list to the grocery store at Grand Cayman and they are shopping for me. They will box everything and take it to the airport. Then the airlines is picking it up and flying it over here to Little Cayman. We will ride our bikes and bring the groceries back in the pull behind wagon and my basket. Tomorrow will be a fun day to finally get some food. I did fix lunch today with some things we bought from the tiny store here, but we ate dinner at the Blue Lagoon. We spent some time in the afternoon investigating mattresses again. The brand names are all different than at home so we need to make a decision. We also had to put more minutes on our phone and went to the store this afternoon. All these things are right there in one tiny building. Very quaint.

The rest of the afternoon was spent kayaking. It was a beautiful afternoon for it. The water was so smooth. Our new kayaks are really nice. They move very fast and are nice and stable. Tomorrow we are going to work on our beach again for awhile. But not all day. We must have fun too. Actually, working on our beach is fun too.

On the photos, the yellow house with the green roof is Johnny Johnson's. He is next door to us. and on the other side of us is the Blue Lagoon. This photo shows how nicely he has done up his place. Our beach will look beautiful too in a minute or year or two.

I can hardly believe this is all happening to me. I am truly blessed.

Enjoy the photos.

Carolyn

February 10, 2010 Wed.

This first photo is before we cleaned out the
overgrowth. Notice you cannot see the house
at all. Then we took the next pic from the
same spot only futher out. We actually stood
in the water. We are going to remove bad
trees on the left soon. Also we are raking all
the rocks into borders so we will have nice
smooth sand.

This is the Blue Lagoon Resort & Restaurant.

The first little bush there is our prop. line. We

have 100 feet of beach.

This is a shot of Richard fishing in front of

the house. That is Owen Island in the back-

ground. Blue Lagoon would be over on the

right. The next photo is me reading on our

beach. I tried to be in the shade. It is hot.

No snow.

This morning the weather is dead still here in paradise. It is not very common. Usually there is a breeze. I did my usual load of laundry and hung it out to dry. Richard is fishing this morning right outside of our house. We decided to take a day off of work to relax. So I grabbed my book and sat on the beach in my teak lounge chair. This chair washed up onto our property I guess after the Paloma hurricane. It is a wonderful chair. Wish I had a couple more. I took tons of photos but Richard isn't sure he can get them onto my computer. I'm crossing my fingers.

Mid morning we decided to snorkle. We jumped right into the water at our house to see what was there. Boy, was that fun. Afterwards we washed off at our outdoor shower just like I had dreamed of. Then we had to really do a fast ride on our bikes over to SSC for lunch. Another fabulous meal. The afternoon was spent making some calls about how to get a new bed for us over here and some food. It is very difficult (and expensive). We are learning a lot.

Tonight we went to SSC for the Wednesday night locals get together and dinner. We met tons of the locals. It was really fun. Of course, we had to ride our bikes and on the way it started pouring rain. We got soaked. Can you believe it rained? We dried out and had a great time. We are getting some great advise from everybody. This is sure fun.

Tuesday Feb. 9 at Little Cayman

Hello to everyone,



Here is the view from our porch facing the Caribbean. Notice tiny Owen Island in the background. Our property proceeds over to the left a ways and then 100 feet to the right. That is a mangrove on the left. Right in front is an island Grape tree. We are still clearing some more to the right and with show more photos later. I have a few Jasmin trees and a Papaya tree also. Of course there are silver palms and a lot of coconut trees.


We landed at Grand Cayman on Wednesday. Of course we ate at The Wharf (spectacular restaurant right on the water) and watched the sun set into the caribbean. After dinner we walked to a grocery store to check out prices and bought a few things.





We arrived at Little Cayman on Thursday at 3:15 p.m. The weather was warm 87 degrees and a slight perfect breeze. This is a dream! We had to wait a little while for our ride to arrive and deliver us to our house. We visited with some people and enjoyed the warmth.





Gert (past owner) was at the house to greet us and prepare us dinner. She had invited another couple who winter on the island to eat with us. They are very nice and I look forward to seeing Lynn again this evening at "ladies night" at the Blue Lagoon restaurant. The Blue Lagoon is right next door to our house and is the favorite of the "locals". It is pretty nice.





That first night I was tired but excitement kept me awake most of the night. It was sure different to sleep without air conditioning. Already I am used to it now.





Friday morning we started working. I cleaned out tons of things left by the previous owners and started cleaning like a fool. Richard started right away on the outside. We want to see the water and he gave us the best view in the world. This is work beyond all words. Imagine a jungle.





Saturday I had no choice but to join him on the outside quest. It is backbreaking work and offers cuts and scratches as a lovely bonus. But slow but sure we are seeing a beautiful sandy beach you have to see to believe. We are the luckiest people on earth.





So far we are eating breakfast at the house and ride our bikes 3.6 miles to Southern Cross Club for lunch and dinner. That will end on Thursday as we will fly back to Grand Cayman and purchase our food for the month and also buy a new bed for us. We need a good bed here in paradise. I have been doing laundry every morning and hang it outside to dry. I have a pully system that I use from the deck. It drys in no time as the sun is hot and a wind is blowing in that area. You can't even tell the clothes weren't in a clothes dryer. Boy, do they smell nice.


We are drinking our water from a 15 thousand gallon cystern of rain water. It was full when we arrived. The water is filtered with a charcoal filter first, then it goes through an ultraviolet tube to be sterilized and then still another charcoal filter at the sinks. So far we are OK. The water tastes good too.





I will try to update this everyday. We are so busy that I can't be held responsible if I skip a day or two. Tomorrow (Wed.) our kayaks arrive and we may never work again. Time to snorkle and dive and just plain swim and splash in the water. Let the fun begin.

Until later,
Beach bum Carolyn

The week before

It is Sunday the 24th and I'm starting to get nervous now. Will I take everything I need to survive on a tiny island? Let the fun begin!