Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!  This morning we woke up to a beautiful day.  Emily slept good on the sofa bed in the bedroom area.  It is a good thing as we needed to be at SCC for her dive instruction at 8:30.  I made breakfast and beds and did Emily's laundry.  She had winter clothes that she wore to get here that needed to be done.  She did a great job at her instruction session.  She is a fish!

This took a lot of the morning so after we got home we ate an early lunch.  We spent the whole afternoon snorkeling.  Conditions were perfect.  We saw many beautiful fish, scenery and nurse sharks and rays.  What a day.  We all got cleaned up and I made a valentine's supper.   Following are a lot of fun photos.

Here is Emily all suited up for her training class to scuba dive.



This is a picture Emily took of Ellie.  She was feeding her.



Emily took this beautiful photo with our underwater camera. 

Check out this grouper.  All the fish were busy feeding on the bottom this afternoon.  He is a good looking fellow.

These are nice sized nurse sharks.  What a find!  Click on these photos to enlarge them.

Hi Emily!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Emily has arrived.  We were sure happy to see her.  She is very, very tired.  As I type this she is already in bed.  Beth was unable to accompany her as she lost her passport.  They were up all night trying to find a solution to their problem.  We are confident she will have a fun time and even meet some comrades in her age group to hang out with.  We already met a few at dinner tonight at SCC. 

We woke up early to a beautiful day.  We accomplished a few things and then headed to "town" to rent a car for the week.  After another hardy lunch, we went to the North side to snorkel the Bloody Bay Wall.  We enjoyed very calm waters.  We saw tons of fish and scenery and a six foot nurse shark with an escort of a couple "jacks".  It sure was fun.

I am heading to bed early tonight as soon as I finish this blog post.  We will get up early in the morning to take a resort dive course for Emily.  She is diving on Friday.

This is a yellow tail.  He was nice and big and we would sure love to eat him.

This a school of Tangs.  Notice the smiles on the two lower left ones.  They were part of a very large school.

Here are a couple divers who joined us where we were snorkeling.  This is on the edge of the wall.

Here is the 6 foot nurse shark we encountered.  This is a shot from the back of it.  He stayed with us a little while.  Wish I had a side view photo of it.  They are fun to see.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Today we awoke super early as Richard was going fishing.  He went with Mike from Oregon.  He has a nice boat for the open ocean.  A man named Paul from Boston also went.  Paul appears to have a special kind of fishing luck.  He caught four fish!  Mike caught one and Richard caught zero.  Paul went fishing the other day with a guide and caught a yellow tail snapper and a mutton snapper.  They were not even in a boat, they were shore fishing.  This guy is pure lucky!  Go Paul, go!  One also must note.  Paul was in the Caymans when Boston got three feet of snow.  Is this luck or what?  He is going snorkeling tomorrow.  We should probably go too as he will probably see unbelievable things.

While Richard was fishing, I was busy in the house.  I even did my exercises.  I had a knock on the door and there was Mike's wife, Linda.  She was on an exercise walk.  It was so fun to have some company.  After she left, I did some laundry.  I thought about painting that new storage room and then noticed my bike sitting there.  The poor thing never gets ridden since the scooter arrived.  I rode to Southern Cross Club and had a virgin Pina Colada while I lounged on their beach.  Boy, did I enjoy my morning. 

After lunch I raked the beach.  This was a mistake.  A million stickers surfaced.  I proceeded to pick them all up.  I worked until I had heat stroke.  Thank goodness I had a fabulous hammock to recover in.  I took an early shower.  I just emerged when a knock on the door revealed Mike and Linda.  They brought us two fish all cleaned and ready to cook.  I fixed them for dinner tonight and boy were they good.  How very nice of them to share.

Now it is evening and I am exhausted after another busy day.  The days just go too quickly here.  Everyday we still marvel at how lucky we are to be here.  I've got to get to bed, so I can wake up and start having fun again.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Boy did I sleep good last night. Then about 5:00 A.M. it started to pour rain.  We jolted out of bed to close windows.  I simply don't understand these sudden rains.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky late last night.  We were star gazing.  There was a beautiful cool breeze.  It rained a couple times and by 8:00 in the morning it was sunny and over.  I guess when you are just a dot in the middle of the sea a rain cloud can suddenly dump on you.  Keeps things interesting.

I did sticker duty on the beach off and on today.  I want to have it perfect when Emily and Beth arrive.  I also did a little rock moving but just little ones. 

Richard worked all day on the storage/garage room.  It is now finished.  Now I have to paint it.  It is a nice big area that will work great for us.  We had to make a trip to the bank again.  The Port Authority sends their bill separate from Thompson Shipping on our barge deliveries.  It is like you never get finished paying for things. 

Tomorrow Richard will go fishing out on the open sea.  He needs a day of rest.  He will hopefully catch some big edible fish.  He is going on a sea worthy boat.  Should be fun.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

I woke up still in paradise.  We are having a windy day today, so it looks like a work day.  Richard started yesterday on building the new storage/garage room.  Today it is almost finished.  I have helped him some, mostly the heavy work.  Ha, ha. 

Yesterday was Mardi Gras here.  We headed out for the parade at 3:30 in the afternoon and didn't get home until 9:30 at night.  The floats were very elaborate this year.  They went all out.  The theme was "One Love".   Talk about fun!  Everybody was there.  After judging the floats, everyone headed to Pirate's Point Resort for dinner.   They had a raffle for a cell phone and a round trip ticket to Grand.  We tried to win but what we really need is a new camera.  Ours died in the ocean when Richard flipped his kayak. 

I am finished moving the rocks away from the coconut trees, finally.  Boy, was that work!  They are big and heavy.  I put them in the wheel barrow and then haul them away and dump them.  Good exercise, I guess.  I should not have moved them there to begin with.  Live and learn. 

Today Mark and Bruce stopped by on scooters to see the new storage area.  They were out on a Sunday ride.  It was fun to get some company.


This is Richard and I on our very first night.  We were at the Wharf Restaurant on Grand.



Here I am at Mardi Gras with the best costume winner in the center.  Linda from Oregon is on the right.  Her and her husband stay for 3 months.  Richard is going deep sea fishing with her husband on Tues.  He has a big boat.





This is a shot of  Gladys dressed like the Queen with a paper mask on.  It was very realistic.  I am second from the left.  What a fun night!



Friday, February 8, 2013

This blog post is dedicated to the memory of Spaz.  He was the most special, sweet, lovable bunny you could ever imagine.  We'll always remember you Mr. Spaz.  May you rest in peace.

Today we woke after a difficult night.  We were on the phone with Emily a couple times in the night as Spaz was not doing well.  He was her "special baby".  We of course are here, still enjoying our time in paradise while she is alone dealing with the loss of her "little guy".  On Wednesday she will join us here and we are sure looking forward to her visit.  We can comfort her and encourage her. 

This morning the sea looked calm, so Richard decided to take his kayak back into the open ocean and try to catch us some edible fish.  He got out there OK but the swells were very high.  He got sideways and tipped over.  He got a little banged up on the coral.  He lost his fishing pole and the walkie/talkie got ruined.  The jury is still out on the camera.  It was in a waterproof camera bag from Eddie Bauer.  So far it doesn't look good.  I prefer he have a deep sea boat to go out there. 

I made potato salad today and worked on the beach and did laundry.  Emily and I talked a few times and mostly my thoughts we on her and Spaz.  It was a different kind of day.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

We had such a busy day!  I am almost too tired to type this blog.  The weather couldn't be more outstanding.  Perfect temp in the 80's and light breeze.  We went this morning with the scooter and managed to get our LP tank filled.  I am very happy.  I grilled tonight and it was great.  The government people were here today.  We went early there to get our permanent drivers licenses for the Caymans.  They were busy.  They are only here on every other Thursday.  It cost over $100.00 for a drivers license here for three years.  You have to take a written test. 

I worked on the beach again.  It is looking spectacular.  But I am biased.  After lunch Richard fished for a little while for some bone fish.  He caught his biggest one ever.  When he got back, we hurried over to the North side to snorkel our favorite spot at Bloody Bay.  It was super to be back.  We saw an octopus, many fish that were large, the most gigantic conch, a stingray, a cute flounder and many more.  There was another couple there snorkeling.  We visited a bit.  They are from Portland, Maine and a spending a week at SCC. 

When I was hanging out our swim suits on the line, I heard a noise behind me.  There was Ellie, the female iguana up on the porch with me.  She is so friendly.  I told her to wait while I went in and got her some lettuce.  She ate a nice piece.  Then we went down the steps to look for her mate, Winston.  He was nowhere to be found.  We were looking around and she sat there awhile.  After she left, I happened to look.  She had left me a nice little gift.  She peed and pooped.  It looked like what a small dog would leave.  I used two island grape leaves to clean it up.  One to scoop it into the other.  It was easy as it was on the sand.  What a cutie! 

Here are some photos we took today.  They were with the underwater camera so they aren't as colorful and clear.  I wish I would have let Richard buy the expensive camera he wanted to buy.  Next time we'll buy the better one.

This shows our beach from the water.  Our place is on the right.  We have a lot of jungle to remove yet on the left of our house there.  Our property is over to the second mangrove.

This is the flounder in the water.  He is way at the top of the photo.  It is like a "Where's Waldo" photo.