Friday, February 10, 2017

Yesterday was a beautiful day here on the island.  Richard went fishing with Tom and they got skunked again.  Brian felt sorry for them and gave them some "sympathy" fish.  He was out fishing too and got a couple and gave them to us.  He is such a nice guy!  We had company for dinner and I fixed the tuna.  It was super yummy!  Today I baked some brownies for Brian as an exchange for his fish.  Not a fair trade at all.  I definitely got the better end of that deal!

Today was a yard working day.  It was windy on the north side so we work when it is not a "water" day.  We just keep clearing more areas and spiffing things up where we can.  It is fun work!  While I was working three "twenty somethings" came by on their bikes.  They had gone all around the island and were out of water.  I invited them in and filled their bottles with water.  We had a nice little visit.  They were here visiting from Grand.  The girl had purple hair like Emily!  How fun!

We had a beautiful sunset tonight.  Another fabulous day coming to a close in paradise.

Sunset photo taken from out beach.

Even a fish jumped up to see the sunset!

So pretty!

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

The sun has set on another beautiful day in paradise.  What a day it has been!  This morning at 6:15 we headed out in the boat to do some deep sea fishing.  It was a beautiful calm morning and getting through the cut was very easy. We fished and we fished but never got a thing.  If I wouldn't have been there, I wouldn't have thought it was possible to be skunked!  Well, tomorrow is another day!  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.  That boat drinks a lot of gas!

After lunch, we headed to the north side to snorkel.  It was perfect conditions and one doesn't want to pass that up.  What a way to spend the afternoon.  Just the expanse of the beautiful ocean water in its vibrant shades of blue will take your breath away.  The water is so clear and warm and for some reason no one else can be seen for miles and miles.  You feel like you are alone on a deserted island.  Life is good.

This evening we lit the Teki torches and sat on the beach under the almost full moon.  Need I say more!  So lovely!

The sun coming up over the water.

Coming back to the dock after fishing.

Heading out to snorkel.  Notice how clear the water is.  The tiny dot in the distance is a dive buoy where the water is 40 to 60 feet deep.  Just after that it drops to 600 ft. deep.  We swim out to the buoy to snorkel the drop off wall.

The first sign of the rising sun.  It was very pretty.  The top photo here is when the sun was a little higher.  The blog posts my photos out of order for some reason.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Another day in paradise!  Just a gorgeous day today.  The wind was very calm for Richard to go fishing.  Apparently, the fish loved it too as they were ready to eat.  Richard caught a fish!!  Finally!  I immediately prepared some for a second breakfast.  It was super yummy!

The seas are supposed to be calm tomorrow so I am going deep sea fishing too.  When I go along, we catch a Wahoo (hahaha).  I am hoping we catch a lot of fish.  It would be fun to get a bunch!

I am still vacationing today, so I didn't do a lot of work.  We had a 15% off special day at the grocery store today.  I made a big list and spent $124.24. I saved $12.98.  I had 18 items of food and $ 50.00 in gas.  They don't give the discount on gas.  Gas is only $ 5.53 a gallon this year.  Not too bad, but I had just picked up a few items yesterday.

We had fish for dinner tonight, of course!  Boy, it was so tasty!  I fried it and put a special sauce on it.  I had gotten the recipe from Brian.  He knows fish!  We had it with rice and some vegges.  It was like a stir fry.  I could eat it every night.

Our second breakfast of fresh caught tuna.

Monday, February 6, 2017

Yesterday was a fun vacation day for me here on Little Cayman.  I got up early and made a batch of pancakes and ate them out on the deck.  Not a bad view!  I could have eaten the whole batch, they were so yummy!

Richard trimmed up the mangroves and I helped haul them out a little but I sure didn't exert myself!  I grabbed my book and read on a beach chair.  What a way to spend the morning!  After lunch, I went in the water.  It was calm and wonderful!  Then I layed on the beach to dry off for awhile and did some more reading.  What a lazy life!  I truly felt like I was on vacation!  I didn't even cook supper as we went out to watch the Super Bowl.  What a game that was!  I normally don't watch it but I did this time.  We had a good time.

This morning Richard went out again and tried to catch a fish.  No luck!  I took my bike out and walked down to Brian's dock.  They had two smaller ones.  Brian invited me to stay and enjoy the fresh caught Tuna.  He had a wonderful new sauce he mixed up and it was so yummy.  I could have eaten every piece and not shared with anyone!  I'm excited to fix this when Richard finally is successful.  Maybe tomorrow!  We will have a party to celebrate when he finally catches the fish!!

I shoveled a little driveway sand this afternoon but quit after only a few wheelbarrow loads.  It was time to lay in my hammock again and read!  That is just too fun!  We ordered way too much sand so we are trying to find places for it.  What a shame as it is so expensive.

This was after my swim.  The boat dock is in the background.  Our boat is there if you enlarge the pic by clicking on it.

Yesterday, reading on the beach.

Saturday, February 4, 2017

This morning I went on my bike ride down to SCC again and then went on my beach walk.  I walked down to Brian's dock and watched them clean some fish.  The pelican was there and a bunch of frigates to pick up scraps and then the sharks and two stingrays showed up along with some tarpon.  What a sight!  I also finally got to see Brian's new boat!  Very impressive!

Richard did not catch a fish again today!  What the heck!  Won't be long though.  It will happen eventually.  I don't want to starve!

Today I spent some time just goofing off.  I am on vacation!  I went to the store for a couple things and got home and discovered I forgot one thing!  I am not a good grocery shopper!  I sat on a beach chair a lot today.  So many people back home have asked me to do that on their behalf!  I had to do it.

We are having beautiful warm/hot sunny weather and I love it.  It is dry here though.  They did not get as much rain in their rainy season as they normally do.  Luckily, our cistern was full when we got here.

Hats off to my 90 year old Mom today!  She went to Phantom of the Opera in Madison, Wisc. with my sister and my niece today.  She is amazing lately.  Seems to have a lot of "get up and go"!  Fun!

Tomorrow Richard wants to see the Super Bowl so we will watch it at the Hungry Iguana.  They always have a crowd!  Should be fun!

This morning a bananaquit took a bath on the porch in the frisbie water I set out.  The pan I had was seeming too deep for them this year.  The frisbie is perfect!  They are loving it.  This little guy got in three times and each time he stayed in super long.  These tiny birds are so cute!  It is a deep frisbie and will be a lot easier to keep fresh for them.

Friday, February 3, 2017

It was another beautiful day in paradise today!  Richard took the boat out fishing this morning very early.  I got the "house work" complete and finally went on my bike ride and beach walk.  Things have been so busy here that I haven't had a chance to do this yet.  As I was walking on the beach, I realized how much I had missed doing my ride/walk.

On my ride back home I was able to stop and visit with a neighbor which was also fun.  Once back home Richard was there and told me all about their fishing adventure.  They almost had a fish....darn!  He will try again tomorrow.

I spent some time doing some easy work around the yard and beach but mostly I moved from one comfortable hammock to another comfortable hammock today.  When I was finished laying in hammocks, I layed on a beach chair to read.  I am trying to make the most of every blissful day on this beautiful island!  I'm living the good life!

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Today I am so grateful to be at Little Cayman.  Back home in Ames the temperature was 17degree F.  That is cold!!  It was 85 and sunny here with a lovely breeze.  I went swimming at the house and layed on my beach afterwards.  What a life!

Our permanent Internet was finally installed today.  So the next thing I will expect is the bill!  It was just a little over 3 weeks late.  That isn't bad for island life!

Last night we had friends over for dinner and they brought the game called Sequence along.  It is fun to play and we decided to buy one for at home.  Maybe I'll buy one for here too.  When you don't have TV, you need games.

Yesterday we installed all our new window blinds.  The old ones were blue.  The new ones are white and they really look great!  It really brightens the place up!  It took a while but was well worth the effort.  

I had such a lovely adventure with a tiny bananaquit yesterday while laying on my hammock.  I was reading and suddenly felt something/someone pushing lightly on my hammock.  I thought it was Richard!  I turned my head and there was the little bananaquit sitting there looking right in my face!  It hopped along inspecting me.  It came so close as to peck on my face!  It continued to check out my whole side of my body and then quietly flew away.  These bananaquits don't seem to mind humans at all.  They come on our porch when we are sitting there and get a drink and bathe while we are watching.  Totally adorable!

Cutie Pie is still here on our property but he is all grown up now and looking like an old man!  There is a young one here now also.  Our rock iguana also is back and seems to remember us along with our little curly tail gecko.  Such pets we have!!

Time to beat Richard at another game of Cribbage.  My winning streak continues!