Last Day In Cayman

It's just after 1 pm and my flight leaves in a few hours. The last two days of diving in Grand Cayman were excellent. We never made it to a site called "Aquarium," which we really wanted to see because of all the fish, but instead we dove an interesting wreck called Balboa, and had an excellent first (and deepest, at 94 feet) dive called Little Tunnels.

On Thursday, we had to dive on the South side of the island due to the heavy surf on the side where we're situated, so we had to take a van about 10 minutes away to where they put the boat. However, the South side diving (Bullwinkle West, and another site I'm blanking on at the moment) was very dramatic. Tall coral structures with plenty of swimthroughs and what I call see saw surf (where you have to ride the tide one way, then kick to get somewhere when the tide's going the way you want to go).

These structures reminded me of Cozumel (Punta Sur and Palancar Gardens come to mind), and had ample sea life with really interesting reef structures.

For our last dinner, we headed out to the Reef Club at Royal Palms for an excellent meal of grouper, sea bass, ceviche and shrimp. I highly recommend this restaurant. Great service and food, and incredible views (ask for a table upstairs...great place to view the sunset).

So, another dive locale checked off on the checklist, and one I'll most assuredly head back to at some point.

Greetings from Grand Cayman, day 3. Yesterday, we hit two boat dive sites, Big Sand Chutes, and Lone Star Ledges...Both were nice dives, and the conditions were remarkable. 300+ visibility. We saw all kinds of sea life, including getting a nice tracking shot of a slow turtle on video.

Yesterday afternoon, we did an offshore dive from Sunset House, and I attempted to learn how to navigate by compass. I mostly got it (mostly being the key word). I also got dizzy with some depressurization issues on a too fast ascent, and was dizzy when I got out of the water.

Today, the diving was superb again, this time at Trinity Caves and Royal Palm Ledge. Bill picked Trinity, and it was a great swim through dive with a tall reef. We were as deep as 93-94 feet, then worked our way through the reef and up back over the front side. With Royal Palm, we were in 50 feet of water, with a horseshoe shaped reef that gave us plenty of fish video and photo opps. One of my favorite dives thus far (and apparently the favorite site of our divemaster for the day, Ivan).

After posting some pics and cleaning up, we headed into town to Carribean Joe's restaurant. They closed at 1:30, even though their hours posted were until 2:30. That's the second time that happened. And while I'd like to cut them some slack because it was election day, it gets a little old to drive all the way to a restaurant and have it be closed.

Note to Grand Cayman Better Business Bureau: Have your restaurants stay open to the time posted, or fine them for false advertising. I understand you're making some extra dinero with all those cruise ships coming in that were deterred from Mexico because of the swine flu, but c'mon, people are looking for a place to eat and you close on a friggin' whim?

Otherwise, this place has been great, and I would definitely come back. Although I might consider bringing some cookware and a f---ing hot plate so I could get a decent meal. : )

Arrived in Grand Cayman yesterday afternoon...Bill and I were able to do a quick shore dive to check out our equipment and the mermaid just offshore.

Today, after breakfast, we got on the boat and went to the first dive site, the Eagle's Nest. The profile was 80 feet for about 40 minutes. Second dive was Oro Verde, a wreck site from the USS Navajo, where we followed a turtle as soon as we descended. Also saw lots of fish, including a number of Angels. Visibility was incredible, more than 200 feet. Spectacular diving so far.