Synchronised Swimming competition 2019.
Author: The Reads
Water Babies
This weekend, more than any other, has illustrated why we are here, why we set off on this journey.
Three years ago I applied for a post here in the Cayman Islands in no small part because I wanted my children to have a taste of what I experienced growing up. I had the very great privilege of living abroad as a child and I wanted my children to understand how this changes your world view. I wanted them to have experiences that would challenge their thinking and understanding and would help frame their respective world views.
Well this week James at 16 became an Advanced Diver and has begun his Rescue Diver Training, he is working as a volunteer/ apprentice on a dive boat at weekends and studying for his Associate Degree in Biology during the week. The combination of the course and the diving have had a huge impact on him. He has matured and is becoming a very interesting young man and a capable dive guide. His aim is to become a Dive Master an Instructor! Something that two years ago would have been unimaginable.
Today Poppy had her dress rehearsal with her team mates ahead of the CARIFTA Games. Poppy with four other girls from her synchro team will be representing the country as the Cayman Islands Artistic Swimming Team next weekend in Barbados. Yep my little girl is on the National Team. I am so proud I could burst.
Not a bad week really all things considered.
I may have broken my toe kicking a football in flip-flops, important life lesson there.
James and I did swam with two sharks and a turtle in 5000ft of water.
A quick dip after work. This is my swimming pool!
HRH The Prince of Wales
Odd week. Prince Charles was in town for a flying visit. So everything stopped and the whole islands swung into royal mode. A public holiday was declared. The Prince and Duchess attended a number of official engagements across the islands including the opening of the new upgraded airport. So by invitation I took a small group of my students along to the event. Not really expecting to see much.
Well you could have knocked me over with a feather we were only placed in the front row along the red carpet. The Prince stopped not once but twice to talk to us. All the years I have lived in the UK I have never clapped eyes on a member of the royal family and then here 4000 miles away from home I find myself face to face talking with the Heir to the Throne.
All jolly nice and a good excuse for a tea party or two. So I baked 500 cupcakes and 250 macaroons. Not one was left at the end of he party!
Next week Victoria and I are going to a cocktail party at the Governors Residence.
Macaroons v Macarons
It’s been a colourful weekend with the gang.
On Thursday we gathered at our usual watering hole for our ‘book group’, the British Educational Expat Reading Society,. We have a proper constitution and everything but to be fair we don’t really read much as BEERS is more of a weekly decompression session (often much needed) rather than a genuine literary endeavour. The whole gang met at, Grand Old House to catch sunset and as a bonus this week we were treated to a spectacular Green Flash.
This solar effect is a real rarity and the icing on the sunset cake. Most Thursdays we are treated to a breathtaking sunset, but if atmospheric conditions are just right we are really spoilt by a Green Flash. Just as the setting sun drops beneath the horizon, leaving only a slither of the sun peeking up, the atmosphere bends the the light causing it to blue shift and flash green. It lasts for only a split second but it is lovely as the sun sparkles like an emerald ember before finally slipping into the sea.
Then because it was Jon’s birthday we met up for a sunset cruise on Friday.
A lovely evening under sail.
Yep it really was that ridiculously beautiful.
Saturday was a quiet one a long swim and few chores but on Sunday with James off diving (having completed his Advance Divers he is now doing his Rescue Divers qualification) and Poppy at Synchro it was time for ‘experibake’. Following the rum cake challenge Carole and I decided to try macarons. And while we were at it we thought we might try macaroons at the same time. Eli also wanted in and so began a day of baking!
Of course the creative process was aided by free flowing bubbles and there were plenty of volunteers for tasting! After several batches at the end of the day we had cracked it and made green pistachio creams, pink raspberry and white chocolate and vivid blue macarons that we will finish of with either a blueberry cream or lemon curd…
We rounded off the afternoon with fresh baked macaroons and tea.
Next week we have the visit of Prince Charles to look forward to and this little event…
Reef and Sadness
Sunday and a quiet start to the day. I cooked breakfast for everyone and then caught up with mum and dad by Facetime. All well back home though subdued following my Auntie Jean’s funeral, a wonderful lady gone too soon.
The call left me feeling a little down so the only thing for it was a dive. Jim and I grabbed our kit and headed over to Sunset House. The conditions were stunning. Sunny but with a light breeze keeping it cool. The sea was millpond flat.
We kitted up and jumped in. The water was gorgeous. Clear and cool but not cold. We surface swam the 50 meters to the mini wall and descended to about thirty feet and just let ourselves be carried by the current.
We drifted slowly along the wall face through the coral gardens. No effort at all passing turtles, fish and a barracuda who was huge. Easily five feet.
We let the current carry us for about 25 minutes before turning and moving up to the top of the mini-wall and working our way back to Sunset House.
Just perfect.
Easy Like Sunday Morning
Sunday. Up early. Coffee pot on and sat on the veranda with Marcel for company.
In the pot today we have Black Coral. A local blend strong, oily and dark. Very automatic and tantalising. We normally have Cayman Gold but this caught my eye this week.
This is our hour, the rest of the house is still fast asleep and my fuzzy buddy and I have the world to ourselves.
This has become a familiar ritual for both of us, sat near each other quietly enjoying one another’s company listening to the cocks crowing and all around and the dawn chorus.
The garden and the bush beyond every shade of green, flowers abound, utterly still apart from the fluttering of Banana Quicks and King Birds. In the distance the cooing of doves and the rapid ‘tack tack tack’ of a woodpecker.
Then a real treat as a squadron of green parrots buzz through the garden squawking and laughing. Show offs!
At this time of day it is cool. Now when I say cool, I am sat here in a old t-shirt and shorts but compared to the heat of the day it’s very refreshing.
It rained in the night so the air smells damp tinged by by the metallic tang of ozone. It makes everything smell fresh. New.
As the sun pushes through the leaves you can feel it’s heat. It promises to be another warm day in paradise. But at this time of year we still get a breeze in the afternoons to take the edge off the heat of the day, to temper the suns relentless heat. It makes sitting out a joy.
Slowly around us the world wakes up, not enough to intrude but little signs of life.
Not far away preparations for the day ahead get underway. It may be Sunday but for many there is work to be done.
By the dock a circle will be gathering at the waters edge to begin cleaning the days catch by hand. Their quiet chatter and laughter as they work almost sing song. The glistening guts of the fish flicked with long practiced easy into the water where huge Caribbean King Fish patrol waiting for their morning feast.
Later today these same fish will be served up Cayman Style in local hotels and restaurants.
A lone stingray circles gobbling scraps.
Just off shore a cruise ship. It’s passengers no doubt waking excitedly to a new destination. But with the tenders still in South Sound readying for a day of shuttling tourists back and forth their noisy intrusion does not yet disturb the peace of the morning.
Industrious dive crews bang and clank preparing their boats for the day ahead.
This is the unseen side of life here the real authentic Caribbean that the noisy tourists miss.
One that Marcel and I enjoy our Sunday secret world.
Peter Cay
Sitting about half a mile off South Sound Beach is a little island or cay.
The island sits at the western tip of the barrier reef that protects the south western end of Grand Cayman. The island marks the opening of a channel that is used by the cruise ship tenders, they anchor inside the reef for protection against the sea.
The channel has very strong rip currents carrying water from inside the reef back out to sea. The sea swirls around the island in an endless maelstrom. It is also rather well known for its shark population…
But there it sits tantalising close.
I have sat on that beach and stared at the island for months quietly determined to get to it but is a bit of a serious undertaking.
Today I sat on the beach with mum and dad when a chap came past carrying flippers and a lobster pole heading for the sea. Intrigued I asked him if he was going out to the island. He was. Could I tag along. I could. Had I ever fished for lobster before? No.
Turns out his is the last weekend of the season.
We introduced ourselves properly and set off.
It took about 25 minutes hard swimming to get to Peter Cay. I fought through the surging surf and finally clambered out and explored the island while my new companion swam around close to. After about 15 minutes I put my flippers back on and braved the waves once more.
Mum took this picture from the beach if you zoom in you can just make me out standing on Peter Cay.
We swam out past the island, now almost a mile from the beach, and free dived down to about 30ft looking under rocks for lobster. After about an hour we caught two decent sized creatures and began heading in.
The current was tremendous driving against us the whole way. We swam with the rip but diagonally towards the shore. It was hard work but 40 minutes later we hauled ourselves onto the beach about a mile west of where we had started. Knackered!
It’s been a really physical afternoon but I have made it to Peter Cay and been proper lobster fishing! No sharks today though.
Mum, in the mean while, had gone nuts thinking I had been swept out to sea or that I had done a ‘Reggie Perrin’… Sorry mum.
2019
Midnight finds us floating in the sea listening to the strains of live music from the band at the Westin. Drifting on gentle waves, champagne in hand, as we watch the sky alight with fireworks.
From Westbay to the North. The whole length of Seven Mile Beach, along the Waterfront of George Town all the way down to South Sound the sky is awash with explosions of reds, blues, greens and whites. A ten mile long display of pyrotechnics
An Epic Struggle Under the Sea
Jim and I jumped into the sea for a New Year’s Eve dive at Eden Rock. Here he is sporting his new rash vest with octopus tentacles printed over the right shoulder and down his back and front. It looks really cool
We descended to about 35 feet and were exploring the reef when I spotted what I thought was a large lobster leg. I swam in for a closer look calling Jim to see it.
It wasn’t a lobster but a very large crab, its body nearly a foot across and it’s legs about the same again. Quite a find and very exciting! It was sat in the entrance to a small cave about half way up the reef face.
Suddenly tentacles exploded from deep within the cave. In an instant they were all around the crab, above and below it. The tentacles were about as thick as my wrist. The crab had taken refuge in a octopus’s den!
The crab tried to escape but it was over in seconds as the octopus made short work of it. First enveloping it, then dragging it into the cave before driving it’s beak into its brain and killing it.
It was so it was so quick and I was so surprised I didn’t get a chance to film the initial ambush but here is a glimpse of the last minute of the attack…
Given the prescient nature of his new shirt I am so pleased I didn’t buy Jim the rash vest with the huge shark on it!
Boxing Day
Yep on the beach… no that’s it, no more today.
Under an Endless Sky 