Author: The Reads

I have to pinch myself sometimes this morning we are at a fund raising brunch for the swimming association Poppy’s synchro team are part of!

Just stunning a really posh kids party and my little girl and her friends are dressed to the 9’s and looking so grown up!

I guess life out here is suiting us…

Sorry its been a little while, to quote my favourite film ‘life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it…’ so today I have stopped to look around and write-up the last couple of months… with a little help from my mum’s diary.

Sunday 17 December

Hooray we are here! M and James came to pick us up in the minibus he has ‘borrowed’ at a very good price. Dropped the bags at Eldemire and then round to Sandalwood close.  Unfortunately Ben and Tam’s flight had been delayed out of London, not arriving until midday tomorrow.  We adjourned to Sunset House for something to eat – lovely, feels like home to be back.  Then we had a look at the Christmas lights. 

Finally got to bed at about 11.30 – (4.30 am UK time).  Absolutely whacked.  Shame about the cockerel outside – it crowed non-stop all night!

Monday 18 December

They’re here!  All very excited. We went to Sunset for a drink and some chips. The girls had a dip in M and B and Tam had a dip in the sea pool and the pool, then on to Smiths Cove for a swim in the sea.  Matthew made curry for supper.

Ben and the girls were thrilled to have their first dip in the Caribbean Sea, I guess coming from minus 2 degrees celsius in the UK to plus 27 degree celsius here its a bit of a change. As we swam out of the sea pool for the first time we met a nurse shark hanging around to greet them double cool!

Tuesday 19 December

Busy, busy.  M wanted to do all ends of the island from Hell, to Rum Point, to Spots. We managed Hell, and round the West loop and Al fresco for some food and a swim.  Ian and I sat in the shade on the beach.  The rest of them had a glorious swim. Then we got ready and went to a party at Clive and Carol’s house Spooky Clive comes from West Cornwall and used to be involved with ‘Kneehigh’.  It was before Ben went down there but they knew lots of the same people, it’s such a small world.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.

We stopped at Vivo for coffee, I love this spot at the north end of the island a great dive centre and restaurant overlooking the sea.

We also bumped into Benny’s doppleganger here…

Wednesday 20 December

We took a day off from the crowd.  They were all off to the Westin Hotel for the day.  Matthew and Victoria had booked Ben and Tamsin in for a night’s stay so they all spent the day up there.  They sent the children paddle boarding and apparently had a bit of a scare when they all started drifting away.  Apart from Lara who brought herself in and Poppy, who had made a valiant effort to reach the rest and bring them in, ended up getting herself back, the rest were rescued by jet ski! Glad I wasn’t there, I would have panicked like mad.  Anyway all was well in the end thank the Lord.  We had a nice day wandering about.  We went to Cost-u-less and bought a few things and spent a while at Smiths then went to Sunset House for a drink then back to M’s for supper – very nice Carbonaro.  Then home to bed.

Well it will make a good story when they are older, ‘remember that time funny Uncle Matthew hired us all paddle boards and we all got swept out to sea.’

The chaps from Red Sail had it all in hand, they said it happens all the time… still it was a lovely day all in all.

Thursday 21 December

OMG one of those days where we spent all day chasing our tails.  The plan was all go and meet Ben and Tam at the hotel, have a bit of time there, have a walk round town then go to Spots Cove turtle hunting.  Nooo ..  got to the hotel late, bad traffic so off back to town, Matthew kept diverting his contingent so after we all called in to J Michael Outlet, Victoria, Ian and I went on to town.  Then we  called in to Bristol Court and Vicks made sandwiches while the advanced party went on to the beach.  Those who were snorkeling saw turtles and those who didn’t had a good swim or sit in the sun.  Matthew made a delicious lasagna for supper.

Friday 22 December

Matthew and Victoria were off on John and Dee’s stag/hen does.  Ian dropped Ben and Tamsin and Lara and James in town.  Then came back – I stayed with the little girls. Then Ian went back to take B and T somewhere else and they all shopped for lunch and dinner.  Ben made us all burgers for lunch. We had a trip to Smiths and then made Chinese noodles for dinner. Archie the repair man came round and installed the new microwave and, as a by the way, at my request, sorted out the tumble dryer.   Ben and Tamsin, and James and Lara went for a moonlight walk to the beach – Ben had another swim.  M and V appeared back just as we were leaving.

Cracking day for the boys, I collected them all in the van and we headed to the distillery and learnt how rum is made. Very educational and tasty.

Then round to Singh’s for Roti before setting off to Rum Point and the start of our round the island pub crawl. The best thing about being the ‘DD’, designated driver was watching the carnage unfold!

As a side game, to keep me entertained while everyone else got sloshed, I had a load of leaflets for a Caribbean themed festival in Cornwall next summer that Benny had brought with him, everywhere we went I put up a poster for his tropical gig.

Over the Edge, South Coast Bar, Pedro, GOH, Bar Crudo, Al-a-Kabab and lots of manly singing all featured on the tour before we eventually caught up with the girls at the Marriott Hotel on Seven Mile Beach for cocktails and then on to the Royal Palms for ‘dancin’.

At this point Bradley (the future brother in law) disappeared so Lucky the bar maid stepped in.

Saturday 23 December

A huge shop – M, B and T and Ian and I went to the supermarket and got all the stuff for Christmas meals.  A mammoth task!  Ben and Tamsin made burritos for supper.

We had an explore around Camana Bay.

Sunday 24 December

Christmas Eve.  Hung around the house all morning. 

Ian got cabin fever so he and I and Lara went out for a drive. We went just past the Lighthouse, stopped and had a drink in a beach side bar, had a little paddle then came back.  All got burgers from the Burger Shack and took them to Governors beach, and picnicked as the sun went down – lovely. 

M and V, Poppy, Sophia and I went to church for the nine lessons and carols service, that was really nice, I always enjoy Christmas church with M and V, real Christmas.   Back at the house we ‘watched’ films till late.

Monday 25 December

Christmas Day in Grand Cayman 😎.  Who would believe it!  We got under way and turned up for breakfast before 10. M had made a breakfast feast.  Then the great present unwrap took place. 

Dinner turned out very well, if rather later than expected. 

A quiet evening, we watched Dr Who and Call the Midwife.

Tuesday 26 December

All the tribe went to the Turtle Centre which they really loved.  Ian and I had a lazy morning, a sandwich for brunch at Sunset House, a big tour round West Bay, a drink at Coca Loba and then a peaceful half hour at South Sound.  Back to the house for a cuppa, then out to Kirk for some stuff for supper.  We demolished the ham with eggs and chips.

We had a brilliant day at the Turtle Sanctury its just wonderful from being mesmerised by the giant fully grown turtles (the size of a VW beetle) to holding the babies just wonderful.

We stopped at Macabuka on the way back – I think this is Benny’s new favorite spot. I swear we saw Ann Hesh there…

Wednesday 27 December

Wedding cake making day. Matthew and I went to Kirk first to get supplies and food for dinner, then he started baking. 

This turned into a real nightmare for Matthew, while the small and very small Bundt cakes were turning out perfectly the large size refused to come out of the tin without breaking.

 Meanwhile Victoria and Tamsin had gone off running errands including going to Kirk to do the recycling and get a birthday cake for Lily.  Then Victoria rang to say Matthew’s car had broken down, so Ian was diverted to go and rescue them. Ben was getting cabin fever so we bunked off to Tiki  Beach and had some lunch and a swim.

Matthew still baking when we got back, still no big cakes. Time went on and on. Eventually at about 8.30 Ben made some food for the kids and we had turkey soup and bread. We left at about 10 M still baking.

Typical the cakes had been turning out perfectly in practice and I figured I had it cracked! But no, the wedding cake fairies decided to play pranks and no matter what i did the cakes kept refusing to come out of the tin! I baked 6 and only one survived…

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FortunatelyI had a plan ‘b’ and it turned out pretty well…

Thursday 28 December

Lily’s birthday.  Breakfast at Coconut Joes – very nice. Then M and V and James and Poppy went back home to get ready for the wedding – M had managed to make one big cake, four smaller ones and 18 mini ones – we worked out that should be plenty. 

We went with Ben and Tamsin and the girls to the Dolphin experience.  Unfortunately Lily freaked out at the idea of swimming with the dolphins, and completely refused to go in.  Ben was offered a refund, but then it all became too difficult so they ended up with a photo package for Lara instead.  Initially Lara wasn’t happy about going in on her own, but she did and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Afterwards we had a drink at Macabuku, then called in to Tiki beach for a swim on the way home.  I needed to retreat to the shade so Ian and I went for a drink in the Coca Loba Bar and while we were there I saw Maureen Pope and her husband Mike arrive and stand outside – that was a surprise.  (Maureen used to work with mum back in the day at Reading Uni, her son resides here). I dashed out and accosted them.  We arranged to meet in Camana Bay next week. 

Back at home we decided to go over to the Grand Old House for a drink at Dee and John’s wedding while Ben and Tamsin and the girls went to Sunset House for a meal.  We had a drink and bought a snack for supper, stayed a couple of hours and then came back. 

Ben went over to join Matthew for a drink.

John and Dee’s wedding looked a million dollars! Not bad for a group of friends pulling together and sorting it out it. The day started with the ceremony on the beach with the happy couple framed by palm trees, with the glistening Caribbean as the back drop and Earl La Piere playing the steel pans, it was perfect. (Earl is only a national treasure and the man who brought pans to Cayman).

Dee looked beautiful. After the service we had champaigne and wedding cake…

Which was a real hit! I am chuffed to say it got loads of compliments including from the Native Caymanian contingent who were very impressed.

Then on to Grand Old house for a knees up!

Friday 29 December

A lovely, long, hot, sunny day at Starfish Point, followed by a drink at Rum Point and something to eat at Over The Edge on the way home.  All tired out by the time we got in.

Saturday 30 December

Ben and Tamsin and the girls, plus Poppy went out with Captain Marvin to Stingray City.  The rest of us had a quiet time, then Ian volunteered to go and pick them up, so we had a drive round Governors Harbour and a walk on the public beach while we waited for them. 

As it was the Cornwall contingent’s last evening here we all went to Rackhams for something to eat. 

Sadly they will be off home tomorrow, but they have had an amazing time, really packed in just about all they could manage in two weeks.

Well mum says a quiet day, dad decided to write to the national paper in response to an artical about rubbish and recycling and the issues we have with it here. His letter only went and got published…

< p class=”p1″>Sunday 31 December Ben and co had a last swim, then Victoria made them something to eat before they left.  Ben didn’t want to hang around the house waiting to go to the airport so we all (except James) had a mooch round town and a final ice cream/milkshake.

Their plane was delayed but Ben wanted to get to the airport by 3 pm, so we dropped them off – luckily, despite the delay they managed to catch the connection in Dallas.  It seemed so strange back at the house without them.  Matthew made BBQ for dinner and then we took ourselves off to the Westin to meet up with M and V’s friends to see the New Year in on the beach.  It was amazing, fireworks everywhere all round the Sound, they were going off all evening but at midnight it was just mad. James lost his phone on the beach but luckily someone picked it up and he got it back.  We didn’t get to bed until gone 1.30 am.

Monday 1 January 2018

A very quiet start, waiting to hear from B and T, they got in on schedule and let us know when they were past Bristol, then again when they reached home.  I was glad to hear they were safely back.  Victoria made chicken korma for supper. We couldn’t all sit at the table because of the art work, then we sat in the dark and watched a Tom Cruise film called American Made.

Tuesday 2 January

Up and out sharpish – we’ll 10.30.  We met up with Maureen and Mike Pope at the Waterfront Restaurant in Camana Bay.  We had a good couple of hours with them, very nice breakfast and a good old chin wag.  The wonders of Facebook!  They seem to be very well settled in Bexhill, apparently they have got family round that way.  Still homework going on back at the ranch. 

Matthew made corned beef hash for supper then the four of us went over to Sunset House for a drink – I had my daily mudslide!  It was quite chilly and windy and the sea was very rough big waves splashing right up against the front wall. 

Wednesday 3 January

Everyone back to school so we had a pretty quiet day.   We had a drive up to Tiki beach and an iced coffee at Coca Loba – the sea was very rough, no one out playing in the waves today. Came home and made ‘Kenturkey’ Mac and cheese for everyone. 

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James was lucky enough to be selected for a work experience placement with the Department of Environment at their headquarters on North Sound Road in George Town.

In his own words:

This work experience was to help me understand what I need to work for in my education. As a result I have a clear image of what my goals after my GCSE’s are. I am now clear in my mind that I want to work in conservation or marine biology. It also helped me to:

1. Get a look at what marine biologists do for work.

2. What qualifications i need for that particular job.

I found during my week that the job can range from dissecting lionfish to foraging for parrot food, from chasing turtles to diving, repairing reefs to studying mangroves!

On the first day I went out to cut up bits of lionfish with skin lesions and put them in bags for shipping. They will be sent off to England for analysis to understand what diseases they have!

Day two involved going out to the Georgetown waterfront. I went diving to investigate coral damage caused by a superyacht that was anchored on Cayman during Hurricane Irma.

Day three. It was the end of this years turtle nesting season and the last nests had not quite hatched yet, consequently I had to dig the baby turtles out of the egg chamber a foot deep into the sand. One nest yielded 112 baby turtles.

Day four was probably the most eventful day, from 11:00 to 3:00 I was out on a boat catching turtles for data, information and to tag them for conservation monitoring. Some of these turtles were huge titans and others were small, the shells of the big ones were over a meter in length and the little ones were half that size.

On the final day i went foraging for parrot food.

Vic and I were having our Saturday morning swim at Smith’s just now and I was hoping to catch sight of our resident barracuda.

I caught a movement in the water ahead of us. Something substantial no more than a flicker of a shadow about 15 feet away. As we drew closer the large shape began to resolve and I though there it is.

It was then that I realised it was a nurse shark!

I called over to Vic ‘shark’ she yelped and set off swimming the way we had just come and I set off after the shark.

Seeing I had gone in the opposite direction Vic then turned and followed me.

We swam with a nurse shark in about six foot of water for the next few minutes just lovely!

Only a little one today about four and a half to five feet…

Nurse sharks are like buses nothing for ages and then two come along at once.

Today I saw my first shark in the wild! I can’t tell you how excited I am about the encounter. Dive twenty-nine and I had the privilege of meeting a wild shark.

James, Sissy and I set out on a boat from the Westin Hotel on Seven Mile Beach at 8:15am this morning. We headed north-east toward the wreck of the Kittiwake on what was, to be honest, a very grey and unpromising day. The sea was mill-pond flat but there was none of the usual Caribbean sun beating down.

For those of you that follow dive news you will know that during Tropical Storm Nicole and Hurricane Irma the wreck of the Kittiwake took a battering. One of her four anchor chains snapped and she was driven across the sea bed. To the edge of deep and the Cayman Trench. The only thing that stopped her from disappearing into the black endless deep was the coral wall that she now rest against.

Tilted onto her side she is an entirely new dive adventure. Hovering above her you can look over the wall to the Deep. She is if anything more of a ghost ship than ever!

But for all of her eeriness she is beautiful. The gashes in her side that I entered through last time are now pressed into the sand on the side she lies on. So on this visit our dive concentrated on the upper hull, decks and super structure. A stunning dive.

The crazy angles of her rooms, floors and ceilings played tricks with our senses. The whole world tilted. Physics and perception array. Inside the ship it is so easy to become disoriented as fish seemingly swim along at mad impossible angles, bubbles rise sideways and you fall towards the wall. Wonderful, like a crazy house at a fairground!

In the six months, since I last visited her, nature has taken an even tighter grip of her. Her tilted angle making her less of a human thing than ever, remaking her as an alien place. The deck and superstructure are like a warped playground.

We left the Kittiwake laying there in her watery grave. Silent and hanging over the night below and headed back to the our dive boat on the surface.

Once back on deck we swapped our tanks and got underway. We relocated to a shallow site and a reef called Ballero. The reef was teeming with fish and we were greeted by a stingray, young grouper and snappers. There were stunning bright corals in a rainbow of colours. A curious young turtle came to check us out as much intrigued by us as we by it.

But despite all the beauty and mystery of the Kittiwake the high point of the dive was undoubtedly my first encounter with a shark in the wild!

As we explored the reef we spotted a nurse shark and against all sense we gave chase.

The hunter became the hunted.

But rather than fleeing the shark slowed and we swam with him, just feet away from a sleek apex predator. At 1.6 meters in length he was the size of a tiger with the same unmistakable grace and power.

Only unlike a visit to a zoo nothing separated us. No fence. No cage. Nothing.

Meet the oximoronically named Kiki.

He matched our pace for a few minutes and with an effortless flick of his tail he was gone.

We just hung there wide eyed and thrilled. Gradually we resumed our dive heading back the way we had come. Then a movement out of the corner of my eye and there he was again powering towards the group every inch a shark. Sleek lines, muscle and power heading right at me. Pouncing. I held my breath as he rushed. His tail lashed in an unmistakable sinuous fluid motion.

It was like a moment in a film and while I knew logically I was in no danger the visceral reaction was real. Time slowed. I watched his approach like an out-of-body experience. Heart in my mouth.

Our eyes locked.

At the last second he turned parallel to me about three feet away and slowed instantly to a glide and we swam together like that man, boy and beast. Just incredible, I am still buzzing, what an amazing privilege. Then after what seemed like forever and no time he finally took his leave and resumed his endless hunt of the blue.

This weekend saw the annual invasion of the pirates. The weekend opened with a huge street party, live music and fireworks in George Town on the dockside on Friday evening.

Saturday was a street food extravaganza. One that was so rudely interrupted by two pirate galleons hoving into view. Hundreds poured ashore, the local garrison of Redcoats bravely ran to repel their invasion. But just like last year they were soon overwhelmed and captured!

With the invasion complete the party really began and Cayman’s Pirate Heritage reasserted itself as the Islands once again became Las Tortugas. The poor Redcoats were paraded through town at the head of a carnival. Pirates were everywhere.

Naturally the only way to survive was to blend in…

With our faultless disguises we fitted right in and joined the revels. Bands and DJ’s ruled the streets and the street party began.

Sunday saw us retreat to the Westin for brunch.

and a bank holiday staycashion.

You’ll be pleased to hear once again the Redcoats escaped. They arrested the ring leaders and law and order were restored.

Well it has notall been cake this week. Despite the weather we have been getting out and about.

On Monday we dived at Lantern point with Dive Tech where we saw turtles and a five foot grouper, it was a huge fish! Easily as big as James.

I introduced James and Victoria to the Guardian of the Reef.

Tuesday started with breakfast at Coconut Joes. Always a favourite. Good grub in an unpretentious setting. Just as breakfast was served a chicken jumped up and stole my bacon! It made everyone laugh.

After breakfast headed north for a tour around West Bay. We found two more really nice spots for diving and we journeyed to Hell. Now I have driven through this part of the island a few times but did not realise that tucked away behind the shops and the eponomously named post office is an amazing landscape of jagged rocks and pools. It’s an amazing looking place and it looks like the surface of a mad alien planet. A truely hellish landscape.

This is the real ‘Hell‘, so named because one of the early Governors of the islands upon seeing it for the first time looked at it in the sweltering heat and said, ‘Gods’ this must be what Hell looks like…‘, true story.

We headed back down the island to spend the afternoon on the beach at Governors.

Thursday we headed back up to West Bay again to check out one of the dive sites we scouted out on Tuesday.

Turtle Reef and Sun Divers. Amazing! The water at Trurtle Reef was crystal clear. Refreshing after the heat and humidity at the surface.

20 feet from the shore there is a steep drop of about 50 feet, the ‘Mini Wall’. The Mini Wall is covered with coral and drops down to the sand sea bed. It is essentially a 1/4 mile wide plateau or step that surrounds most of the island gradually sloping down to between 100ft and 130ft were you reach a second reef wall only this one drops down to a depth of between 2 miles and 5 miles… the Cayman Trench.

The reef at the northern end of the island, below about 20ft, is in really good condition and teeming with life.

Almost as soon as we dropped off the mini-wall we were greeted by a stingray. In among the coral we found a stunning black and white conga eel. The reef teemed with fish of all types and hanging out in a cave were 20 to 30 huge tarpon.

The only way to describe the experience is that it is like flying. It so easy to forget you are actually underwater.

At one point I looked up at the pouring rain and thought ‘thank goodness I am not out there, I would get soaked!‘ the fact I was sixty foot underwater and looking at the sea’s surface did not occur to me…

All in all one of the best dives we have had.

Thursday was a quiet day just sat listening to the rain and doing a few little bits and piece (including my Tax Return…). Then in the evening we went out for  lovely meal with John and Dee at The Brassarie.

On Friday Poppy and Holly went with the ladies to have high tea at the Ritz!

The boys in the meantime had Roti. At the Roti Shop. With the Roti Club. Not the most imaginatively named group but like Ronseal it does exactly what it says on the tin. Roti.

Lovely grub and loads of laughs.

I am back at home now writing this and once again listening to the rain, it is absolutely torrential and relentless. It was just like this for half term last year! The whole garden is flooded under about 5 inches of water.

 

It has been such a long half term! Returning formally to work on the 14^th August and running up to 20^th October has been a long slog.

I know my friends with real jobs will roll their eyes and sigh something like, “teachers” but teaching isn’t like the real world or a real job it is so much more demanding than many jobs and ask so much more of you emotionally, physical and personally than other professions. It has many of the demands of social work; as a head teacher you are also running a medium to large business with 50 to 100 staff and a multi million pound budget; it has very long hours (despite the popular myths its not a nine to four job at all); you are dealing with young children and absolutely everyone thinks they could do a better job and knows more about education than you do just because they once went to school…

Anyway it has been a very long and hard half term three solid weeks of rain and wet play have not helped as it has meant everyone is on duty without a break everyday for days on end and the kids never get a chance to run around and burn of all their excess energy!

But it is HALF TERM! Oh and its pouring with rain… But it is HALF TERM!

So what has this term brought so far?

Well as you know from my earlier posts it has been a really active hurricane season here in the Caribbean. We have watched the weather really closely and breathed a sigh of relief each time we have been missed.

That’s not to say we have been unaffected, as I have already said we have experience 3 to 4 weeks of near solid rain. The rain here has been torrential among the heaviest rain I have ever seen and I lived in monsoon countries…

It has meant rough seas but we have had some beautiful skies and rainbows as well.

The wet weather has allowed me time to learn to bake cakes. I have never been very good at cakes but friends have asked me to make a couple of cakes for them and an upcoming event so I have had to learn. The brief is to bake a traditional Caymanian Rum Cake. After several weeks of practice I feel that I have got it pretty well cracked so I am working on chocolate rum cake (think Bounty Bar) and my own invention an apple rum cake topped with toffee apples…

Of course all of the cake making has meant lots of tasting sessions and so tea parties at our house have become a feature of social life here.