Vic and slipped out for a romantical Valentin’s dinner for two at Da Fish Shack. It does exactly what it says on the tin it’s a shack where they serve fish. The grub was lovely and the drinks were very nice too. We sat and watched the sun set over the sea, very nice.
It’s been a long couple of weeks! Yes there was rugby last Saturday. Beers and bacon buttons at ours…
…I did manage to slip out for a quick beer and to take James for a milkshake at Sunset.
…well James had just got a ‘b’ in art and chemistry and ‘c’s’ in maths and geography for his mocks so I had to find time to congratulate him. He has worked really hard on his revision, we are very proud of him…
…Oh and on Thursday I had my ‘book’ club…
…but other than that it really has been nose to the grindstone, 11 to 12 hour days and 6 day weeks!
But it is Friday again and I left work at 6 after yet another 11 hour day and headed straight to the beach.
Stripped in the car park, trunks on and ran into the sea.
Amazing! (This has to be said in a trilling contralto for full effect, go on try it).
Floating watching the sun go down letting the gentle waves wash away the cares of the last two weeks!
Victoria and the kids were already on the beach with John and Dee and their kids. But everyone just let me be for quarter of an hour.
When I was feeling a bit more human and had done a couple of lengths John waded out with a cold beer and we watched the Luna eclipse and chewed the fat.
John is a fellow principal and has been here about 6 months longer than us, cracking fellow and a good friend. A few more tinnies, a few more lengths and pizza on order.
Yes ordering pizza to be delivered to the beach is a real thing and a feature of life here.
As we all relaxed we were treated to a rare sight, one of nature’s great migrations. The night time paddle boarders. About 50 of them all with glowing headbands and necklaces entering the water and gracefully paddling north along Seven Mile Beach into the darkness. We watched in silence awed by the sight.
Magnificent!
Dinner arrived. And we sat round nattering watching he stars.
When out of the corner of my eye I sensed something, at first it looked like there was nothing there. Just shadows in the darkness, slowly shapes resolved, like ghosts materialising our of the night. The return of the paddle boarders. Lithe creatures slipping gracefully along on the sea’s surface, walking on water almost. Hushed chatter and laughter passing between the group as they paddled along. It looks great fun.
At 10pm we called it a night, gathered our bits and headed home relaxed and happy.
Rugger round Clive’s tomorrow and diving on Sunday with Cissy. I reckon by Monday I will need to be back at work for a rest!
Well if you fall off your bike the best thing to do is get back on it and try again.
Even though my final dive was fine the events of last week left me feeling a little ‘cautious’ uneasy to say the least. I knew I needed to get back on the horse. In this case a sea-horse.
Paul and Cissy were determined to see that I got my scuba wings and said the Kittiwake was the perfect first dive. Paul is an advanced diver and Cissy is qualified as a rescue diver so good buddies to go with. Along for the ride came Philip a no nonsense Texan with a wealth of dive experience and two other mutual friends both very experienced hands. A good bunch to keep an eye on me and calm my nerves.
We met at the dive centre, kitted up and headed for the boat.
20 minutes of bouncing over choppy water brought us to the dive site. Our guide talked us through the dive plan, safety talk and a map of the wreck of the USS Kittiwake.
The Kittiwake is a retired submarine rescue ship who five years ago was scuttled just of West Bay to create an artificial reef and dive site. She sits in a marine park and diving on her is strictly controlled. She is, quite rightly it turns out, considered to be a world class dive destination.
She lays on the sea bed her bottom at 19 meters and her bridge is 14 meters off the sea floor so relatively shallow. Her main deck is 10 meters down.
We stepped off the back of our boat and emptied our BCDs and began sinking. Unlike a shore dive where you descend down a slope to depth on this dive we just fell gently down to about 15 / 16 meters hovering just above the sandy bottom.
The sea was a little rough so visibility was down to about 25 meters. Rising up out of the sand was an enormous chain, it disappeared into the blue.
Just at the edge of our range of vision we could see large coral mounds on either side of us but no ship. Only the chain rising up from the bottom at about 25 degrees hinted at the presence of the Kittiwake out there somewhere.
We followed the chain.
Slowly a shape began to resolve itself and suddenly there above us looming out of the blue was the ship’s prow.
Staying at depth we swam around to the port side of the ship. We were close enough now to really start getting a sense of her size. Along her hull were three rough round holes. The signs of her scuttling, three matching gashes on each side that had opened her up and let the sea into her, allowing her to fill with water and sink.
We passed the first gash glancing inside at the dim interior something very ghostly about it. Scenes from movies flashed through my head and I half expected to see a shark or drowned seaman lurking inside but despite my imaginations best efforts to fill the void the ship remained silent and empty.
At the second gash our guide signalled we would be going inside.
She swam through the ragged rip into the gloom and after a second’s hesitation I followed, the rest of the group in tow.
Inside it was not dark but it took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust. We were inside the belly of the ship a large compartment divided into sections running the length of the hull. Below sections of the engine lay rusting, furring up with new coral growth and darting in and out fish.
We swam along the inside of the wreck making our way through the hold towards the stern. Floating over holes leading down to the very bottom of the ship, passing the rents in her side which let in light and under her smoke stack which afforded amazing glimpses of the surface above.
I must say at first it feels quite spooky but then the shear wonder of swimming through her catches up with you and you forget the fear and start drinking her in marvelling at how nature is claiming her, softening her hard edges with organic growth and breathing new life into her.
All too soon we came to the back of the ship and swam up through an open cargo hatch into the bright sun light and onto her deck.
We swam over the rear of the ship and hung floating half way between the sea bed and the surface. We turned back to see her stern and there her name in foot high letters ‘Kittiwake’.
We made our way along the port side and back inside gliding through the rooms that once bustled with life on the surface which once again teemed with living things as the sea claimed her. Remaking her.
We floated through the galley…
…through the decompression chamber, now open to the sea, passed through the ‘head’…
…where smashed mirrors still hung on the wall and gave us strange fractured glimpses of ourselves. Once so prosaic now transformed into a moment of awe as we glided past alien in this once familiar place.
We threaded through the rooms on the main deck until once again we reached the bow. Turning this time to see her at this new angle floating just above her prow seeing her as her namesake must once have done while on the wing.
Here, with our guide, Paul and I left the group leaving the more experienced divers to carry on for a while longer while we swam back following her anchor chain once more towards our dive boat.
As we headed back the Kittiwake had one more treat for us. Gliding bellow us passed an eagle ray. More angular than sting rays, black backed, spotted with white dots, a long tail and a beak they are stunning to watch in their almost Art Nuevo design! Flying effortlessly through the water the epitome of elegance! A breath-taking end to a breath taking dive. This time in a good way…
We floated five meters below our dive boat for our three minute safety stop and then surfaced elated and babbling excitedly about what we had seen.
38 minutes bottom time and safely back at the surface after a safety stop with 600psi in the tank! Visiting that submerged ghost ship had helped me to rest my own ghost from the week before.
Pictures and videos ** by Paul! I am in blue.
Day two was a little more eventful than I thought it was going to be.
We (my training buddy Natasha and I ) started off by swimming two hundred meters in the pool and then floating for 10 minutes to show we could.
Then it was time to suit up. Gear up and make our way once more to the sea pool. Trailing like two ungainly ducklings behind our instructor.
As this was open water dive 3 (my fourth dive) I knew the dive plan fairly well.
Swim out descending slowly to 60 feet / 18meters swim about look at the reef, carry out a couple of drills swim back, carry out our safety stop at 5meters swim the remaining 2-3 hundred meters under water into the sea pool. Surface with 500psi in our tanks. About 40 minutes all told.
I had done the same drill three times before so I was quietly confident.
We carried out our final kit checks. A giant step into the sea. Emptied our BCDs and sank 2m to the sea floor and set off.
We slowly descended following the bottom between to coral banks, so we we were swimming in a valley. Deeper and deeper until we reached 60feet / 18meters. At this depth the colour shifts, less red and everything is bluer or greyer. But none the less stunning for it. We saw large barracuda, lobster, jacks, corals of a hundred different varieties and fish and fish and fish. We saw sting rays and chub and angle fish. We floated in a strange blue alien world. Looking up you could see the bright surface glittering far above.
Now one of the things you do when diving is check your tank pressure gauge regularly. You learn to estimate what you think you have in your tank first, then check. You very quickly get a sense for how fast you use air and can fairly accurately estimate what you expect to see. I had been near spot on with my estimates every time. You are really highly motivated to learn how to do this. I mean basically you have a tank of pressurised gas strapped to your back and it is fairly crucial to the main objective of the sport,’not drowning’.
There we were deep down and I looked at my gauge and was very surprised to see it was showing just under 1000psi, a third of a tank. I had been expecting to see 1500psi. 950pdi was not enough to swim back the half a mile and do our safety stop as planned, and certainly not enough to surface with 500psi in my tank.
I caught my instructors attention and using hand signals I told her how much air I had left, she checked my gauge herself and shot off like a bullet. The normally sedate pace gone.
I watched her go and thought, ‘that’s not going to help’.
My buddy and I followed, Natasha blissfully unaware there was an issue.
Swimming fast at depth uses up air really quickly and would have made a bad situation worse.
So trying my hardest to stay calm I headed back at a slower pace. Forcing myself to breathe slowly and calmly. It was not easy but I fought the rising panic and settled on really a bit stressed.
My instructor ahead of me slowed down, calmed down, I think, and waited until I caught up.
We carried on, more slowly, until we reached our planned safety stop point. A line up to a buoy about 200m from the shore.
I signalled to my instructor I had under 500psi. Her eyes behind her mask went wide and she pulled out her ‘octopus’ the second regulator attached to her tank and passed it to me. I ditched my own.
Now I was breathing on her air.
Then she signals, ‘take off your mask’.
I signalled back ‘what?’.
‘Take off your mask’ she signals again.
So I did, I put it back on emptied of water and she nods.
I knew we were going to do this drill at some point on day two but while I was on her tank I thought ‘odd choice’.
She signalled up and we headed for the surface. I manually inflated by BCD and we floated there.
Natasha surfaced a few seconds behind us.
‘Where did all your air go?’ Came the question from the rather stunned instructor.
‘Dunno’, says I, ‘but I knew we had a problem, when I fist signalled you. I knew I did not have enough air to swim back under the surface’.
At this point Natasha twigged what had happened and just floated there rather surprised and a bit shocked.
By swimming up the slopping bottom to the 5m mark we had been decompressing so at the line we could make it more or less safely to the surface but the fact that the final ascent had been a buddy ascent on her tank meant we had been close to the limit!
There are two risks to balance ascend too fast and you are in danger of getting the bends, decompression sickness. Ascend too slowly you drown…
‘Well’, says the instructor, ‘you stayed calm and did not panic, good!’
We rolled onto our backs and paddled back to the sea pool and our planned exit point chatting as we went. All a little shaken.
We had been down for 43 minutes when we surfaced. Now this is interesting because my previous dives had been 42 minutes, 45 minutes and 43 minutes and I surfaced each time at the shore exit point with about 500psi left in my tank.
So while the dive was about the same Time I was about 1/4 tank shorter on air than the earlier dives…
Well it may have been a slow leak.
It may have been the fact we were down at sixty feet, the deeper you are the denser the air and the quicker you use it.
I may have been working harder than I thought, probably a sign I had not quiet got my buoyancy right.
It may have been the bottle was not really full at the surface a warm bottle (one left in the sun) can give you a false reading on your gauge.
It may have been all of the above.
One thing is certain our instructor had ‘turned the dive’ headed home later than on previous dives and this was one contributing factor. By staying out longer and at depth longer I had used more air.
But it was certainly was not helped by the fact that when I realised that I had an issue I tensed up and when you do that you breathe more air and use your tank quicker!
Either way it was a wake up call.
Dive four went exactly according to plan, the same profile as dive three, same route but this time after 42 minutes we surfaced at the shore with 500psi in my tank.
Our instructor congratulated us both we had passed!
She was happy to sign us off as certified open water divers!
And thanks to the events of the day I had my first real dive adventure story to tell already!
Worn out this evening after a day of training and diving! How good does that sound!
For the last few weeks I have been studying online for my PADI (diving) Open Water Certification. The theory is interesting but peppered with quizzes and online assessments that you have to pass before you can move on to the practical stage of the certification process.
I am pleased to say that I passed the online section. The hardest part was having to learn how to plan dives using dive tables to work out ‘the theoretical levels of residual nitrogen dissolved in your blood’. It’s rather important because it is the nitrogen bubbling out of your blood that can cause the bends… A bit scary but then the whole sport is about being under water for about an hour at a time with a bottle of air strapped to you your back so I suppose it is par for the course.
Anyway theory done. Tick. Time for the practical. So today up early wetsuit packed, yep I now have a wet suit. That’s a mental image you can never unsee. Think of an overweight X-Man and you are there. Mask, ‘shnor-kell’ (my instructor is Dutch she says ‘shnor-kell’) and flippers packed and off to Sunset House. Not a retirement home but a dive hotel and bar, well worth checking out a great little spot, I digress.
First up an exam to check that I had actually learnt something. Tick. Fill out the indemnity forms and medical forms. Tick.
Time to get wet. But first back to the wet suit. 10 minutes of wrestling and sqeezing and tah-da, hardly superman getting changed! But I looked good and was ready to go, two mm of neoprene is very slimming! Wet suit on. Tick.
Next came kitting up. BCD a buoyancy vest, tank, regulator, weights. Gordon Bennett it weighs a tonne! So much for the slimming effect of rubber suits I weighed more than ever and could hardly walk!
To the pool! Here we spent half the day in a very deep swimming pool practicing skills taking masks off under water, taking off our BCDs, ascents, descents, supporting tired divers, giant steps into water and lots, lots more!
A quick change of tanks and we waddled to the sea! To dive.
Brilliant. It’s beautiful down there, a little chilly, thank goodness for the wetsuit, vivid colours, coral and fish just lovely.
End of the day and I am a bit sunburned, very blond, aching, tired and feeling like I have had a good day. Yep I am very blond again a byproduct of all the sun and water.
More tomorrow, tired but looking forward to day two!
We have had a lovely Christmas. Two weeks off relaxing and catching our breath and catching up with our friends. Snorkelling and swimming.
On Christmas Day we Facetimed home and caught up with the family.
We opened our presents and then went to church. It was a lovely if slightly chaotic service.
After church it was off to The Grand Old House for lunch. (Click here).
Now when I say launch I mean a gargantuan frenzy of food and free flowing Proseco!
The food was amazing. To give you a flavour: there was a curry section with biriani and goat curry, a stir fry section, an omelet stop, a sea food cabana, two massive Christmas buffets and a room full of desserts that Willy Wonker would have felt at home in!
There was even an old Cuban fellow hand rolling Cuban Cigars.
Armed with our agreed strategy ‘head for the high value items and avoid the carbs‘ we embarked on our Christmas lunch…
It was a truely amazing lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed sitting on the deck overlooking the sparkling Caribbean Sea. I had roast goat, a local Christmas specialty, it was delicious. After two and a half hours the kids wonder the 100m home to play with the pressies and Vic and I sunk another bottle of bubbly. Not a bad way to spend Christmas Day.
I rounded dinner off with a hand rolled cigar overlooking the sea.
On Boxing Day we had a friends round for breakfast and buckfizz before we hit the beach with the Castaways. Sun soaked we headed home at twilight for fishpie with our friends. But not before I managed to cut my foot open, doh.
I maintain the accident and two solid days drinking bubbles and rum were completely unrelated, but I did not really feel it at the time.
For our present Victoria surprised us all with the gift of paddle board lessons with our neighbour Damo.
Now Damo is perhaps the island’s leading paddle board coach and we had an amazing session with him.
Now a disclaimer it’s not as easy as some people make it look.
(http://www.caymanstanduppaddleco.ky/)
I spent a lot of time falling off head first into the sea and shouting ‘oh noooo’.
By the end of the two hours I was aching everywhere but I did manage to stand up and paddle! I need more practice but I managed to make some progress!
James seemed to take to it like a duck to water and was off like a rocket after five minutes. He is a convert and definitely wants to go again. Tomorrow!
Poor Poppy didn’t know which way was up!
Like her brother she just popped up and paddled off and because that was not hard enough and because Damo had done a headstand on his board Poppy just had to do one too!
By the end of the session she was an expert in sea bourne head stands.
Pan de Jamon, I was introduced to this at work and was determined to make some for myself…
First impression on taking it out of the oven was not bad…
And on slicing it open… lots of ham, olive, cheese and raisin goodness. Oh it was lovely. Quite pleased with my first attempt.
The Cayman Defence Force were out in force on their main battle ship the Jolly Roger this week because the invasion has begun! 7 cruise ships in two days including three Carnival ships in one day and the Disney ship. 35,000 people popping in for the day that’s the equivalent of half the the islands population! Imagine a whole town turning up for the day!
Today is the Winter Solstice so days will start getting longer and brighter! Obviously this is a real concern here in the Caribbean as I sit at the bar watching Jim and P on the waterslide. Tough here!
Days end and the grockles sail off into the sunset! The Cayman Defence Force have seen the invaders off.
We are in the run up to Christmas! We broke up after a week of Christmas themed madness on Friday, with concerts, parties, Christmas Lunch and staff dinners. I have to say Christmas is BIG!
One sign of just how big, is Christmas lights, they are everywhere gardens and houses are lit up like, well, Christmas trees I suppose.
Only in this case Christmas palm trees.
The big round about a into town have the most amazing displays. So many in fact that Cayman seen from space must just dazzle with its own constellation in a million colours!
Two of the most opulent displays are those of the Boden Sisters and the Crighton Family. They are incredible. They have been months in the making but in the run up to the big day they throw open their gates and everyone is welcome to wander around their gardens…
Above is the Boden Sisters’s gardenThe lights in the trees look like frozen fireworks.
Below the Crighton’s.
I had my photos of my school teams trip to the Brac published on the front page of the paper. That’s right a national paper…
Ok so it’s the national paper of Cayman circulation 60,000 but nationwide is nationwide!
It’s early.
Before sunrise.
The sky is only just beginning to light.
Just twilight and it begins.
Distant at first. But the coming closer.
Growing in number.
Drawing nearer.
The howling.
It starts far away barely a whisper but the first howling voice is joined by another and another.
It builds and builds until the inextrable sound sweeps like a wave towards us and surrounds us.
The dawn chorus of howling.
The crowing of the island’s feral cockerels.
The sound keys a memory and a familiar voice echoes in my head. A dear familiar voice from days gone by sagely intoning, “ah, the Germans must be bombing London.”
“I remember when Chalky, Lackery and I were stationed in Yorkshire we always knew when the Luftwaffe were over London…” and one of Grandad Fred’s war stories about pheasants calling to one another flashes through my mind.
His eyes filling with tears as he recalls long dead comrades and distant adventures and so do mine as I remember him.
Last Saturday I travelled with my school football team to Cayman Brac! An away match by plane, so cool.
It was a fun day and a close match 2:2! We had time to explore Skull Cave and had lunch at Popo Jebs Pizza.
Here is George Town from the air you can see three cruise ships in the background.
While we were on tour we heard the news about Fray Bentos passing away, seeing how close we are to Cuba here it was quite a big deal.
Click here for help with this one…
Last night we went up to Camana Bay for the Parade of Lights. Only because this is the Cayman the parade was on boats! Beautiful and great fun!
We were out celebrating last night at The Wharf. Victoria has officially been awarded her Masters! She is now Victoria Read (MA). We are all so proud of her fantastic achievement.
The Wharf is very posh, we had a table on the waterside overlooking the sea. The night included live music from a really great band and tarpon feeding. It was a bit special. I had lobster and turtle! They are so tasty!
November has been a mad busy fun month, and here are just a few highlights.
At school we indulged in a spot of time travel looking back at the history and heritage of the Cayman Islands. A slightly surreal experience as students and staff came to school in traditional Cayman clothes, harking back to a simpler more isolated time.
To help add to the fun parents sent in the most amazing array of traditional cakes so by the end of day it was more like Woodstock, what the collective sugar rush, than a primary school. There was, to name a few, pineapple upside down cake, banana bread, coconut biscuits and thick, dense, cassava cake. The latter more like a set syrup than a cake, dripping with sugar and capable of inducing diabetes with just a glance. I am convinced the island tilted slightly under the weight of the food but fortunately thanks to the eating efforts of the staff and pupils balance was restored, phew.
The students looked amazing in their Cayman threads!
Thinking about it there has been quite a bit of dressing up this month…
Pirates week started with a bang, literally, what with the steel band competition, fireworks night and a street party. Then it just got louder!
Saturday brought the spectacle of The Pirate Landing. The local Red Coats valiantly tried to defend George Town but were soon overwhelmed and taken captive by the cut throats!
With the pirates in charge the party really got started and a carnival ensued. It was a real riot of colour and music. There must have been 30 floats. What with the sun and the sea as a backdrop it made Notting Hill seem bit drab…
The poor Red Coats suffered the ignominy of being paraded through town in chains as part of the Carnival. I have it on good authority that it is going to be alright and that this weekend they will escape and the pirate leader will be brought to justice. I will keep you posted on developments. (Just in case you are worried).
To blend in with the rapscallions who were infesting the island we all thought it was best if dressed as salty sea dogs and just threw ourselves in with the ruffians. It seemed to work and I can report so far we have passed unnoticed. A motley crew are The Castaways.
Exhausted by all the pirate themed activity we retreated to a hidden haven and the relative quiet of Clive and Carol’s house and a sunset Pot Luck Supper around the Baker’s Pool on Bank Holiday Monday.
What with Pirates’ Week and Heritage celebrations, night swimming, beach picnics, street parties, Poppy in the Netball Team, James joining the Marine Conservation Club, me revising for my PADI exam and test, snorkelling with wild turtles, steel bands, time with the gang, a bank holiday, a carnival, fireworks and Victoria off to the Brac November has been really busy… and it is not quite finished yet, tonight it is the turning on of the Christmas Lights, Thanksgiving is coming and next week I am heading over to the Brac for a football match.
So while we work hard during the week I guess the expat lifestyle is not all bad!
Pirates Week Fireworks. It doesn’t need much commentary, but sufficed to say I soon had a bar full of people shouting, ‘Oooh’, ‘Arrrr’… it may not be Kempton Park but it has its charms.
After the fire works we wondered down into George Town to join the street party, with three stages of live music and thousands of people dancing the night away. The atmosphere was really friendly with families out and about and half the crowd dressed as pirates!
Saturday promises a parade, an invasion by the pirates and more partying!
11.00 p.m. and I am stood on a near deserted harbor side with just a music teacher and a pile of steel drums for company.
Nearby can be heard the drunken ramblings of a grounded sailor and across the water drifts the sounds of a container ship being unloaded.
I turn to my silent companion.
‘Come here often?‘, I try as an ice breaker and we both start laughing at the ridiculous image.
Two white guys on a dark dockside late at night minding a large pile of Caribbean drums, surrounded by the detritus of a street party while we wait for a truck to turn up. .
That’s right in life you do have these moments.
Tonight has been ‘Pan in de City’ the first official event of Pirates Week. Earlier in the evening our respective school bands had been part of the 100 or so musicians performing in the Annual Cayman Schools’ Steel Band Competition. The Main Street through George Town closed off so our students could perform on the sea front.
But they were brilliant, the average age of the band is 10 and they held their own against the local university band! So proud, go Prospect!
As I watched them play I figured it was probably the most authenticity Caribbean event of our adventure so far! If you don’t count the food, the beach, working in a local school, the life style… well you know what I mean.
(Sorry its sideways!)
11:15 and back on the dockside we now sit on upturned drums listening to the waves and watch the drunken sailor fall over again. Shouting obscenities at some invisible protagonist he jumps up and staggers unsteadily off down the street moving like a marionette in the hands of a careless child. His ravings fading into the dark.
Through the night we hear the low rattle and clash of an approaching truck and a beaten up old van comes at last to our rescue.
For my birthday we went to the Westin for Sunday brunch. A genuine smaugasboard of lush grub and free flowing champagne it was lovely.
After brunch we spent a few hours relaxing on the beach, the sea was a bit rough but we had a swim anyway.
On Thursday we saw Roger and Sally off, it was a lovely couple of weeks and I think they enjoyed themselves.
All in all it has been a busy week and a half since half term, work has been hectic so come the weekend it was nice to unwind. The Castaways gathered on the beach under the stars with a few candles and loads of booze and laughed Bonfire Night away.
A few of us arrived early for some snorkelling. Just off Spotts is a large area of sea grass and where there is sea grass there is a good chance of swimming with sea turtles. We were in luck and spotted two each about three to four feet long, as calm as you like. We got really close to them, absolutely beautiful and a great start to the evening.
We also spotted a couple of lobsters, I kid you not they were huge as big as my flipper easily two foot long!
Just lovely a really low key event we had the beach to ourselves and the sky provided the fireworks in the form of shooting stars!
We ordered pizza and the delivery driver turned up on the beach with the boxes, he did not question the address when we said we wanted 8 pizzas delivered to Spots Beach he just said ok and 20 minutes later he arrived on his moped!
In my spare time I have been furiously studying the online theory for my PADI Certification I am determined to complete the course and assessment and qualify by Christmas so that when Caz and Pete come out we can have a dive. (Chloe your dive will be all booked up for when you visit, you will love it!).
This weekend is a bank holiday weekend and the start of Pirates Week! Click here for more.
For my birthday I was treated to my first dive in the Caribbean and I am hooked! I dived at Sunset House Dive School click here.
Just incredible an hour of theory and training in the pool before hitting the sea.
It was magical. The fish and the coral were stunning.
We flew, swimming does not describe it, in 50 foot of crystal clear water surrounded by sea life. Jacks, grouper, parrot fish, lion fish, trumpet fish and barracudas all colours and sizes.
The high point was rounding a coral outcrop and there she was, just stunning, she just took my breath away!
8 foot of mermaid! Click here
She is beautiful and you just hover there in front of her it’s like being in a cathedral.
I’ve already signed up for my full PADI Course!
After I sat at the bar overlooking the sea enjoying an ice cold beer and a cheese burger and watched the sun go down. Just perfect!
Our first visitors arrived this week to spend half term with us and despite the utterly relentless rain we have had a good time! The rain has been torrential at times but we have managed to snatch time out between down pours.
Roger and Sally arrived bang on time at 3:55pm on Monday.
A tour of the island and lunch at Rum Point. Mud Sldes are lovely!
We had a visit to Starfish Point. We saw 105 Starfish the most we have seen in one visit.
On the way back we came round past Eastend and stopped to see the sights, including a garden full of concrete creatures and the Blow Holes. (James is wearing his skateboard knee pads, his knees are currently shredded from falling off a couple of times…).
The National Gallery proved a welcome distraction from the rain.
Ching Chings at Smith’s Cove.
Landing fish at Smith’s Cove.
These tide in nicely with James’s art homework, he took some lovely photos in Soth Sound and the. Had to interpret them in different mediums.
We had a lovely meal out at Casanova’s Italian…though note to self they include the service charge so don’t tip as well!
It is all quite exhausting really and despite her protestations to the contry she is still our baby…
We have reached a big milestone today!
Half term in our new jobs and new schools!
After a whirlwind three months I sit here on the veranda with a glass of wine, music playing and a cat curled up on my feet and as my staff are so fond of saying, “breath”.
Tonight I ur resident owls are circling, a mated pair who have claimed our road as their own, they are like grey ghosts flying up and down the road each night. Sometimes they hoot and screech. Other nights they are completely silent. This evening they flew past me as I was getting out of the car, no more than four feet off the ground and only three feet away, they did not make a sound just glided past. They are big birds too, they did not half make me jump!
The frogs in the garden are ‘pipping’ and ‘chirping’ little wet, falling water sounds all around in the dark. The frogs are tiny, they could sit on a penny, tiny and perfect.
It began to sink in this week this is my second headship! Now that’s a claim. Head of two different schools on two sides of the world, cool.
Oriel had a visit from OFSTED this week. Not being there was really strange and while part of me was immeasurable pleased not to be there it was like sitting in the waiting room at the maternity ward or watching you kids compete knowing they are on their own. I felt helpless. The outcome of the inspection will I guess reflect the performance of the team over the two days, the work they have done this last half term and just how ingrained the legacy I left behind is. I am confident they will do well but it is a two week wait for the report…
Meanwhile here in the Caribbean we are feeling settled, Vic had her second visit to The Brac, I am quite jealous really as it is quite an adventure, still I will get out there! Yes I will!
The children are enjoying school and finding their feet, Poppy is thriving! And I am loving Prospect. My staff, the buggers, do have a habit of seeing me coming a switching to a thick patois to try to catch me out but I am learning the lingo fast and have been surprising them by showing them I know exactly what they have said. ‘Wagwan‘ goes a long way, especially if followed by a kiss of the teeth and drawling ‘foolishness!’ My lot think it’s really funny. I think they think I am rather eccentric, little do they know just how eccentric!
My Year 6 have heritage lessons on a Wednesday learning about traditional Cayman craft and culture. The lessons are amazing, this week they were looking at traditional Cayman weaving. I asked Mr Christian who leads the session if he could point me in the direction of where I could get a traditional Cayman hat.
Two hours later I was the proud owner of this freshly made beauty! My new duty hat, practical and stylish. That’s right a hand woven Caymanian Sun hat!
Oh the beard? Well that is me getting ready for Pirates Week. Cayman’s National Week when it all goes a bit piraty round here. My great, great, great, great, great Aunt Mary, Mary Read, was a local pirate of some renown so I reckon I stand in good stead and even if the genealogy is a bit suspect it’s a good story and one that goes down well here.
‘And how do you spell Read? Is it Reid?’ Comes the question.
‘Nope’ says I, ‘R, E, A, D, like the pirate.’
‘Oh,’ comes the response full of a new found respect and acceptance (I imagine).
The Caymanians love to find a familial link when they meet a new person. Often their first question on meeting is ‘who ya for,’ followed by a long mutual exploration (well not that long, it’s a small island) of family trees until a common link is found. It’s normally about two degrees of separation… the Kevin Bacon Game has really short rounds here as most people share great grandparents. But their is real delight when clan and family links are made and shared histories and family tales quickly follow.
I reckon chief family tree tracer Gubby will be able to confirm my bonifidies… dad? A simple yes will suffice to prove my link to the black sheep of the family and establish my credentials as having local connections!
Poppy and I have matching smashed toes this week.
Hers from a door, mine from a rock on the beach, mine has meant a trip (no pun) to A&E and four follow up visits to the doctor but, fingers crossed, it is on the mend! James thought it was all very funny until Marcel inducted him to the club on Wednesday night by biting and scratching his foot while he slept. Victoria is breathing a sign of relief as she reckons three toes in plasters is the full set and she is safe!
When questioned about the Curious Incident of the Toe in the Night Time he said he was innocent, and with those big eyes who can help but believe him!
On the way home, for dinner, tonight I stopped at Da Kit Chin and picked up festival and pork.
Now it might not look much but people drive for miles to get food here and there is always a line of customers around the corner, the food is great! I suppose it fills the niche in the food chain that fish and chips does in the UK. Festival is a local bread.
And if prof were needed that it has been a busy three months…
Sleepy girl and sleepy cats.
So half term and we have our first visitors on their way. Roger and Sally are coming out for a ten day stay so I reckon we will go sailing, head up to Rum Point, go on the submarine, head out to Sting Ray City, do Brunch at the Westin and bum around on the beach… sounds like a plan to me anyway.
