. August & September 2020 .
Hello!
Well, here we are. Now at the end of September, here's our summary of recent events (which includes August's highlights as well).
We managed to get off island, even if it was just to another island (30 minute flight) and spent a week on Little Cayman. We did lots of diving there and had a really nice time.
Michelle also managed another weekend away with the girls out at Rum Point. Dave did some more work with his coconuts and the kids even managed a swim meet!
Read on to see the Pics, Videos and associated commentary.
Little Cayman
The travel restrictions were relaxed (just a little bit) which meant travel was permitted between the three islands here. Friends of ours (Jacky & Chris) own an apartment on Little Cayman and we managed to head over there for a week in August.
Michelle and Dave headed over early one Saturday morning. It was a bit strange being two of a tiny number of travelers in the airport. No other flights were operating.
The view from the back seat of the Twin Otter.
30 Minutes later, we were standing on the Tarmac in Little Cayman. Our rental car was 15 paces away and off we go to move in to our accommodation.
The rest of the day was spent exploring, snorkeling and generally taking is easy.
Sunset over "Booby Pond"
The next few days were pretty much spent under the water. We'd booked in to do two dives every morning.
The first dive was around by Bloody Bay Wall, which is world famous (in the diving community anyway). Pretty much the first thing we saw when hitting the bottom was a Shark. In fact almost every dive (all at different sites) involved at least one shark that came to check us out.
This is a Pic of Michelle and Dave being followed by the shark on that first dive.
We had been watching the shark swim about and checking us out. He then swam off, or so we thought! One of the Dive Masters was taking a few pics and then spotted our stalker and took this cool photo. The shark must have decided that we didn't look tasty enough so headed off elsewhere in search of breakfast.
Our photographer in action
Snorkeling at Point of Sands Beach.
Point of Sands
Just saying hello!
Another dive on the wall. Checking out some Basket Sponges
The Nassau Groper. Very friendly and inquisitive.
Squidly Didly!
There were a few Turtles about as well, which is always cool.
"Get out of my way, I'm hungry."
Tourists...
Cruising along over the wall.
The depth below is somewhere between 2,000 - 6,000 feet (although it seems no-one knows for sure).
Still, it's a looooong way down! Not that you can see the bottom. It's pretty dark down there.
Having a sunset beer with Jacky
Flying Gurnard (had to research that one!)
Angelfish
Samfish - snorkeling (at about 30 feet)
The Aqua-Jake
Click here to watch Sam and Jake meet Bruce the Shark
A Spotted Drum hanging out
We took so many photos and don't enough room here to post them all.
Click the links below to see the rest of our dive pics and encounters with Sharks, Turtles, Groper and all the other locals that reside under water in Little Cayman:
Family Sundowners at Owen Island
Michelle heads back to Little Cayman before the bugs come out!
Crash & Eddie
Having a beer in the Departure Lounge at Little Cayman
Click here to see more pics:
Other Bits 'n Pieces
About a week later, Michelle was off again. This time out to Rum Point for a Girls' Weekend.
Just warming up
An Eel playing in the shallows
They stayed in a nice big house, right on the beach
Did some exploring!
Some posing!
Some eating
and some pool time!
Gratuitous Sunset pic
Dave has continued to develop his coconut cups.
The Cups with the hinged lids are for Cocktails. They seem to work OK!
The trouble is finding coconuts big enough. The bigger ones here hold a little under a Litre.
The project continues...
Random Jake pic
Having a beer with Mick!
The Annual Stroke n Stride started last week. Its a Duathlon where there is a swim, then a 2 mile run. There are three races over three weeks. Each week, the swim gets a little longer (400m, 600 and then 800m).
Jake had entered and was keen to see what he could do.
Unfortunately his Swim Coach told him not to do the run part, so he had to find a team mate to do the run leg at short notice. Michelle had entered as an individual as well but since it was too late to add a team member, they were able to change their entry to a team so Jake would swim and Michelle would do the run.
Michelle contemplates the dive site map prior to the race.
They're off! Jake will be somewhere up the front!
True to form, he was the fastest in the water, giving Mum a bit of a start on the rest of the running field. You see the main bunch still rounding the boat in the pic above.
Michelle had some stiff opposition in the run, but managed to hang on for 4th Place in the teams event. Race two coming up next week!
Swim meets are back on the radar now as well. Both Sam and Jake have been training for a while now so it was good to see them racing in the same pool for a change!
"Mullets are way faster" says Jake
"I might get a Mullet too..."
They both clocked some reasonable times and will be back in the pool in a few weeks time. This time in Cayman Brac.
Sunset, at Sunset House
Some weather coming!
Just in case you think it is always sunny here. :)
That'll do us for now, since October has started.
We'll come back soon with the latest developments!
Stay safe!
