A year without shoes in Grand Cayman

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scubagrl once bubbled...
It's great to read that I'm not the only one who dreams of island life...I've got friends realizing that dream right now (they bought a condo in Bonaire after Hurricane Lenny when selling prices plummeted...live there 5-6 months/year), and it's so motivating to receive weekly emails from them with tales of their daily dive adventures.

:)


;-0 ;-0 ;-0 ;-0
 
Part of an email I got this morning from the friends I mentioned that are living in Bonaire....

"We've been diving twice a day. Well, I'll have to tell you a GREAT diving story. A couple of days ago, after saying hi to our female frogfish (the fat one) which is our routine and say so long to her when we're heading in, Bill and I saw this transparent stuff on her behind and we motioned Tim to come see her. Tim came just in the nick of time. As we were watching her, she violently burst open her eggs, which came in a transparent roll and then it automatically stretched out and floated up to the top. We looked up in the fish behaviour book by Nick Deloach and found out that this happening has never been documented in the wild!!! Isn't that exciting? We were so thrilled. Today we went to Aquarius and saw a gorgeous spotted sting ray gliding along with blue water and sandy bottom in the background. Fabulous!"



:amazed:
 
..just thought I'd let some of the newer members read Drew's thread.

Whenever my day at work really sucks, I always like to go back to this thread and "escape"...

Thanks Drew! You're an inspiration to us all!! :)
 
I'm off the rock again at the moment. Still no shoes. 1 year 5 months and 6 days and counting.

What do dive instructors on Caribbean Islands do for a vacation?

Answer to come in a few days.
 
Drew Sailbum once bubbled...
I'm off the rock again at the moment. Still no shoes. 1 year 5 months and 6 days and counting.

What do dive instructors on Caribbean Islands do for a vacation?

Answer to come in a few days.

Where are you vacationing this time Drew? Back in Miami or elsewhere? Must be warm wherever you are since you are still shoeless! Keep us posted on the vacation. :)

Daryl
 
Great thread!! I've been reading Drew's advice and comments since I found this website. I also planned to "chuck it all and go shoeless" after handing $250 to Casey in 2001 for a couple of dives one morning in GC (with my family). So far, I'm up to working part-time as a DM on weekends in South East Asia to get some more experience doing that. Next up is IDC. I just hope to get there before I hit 65 years old - I don't want to go shoeless when I have to walk with a cane.
 
It really does take a different mindset to live on an island (at least one without a bridge to the mainland!). Here on Catalina we are very close to the big city life, but a world away as well.

I've seen many people come and go over the past 35 years here. The idyllic island life of summer here quickly turns into winter where heavy rains may flood us, storms may prevent the barge from bringing food staples (milk, bread, lox) for a few days, you're "stuck" with the same group of people for months on end.

Long-termers here consider a newcomer established if they survive a winter (I prefer to wait through two winters). People actually go get rock fever. Because so many want to live here, wages are low (I know some extremely experienced dive professionals getting $8/hr). Because so many want to live here, housing prices (and rentals IF you can find a year-round one) are very high.

For me the joy of diving so often (~250 dives/year) outweighs most of the drawbacks. I can always take an hour boat ride and have all the sins of the big city to enjoy.

Of course this is southern California and our winters are far from tropical. Has me considering a relocation to a tropical island... perhaps only 6 months of the year!

Dr. Bill
 
drew


you definately have a job that i wouldnt mind having and in a perfect location, but living without shoes is easy i rarely ever wear shoes, and the time i do its when sandles or barefoot is nt appropriate (weddings, other formal events) and even i wear sandles in the winter (people just look at me wired because in the middle of the texas winter im in jeans, flanel shirt a jacket and hat and im still wearing sandels. if my feet are cold i wear socks with my sandels may look wierd but it works for me.



i just prefer to have open toe/air shoes, it maybe wired but i love it.

enjoy your time away from paradise
 
You know all the adds you see for female dive instructors that all say "please send picture"? My wife pointed them out to me a few years ago when I suggested that running away to a resort job on an island might make a good early retirement. Of course I pointed out that my intention (after running my own shop for a while) wasn't to get hired by the person looking through the pictures but to be the one looking through the pictures.

Anyway, after a few years in the dive business it's clear that I'll have to do something else. LOL
 
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