Becca_007
Contributor
January 30th - February 6th, 2010
Little Cayman Beach Resort
Reef Divers
Getting There (Jan 30):
We arrived on Grand Cayman expecting a layover but not expecting such a small airport. We rushed through customs, all the security checkpoints, and then got to sit in the crowded waiting area. Actually, we first got to stand while waiting for seats to become available. There was only one small bar which didn't have much food but we knew we'd get dinner soon anyway. I guess more disappointing was seeing all the duty-free alcohol which we weren't allowed to buy for consumption on any of the islands. Doh! So much for planning ahead and taking a bit with us for the resort. Our plane eventually arrived and off we went for the true beginning of our journey.
Arrival (Jan 30):
We landed in Little Cayman, gathered our carry-ons, and hopped into the awaiting van. They told us our luggage would follow. Check-in was a bit chaotic but there was our group of 15 and another group who came in behind us. After dropping the carry-ons off in our rooms we gathered for our first meal and were told luggage would be waiting by our doors after dinner. At this time we also wondered if there had been a room mix up because we have 2 double beds instead of 1 queen/king. We asked around our table but no one else seemed to have a room issue. Oh well. This we can deal with. Dinner done, head back to the room... I swore we saw at least one of our bags when getting off the plane but there is nothing waiting for us. Odd. By this time it's dark so we know no more planes will be arriving (no runway lights). While heading to the front desk to ask about our luggage we saw one of our bags being rolled along. It was the bag we had seen getting off the plane but it was mistakenly placed in front of someone else's room. Whew. At least I have a swimsuit and shorts now! My carry-on full of camera gear did not allow me to pack how I wanted so that bag showing up was a huge relief. Our dive gear was still missing however.
Day One (Jan 31):
Breakfast at 7:00am, dive shop opens at 7:00am... we planned to hit the shop first to secure rental gear for the day. Our alarm was set for 6:00am. Shortly before the alarm went off (luckily we set the alarm on our cell phone!) I woke up. Looking at the ceiling I noticed the fan wasn't really spinning right. Then I noticed the air conditioner wasn't running. Didn't think much of that since it had been cycling throughout the night but it seemed too quiet. I leaned over and looked at the digital clock... no numbers. Seriously? Power outage? I used my phone screen to illuminate my way to the bathroom, did my business, then realized no power meant no water. Ugh. At this point I collapsed on the bed in a giggling fit. Double beds. No dive gear. No power. No water. Mark says to me, "Well at least we know the sun will come up." I quickly shot back, "We don't know that for sure!" This was followed by more hysterical laughter. Had we received our dive gear we would have at least had flashlights. Lol.
Power was restored around 7:00am and we made our way to the dive shop to check out rental gear. What an impressive operation. Turns out only a few people had their gear arrive the night before so there were at least 20 divers trying to get outfitted and the 2 staff in the store were very quick, attentive, and thorough in setting everyone up. We had plenty of time to eat our breakfast (after getting full gear) and word was boats were going to wait for the first plane to come in with more bags. We did our boat briefing, had everything set up, and then the luggage started arriving. Yay! Only 3 suitcases didn't make it they said. Guess who owned 2 of those 3 items? Haha. So rental gear it was...
The gear we used on the first two dives wasn't junk, but it wasn't ours. We decided to leave the expensive camera gear on land since we didn't completely trust our diving ability in the unfamiliar equipment. I'm pretty proud of us for making that decision. The regulators breathed a lot harder than we were used to, the fins gave us blisters while not providing much propulsion, and my mask was a leaky/foggy disaster. But we were diving and that's what we came to do. If it hadn't been for the awesome Reef Divers staff we cold have found ourselves sitting by the pool and missing dives. When we came in for lunch we found our dive bags by our room door and that's where the trials of this trip ended
. Man I love my gear. Dive 3 of the day was much more comfortable, enjoyable, and relaxed.
Days 2-6 (Feb 01-Feb 05):
From here on out I was so overstimulated that much of the diving became a blur. I love being underwater. I was fascinated by the coral and critters. I was awed by the vast walls. I got my picture taken with big Russian guns. I learned a lot about the new camera gear. I saw my first reef shark. I became a Lionfish hunter. I watched an octopus do some hunting. I viewed a school of squid in a completely different light. I was actually tired of purple fans. I ran out of time. I know I have to go back.
Here are all the spots we visited:
Jan31; Sarah's Set, Marilyn's Cut, Bush Gardens
Feb01; Mixing Bowl, Great Wall West, Coconut Walk
Feb02; Russian Frigate 356 (Tibbetts), Blacktip Blvd., Donna's Delight
Feb03; Randy's Gazebo, Bell Ringer, Joy's Joy
Feb04; Lea Lea's Lookout, Baracuda Bight, Marilyn's Cut, Joy's Joy (night dive)
Feb05; Bus Stop, Mixing Bowl
18 dives, 16 hours 42 minutes underwater, water a constant 80.2F
5 hours of video, 1500 pictures
I put together a slideshow of the pictures but with youtube's 10 min limit I broke it down to 3 parts.
YouTube - Cayman01.wmv
YouTube - Cayman02.wmv
YouTube - Cayman03.wmv
The same pictures can also be seen in my 2010 Little Cayman Flickr album.
Mark put together some really excellent HD videos of the trip and they are on youtube too.
YouTube - Little Cayman 2010
YouTube - Diving the Tibbetts
Plus he chose some of his favorite pictures from the trip for his Little Cayman Underwater and his Little Cayman Surface Flickr albums. A couple are repeats, but there are different ones too.
Oh. We did manage to arrive home with all our bags!
Little Cayman Beach Resort
Reef Divers
Getting There (Jan 30):
We arrived on Grand Cayman expecting a layover but not expecting such a small airport. We rushed through customs, all the security checkpoints, and then got to sit in the crowded waiting area. Actually, we first got to stand while waiting for seats to become available. There was only one small bar which didn't have much food but we knew we'd get dinner soon anyway. I guess more disappointing was seeing all the duty-free alcohol which we weren't allowed to buy for consumption on any of the islands. Doh! So much for planning ahead and taking a bit with us for the resort. Our plane eventually arrived and off we went for the true beginning of our journey.
Arrival (Jan 30):
We landed in Little Cayman, gathered our carry-ons, and hopped into the awaiting van. They told us our luggage would follow. Check-in was a bit chaotic but there was our group of 15 and another group who came in behind us. After dropping the carry-ons off in our rooms we gathered for our first meal and were told luggage would be waiting by our doors after dinner. At this time we also wondered if there had been a room mix up because we have 2 double beds instead of 1 queen/king. We asked around our table but no one else seemed to have a room issue. Oh well. This we can deal with. Dinner done, head back to the room... I swore we saw at least one of our bags when getting off the plane but there is nothing waiting for us. Odd. By this time it's dark so we know no more planes will be arriving (no runway lights). While heading to the front desk to ask about our luggage we saw one of our bags being rolled along. It was the bag we had seen getting off the plane but it was mistakenly placed in front of someone else's room. Whew. At least I have a swimsuit and shorts now! My carry-on full of camera gear did not allow me to pack how I wanted so that bag showing up was a huge relief. Our dive gear was still missing however.
Day One (Jan 31):
Breakfast at 7:00am, dive shop opens at 7:00am... we planned to hit the shop first to secure rental gear for the day. Our alarm was set for 6:00am. Shortly before the alarm went off (luckily we set the alarm on our cell phone!) I woke up. Looking at the ceiling I noticed the fan wasn't really spinning right. Then I noticed the air conditioner wasn't running. Didn't think much of that since it had been cycling throughout the night but it seemed too quiet. I leaned over and looked at the digital clock... no numbers. Seriously? Power outage? I used my phone screen to illuminate my way to the bathroom, did my business, then realized no power meant no water. Ugh. At this point I collapsed on the bed in a giggling fit. Double beds. No dive gear. No power. No water. Mark says to me, "Well at least we know the sun will come up." I quickly shot back, "We don't know that for sure!" This was followed by more hysterical laughter. Had we received our dive gear we would have at least had flashlights. Lol.
Power was restored around 7:00am and we made our way to the dive shop to check out rental gear. What an impressive operation. Turns out only a few people had their gear arrive the night before so there were at least 20 divers trying to get outfitted and the 2 staff in the store were very quick, attentive, and thorough in setting everyone up. We had plenty of time to eat our breakfast (after getting full gear) and word was boats were going to wait for the first plane to come in with more bags. We did our boat briefing, had everything set up, and then the luggage started arriving. Yay! Only 3 suitcases didn't make it they said. Guess who owned 2 of those 3 items? Haha. So rental gear it was...
The gear we used on the first two dives wasn't junk, but it wasn't ours. We decided to leave the expensive camera gear on land since we didn't completely trust our diving ability in the unfamiliar equipment. I'm pretty proud of us for making that decision. The regulators breathed a lot harder than we were used to, the fins gave us blisters while not providing much propulsion, and my mask was a leaky/foggy disaster. But we were diving and that's what we came to do. If it hadn't been for the awesome Reef Divers staff we cold have found ourselves sitting by the pool and missing dives. When we came in for lunch we found our dive bags by our room door and that's where the trials of this trip ended
. Man I love my gear. Dive 3 of the day was much more comfortable, enjoyable, and relaxed.Days 2-6 (Feb 01-Feb 05):
From here on out I was so overstimulated that much of the diving became a blur. I love being underwater. I was fascinated by the coral and critters. I was awed by the vast walls. I got my picture taken with big Russian guns. I learned a lot about the new camera gear. I saw my first reef shark. I became a Lionfish hunter. I watched an octopus do some hunting. I viewed a school of squid in a completely different light. I was actually tired of purple fans. I ran out of time. I know I have to go back.
Here are all the spots we visited:
Jan31; Sarah's Set, Marilyn's Cut, Bush Gardens
Feb01; Mixing Bowl, Great Wall West, Coconut Walk
Feb02; Russian Frigate 356 (Tibbetts), Blacktip Blvd., Donna's Delight
Feb03; Randy's Gazebo, Bell Ringer, Joy's Joy
Feb04; Lea Lea's Lookout, Baracuda Bight, Marilyn's Cut, Joy's Joy (night dive)
Feb05; Bus Stop, Mixing Bowl
18 dives, 16 hours 42 minutes underwater, water a constant 80.2F
5 hours of video, 1500 pictures
I put together a slideshow of the pictures but with youtube's 10 min limit I broke it down to 3 parts.
YouTube - Cayman01.wmv
YouTube - Cayman02.wmv
YouTube - Cayman03.wmv
The same pictures can also be seen in my 2010 Little Cayman Flickr album.
Mark put together some really excellent HD videos of the trip and they are on youtube too.
YouTube - Little Cayman 2010
YouTube - Diving the Tibbetts
Plus he chose some of his favorite pictures from the trip for his Little Cayman Underwater and his Little Cayman Surface Flickr albums. A couple are repeats, but there are different ones too.
Oh. We did manage to arrive home with all our bags
!
