Don't share

Here's how small Cayman is and here's how well they respect each others privacy.

Billionaire guy builds a massive mansion of a house in Cayman. Someone with access to his personal website address, downloads professional pictures of the well appointed and tastefully decorated interiors of this mansion with the following message. Some friend, eh? The message is as follows:

"Guys if you are going to FW this Message pls remove the email address!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks! I was asked not to forward this but I had to share it with a few friends and family as he may not invite us for dinner. Please respect his privacy and don't share, thank you. Absolutely awesome!!"

Trust me, everyone's been sharing and I mean EVERYONE. This email has made the rounds, even though it specifically mentions not to share, right after strict instructions on how what to do if you do decide to forward it.

There's nothing like reverse psychology!

Needless to say, the house is gorgeous and no, I am NOT going to share.

Two?

Two? I think someone at The Weather Network over in Canada mistakenly ate a digit off Cayman's weather last night. It's probably never been 2 deg C in Cayman, EVER! Maybe they're wishing it was, so they'd feel better about themselves at six. Envious, much?

Barracuda

I've posted about the Barracuda before, while in Bermuda, but I had none of my snorkel visuals to back it up. Not this time! Here's a lone ranger, venturing out into our neck of the ocean, until my friend chased him away. Well in his defence, he was trying to motion it closer to us. I actually didn't mind that the barracuda swam away as fast as it did, as I only wanted him around long enough for a photo op, which I got. I guess just one barracuda is not so much of a problem, it's the many than encirle you, that makes it one. While it wasn't the clearest of days, I did manage to get a clearer video. Could it have swam away any faster???

Fish friends

Hubby & I went snorkelling today at Cemetary Beach. While snorkelling I was surrounded by fish that are clearly used to people hovering over them. I'm not sure if they were looking for food which I once again forgot to bring with me to the beach. Of course I snapped away with my underwater camera, which I am loving more everyday. As I was going through today's pictures, I came across this GEM of a one, which I HAD to share. Check this out! HOW CUTE IS THIS? It's like they already know me and are so happy to see me again.

Compare and contrast

While the Stingrays were moving in and around us at the sandbar in Stingray City, I also spotted a CowFish, with my snorkel gear. Oh, a good tip: Take your snorkel mask with you while at Stingray City to get an awesome underwater vantage of how these ray glide. You'll never know what else you'll spot lurking closeby, like this Cowfish. I still had to some chasing to get a closer shot. But here it is. A Cayman Cowfish. This time it was in much closer proximity that when I spotted my first one in Bermuda and while the Cayman shot is underwater, the Bermuda shot is above water, and taken with a camera that's not waterproof. So, which is the prettier one? I like them both, but then again I am biased.

CAYMAN:










OR BERMUDA:

Guessing game

For the longest time I have wanted to spot this on my own, and have been so envious when other fellow islanders have told me they spotted it on any given day. Well, wouldn't you know it, I did spot it but had no clue as to WHAT it was. First of all I barely saw it, so well camaflauged it was in the seaweed. When I did spot it lurking, it along with its friend seemed very wary of my presence, that I didn't dare approach it any further. I hung back and took shots and videos of it as best I could. I had to show hubby what it was and he recognised it in a flash. So, what is it? Care to take a guess. Anyone?

CLICK ON THE COMMENTS TO VIEW THE ANSWER!

Stingray City

I am re-posting this today, even though I originally posted the video on Friday, April 10th. I wanted to elaborate and include pictures along with the video, but I was half asleep when the lone video went live, that I didn't trust myself to even type out a longer description for the post. So here goes...

Stingrays have received such a bad rap that is so undeserving of these creatures. We were at Stingray City in Grand Cayman a week ago and it is by far the neatest thing one can indulge in here on the island. Out in the wild, on a shallow sand bar situated right smack in the middle of the ocean is Stingray City. I cannot tell you how surreal this experience is/was. Imagine a shallow 'sandbar' in the middle of the ocean, where the water is really only waist deep, and what you have is many stingrays converging to be fed by the many tour boats that dock in close proximity. These stingrays have been coming around for years and are quite used to the human presence lurking in their territory.

They are fed squid by the tour operators and by visitors alike, which they suction out of your hand. You are cautioned not to wipe your hands to any part of your body, because the squid scent will attract them to that particular body part, and suctioning will begin. Some do this anyway and end up with hickeys on their arms. I didn't feed the stingrays but I certainly kissed one and got a back massage too! I can tell you that they are very slimy creatures.

What was sublime was feeling the stingrays brushing up against your legs as they glide through the water, much like a cat brushes up against you. Check out the last pic in the group above. It is for this reason that you are advised to slide your feet through the sand as you walk around and not swim or lift your feet underwater. Can't have them rays getting the wrong idea, right? And lastly I leave you with what a stingray looks like from the underneath. Looking at that smiley happy face, how can anyone resist? So, come on in, stay a while, you'll be hooked.

STING RAY VIDEOS: The first video is NOT TO BE MISSED. Check out what the tour guide does with the 'stinger'. Of course he's used to them. He's pretty funny and dare I say he's got a lot of moxie. ENJOY!!!





* PICS AND VIDEOS TAKEN BY ME W/ MY OLYMPUS STYLUS SW 850 UNDERWATER DIGITAL CAMERA.

Nothing fake about it

A friend actually had the gall to say that the picture below is not real.











Well, I think the video below will prove plenty.

Butter me up

A few Sundays ago we were greeted with thousands of white butterflies and I cannot tell you how beautiful it was. They were everywhere, like little snowflakes fluttering away in the wind. Unfortunately they also encountered one too many cars on the road and quite a few lost their lives for it. Little white butterflies lain on the roads, like little snowflakes that you would not like to see melt away. Butterfly roadkill is just as sad.

Baby love

We found an awesome spot to snorkel on the island on Saturday and I went nuts with the camera. Needless to say I am so very pleased with the way these shots came out. It was fabulous seeing miniature versions of the larger fish we are used to seeing. Baby fish are so adorable and these ones were NOT shying away. Take a look...




A baby Spanish Hogfish

A juvenile Yellow Tang with a Baby Hogfish

The juvenile Yellow Tang (just because I love it so much). These fish lose their brilliant yellow hue when they older and adopt a much deeper blue hue, to be called a Blue Tang.

A baby Ocean Surgeonfish with a couple of baby Damselfish.

A Seargant Major

Stay tuned for tomorrow's pics...It's going to be raining Stingrays!

The heat is on

I was half asleep when I wrote the last post and it seems that this is a continuing trend. I looked outside today and notice that there was not a cloud in the sky, not to mention the sunshine was blinding, the heat that could become unbearable if stayed out too long. Hot summer days are here and that also means it will lead to one thing - Hurricane season. I hope we have no surprises in store for us this year and all is relatively calm.

The right side

I'm back!!! I have been away...away last week to a cold land.

The moment we landed in good old Toronto, I wanted to head back to the heat in Cayman, especially since I have been away from the cold for more than a year. There's other things I have been away from too... like the first day I took the car out for a drive. My mantra for the first half hour was STAY ON THE RIGHT, STAY ON THE RIGHT, STAY ON THE RIGHT. Then the satisfaction when I subconciously did stay on the right without having to remind myself to do so. It's the little things, you know.