Another day of Worship at the Cayman Island Baptist Church, and learning a wonderful song – When Death was Arrested. Really amazing. After lunch we saw the clouds moving on, so we went snorkeling after all. It had rained big time again last night, like around 4 am. The waves at Cemetery Beach were too rough, so we ended up in the millpond of Eden Rock once more. It was lovely and warm though the sun wasn’t shining consistently. Saw some rarer fish: a gray angelfish we usually only see in the Keys, the barred hamlet, and I finally saw the tobaccofish that David had seen and photographed the other day. We had dinner at the Czech Inn and learned a bit more about George, the owner. He emigrated here 15 years ago, was the executive ... read more

The weather is changing, but we still managed to do 2 snorkels, as we count down to the day of our leaving, Tuesday. In fact, it cleared up to be a very sunny day. First stop: Spotts’ Beach, to see “just” 2 turtles and our old friend the stingray without a full tail. Then to Eden Rock for our last visit. We bought shirts there and said goodbye to Mario, the man who works all the time. It was incredibly still. Nothing special was seen, just lots of lovelies. We stopped at Hurleys on the way back, sending David in to get the special rock cakes we had ordered. Then lunch at home. Then an interesting visit to Pedro St. James, a very historical house – redone to be like the original built in the 1700s ... read more

We almost had a dry day but…. As it was quite cloudy, we put on our suits but really didn’t think we’d swim. We headed up to the top of the “West Side,” first stopping in the crazy upscale Camana area, for a French pastry, parking right outside – that’s how quiet it is here. Next stop: Hell. Jess wanted to mail her postcards from there. And we did see the strange limestone formations for which the area was named. We bought a coconut from the vender there too – young coconut meat and very nice coconut “milk.” And then further north to drive slowly thru the national park – not really much to see really. We understand that that mosquitos lay their eggs there and then the govt treats the ponds and hopefully diminishes the ... read more

Today was a most successful drift snorkel to Rum Point. The wind conditions were perfect, so there was barely any current moving us along. As usual David dropped me, and this time Jess too, at the local public restroom in Caiman Kai, and parked up next to Rum Point, and then walked back. At last he remembered to time all that – 12 minutes for the drive and the walk back. We entered and swam out to the farther reef and enjoyed the very alive and varied colorful soft corals and fans. Then we swam back into the middle, and then along the closer reef. Along the way we spotted 3 sting rays and an enormous Eagle Ray. That was wonderful – they “fly” with such grace. However, we also had never noticed how they skim ... read more

The day that our friends would have swapped places, but instead Jess from Indianapolis arrives. We did some final birdwatching in the weird and wonderful “hinterlands,” of Boddentown area. In other words, we drove down graveled and dirt roads to wherever we saw bodies of water. Saw good stuff at one: little blue heron, tri-color heron, cattle egret, black & white stilt, anhinga, least tern, pied billed grebe ??? moorhen (or common gallinule if we want to sound fancy). Then we went to the Queen Elizabeth Botanical Gardens again, just to the parking lot, and the find of the day was the Governor’s official car – a fancy JAGUAR!!! with the Caymanian Flag stuck on the front and a crown where the license plate should be. My guess? He’s treating his Mum to a visit to ... read more