So, may the fourth be with you! (and how many respond without thinking, “and also with you”?) So today, which shall it be? Decisions decisions. Birding or snorkeling or both? There was narry a cloud in the sky for a change, so even though cruise ships were due in, we decided to head to Eden Rock, which is right there in the center of Georgetown. Yep, 2 ships were there when we arrived, the Carnival ships Paradise and Vista, and while we were in the water, the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas also arrived. The tenders were going back and forth, back and forth. How does one get on one of the earliest trips if you are keen to snorkel early?? Never having been on a cruise, we don’t know, and we could have asked. ... read more

We left early this morning (just at 7 am!) to go birding up north again. We did get one new bird: the Caribbean dove. All the doves and pigeons here are quite lovely, and so different. Then we enjoyed time just walking around the parking lot at the Queen Elizabeth Botanical Gardens, without buying admission again. After lunch back at the ranch we almost decided to have a “dry day,” but instead ventured forth into the area right outside our AirBnB again – but it was quite disappointing. 10 minute of kicking to get to any fish of note – 350 kicks in my count! But we saw some interesting shells, including one large old conch shell that had a damsel fish guarding it – and ducking in and out. We’d never see that behavior before. ... read more

Well, the winds were down, so we wanted to do the drift snorkel again. Basically the drift area is a wide area between the shore and the outer reef – you can see where the breakers hit with the white foam. There are 2 strips of “reef,” one close to the shore, and one near the main reef. It was so windy on Wednesday we stayed nearer the shore. This time we swam further out, and this area is so full of varied and healthy soft corals. I’m not sure what they are all called, but they are shaped like fingers of different colors and textures, and fans – greeny yellow and lovely purple. Some heads of coral too, on which these other things grow. It is not like Aruba where we see a lot of ... read more

We were up and at ‘em early as usual, and as it was still windy from the S.E., we decided to check out Eden Rock, which is right in the center of the capital of Caymans, George Town. It is a very small capital! On our way through the back streets David spied his first Cuban Parrott – so NEW LIFER. He had to take the photo with the small camera, as we don’t like to leave the big lens in the car when we snorkel. We were the ONLY ones there at the parking lot of the Eden Rock Dive Shop. We thought it looked smooth, and had NO cruise ships in, but one of our photos shows you the rolls. No wonder that after 1.5 hours we were a little wobbly. We saw lots ... read more

Dear friends, Sorry that we sort of left you hanging in Arizona - obviously we made it home, and helped lead an amazing Lutheran Marriage Encounter over the weekend, and then had one day to get ready for another adventure. The day started early, awaking at 1:30 am to leave at 2am for Pittsburgh Airport in our one-way rental. Amazing how many trucks are on the roads at that time. No problems checking in with all our proof-of-negative tests and vaccinations. But of course our hearts were heavy – for we should have been traveling with dear friends, who hadn’t been able to jump through all those hoops. Getting a covid test within 24 hours is really really tight, and we discovered only weeks ago that the rapid tests are in such short supply that CVS ... read more