Cayman Islands Highlights

Our first week of vacation was spent scuba diving from a live-aboard (the Nekton Rorqual) around the Cayman Islands. We were married on this boat (by a captain named Chris Christofferson, but that's another story) and this was our first return trip. We've made other trips (several!) on the other Nekton boat, the Pilot.

Travel to Grand Cayman was seamless -- we arrived on Saturday early afternoon, and spent the rest of the afternoon sitting at the bar at Sunset House with City Girl (Loving Spouse's daughter) drinking bear and enjoying each other's company. The Rorqual crew picked us up at 7:00 and took us to the boat.

A week of diving, eating, and sleeping ensued. Some cool diving events:

• Being 40 feet underwater when it started to rain on the surface. Did you know that when this happens, it sounds like Sizzling Rice Soup? And with the visibility of 60 to 80 feet, we could see the dimpled surface. Very cool.
• On a late afternoon dive, we came across two Hawksbill turtles circling each other. We think they were competing for access to a tasty bucket sponge. One would circle in, wedge himself against the spounge, take a few bites. Then the other one would come in, take the first turtle's place, and take a few bites. We watched this for about 15 minutes, until 1 swam away and gave the other total access. Loving Spouse took some pics, but they turned out a bit dark, because of the lateness in the day.
• Great wreck diving -- a huge Russian destroyer and a boat used to carry bananas around the Caribbean.
• Interesting people on the boat, including a somewhat fundie group of tec divers who were extremely regimented in their routines and gear. But they weren't evangelical, so that was ok.

Traveling home got a bit sticky. We had only an hour to go through customs in a big southern city before catching our next flight. Needless to say, we missed our flight, but Continental was kind enough to give us a hotel. We arrived home a day later than we had originally planned and spent Sunday rinsing gear and doing laundry.

Now back to yard work, writing, and trying to continue the relaxation. Oh, and losing the 10 pounds I gained on the boat!