Cayman Trip - Day 8: Scuba

I really wanted to go Scuba diving while we were in the Caymans. I had heard that there was some amazing diving there. The snorkeling was so great that I knew the diving would be amazing too. I have only been ocean diving on 2 other occasions. Both of these were excursions booked through the cruise line. So it was a new experience finding a dive shop to take us out.I knew that the little rental place at Rum Point did dive tours, and I thought it would have been nice to go out and not have to drive all around. Unfortunately when Preston talked to them, they said that if we hadn’t been on a dive in the last 2 years we would need to take a refresher class. Since 3 of our 5 divers met this category, we decided not to go with them. That is when the calling started. Preston and Matt started calling around, and finally we settled on a little outfit that was over on the West side of the island, out on 7 mile beach. They seemed really cool and casual. I was ready for some fun!

(Our Dive guides)

We did an afternoon dive. Most of the morning dives were booked up, probably from the cruise ship passengers. We were good with this because we had a long drive anyway. Matt took us all in the Corolla (I didn’t care I was in the front, but I bet it was cozy in the back seat). We drove to the other side of the island and found our boat. I was happy to find out that there were only the 5 of us on the boat! We explained that we were not expert divers. My sister Val hadn’t been since her certification quite a few years ago, and they said we would just do a couple of shallow dives. So we climbed onto the boat and set off.

(Val, Chrys, and Preston on the dive boat)

The first dive was in a place call the Fish Tank (or Fish Bowl, I don’t remember) because there were so many fish there. We went down, I had a little trouble because I didn’t have enough weight and I kept floating away. But the guide stole some weight from Matt and put it in my vest and I was set to go. We were having a great time when I turned around and noticed that my sister Val wasn’t behind me where she had been. When I was having trouble sinking I noticed she was too. But I looked back and couldn’t find her. I found Matt and tried to ask him, without being able to speak, if he knew where she was. He didn’t. I grabbed my sister Chrystie and tried to ask her. I spelled VAL with sign language and Chrystie just looked at me like I was crazy. Finally I gave up. About this time our guide realized she was missing and went to look for her. She had had trouble getting her ears to equalize and ended up back on the boat. The rest of us kept on going.There were tons of fish here, including some HUGE lobsters. After a while they did an air check and sent the boys back to the boat (note to self, don’t get stuck in a bank vault with Matt or Preston, they use too much air) and Chrystie and I looked around a little longer. Matt was able to get some pictures of us at this point. Pretty cool.

(Me - blue flippers, Chrystie and our guide)

We got back on the boat and headed to the next location. This one was called Spanish Anchor, because, well, there is a Spanish Anchor under the water; from long, long ago. It was really neat to see that. I also saw an eel and some other really nice fish. We saw some turtles on this dive (happy free turtles!) Also on this dive we tried to keep our eyes on Val, so she wouldn’t get lost again. She made it down just fine, and we were all having lots of fun. Then at the end of the dive, Val was gone again! I had been keeping my eye on her, and then suddenly she was gone. The guide went off looking for her, and she was fine and at the surface (having had trouble clearing her mask). So we were all fine and made it to the boat safe and sound.

(Eating on the beach)

We were HUNGRY when we got back to the beach, so we stopped at a little place right there on 7 Mile beach. I was so thirsty too, so I was glad to have some water. The food I had was good.Now happy and full we decided to do some snorkeling. We were directed to Cemetery Point, about a mile or so up the road. There was some really good snorkeling here. You had to swim out a ways to get to the good fish, but there were SO MANY of them. I was taking pictures with our little underwater camera like crazy. Suddenly I thought the band of the camera was poking on my hand. It was stinging and itchy and hurt. I kept swimming and having fun, not sure what had happened, but planning on investigating the camera strap when I got back in. We chased a bunch of fish around when I turned and saw a little transparent jelly, just like the ones back at Rum Point. Suddenly it made sense! My itchy burning hand was from a jelly fish sting!

Well, we finished our swim and all jammed back in the car. We needed to get home and save my mom and dad from their babysitting duties. It was just after 5 and we totally ran into rush hour traffic. You wouldn’t think there would be much rush hour traffic on such a laid back island, but we were jam packed into our lane for a while. But finally we made it home to the blue house.

Coming Soon - Day 8: The last day