Through My Lens --Grand Cayman

A Scorpion, Eels, And A Brain

My favorite fish to find is a peacock flounder. Unfortunately we didn't see one this trip. Bob's favorite fish find is a scorpion fish. They are hard to find because they look just like a rock or piece of coral and unless they blink--move their eyes, you would just pass them by. Our keen eyed grandson found a scorpion fish on one dive. It was a beauty as far as you can call an ugly fish a beauty.


Scorpion fish are also very dangerous. It is one fish you want to be sure you don't touch. Their spiny fins contain a poison and could be deadly.

Old Blue Eyes

We also managed to find a couple of eels on our dives. Several green ones and a guy that was a very plain brown but still had glassy eyes. Eels really can't see well if at all. They find their food by smell.

For some reason I seemed to see a lot of brain coral this time. There were some pretty big brains down there. My funny thought for the dive: If people don't have a brain in their head is this where they went?

Diving--So Much Ocean, So Little Time

The Cayman Islands' reefs are abundant in corals and sea fans. One of our dive sites had not one but three large pillar corals. The soft look of the coral comes from all the little "fingers" that are rippling constantly.


The one coral pillar had fallen over at some time and was now beginning to grow from the horizontal pieces giving it the look of a giant toothbrush.


One of the other things that we like to look for as we dive are the flamingo tongue snails that are on the coral fingers and sometimes the sea fans. They are actually inside out with the soft body wrapped around the shell. The ones we found were not as fancy as some we've seen but I am always amazed and glad to find them.


Another little creature we often find tucked in among crevices in the coral reef is the arrow head crab. It looks like a daddy-long-legs spider but like its look alike is harmless. It gets its name from the pointy head it has.

Flamingo tongue snails

Arrow head crab

Fish photo bomb

The Ballerina Of The Ocean

The adult spotted drum fish is a black and white patterned fish that looks like he doesn't have anything in his wardrobe that matches. The front of him is bold black and white stripes but his fins are spotted. I'm sure that the markings have something to do with his survival. Maybe camouflage?


Before becoming an adult however, the spotted drum is a graceful and energetic little fish that seems to dance the day away. They are quite small, no bigger than a child-sized palm. It's the long slender fins that add the charm.



If you have ever seen dancers take long ribbons and use them to enhance their dance routine, you can imagine more what these marine dancers look like. But better yet, take a look at the video that Bob got of several that we saw while diving this year. We were so happy to find that the lion fish hadn't eaten all of them.

Wordless Wednesday

Scuba Diving --2019 Adventure

Diving the East End of Grand Cayman with Ocean Frontiers was excellent as always. The dive operation takes good care of us.

The Caymans are always a place to see turtles and we weren't disappointed. We saw several small ones and one huge loggerhead.

I'll share the turtle pictures and video today and then show you some of the other things we saw that Bob actually got a picture of. It's not easy taking pictures when the motion of the ocean is moving you around and the subject of your photo can run and hide--make that swim and hide. He does a good job but we have at least 30 pictures for every good one that we get. So, wading through them still and I will continue to post more for those who like to see what we saw.

Scuba Diving - 2019

Our annual trip with our grandson was a week ago. As usual we went to Grand Cayman. While Grandpa and I have earned our Green Shorts, he's still working on his--only five more dive sites to go.

It was a great nine days even though it started out a bit rough. We landed in a downpour after circling the storm for about a half hour. As luck would have it, when we came down the mobile stairway (there are no jetways at CIAA) the last of the umbrellas they handed out went to the lady in front of me. I tossed my sweater over my head and ran as best I could for the covered walkway into the airport. By the time we all made it we were drenched. I wrung my sweater out and wondered how long it would take to dry.

We didn't think about our luggage getting wet until we got through customs and picked up our duffel bags with our clothes and dive gear. Our grandson knew we were in trouble when a little water trickled out of the bottom of his. But wait--it got wetter.

I stayed at the airport while the two guys went to get the rental car. It took almost an hour which is only about 20 minutes longer than usual. It's the Caribbean--nothing gets done quickly there. When they returned, Bob was literally sloshing in his shoes. They had to wade through water six inches deep on the road.

So picture this. We now have to get used to driving on the left side of the street again and the road is flooding. We ended up following others through a parking lot to get around one deep spot. Once we were away from Georgetown and on the east side of the island, the roads were dry. We stopped to check in and fill out our dive forms at Ocean Frontiers. They were surprised to find out it had rained let alone so much. The sun had shone all day for them. Go figure.

Thankfully the start to our dive trip did not predict anything for the rest of the trip. The weather was great. Not nearly as hot and humid as usual most days and the diving was spectacular as always. I'll share some more of Bob's pictures tomorrow.

Friday Funny--The Dragon's Lair

A little explanation goes with the videos here. The first video is our dive a couple years ago to a site called Dragon's Lair. There are all sorts of ways different dive sites get their name but this one is sort of obvious if you get the right view of the coral and rock that juts out. A little imagination and you are looking at a dragon and usually there is seaweed or coral growing in the part that resembles a dragon's mouth thereby making it appear to be a fire breathing dragon.

The first video is Bob's view but the second video is the view of Bob from our grandson's GoPro. Bob was mugging for the camera as if he was afraid of the dragon--or maybe it was a native underwater dance. I'll leave that to interpretation.

Dragon's Lair:


Bob's shenanigans.

Turtle Kisses

Diving is always an adventure. You never know what to expect. An unexpected appearance of a Caribbean gray shark. A dancing juvenile drum fish. Lobster peeking out of a crevice in the coral. A turtle feeding off the vegetation on the bottom. It was the last one that caught our attention on one dive a few years ago but it was what happened after we spotted the turtle that was so much fun.

You see, the turtle spotted us as well and was attracted to Bob or perhaps it just wanted to come in for a close up. Whatever the case, its curiosity brought it right up to the camera Bob was using and for a moment we all thought Bob was going to get a turtle kiss. The video is so much fun to watch and I'm thankful that our grandson Tyler allowed me to use it.

A Look Back At Some Cayman Diving

We don't take a whole lot of pictures diving any more. There are few people who would want to sit and look through all of them. Bob has learned to edit the videos pretty well and this is one he put together a couple of years ago that is nice.

If you watch it and feel sleepy, you'll know why we like diving so much. It is very relaxing. We don't fall asleep during the dive though, just in case you were wondering.

Grand Cayman - Green Shorts!!

We have been diving the East End of Grand Cayman since around 1996. There are at least 55 marked dive sites in that area. Originally we were diving with the East End Dive Lodge but when Hurricane Ivan wiped it out completely, we switched to Ocean Frontiers and now have been diving with them for 13 years. Several years ago they set out a challenge to their divers: Dive all of the 55 sites and receive a pair of their iconic green shorts.

They allowed us to count the dives we'd done with the Dive Lodge as well since they were recorded in our dive logs. Still there was always that one elusive dive, Old Wreck Head, that never seemed to be within our reach. The problem with the site is that the dive boat has to anchor. There is no mooring pin because of its location near the cut-threw channel where the boats go in and out of the area surrounded by the reef.

Because it is in that cut-threw area, there is also the danger of current, the anchor not holding if the wind and waves are strong and with all of that, the visibility reduced because of the motion of the water.

Wouldn't you know it--the time I decide not to dive because of my bad knees it the time the weather decides to cooperate to dive Old Wreck Head. Bob came into the condo all excited with the news that the weather was to be good enough to get to Old Wreck Head the next day. Did I want to try it?

Will a donkey or a mule not pursue a carrot on a stick in front of her? Of course I couldn't pass up the challenge. But would I be able to get back on the boat?

We went down to the dive center and I filled out all my disclaimer forms and signed up. Debbie assured me that the crew would handle my equipment. I could put my gear on and plop into the water from the swim deck and they would take the gear from me at the back of the boat before I had to climb the ladder. And if I couldn't climb the ladder? Would they tow me? She laughed and said there were lots of ways to get me out of the water and on to the boat--trust the crew.

I did. They were wonderful. And I did make it up the ladder, slowly, but on my own. Best of all back at the dive center we were rewarded with medals, champagne, a special cake and yes! our very own green shorts! Next year I'll return wearing my green shorts and sporting a new knee.

Through Bob's Lens - Diving Grand Cayman

These were from my husband's camera during our dive trip to Grand Cayman.

Flamingo tongue snail. The snail is actually covering its shell and will retract to the inside when threatened.

Spotted eel.

Colorful barrel sponge.

Their blue eyes are sparkly.

DUDE!!!

A 3-Tank Safari

Our favorite dive operation, Ocean Frontiers in Grand Cayman, features several very creative dive experiences. One of them is called a 3-tank safari. It is basically a whole day's adventure and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

The adventure began just before 9AM. The idea for this expedition was to go further than the usual dive sites on a normal dive morning or afternoon. We headed to the north end. A little over an hour later we tied up to a mooring buoy and got ready to jump in.

There was not the usual map drawing to show the dive site. The dive masters don't dive these sites very often so we were more or less all exploring it together for the first time. The direction for the reef wall was pointed out and the shallows area pointed out. It forced us to really look at the differences in the color of the water to see where the reef and the sandy areas were.

Our dive plan for the three of us was to jump in and head for the wall and then turn and come back. Straight lines are not always straight when you get below water but we managed to make it to the wall and back to the boat enjoying the scenery and the marine life along the way.

The second morning dive was in a shallower area (40-60 feet deep) and was nearer the area where Sting Ray City is. We were eager to see if we would run into any rays in the sandy areas.

Sure enough we saw a large sting ray as well as several other critters of interest including one I don't remember seeing before--a sand diver. It looked a little like a scorpion fish but was long and thin instead of looking like a rock.

We tied up at a marina and took off the empty tanks. Someone from the dive shop had brought fresh tanks for the third dive and while we ate lunch the staff changed out the tanks and set our gear up again. Lunch was sandwiches, sodas, fruit, chips and watermelon. We had purchased ours through the dive shop because it was our last day and I didn't want to have to buy food we might not use up.

Because our dives had been so excellent before lunch we opted to stay up north for the third dive rather than motor halfway home. It would mean a long ride home but it was truly worth it. We managed to see three spotted eagle rays--one pair and then a single. They look like they are flying through the water like giant birds. Then there was a large crab, a big hermit crab in an old conch shell, a lobster and lots of little cleaner shrimp along with some large lionfish.

We made it back to the dive shop in the late afternoon. It had been a great day, sadly our last for this year but what a way to end our dive trip.

Turtle Kisses

Usually the marine life gives you wide berth when you are diving but there are occasions when they become as curious about you as you are of them. On several of our dives this year we saw a turtle. This particular dive we saw a little guy. As we were swimming along, He seemed to be headed for the surface but started toward us.

Oh my gosh, I thought, this guy is going to give us an up close look before he veers off and heads up. Turtles have lungs and so they must surface periodically to breathe. They can spend a long time underwater. Hours to days depending upon the type of turtle and whether it is feeding or sleeping or hibernating.

This little guy was in no hurry to get to the top. He was more interested in Bob. We weren't sure why unless he thought the camera in his hand was a food offering. Later, when we watched the video, we thought perhaps the sound that Bob's regulator was making attracted him. (The diaphragm or o-ring in his regulator wasn't lubricated properly when we had our equipment serviced. It's happened before and doesn't affect your breathing but does create the irritating whistle.)

The turtle just kept coming until I thought it was going to kiss Bob. He started backing up and then the turtle must have remembered he was on his way to the surface and he headed on up to catch his breath. We were still trying to catch ours after a wonderful encounter and something to remember for years to come.

"Marine Cha-ching"

One of the exciting things about scuba diving is that you never know what you are going to find. It is a landscape and community that is constantly changing. I often laugh when someone comes back from a dive and says they didn't see anything. There is always something to see. It just may not be what you were looking for. My general comment is that the only reason you didn't see anything was because of all the fish in the way.

Like anything else you sometimes don't notice the obvious. In the Caymans there are tons of fish all brightly colored or patterned and all sizes. They even have different personalities. The groupers always look grumpy, the tarpons nonchalant, the parrot fish forever happy-go-lucky and that's just a few to mention among the thousands of others.

On a few of our dives we saw some new things that we hadn't seen before. Our grandson pointed out to me a disk sticking out of the sandy bottom in one place. When I waved my hand over the top of it to scatter the sand, we discovered the first sand dollar I'd ever seen when diving. I've seen lots on shore but never under the water and never one this size. It had to be at least 8 inches in diameter and that's adjusting for the fact that everything looks larger underwater.

When we bragged about our find, the dive master wanted to know if it was alive or dead. We looked at each other and shrugged. Were there little tentacles sticking out? he asked. Nope and it was very white in color. Dead, he said. We didn't care. It was still a great find.

Later we would see a nurse shark swimming freely. Usually they are snugly tucked in under a rock or ledge. I wondered if he'd been disturbed by the divers in the area.

Of course marine life also includes the corals, sea fans, sponges and tons of other little creatures that are found in the crooks and crevices--like an arrowhead crab that gets its name from its arrow shaped body and actually looks like a daddy-long-legs spider. It was hiding in a little spot between some rocks.

But the sand dollar was unusual. Something that can't be spent but can certainly be saved in the memory banks forever.

More Sharks! And A Ray

Surely, I thought as we began our second day of diving, there will not be any sharks today. We rarely see one in a week of diving and we'd already had a close encounter. So when the dive master said there were three or four that hung out at this morning's first dive site I just figured he was whetting everyone's appetite for the dive ahead.

Before we could even set out to start our exploring of Pat's Wall, we had our first encounter. It was as if the shark were greeting us. It swam close by and I figured that was that. But no. The shark came back--not once but numerous times making a wide circle under the dive boat. I don't recall ever having one come that close to us. Then all of a sudden there were two.

I have to admit my heart rate was up a bit. As much as I could I told myself not to panic but as the sharks passed within 10-15 feet of us (maybe closer, I'm trying not to exaggerate), I was feeling a bit uncertain. Sharks don't normally get friendly with divers. They are usually nonchalant and eager to get out of our sight. I began to wonder if they were expecting a handout. Was someone feeding them?

We moved on to the rest of our dive but when we returned the one shark was still there and still making a wide circle beneath us as we paused for our safety stop at 20 feet. Once on board, I asked the dive master if someone had been feeding the sharks because their nearness and circling seemed to me to be the behavior of a fish that was waiting to be fed. Apparently there was some lion fishing done in the area at one time and he admitted that there may have been a couple of people who had let the shark have the lion fish. (The lion fish are an invasive species introduced into the Caribbean and efforts have been made to eliminate them by spear fishing. They have no other predator.) He assured me that the lion fishing had stopped in that area. Did anyone tell the sharks?

Our second dive was in shallower waters and had some large sandy areas. We were rewarded with the antics of a ray that had a large fish on top of it. I couldn't be sure if it was a cleaner fish or if it was getting some bits of uneaten food from the ray.

All in all it had been quite a morning. What next?

Shark! Up Close And Just Personal Enough

The first day of a dive trip is always a little anxiety producing. Getting on the dive boat and getting your gear set up for the first time in a year all while you are still acclimating to heat and humidity is tiring. Then comes that first jump in the water, equalizing the pressure in your ears and checking to be sure that the equipment you just had serviced is all in working order before you get too far from the boat. It takes a few moments but then you begin to relax, find your buoyancy in the water and begin your exploration.

So we began the first dive of our trip at Lighthouse Wall. One of the things we like so much about diving the East End of Grand Cayman is the reef wall that extends all along the coast. It makes navigation easy. Jump in. Head for the top of the wall. Drop down to 60-80 feet. Follow the wall in one direction for about 15 minutes and come up on top of the wall and turn back to the boat for the rest of your dive.

We followed the routine and had planned on turning left at the wall's edge but when we saw a whole group of divers already there, we decided to go right. Our decision brought us around a pinnacle jutting out into the deep and practically face to face with a Caribbean grey shark. I think it was a female since she looked pretty big. Normally the shark will turn and swim the other way but she was about 20 below us and just kept lazily swimming below us along the wall. We turned (the boys had their cameras going) and followed a bit. It didn't seem to bother her at all. In the past the shark usually flicks its tail and takes off for the deep. This one seemed to enjoy being photographed.

Not wanting to aggravate her, we turned and continued along the wall being thankful that we'd had this extraordinary encounter. She wasn't done with all the divers though. As we waited at our rest stop before exiting the water to the boat, she did a loop below us allowing anyone who hadn't seen her the first time to get a good look. Then she disappeared into the deep.

Needless to say since we are diving with our nearly sixteen year old grandson, his day was made and we still had another dive to do before the morning would be over. Some eels and lots of fish as well as huge sea fans and sponges were wonderful to see but the shark--well, wasn't it just shark week on TV? This was better.

Wordless Wednesday

Fishy Personalities

All fish are not created equal. For that matter all marine life is not the same. I suppose that's what makes movies like Finding Nemo and Dory and SpongeBob SquarePants work. Lots of characters to be had there. Our recent dives have provided lots of fishy personalities and I'm not referring to divers. That's a whole other observation. We all have our quirks.

There has not been one grouper that I've met, large or small, that looks happy. No matter the size (and we've seen some whoppers) they always have a turned down look to their mouths that look like a frown. Grumpy groupers.

The exact opposite is the colorful parrot fish. Its mouth is shaped more like a smile and it literally bounces around the reef from rock to rock gleaning what it can from each. Seemingly hyperactive they skip to another section of the reef and continue to happily scrape their favorite tidbit of vegetation from the rocks and hard corals there.

In between these two personality types are all sorts. There's the "dead-eyed" barracuda who makes you shiver with his look as he slowly circles you to see what you are up to. Then it's the trigger fish with their eternally puckered mouth as if they've eaten too many lemons. All sorts of jaw fish in the sand pop up and down and amaze me at the way they can back into their hole without looking. The puppy dog eyes of the porcupine fish make you want to cuddle them although that would not be wise.

Then there are the schools of yellow striped grunts and blue fish (whose name escapes me). When the sun lights them up it looks like a party not a school. They seem to be the more social groups.

Now you might think that the shark would have an outstanding personality but actually with all the sharks we've seen I'd have to say they were the most shy of all the sea creatures we've met. They appear quickly and disappear just as fast, rarely hanging around long enough for a picture.

It's a whole different and amazing world beneath the surface.

Ah, The First Day of Diving

While I might be the maid, the cook and the laundress on this trip it is Bob's job to get all our dive gear in order and he always seems to manage that with great results. Since we got Murphey off of our backs by the end of our travel day (see yesterday's post) our first day of diving was shaping up to be good.

Grandson up on time, gear in the car, breakfast eaten, we were on our way. While it is really hot and muggy we try not to complain. Hot and muggy makes the ocean waters warm and we don't like diving in cold water. The dive operation, Ocean Frontiers, that we use every year is so wonderful. It is on the East End of the island about a fifty minute trip from the airport--only five from our condo rental. Once we are helped aboard the dive boat, we are offered the opportunity to have our gear set up. Our first day we like to do it ourselves just because we don't want to forget how it's done. All dive operations do not offer that service.

Our first dive turns out to be one that we need for completion of our Green Shorts Challenge. We only need two and this one always seemed to be skipped because of its location and depth and the weather. The first dive is always one more of exercise than anything. Remembering what to do, checking out gear and getting our. . .what would you call them, dive legs?

Scuba Bowl turns out to be an interesting landscape. We have to watch our depth to keep it above 80 feet because of our grandson's age but there is still lots to see even though the sharks they see here sometimes seemed to have slept in. A short dive because of the depth and we are once again on the surface.

Our second dive site is one we have been to many times. The Dragon's Lair is called that because of a profile on the end of one of the outcroppings that resembles a dragon's head and has an outcropping of coral in its mouth like flames. We are more relaxed on this dive and find a couple of huge lobsters. The one we find is really patterned nicely. Of course there are schools of all sizes of blue fish, parrot fish and several tarpons, large fish (3-4 feet long) with great big jaws that swim slowly through the canyons. They are gentle fish with huge silvery scales. I love swimming next to them and seeing the sun penetrate the water to sparkle on their scales.
Our morning over, the boat returns to the dock and our gear is whisked away to be rinsed and set up tomorrow morning for us for another morning of diving. Our afternoon will be spent napping. For some reason, diving the first day is really tiring. Maybe it's the heat. Maybe it's our age. But then our grandson sleeps through the afternoon as well. Yup. It's the heat, the excitement of the first morning dives. Tomorrow we'll begin to hit our stride.