Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Tag: Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman 2014

Chris and I just returned from a week on Grand Cayman, and we are smitten! What a beautiful, fun island. When we first started researching a year ago, we were looking for an island with good off-shore snorkeling. The Caymans kept coming up in my search for snorkel sites, so we decided to give it a try. We’re so glad we did! The whole island is beyond lovely, everyone we encountered was so friendly (we met people from England, Australia, France, and India), and I only ended up with two bug bites – a Caribbean island record for me!

When and where it makes sense, Chris and I prefer to stay at a private rental if we can rather than a hotel for several reasons. I love having a home base where we can feel a little more like a local. We go grocery shopping for the week and eat a few meals at home instead of eating out all the time, so it’s a little more healthy. And most importantly, we enjoy having a quiet spot where we can enjoy the pool without listening to anyone yelling or screaming! And if you do some research, it’s not necessarily more expensive than a hotel – we tend to look just slightly into the shoulder season so that the rentals are much more affordable.

This time we ended up in an amazing villa in the North Shore area called Fish Bones. Long story short, the first two villas I picked were sold after I signed the contract, so we were offered a really great deal on this third choice. We couldn’t have ended up with a better house – the view of the ocean was mesmerizing, and we had an entry point into the water down some steps built into the cliff. Chris snorkeled there a few times and saw bar jacks, parrot fish, angel fish, various crabs, and we even saw an eagle ray and a southern stingray. I didn’t get in because there were a few spiny sea urchins hanging out by the steps and I’m clumsy! But I did spend quite a bit of time sitting on the steps, gazing at the water feeling peaceful.

Staying on the east end of the island on the northern shore, we were pretty far from Seven Mile Beach (about a 45-minute drive), but we did go visit that side of the island a few times. If you’re looking for a hotel or resort situated on a gorgeous beach with access to lots of restaurants, amenities and activities, this should definitely be a major contender for you. We ate lunch on SMB one day and enjoyed the soothing ocean views and fish-watching. The tarpon are huge! We also hung out in George Town a couple of times and spent an afternoon in West Bay.

Sadly, on Monday Chris got really sick from something he ate – we narrowed it down to some tartar sauce that accompanied our fish & chips at a restaurant in George Town. We tend to share everything when we eat out, but I am NOT a fan of creamy white sauces and didn’t eat it, so we’re 99.9% sure that’s what it was. So unfortunately, we had to cancel our scuba dive trip that was scheduled for Tuesday. I had mustered up the courage to try diving and Chris was excited about it, too, so we were disappointed, but it’s not at all safe to dive while you’re sick so it was necessary to cancel and we ran out of time to reschedule. We fully intend to try again on an upcoming trip – we have Belize and Vieques trips planned for next year, so one of those spots might work!

Thankfully, Chris was feeling a little better by Wednesday so we could do some gentle island exploring including the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park to see Cayman parrots and blue iguanas. The parrots were adorable! The one blue iguana we saw was lethargic, but interesting nonetheless.

We also explored Starfish Point which was super cute – we saw about a dozen sea stars, sprinkled throughout the shallow area of a small, secluded beach. They’re fascinating little creatures! Unfortunately, their numbers are dwindling in that area because irresponsible tourists take them out of the water for too long or even take them home which breaks my heart. I picked one up very carefully and completely beneath the surface of the water for a few seconds to take a photo, then gently placed him/her (?) back in the soft sand. It was a really cool experience, and I’m glad we got to see them before they inevitably disappear. I almost wish someone could stand on the beach all day and tell people not to remove them from the water. (I would love that job.)

We actually ended up driving the entire perimeter of the island throughout the week, but most of our time was spent closer to home. We poked around a lot in East End, Rum Point, and Old Man Bay. (Side note: Chris did most of the driving since he’s better at driving on the left-hand side.) There was plenty to keep us busy all week in those areas – restaurants and bars, a sculpture garden, various historical wreck sites, and we also visited some fascinating blow hole sites along the southern shore only 10 minutes away. If we have the chance to go back to Grand Cayman, we would definitely stay in this area again for the peace and undisturbed natural beauty.

By Thursday, Chris had recovered and was up for some adventure, so we didn’t have to cancel our trip to Stingray City – yay! It ended up being one of the highlights of our trip. Fat Fish Adventures took us out on jet skis for a thrilling tour of the island – we rode through the mangroves, stopped at Starfish Point and the Stingray City sandbar, and we ended the tour with a bit of snorkeling in the Coral Gardens area of Rum Point. I have to admit that I was nervous about this whole excursion! I had only ever jet skied on a sound in Florida where the water was calm. I read reviews of this tour that said you ride in open water where the waves were generally pretty rough, so I envisioned being flung from the jet ski into the ocean where I’d immediately be surrounded by swarms of jelly fish, sharks, and barracuda. (I do know the sharks and barracuda in the Caymans are typically harmless, but in my imagination they are not.) Chris was an excellent jet ski driver though, and even hitting waves at 50+ mph we never tipped over, so I had a blast.

I had also never jumped off a boat or other watercraft into open water, and knew that I’d be expected to do this twice on the tour, so that made me nervous as well. As I’ve mentioned, I’m pretty terrified of the ocean! Or so I thought – I think I might actually be getting over that fear. When we arrived at Stingray City, we saw huge shadowy figures in the water and I was shocked at how big the stingrays were! But somehow I got in the water anyway, and instantly became fascinated. Cautious, but fascinated. I opted out of holding one or getting a “back massage” from one of these magnificent creatures because I just don’t feel like we were meant to interact with them in that way, but I did gently pet one. They were, after all, brushing up against my legs like sweet, friendly kittens. We also saw a cute spotted trunk fish (see below – Chris took a great photo of it).

When our tour group got to the Coral Gardens site, I ignored my fears once again and just jumped in – I’ve never seen such a beautiful landscape underwater! The colorful corals and fish had me completely hooked, but we only stayed in that spot for about fifteen minutes. I wasn’t ready to leave and I ended up being the last one in the water.

We enjoyed the snorkeling so much that we decided to do one last adventure on Friday – we joined Tortuga Divers on a fantastic trip out to Sunset Reef where we snorkeled for well over an hour. I took more video than photos, but check out the trumpet fish below, and Chris’s stunning image of an angel fish!

I took a ton of video on this trip, so I’ll work on putting together some of my favorite clips. Stay tuned! And finally, I’ll end with the traditional toes-on-vacation shot from the pool. I could have stared at that view all day long, and sometimes I did.

Update: I finished a little video of the trip and uploaded it here! Again, I’ll add a disclaimer that I’m not really a videographer (I barely understand frame rates and all that jazz), and I definitely need more practice shooting video and photos underwater. But you’ll get the idea, and Chris was able to grab some really cool scenes of the rays at Stingray City!

Grand Cayman 2014 from Susan Marks on Vimeo.

April 27, 2014
Discovering Scuba Diving

Sometime a while ago when Chris and I were having one of our adventure/travel brainstorming discussions about what we’d like to do and where we’d like to go in the future, Chris said he’d love to try scuba* diving someday. Since we planned on visiting the Cayman Islands for a future trip, I began to research and quickly discovered The Caymans are one of the top diving destinations in the world, known for crystal clear waters and beautiful, friendly sea life. I’m typically unable to approach anything new on a casual level, so I immediately decided that if we were going to try scuba diving, we might as well (warning: upcoming pun) dive right in and get PADI certified. You can’t just go dive without some training anyway since there’s a lot involved to it! The certification course consists of three parts – classroom or online study, confined water training (typically held in a swimming pool), and open water dives. I signed up for the first two parts with a local dive shop, and planned to do our check-out open water dives in Grand Cayman since we had already planned to be there.

I have no problem with the idea of breathing underwater in the pool. That actually sounded fun, so I didn’t think the mechanics of diving would be an issue. But oh, wait…I seemed to have forgotten that I’m fairly terrified of the ocean. Jumping out of a plane? No problem – I didn’t even get the tiniest bit nervous until a few minutes into the flight. Jumping into open water filled with creepy creatures that want to attack me? Problem. I’ve been nervous for months ever since I signed up! And I have absolutely no idea where this fear stems from – I haven’t had any traumatic incidents in the water. I’m not even really worried about sharks when I’m at the beach. It’s the small creatures that freak me out for some reason. (I rue the day I watched a Discovery Channel special about irukandji.)

Slowly I began to worry more and more about my ability to handle all four of the open water dives required to become certified. So I thought maybe we should do the whole certification on the island and I booked the course with a dive shop that does all the initial training in the shallows of Seven Mile Beach. I figured that way I could gradually get used to being in the ocean. But my anxiety continued to escalate. My concern was that I wouldn’t be a safe diver considering my level of fear when it comes to jellyfish, barracuda and other stinging/biting things in the water. The one thing you can’t do while you’re diving is panic. The other thing you can’t do when you’re diving 30 meters under the surface is bolt back up for any reason – if you ascend too quickly, you risk decompression sickness (a.k.a., the bends). And I’ve been known to panic and bolt in the water! I bolted out of the water at the sight of seaweed on my very first attempt to snorkel in St. Thomas. Seaweed. The second time I tried to snorkel (years later), I panicked and made a beeline to the shore after seeing a stingray at least 10 feet below me at Cinnamon Bay in St. John.

In addition to my fears of certain ocean creatures, I’m also a really (really really) excitable person about almost everything. Especially animals. If I see a turtle while I’m diving, I’m pretty certain I’ll gasp and squeal and flail about just out of sheer joy. Gasping, squealing, and flailing are probably diving no-nos. I have no idea if I can stay calm while diving, and that’s apparently one of the key ingredients: stay calm, and breathe.

So I decided that the best thing for me to do was to first see if, in fact, I would be fine with diving in a pool. Our local dive shop offers a Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) class where you learn basic skills, equipment usage, and safety in a short classroom session, and then you practice in a pool. Chris and I signed up together (the class was probably unnecessary for him, but he was sweet to humor me) and we completed the class last weekend. Just as I expected, I had a ton of fun in the pool! Getting used to the heavy, complicated equipment was easier than I thought, and we did the basic skills with ease. We learned how to descend, adjust our buoyancy, clear a flooded mask, retrieve a lost regulator, and swim with fins. The only catch was that when our class arrived at the rec center, we found out the pool was double-booked, so the shallow end was already in use and we’d have to complete all of our training in the deep end! It definitely rattled everyone in the class, but it turned out to be easy and so fun (for most people). Chris and I were quickly comfortable at the bottom of the pool, and we hung out just breathing and practicing skills for nearly an hour.

Whether or not I can translate the skills and my comfort level to the open water is TBD, so we’re going to hold off on full certification for now since it’s a fairly big investment in time and money for something I’m not even sure I’ll enjoy! We are signed up for another DSD class in Grand Cayman, where we’ll review the skills in the pool and then go on an open water reef dive off of a boat. If I fall in love with it, I can go forward with the certification and I’ll already have some skills under my belt. If I hate it, I can at least say I tried. I’m excited and nervous, but I’m going to try to stay calm and not chicken out. I think the reef dive is about 30 minutes long, so it’s not really likely that I’ll get stung or bitten right?! Wish me luck!

*I do realize SCUBA is actually an acronym and was originally always notated in all caps, but after spending some time on dive-related message boards, it seems most divers commonly type scuba as a lowercase word.

April 10, 2014
Meet-the-Parents Photos

Do you remember the scene in the movie Meet the Parents where Greg and Pam arrive at Pam’s ex-fiance, Kevin’s, house for a pre-wedding barbeque? Greg finds all the old photos of Pam and Kevin together, doing amazing things like skydiving and snorkeling (still on display in the ex-fiance’s house – hilarious). Somehow that scene stuck with Chris and me, and every time we take a photo together doing something even slightly adventurous, we call it a “Meet-the-Parents” photo. Now that I’m explaining it, it sounds totally weird, but to us it’s silly and good fun. We’ve been collecting quite a few of these, and we’re hoping to add more to the series soon! Here we are doing things like kayaking, zip-lining, dog-sledding, hiking and snowboarding:

This year we’re planning to add a big one: scuba-diving! Truth? I’m pretty scared of trying it even though I love doing things (within reason) that put me well out of my comfort zone. I’m not interested in say, holding a spider, mind you. That’s light years outside of my comfort zone. But challenging myself to do things that are a little scary seems to broaden my horizon a bit each time. I learn about myself, about other people, and about the world, and I truly enjoy that part of it. So I’m expecting to learn quite a bit from getting PADI certified if I can get through the open water dives, which we plan to do in Grand Cayman!

I’m not actually too scared of the breathing under water part. I think that will be fun, and I’m glad we get to try it in a pool first. It’s the ocean-wide world of creatures that makes me nervous. How do I know which ones are friendly and which ones aren’t? And when I’m approached by one in the unfriendly camp, then what? What if I panic? I’m also someone who gets really (really really) excited about things. Big things, little things, plain things, amazing things. Ask Chris – we are often driving along somewhere when he hears me draw a sudden GASP that makes him worry he’s about to hit another car when nope, it’s just that I saw an interesting cloud/tree/house/random stranger. So I’m worried I won’t know how to properly “chill” while diving. But I’m willing to see how it goes, and hopefully I’ll have a Meet-the-Parents photo to post for you here!

February 5, 2014