Grand Cayman 2023
Day 6: Snorkel hopping and a shark!!!
Up an at'em at 5am for me. As the sun came up, it was a cloudy day and not the best sunrise of the week that's for sure. Today there was a boat out in front of our place by the buoy that sat there for a few hours. I'm not sure what they were doing or who they were. I could only tell it said "Cayman" something or other.
I waited for the mini me to wake up at 8am and decided it was time to get some protein in our bellies and made scrambled eggs and bacon and everyone was full. Time to pack our bags and head somewhere on the other side of the island...despite the fact that Carnival Sunrise was in port with 3,360 people looking for that special spot to go. Well, I was just hoping it wasn't the spot I had picked out today.
We were headed to Smiths Barcadere Cove for a little bit of snorkeling. Off we went, making sure not to turn the windshield wipers on and into town we went.
There was plenty of shade in different areas, picnic tables and benches. We decided to sit on some of the benches that made you think you had partied a little too much the night before but yet I don't remember drinking...Just look at the lean on that bench!
They did have restrooms there along with outdoor showers you could use for free.
The water was absolutely gorgeous!
Of course I immediately grabbed my snorkel gear and headed toward the water. The fam decided to join me and we would wind around all the cove looking at the beautiful fish and coral. It was quite nice.
I found a creepy crawly...fire worm...stay away from these!
Then we came across a large school of tangs....they were so beautiful.
Then something caught my eye on a sea fan...it was a flamingo tongue snail and I would also notice there were several of them on this fan. They are so cool looking. If they get spooked the giraffe looking skin on the outside will go in and it will be all white.
All of a sudden Sakari let out a shriek! Yes, believe it or not, I heard her under water. Do you guys remember Pedro San Miguel from Cozumel? We were friends. He loved us. He followed us everywhere we went. Well, he showed up in Grand Cayman and we were super excited to see him. He would follow us around everywhere. Friends for life. ;)
Parrotfish and 2 Four Eyed Butterfly fish.
So then something else caught my attention, it was moving around quickly, in and out of the rocks. I immediately stopped to watch. There's only one other time that I have seen this before and they fascinate me. It was a very busy shrimp and so fun to watch.
It was time to take a break and we headed back to our drunken benches where we would slide down onto each other at the bottom. Good thing we love each other so much, but personal space people! lol
We did discover that someone sitting near us decided to steal our ice cold bottle of water we brought with us and left out on the bench. Um...really? How does someone do that?
There were planes flying close to the beach. It's no Maho Beach in St Maarten but I still like to watch them coming in and think about the adventures that people are about to have at this beautiful island. Is it their first time? Do they come often? Do they live here and just came back from another exotic destination? So many questions and thoughts.
At one point a boat came speeding in toward the cove...like REALLY fast. I actually got worried that an accident was about to happen right in front of us. But then it slowed down quickly right before getting to the bay where people were at. It was the Cayman Port Authority Harbour Patrol. I'm not sure who they were after, but they sat there for a while and then finally left.
Chickens and roosters were everywhere, and they weren't afraid to come up to you if they thought they were going to get a handout.
Ok, after resting, I wanted to make one more trip out to attempt some over and under pictures...only I hadn't discovered it was on the wrong settings...still.
I decided to head out to the other cove to enter.
We did get a nice surprise this time around...a Puffer Fish. Oh em gee they are so cute!
Well, that made my day and I was satisfied enough with this place that I was ready to move on.
We gathered our things and headed out to the next place.
Here's a video from our day at Smith's Barcadere:
Now we were headed to Sunset House. I had read good things about this place and knew it was a dive area...not to mention we were hungry at this point and wanted to get a bite to eat.
We arrived to find that there was a huge restaurant area with plenty of chairs at the bar or at the tables. The area was covered and then you could also sit outside under the umbrellas. It was really hot so we opted under the restaurant palapa.
I ordered a cheeseburger and salad ($12), the hubby a grilled chicken and salad ($14), and Sakari had a plate of fish taco's (which were cod: $15). Then we ordered a bowl of sweet potato fries ($6.50) to share (our new addiction). Yes, we were throwing caution to the wind and cheating today with REAL bread.
As we waited on our food, you know me, I had to go out to explore the snorkeling area and get some pictures.
It was starting to get really cloudy and dark. I was sure it was about to rain on us.
The dive shop here.
A picture of the reef and dive area
Over by the cruise ship=dark and gloomy. The other direction=sunny.
As I walked back to our table, divers had came up with their catch of the day. They were discussing what a great dinner they were going to be having tonight...lionfish.
Lunch had arrived and it was SO GOOD!
It started thundering and then the rain gods let loose! It was pouring down now and I was so glad we decided to sit under the roof because people were scrambling that were out on the deck.
As we ate, we had visitors...of course. Sakari started making them do tricks for their food and it would jump high up in the air. She got such a kick out of it.
Our total came to $68.29US (we drank water with our meal) and had a 15% gratuity added to the bill.
As we waited to see if the storms were going to pass, my stomach started turning and churning. Oh my! What have I just done to myself? Is this bread working this quick? I was sorta glad that it was raining so that we could continue to sit there for awhile. At this point we were not only waiting to see if the rain passed but waiting to see if my sudden onset of stomach cramps were going to subside as well. Ouch!
I made a couple of trips to the restroom trying to flush out these devilish carbs I had consumed and found the sign on the wall quite funny telling me to flush the toilet paper please.
After awhile, the rain had come to a very light sprinkle and my stomach had went from severe pain to a light ache so we decided to grab our gear from the car and head down to the snorkeling area. There was no way I was 1) going to let a bit of rain keep me from experiencing the snorkeling here and 2) let a little carbs hold me down.
We put our belongings next to the wall, like that was going to magically keep them dry from the sprinkle or something, and headed down the ladder.
It was pretty deep as soon as you hit the water. There were valleys on the ocean floor and it was pretty cool. We headed off to the right to explore and Sakari was absolutely loving diving down and getting some video for me as she swam through them.
The only issue is...we would later discover she was on the wrong setting and a lot of it was unusable. Darnit!
Scrawled Filefish
A couple of different French Angelfish along the way
Parrotfish: The parrotfish has a diet that consist of algae that grows inside coral polyps. The parrotfish will rip chunks of coral from the reef with their teeth and grind it up to reach the algae inside. Studies have shown that they possibly help bleached dying coral recover by eating the algae so that their may be new growth.
Did you know that parrotfish sleep in a bag of their own mucus, which creates a cocoon around them, and keeps them safe from biting bugs and mask their smell from night-time predators like sharks and eels?
Parrotfish have roughly 1000 teeth, that are harder than most metals, and you can hear them chomping the coral underwater if you listen closely. Their teeth are fused together as one and a single parrotfish can produce up to 450 kilograms of sand each year (That's 1,000 pounds of sand!) or more. It is thought that they contribute so much sand that they form reef islands and enough to produce beaches. They have 15 rows of teeth and when they wear out, those teeth fall to the ocean floor, but they have more rows to fall into place and continue chomping.
Parrotfish can also change their sex throughout their lives...from female to male and their color also changes drastically as well.
A large group on tangs swimming by
Four Eyed Butterfly Fish
Squirrel Fish: These fish have large eyes which help them see at night to hunt for food. They usually hide most of the day and are pretty skittish around humans. They are usually found hiding in or under coral, which helps them blend in. Some varieties of Squirrelfish are venomous and have spines on their gills to protect them.
We spotted several Smooth Trunkfish along the way. They are so cute! They have a box appearance with a cute little pucker. Their mouth helps them in locating small invertebrates, worms and small crustaceans. You will see them moving the sand around and digging for goodies in it. Their body shape and fins allow them to hover in the water and turn 180° instantly. They win my award for the cutest looking fish in the sea (along with the puffer fish).
We decided to turn around and head back in the other direction. Something really huge caught my eye and I started flailing around like I had lost all ability to swim at that point...hey, I needed to do something to attract attention right?
Trust me, it was a lot bigger than what the picture portrays. So what was it you ask? A large Tarpon! We started seeing a few here and there and I had read that you would find them in this area.
Then we spotted a Stingray down on the ocean floor. He had a friend hanging out with him.
We made it back to the area we came in at and noticed there was now a boat unloading divers on the side we wanted to go over to. So, we just hung out at the ladder for awhile and I would take some over/under pictures...only at this point, I noticed that my camera was on the wrong setting and gave out a big sigh knowing that all the pictures I had taken before now would not be clear. Darnit! At least I would get some good ones here.
Sakari was up near the ladder and checking out all the critters there as we waited on the boat to move. There were a lot of little Squirrelfish (a different variety than what we normally see). I believe these are called Dusky Squirrelfish
We watched a few very busy Red Lip Blenny's zooming in and out of the coral and Sakari had managed to find some red colored feather duster worms.
When the boat finally moved, I decided to head over in that direction. However, at that point, Sakari was distracted by running and jumping off the concrete dock and diving down to the deep bottom to see what she could find. It was nice and sunny out now so she was spotting sea glass and other goodies and decided not to go over with me. (She actually found a Flamingo Tongue Snail shell...which was super cool!)
At first, I thought she had made the right decision. I really wasn't seeing anything interesting other than more dips and valleys in the water.
I decided to head out a little further (away from the wall)
THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN....
Something REALLY HUGE caught my eye. I gasp and started flailing around again. I'm pretty sure I took in a gulp of water. Sakari noticed my movements and immediately dove in, frantically trying to get over to me to save me. Only by the time she made it over...it was too late.
As quickly as it came, it was gone. We tried to swim in the direction it was headed, but never found it again. That'll teach her not to go out with me next time. hehe Remember the dive we did in Cozumel and it was the worse experience I had ever had? I had decided not to go on the second dive with her and daddy and I missed out on seeing the shark then? Well, it was my time for sweet revenge I guess.
There were some boats that sat out in the water and we headed over in that direction and was rewarded with a school of more Tarpon. They were hanging out in the shadow under the boat. Ahhh, that's where they were all at.
Did you know that Tarpon can grow up to around 8 feet long and weigh 280 pounds? They can live to more than 50 years too! They are known to jump 10 feet out of the water and can swim up to 35 mph! They are considered a prehistoric fish and have been around for over 100 million years.
We decided to call it quits on the snorkeling and on the way back we found a Caribbean Spotted Stingray hanging out.
As we were getting out, I had to snap a picture of a crab under the stairs on the wall.
A short video of our day snorkeling...and a SHARK!
We gathered our things and headed out...Mr Rooster escorted us to the car.
On the way back, we circled around and found Hurley's grocery store. We decided to stop in and check out what they had...despite my fuzzy ocean water hair, I tried to make myself fashionable at least enough to enter the building. Sakari, she was sporting her sisters leopard cover up and stylish flower shoes and hat (big sissy's are good for something).
Hurley's was a great grocery store and was stocked with everything you could possibly need. The hubby said "NOW, we can live here. They have everything we'd possibly need to stay". Only my reply was..."Did you bother to check the prices first???". Yea, this is one expensive island to live on. The other MAJOR issue was...they didn't have Pepsi here. Gulp! Yea, this place wasn't going to work as my go-to store that's for sure. I can't live without my Diet Pepsi. Also, we found that the pop was more expensive here than at the little local grocery store down the road from us. Maybe because it was in a "popular" area that most people vacationing stay at? However, we did find our Keto Ice Cream and that was a plus. We were going to attempt to make it home without it melting on this 90 degree weather day.
Of course with the hubby being a skater, we had been told there was a skate park behind the grocery store so he had to check it out before heading out.
With the a/c blaring on ice-cold in the floor board of the car, we drove off like a mad-man trying to make it home before the ice cream melted. I have to say traffic was very slow today...like extremely slow. Maybe it was their rush-hour traffic time. Or...since it was 5pm, you know the saying..."it's 5 o'clock somewhere" and these people didn't have a care in the world today.
By the time we made it home, my feet were on the verge of being frost bitten BUT we managed to save the ice cream and that was all that mattered right? We were living it up tonight! But, I quickly reminded the hubby...not without my pop! So, that meant another trip to the small IGA grocery store down the street from us...which put us in the hole for another $28 US dollars!
I could finally head to the shower and we made it easy on the hubby for dinner by buying a whole cooked chicken. All he had to do was whip up a side of broccoli and we had ourselves a scrumptious meal after a long worn out day of snorkel-hopping.
After dinner we headed upstairs to our balcony to hang out for a bit and Sakari made herself comfortable in the hammock.
That was until we spotted a (what looked like) roach on steroids scurry across the floor. Then you'd see feet flying up in the air and Sakari adjusting her hammock up higher off the floor to be safer. We spent the rest of our time out there on the look out for this monster and never did see where it went to so that was enough to make us call it a night of being outside with the creepy crawlers and headed inside.
It was time for our treat...ice cream and tv before bed. Barbie has made a huge come back with the release of their movie and now...a tv show called Barbies Dream House competition where they take 2 houses and compete against each other for the best remodeled Barbie-looking contraption of a house they could come up with. What is my life coming to when this is all I can find on tv to watch? lol
We were tired and headed to bed at 9:30pm. Tomorrow we had an excursion booked so another exciting day ahead of us.
