Cayman Brac Dive day 1

We all made it safely to the island called Cayman Brac for the Dive Frendzee takeover! I have been delighted with everything since arriving! It is blissfully remote and I feel quite content to never leave the resort compound to venture anywhere else.  It is like we are at the end of the world in a wonderful day! 

The food...oh my the food! (I have officially turned in my Mom)!  It is all buffet but GOOD buffet!  Rolls, soups, multiple salads, cheese board, multiple hot side dishes, and then two or three entries, one always carved with a sauce.  Last night was ham. Oh, and dessert! 3 different choices last night: coconut flan, carrot cake, and chocolate walnut pie.

This place offers Valet style diving, so in the morning, we were to have our gear outside our door in bags they provide, and they pick everything Iup and take it over to the dive boats and they set everything up! Valet diving, Princess diving, whatever you want to call it.... I am loving it!

After that, it was time for breakfast. It did not disappoint!  We were all to the shop by 8:15 for our dive briefing. That wound up happening on the boat but that was ok.

I am on Little Sister. :-)

The first five, East Chute, I saw huge barrel sponges that are centuries old. They grow a quarter to an eighth of a inch per year, and these were way bigger than me. It was perhaps like the underwater equivalent to old growth forests.  I also saw a smallish turtle swimming in the deep.  This was my first dive with my new Zeagle Zena BCD and I am loving it!! It had made a huge difference in my diving!  I am still sorting out how much weight I need in order to stay down for my safety stop at the end.

Dive two was at a place called Charlie's Reef.  It was once home to a huge grouper lovingly named Charlie.  Later there was a large Eel, subsequently named Charlie.  Today we saw a huge grouper that is so tame, they allow us to pet them!  I typically never touch anything underwater but I obliged him because he was like a big puppy dog!  This dive also featured a fantastic bunch of coral formations towards the end and I had to pause a moment to remember to be thankful for life, for my opportunity to be there enjoying all I was seeing. 

Lunch was for me, green salad, roll, cheeses, flank steak with red wine sauce, mashed potatoes, and something similar to Baked Alaska. 

Dive 3 I was daring and went without my wetsuit.  The water really is quite warm so it is ok, but based on my sunburn, I will be covering up on the boat tomorrow!  This was a dive called Preachers, named for a preacher who bought a barge to transport things between islands.  This is where the remains of the barge can be found.  We started there, then swam around the reeds, saw a ray swimming through a channel, and urchin, a huge lobster, and the teeniest blennies you ever have seen! Also egg patches and Sargent majors guarding them.  One unique thing:'jumbles of feather durwtrts! They resemble flowers!

Post dive was pool time, then shower, wash hair, and wander to dinner.  Tonight was yet anther type of roll, a new soup, three salads (Green, potato, or egg), yummy Rosemary roasted potatoes, a few other things,and some beef with mushroom sauce.  Since life is short, I started with dessert: Ice cream cake!  Yummmmmm

Then, time hanging out upstairs above the pool bar/restaurant with old dive friends. 

Now time to sleep and do it all over again.

Note to self: reef safe, coral safe sunscreen?  Not so Janell safe! I am burned!