Beautiful eagle Ray

 Our last full day coming up.  Yesterday, snorkeled at Buccaneer after watching Tarpon on south coast.  Two "rock" fish, hard to spot.  Went to Reef Resort at night as friends snorkeled, we watched four eagle rays and a really big sting ray cruise the boat dock, WAY COOL.  Squito bites woke me early...where is the benadril?..oh good found it.

Hanging at Winta Cottage

Wednesday December 7th.  Mojito worked most of morning, then we pretty much hanged at the cottage all day, sunning on deck and on slab under the house.  Ate whatever we could munch on when we were hungry, OMG...even ice cream/oreos, don't tell! Listened to great music from Mojito's Ipod, danced some too.  Just got a little crazy, we did.  A nice sunset too. Went to Karaoke at Brac Reef club, and then the prize of the day, saw eagle rays off the boat dock, three of them.  They would come by, drift out, come by again and repeat.  Dah, nobody brought a camera to dock.  Even thou it was night, a big light over dock would have shown rays real good. A lovely very colorful day.

Mellow Day in Paradise

Mojito worked from computer, attending several meetings and working projects.  We did get a walk in, and snorkel later in afternoon.  Saw my first lion fish, and a nice peacock flounder, and the usual suspects.  Everyone else saw a sting ray but me :-(.....but I also saw a horned trunkfish...or at least I think that's what it's called.
These pictures are from yesterday.

 The north end light tower.

 The terrain on cliff in north.....that rock is like razors.

 Resting after our exhausting walk...NOT.

On deck at sunset, with evening Radhler and loving wife.  Thanks. Some pics from Joseph's camera.

Off to the light house...well it's not really a light house...it's a light tower powered by a solar cell and battery.  Before we get there, we stop at Bat Cave, no Robin was not home either.







  The lighthouse is down a long road lined by yellow flowers.

 Frigates and booby's can be seen soaring along the cliffs.

A wonder hike goes west along the cliff...not too close, but you can get to the edge, taking care where you step as the rocks are like broken glass...Do NOT fall down, a hiking stick is very valuable here.

Island Caves and Waves

 Mojito peeking out cave.

 Mr. Crab peeking out shell.

 Stairs up from Peter's Cave

Off to see some waves and caves today.  After a yummy green drink and the making of picnic fixins, PB&J with sprouts, we head off to the North end of island.

 Police's man cut, hope to snorkel here once wind switches to east.

 Cliff at North End, nice waves here today.

 View out of Scull Cave...darn no gold left.

Island Creatures

Like our experience in St. Thomas, we've had a guest in our place here.  Constance spotted him/her a couple nights ago and then new holes in the screens around the house started popping up.  We've been very good about putting all our food in the vast amounts of Tupperware here or in the Fridge.  It took two nights to catch. The first we lost the bait, peanut butter, but the trap didn't go off.?????   So we thought it was a mouse.  Went out and got mouse traps too.  But the man at the hardware store added a tip.  Wrap some string around the bait.  The intended victim pulls on the string to get the last morsel of bait...KAPOW.  Now as a plant strong eater, I usually don't want to harm our fellow Earthlings, but those that destroy our things must be dealt with...sorry.
Joseph, our guest, set the trap this second night with the string.  As a point of reference, the trap is 6 inches long.

The result. 

Cayman Brac; Wed/Thur, Dec 1st.  After Constance's work we headed off to explore the north end.  Stopped to watch the waves and found the island bakery.  Got a pack of local cookies, more like a dark spongecake, good for dipping in morning coffee I bet.  Got a cinnamon bun too, not vegan.  Walked a short path to the beach at the end of the road, checking out a few hermit crabs along the way. The cliffs are really something, going straight up 150 ft in places.

 Off to the lighthouse via the cross-island road.  It's a long drive as we are going slow.  No views except for the 15 ft tall growth, but lined with bright yellow flowers.  We explore a few "real estate" developments, power poles in place and a few paved loops but not much building.  Also healthy looking cows along the way.  The light house is really just a steel tower, with hiking path heading around the north east along the top of the cliffs.  We'll hike them another day.  Looking south east from light it's amazing how much variety of plant life there is.  Heading home to watch the sunset, but it's a bust as lots of clouds have moved over Little Cayman to our west.  Have a tasty tomato based veggie soup that Mojito put together.  My constitution has normalized from all the marginal eating in Europe.
We Karaoke at the Brac Resort, reminding me of our time on St. Thomas at Sapphire Beach, pretty much the same song choices that "Debbie does Karaoke" had.  A few good singers, one who did some yodeling, a first!

Cayman Brac Days 1 and 2

Cayman Brac: Day 1.  Sunday/Monday November 27, 2011.
Four flights, a 4 am start, 20 deg.  We both slept some on our domestic connections.  COS to DFW and then to Miami.  Noway around it Miami's airport sucks.  We had to leave the secure area to get from terminal D to terminal F.. Hey they've had 10 years to get this right.  Flew over Cuba, a first.  Appears 50 years of workers paradise hasn't produced much that looks like signs of modern world.  Got to stay on the plane in Grand Cayman, which looks zooy.   Sun set before we takeoff to Brac about 80 miles east.
Thank you American Airlines...no luggage.  Oh well, that's why I pack a pair of skivvy's and toothbrush.
Patty (prop. mgr) meets us at airport, we sign up for our rental car and are off to our home on the island.  The rental car is right hand drive, another first.  I keep turning on the windshield wipers when I really want a turn signal.
The tail of a cold front is sweeping across the Caribbean has changed the "normal" wind direction from east to north east causing lots of waves here, making it very noisy our first night.
Our place "Winta Cottage" is great, 729 Sq. Ft. on the main level, concrete counter tops, 360 deg wrap around raised deck.

 So dark when we arrived couldn't tell how far the ocean is...about 50, 60 ft.  Colors, lavender, peach and lime, very soothing to the eye.  Out for Pizza as the other stores are closed at this time of night, about 8:30 pm.  The Pizza was good, a veggie, with only a little of that artery clogging cheese.  Off to sleep, lots of wind and surf sound, almost too much.
Monday morning, enough leftover from previous guests for coffee and ate the rest of our Pizza.  Sun salutes on the deck get the kinks out of our long travel day.  A frigate soars in the stiff 20 knot wind.  A dive boat sits in the dark water 200 yards offshore about a 1/2 mile west.
Constance is calling into work now, nice office she has today, just off azul waters and warm temps.
Good news my bag is on the island, Constance's is not, but there is hope.  An email from the airlines has it, but isn't sure what to do with it, it's on Grand Cayman....hey, fly it over here..pronto.
Off to get supplies.  We'll have to dig deep as the US dollar is only worth 80 cents here and prices are island style...expensive.  We spend $300 us for maybe 6 bags of Groceries...but cheaper than eating out.  The stores are very well stocked thou, even Almond milk!  Example of costs, Kashi Golean cereal, $3.85 CD, about $4.60 USD.  I read that there is a 20% import tax...and everything is imported.
We check out one of the dive shops, Reef Divers.  One owner is a Chicago transplant.
Mojito is ready to get wet, so off to Buccaneer Slip.  It's a old boat slip and a protected entry for divers and snorkelers.  Even a ladder for easy in and out. The winds have died down a bit too. The water is warm even warmer out the cut.  Plenty of fish, a parrot fish is getting his evening cleaning.  A large Angle glides on by too.  Mojito wanders off into the deep, but returns after seeing some jellies, not surprising with the wind blowing in now.  Coming in we see a Rock fish, perfectly disguised, also sometimes called scorpion fish for the nasty venomous spines on it's back.  Mojito's spots a cool eel, grey with white spots, like we've seen before in Bonaire.  I see another on the way back to the ladder.   Home to a dinner of refried beens and veggies with chips. A perfect day.

Tuesday morning Mojito works, taking calls and emailing fellow workers.  Lots of planning for next trip.  She's also scans the news of the day...American Airlines (who we flew down on) files chapter 11.  The wind has shifted even more, now right out of the north.  Blows open our screen door last night.  We are off to snorkel the south side, now the calm side of island.  Nice time, see a very large Grouper, a big Ocean Triggerfish, and lots of others,  including a peacock flounder on my way in.  A french lady was diving with a guide out just beyond where we were.  Yep, very calm on this side today.

Flash from the past...a couple of pics from our May Europe stay.  The Jungfrau area of Switzerland. 

Does Venice smell? I've smelled more piss on a typical streets than here.   Now, maybe in the heat of summer it may get more fragrant...but no, no stink other than the ocean.  It's a little fishy by the fish market...like in Seattle or San Fran.   Did see a rat last night, and we are told there are lots of them, as many of the lower floors are only used for storage...the flooding thing, so the rats live down there and the people live upstairs.  Mosquitoes have been the bane of this trip, no screens on the windows and with all the standing water from the rains.  

With no wheeled transport at all....no bikes even, it's a walkers dream.  It's a challenge when it rains, with all the umbrella's...you can get poked, watch out!

No everyone should put Venice on their "bucket list".  

Another square, another church, another dead end....oh, my we're lost...again.  It's OK, we have a map, just don't know which way to go.

Venice 11-2011

I'll keep this short.  Nice day, no rain, even sun!

Enjoy the pictures.