Welcome to our Grand Cayman site.  We had a great time.  Rob and Melinda drove to Houston the night before the trip.  Early the next morning we drove to the airport and boarded the plane.  After a brief stop in Miami, we were in the air again headed for Grand Cayman.

Upon our arrival, we found our way to the car rental company and began haggling with them for a bigger car.  We were originally given a small Nissan Altima.  However, with this car, we could either fit all of our stuff, or our bodies in the car.  We could not do both.  Finally, they agreed to give us a second car just to get us to our hotel, but we had to bring it right back.  The car they gave us was so tiny, it made the Nissan look like a Cadillac Deville.  It was a little hatchback with tiny wheels.  Rob and Melinda drove it to the hotel which was about an hour away from the airport.  then Rob and I drove back to the airport to drop it off.  They also agreed to let us switch our Nissan for a van as soon as one became available.  A few days latter we were the proud occupants of the ugliest van on  the road.

The hotel we stayed in was actually a condo complex.  We had a 2 bedroom 3 bathroom condo with a full kitchen and generous living room.  We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast and ham sandwiches for lunch most days out of the week.  For dinner we usually voted on where we wanted to eat and drove there.

The food on the island was wonderful.  We ate a lot of local cuisine like Conch Stew, Sea Turtle and Jerked Chicken.  We also had some great grouper and various crustaceans.  Our meals were light during the day, but pretty heavy at night.  Needless to say, once again, we ate a lot of food.

Our normal day started about 7:00am.   We would all gather downstairs and build our makeshift breakfast.  Although we always had PB&J, we also had a snacking mentality for breakfast.  As a result, Snickers, Hershey's, Twizzlers and cheese in a can squirted on Ritz crackers was also deemed to be good breakfast foods.

After eating our luscious spread, Gary, Vicki, and Rob were off to dive with Ocean Frontiers.  Melinda, who was pregnant at the time, usually headed back to bed, or to the beach.  The boat left for the first dive at 8:15am.  After the first dive we would eat fresh pineapple and lounge on the boat as we slowly headed to the second dive site.   We were normally back by noon and straight in the showers.  After eating the same thing for lunch that we had for breakfast with the simple exchange of Ham for the PB&J, we were off to the rack again.  We usually slept for a couple of hours before we all found our way back downstairs.  Once we were all present and accounted for, it was off to the beach, the swimming pools, or sight seeing.

One afternoon we drove over to the turtle farm.  All of the fresh turtle that was sold and eaten on the island came from the turtle farm.  No animals were harvested from the seas.  Instead, the turtle farm breed Hawksbills and Leatherbacks for release into the wild.  It was really cool to see literally thousands of turtles from the size of a quarter to the 6 feet long.  We even got to hold some of the juvenile turtles.

As for the diving, it was first rate all the way.  Ocean frontiers is a class act.  Their boats are large and they only carried a maximum of 12 divers per boat.  They were definitely a full service facility.  The first time we boarded with our gear was the last time we touched it except to dive with.  they cleaned it every afternoon and had it ready for us when we boarded the next morning.  Our Dive Master and boat captain, Mo, was a great guy.  We teased him the whole week we were there, and he could give as good as he got. 

The highlight of our dives was probably Stingray City. We had read about it, but experiencing it was greater than we imagined.  The stingrays were anywhere from two feet wide to six plus feet wide.  They moved so gracefully and as we held squid in our tightly clasped hand, they would ascend or descend upon us for the food.

The under belly of the stingray was soft and almost velvety to the touch.  The way they ate was through a large mouth on their underside with a strong sucking ability like a shop vac.  It was amazing how hard they could suck.  If you just slightly released your grip, the squid in your hand was gone. 

Stingray City is also the location where Gary and Vicki took our Ozarka Water picture for the Ozarka Summer Photo Contest.  For those who do not know, we won!!!  The winning picture is with the images below.  The contest was to take a picture of you drinking Ozarka water on your summer vacation.  the grand prize was $500.  We latter found out that they credited our Ozarka water delivery account by $500.  We did not get the cash.  Anyway, we are still drinking free water today.

We saw many other exciting things as we dove Grand Cayman.  The reef an walls at Grand Cayman are undoubtedly some of the best in the world.  We dove several caverns and crevices that were often only one person wide, but 40 to 60 feet deep and usually always open to the top.  It was really awesome.  Some of the moored sites we dove were, The Maze, Little House, and Kangaroo Gorge. 

As our week came to a close, we headed back to the airport for what we thought was just going to be a simple flight home.  However, the next several hours was anything but simple.  Once we had cleared customs and were ready to board, the flight attendant made an announcement over the PA system.    The airplane had a flat tire, and would be ready in just a few minutes.  Over the next two hours, we were amazed at how much detail they gave us about the readiness of the plane.  At one point they announced that nobody at the airport knew who to change the tire.  Another announcement told us that they had called someone to guide them through the changing of the tire.  Many other announcements were made, each one just as funny and unnerving as the two mentioned above.  Finally, they were convinced that they were ready to board all of the passengers. 

As we walked onto the runway headed for the stairs to the plane, you could see everyone looking at the tires.  Once we were in the plane, another announcement was made.  The voice told us that, apparently there was some rule that a supervisor must check the installation of the new tire before we could be cleared to head toward the United States.  (Thank goodness for some good old American red tape.)  After waiting in the plane for about half an hour, we were cleared for take off.

Now, headed into Miami three hours late, our question became, could we make our connection, that had a scheduled 2 hour and 45 minute layover time. We arrived in Miami 15 minutes after our plane to Houston was scheduled to depart.  As we got off the plane, they told us that our connection had already left, and that there would be no more flights to Houston until the next day.  Then a baggage handler spoke-up and said that our connection flight had also been delayed because of mechanical troubles, and that if we would follow him through a part of the airport that was closed for construction, he thought we could get there before they took off. 

At this point, the race was on, Rob and Melinda raced for the gate through the airport, while the Gary and Vicki chased the baggage handler through the closed section.  Whoever got there first was to hold the plane until the other could get there.  Rob and Melinda arrived first, and told them the whole story.  The plane was completely full with not a single open seat.  As the four of us stood there, the flight attendants reopened the plane and debarred 4 standby passengers.  They would have to wait till the next day to fly to Houston, we were going home tonight, on our second broken plane of the day.

We boarded and sat in four different sections of the plane.  It was a hoot that we even made it.  We did not care where we sat.

Finally on the ground in Houston we made our way to the vehicle in the long term parking.  We had parked all the way out in the city economy lot.  However, once they let you out late at night, it will be another 30 minutes before they come by again.  Rob opened his suburban, started the engine to let the air conditioner begin cooling the vehicle and then headed to the rear to load our big bags.  The rest of us threw our carryon luggage into our seats, and then joined Rob at the rear of the suburban loading the rest.  The moment we closed the rear door, we realized that the doors had automatically locked.  We were now locked out of the vehicle with it running and all of our cell phones inside.

Once we finally overcame that last hurdle in our journey home, we made it back to our house.  We were home by 1:30am and in bed immediately there after.  This was a great trip.  Please click on the pictures to see larger versions with a brief description. 

I hope you all enjoy this site.  We can show more pictures when we come together, and tell more stories.  It remains amazing to see how beautiful our Heavenly Father made the world both above the water and below.