Lana climbing video 1
Lana climbing video 2
Lana's plane to and from Cayman Brac
View from the top of first climb--an easy 5.8 warm-up!! Lana is reminded of how climbing outdoors is SO different than in the climbing gym. Also all the rock is limestone so very rough and sharp.
A tricky climb--Lana fell 3X and had to get lowered to a point where she could connect back to the wall and then re-climb back up about 12 feet. Yikes!!!
Being lowered after the climb!! Lana has to do just as much work climbing up to pick up all the quick releases and then remove all the clips/gear at the top fo the climb before getting lowered!!
Very old airplane for flight back--older than a Dash 8--note the open cockpit!!
Randy's experienced the Deep Sea fishing excursion aboard the "Happy Hooker". 62 foot long vessel that was great for riding any of the swells. Kurt was our skipper. Lars from The Netherlands was the photographer. We arrived via a shuttle and I was sitting beside Robert Hernandez who I learned later was a VP at SAP that Lana knew of. Decent guy to me. Total of 20 SAP types on the shuttle divided into three boats. We were the last boat to leave the pier. Grand Cayman is surrounded by a reef so you navigate in a certain spot out to the ocean where there is a super deep trench. Grand Cayman is the top of an undersea mountain so the drop off from the reef is dramatic.
There are eight of us from SAP. Robert, two guys originally from India and a fourth guy (Indian) with his wife and two daughters. I learn a lot more about Grand Cayman from the skipper and his fishing guy. The gentler winds are on the west side of the island. We are fishing for wahoo, tuna and marlin. When fishing we are at 8 knots speed which is pretty fast! There are $7K worth of electronics on this boat.
Before boarding our boat. Got my Habs baseball cap.
Randy with Robert Hernandez.
All the gang for the deep sea fishing trip!
Very large and comfortable fishing boat.
One of the larger rods and reels.
Total of five rods with the lures/bait set at different depths and in fact one was riding the surface.
This is one of the bait fish used on the huge hook. The bait fish is Ballyhoo.
Randy sitting in the fishing chair used when you actually hook a fish. Just like in the movies or documentaries.
The girl gets the first fish on the line, but by the time she slowly wheels the tuna in only the head remains as a shark has eaten the fish. It is really beautiful on the deeper sea with at least three different colours of blue. They use a fish finder to locate the fish although this may or may not help. In rougher water there is some swaying of the boat, but nobody gets sick. It is a beautiful sunny day.
Where are the damn fish!
Diesel-powered motor. The skipper sits up top and has been on the water since he was nine years old. The boat has been to Cuba and many other Caribbean islands. Sandals off so we are all barefoot. What was really cool was seeing flying fish in the waves. They are super fast! Faster than our boat. They dart out of the water airborne and travel for quite a distance. They are the bottom of this particular food chain.
Flying Fish.
We don't have much luck fishing today. Oh well, that is the life of a fisherman. I enjoyed the day and talking with the various people including the crew. I would love to have caught a large fish. When we return one of the other boats caught four barracuda.
Randy relaxing at the front of the ship almost back to the pier.
On my return to the Westin, I ate my lunch outside on the patio at Ferdinand's. Watched more lizards/iguanas and in fact noticed them eating leaves. Then to the beach and found a chair with an umbrella. I am worried about getting burned as the tropical sun can be intense. I ordered a 16 oz. Pina Colada just to try one and use one of our free coupons. I won't order another one though as I didn't enjoy the taste. Back to the room eventually and reading texts from Lana about what an awesome day she experienced rock climbing. Found an awesome music channel playing Classic Rock songs from the 70s. Lana returned to the room around 7:40 pm.
We walked across the street to the Sunshine Grill for our 8 pm reservation. Casual place that was super busy with other tourists. When we arrived they had no outside tables. We found the inside tables super loud and the ceiling fan created a windstorm so not a comfortable place. We got moved outside to a table near the pool. We both had burgers and they were excellent! The fries and deep fried vegetables were good too. I drank a local fruity beer that was pretty decent. Good food and service and much cheaper than last night's gourmet meal. Plus, we did not get attacked by bugs!
Lana was tired after a long day rock climbing in the sun and getting bruised and scraped. Plus, her back had some burns from snorkelling yesterday. My right ear especially is plugged from the water which is not new for me.
Sunshine Grill meal.
Example of all bills in Grand Cayman which show the total of the bill is inclusive of tip/gratuity yet they have another section under that for tips. Very misleading, but all places in GC do this. We were warned about it prior to arriving so we did not make the mistake of tipping twice!
Picture of the beach front where it is normally swarming with guests and super hard to find a chair. People will save a chair/table before 7 am every morning.
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