Cayman Madness
For the past two years in the heat of September Patty and I have shuffled off to Grand Cayman Island, B.W.I. for a week of diving like I can't do justice to with words. Crystal clear water. 100+ feet of visibility on almost every day. The very first day we went out on the boat it was a disappointing 75 feet and the dive master (Thor, from Alaska; yes we remember) was beside himself apologizing for the poor vis. Our normal dive arena is the Florida coast (Panama City Dive Center rules!) and the vis outside the twelve mile sludge is usually around thirty-five to fifty feet.
The first year my wife came home with a sizeable 'smiley face' shaped scar on her arm from our stop at Sting Ray City and even though our dives were great we were both pretty much burned out on the whole thing by weeks end. Oh, weeks end was a dive (a treasure hunt) behind the Sea View. There were about 400 gold colored aluminum coins with numbers stamped into them. We happened to find the one that qualified us for the grand prize trip of the seven week long Cayman Madness. A return trip for two all expenses paid. Air fare, hotel, dive trips, everything except food! Several weeks later (I had already forgotten about finding the magic coin) Patty called me at work to tell me that they had called from Bob Soto's and we had won!
I kept waiting for the catch. Would there be a thousand dollar entry fee into the airport? Would they demand a thousand dollar exit fee? Would they take you out to keep the captain of the Ore Verde company unless satisfactory financial considerations were made? I kept waiting all the way through the week and the catch never happened. We had some spectactular dives, and had a great time. This year the tresure hunt didn't go quite as well . . . we only won a three day trip for one; but we both found one!
The people at Treasure Island, the unlimited shore diving, the people at the dive shop. Every one and every thing was great. I got to meet Ron Kipp, his wife and dozens of divers. Best of all was Derek and Jeff (the captain and dive master respectively). Derek is Scottish and has a slightly off color sense of humor. He more than made up for the awful (I'm talking REALLY bad jokes) with his excellent skills on, in and around the water. He knew where to go, who to take and most importantly when to go. It was diving beyond my wildest dreams.
We dove the North, West and South Walls (even though we took the scenic route to the south side Derek!). The only current we had was on the North wall where there was substantial current and waves (I'm talking like five foot seas maybe, but there was a current, I swear!). Supposedly a hammerhead had been spotted off Hammerhead Reef a couple of days before but we never saw him. Derek was able to get a nurse shark out from under a coral head for a nice little snap shot. I also have a cute profile of a moray eel which appears to be quite irritated and maybe wishing we would go away.
The shark and the moray were both in about twenty feet of water not far from the Sting Ray City boat parking lot. It was late in the day and as you can see there was a little silt in the water.
One night about eightish we drove down to a tennis court by where some of Soto's dive masters live. We parked, suited up, got in the water and swam out about seventy yards. The moon was full and you could distinctly make out the contour of the bottom without a light. The site is just down from Smith's cove and we dove in about sixty feet for every second that the tables would let me stay down. I saw at least four different types of coral and the dive lived up to it's name . . . Exotica.
Select the image to the left. Lean up to the monitor, cup your hands around the edges of your face and look at the image. That's what it looks like to swim through a tunnel in the coral head. This was made on the West Wall at a place called Big Tunnels. Patty had already decided that we were not doing the swim throughs this year, but Derek conviced her otherwise.
For those of you that know Patty, it really won't surprise you to see her swimming toward a three and a half foot barracuda. She really enjoys playing with animals even if they have razor sharp teeth, or are poisinous or whatever.
A very special thanks to Derek & Jeff, Ron Kipp, the staff at Bob Soto's, Treasure Island Resort, Mike the bus driver and all of the Cayman Madness organizers and participants for making this a summer Patty and I will never forget!
Here are some more intersting shots of our trip to Grand Cayman Island.
