KSW 8 years, 3 months ago.June 26 – July 3, 2010
Stayed at: Ramada Grand Caymanian Resort
Day One – June 26, 2010
Saturday morning, June 26th, 2010, we get up at 1:30 AM, did last minute packing & checking the house to make sure everything has been readied for our 8 days of absents. Our daughter & her family arrive, then we all pile into our van, go to my sister’s house, pick them up, they’re going to the airport with us, then driving our van back to their house because our return flight leaves us at a different airport than from the one we’re flying out of!! We fly out of DFW, and return to Dallas Love Field!! It’s stupid!! But what can you do? We’re at the mercy of the airline companies!! They charge high prices for airfare, charge for luggage! And now charge high prices for in flight snacks! I’m surprised they don’t have a service charge for if you sneeze while on their plane!! We did get out of paying for our luggage because this is an international flight, even though we have a layover in Atlanta! And I must say everyone I met that works for this, I wont say the name, airline company, are the rudest people I believe I have ever encountered! Our flight itinerary went like this: DFW to Atlanta, Atlanta to GCM. Return flights: GCM to Atlanta, Atlanta to Memphis, Memphis to Dallas Love Field! The return home flights changed in the middle of me booking our trip! And the price went up! It didn’t start out that complicated!
Anyway, we all head for the airport [DFW], get there and the line is a mile long, and there are NO people/reservation airline employees anywhere in sight! When they finally show up, I guess they’re all mad because they have to work this shift, they were RUDE! Not one of them ever smiled! And the guy that checked our luggage snapped at us about his scale not working, he’s not messing with it, so for us not to be surprised if we have to pay an over the limit charge on our luggage! I politely said, we weighed all of our bags before we left home this morning, thank you for the courteous warning anyway! He just turned his back on me & threw my bag on the conveyor belt! My husband & I finally get our boarding passes and start for the security check thru area. My daughter & her family are still dealing with their rude person! I let them know where we’re going. The flight is booked so we aren’t seated together. =(
Okay, it’s time for us to be boarding the plane, but we’re not?? I inquire about it. I’m told there’s a mechanical problem with the plane and when it’s repaired someone will tell us! This info was given to me in a rude manner, like it was my fault the plane is broke!! We’re waiting and waiting. We’re told nothing! So I go back yet again to inquire and this time to let Ms Rude know we have a connecting flight in Atlanta!! She checked her list and snaps back at me, “oh you’ve got plenty of time, I’m not concerned about you. There’s others here who have earlier connecting flights I’m dealing with!” Well EXCUSE ME!! I happen to be concerned about my flight because I’m TRYING to start my vacation and would like to get to my final destination TODAY!! Thank you very much! She turned her back to me & started talking to a co-worker about annoying passengers asking redicilous questions! I don’t think I was asking anything redicilous! Nor was I being annoying! I was trying to find out important, to me, infornation about my vacation! I can’t help it if she got up on the wrong side of the bed!!
Finally, they start boarding, then when we get on the plane & in our seats we’re told the repairs are still on-going, but they thought it would be better to have us onboard & in our seats for when the plane was ready to fly. People started saying, great, we’ll probably be stuck here for hours! And how they recently passed a law that no airline company can keep passengers onboard for more than three hours now! After an hour, the mechanical problems are fixed and we can fly now. The pilot says he’d going to try and make up as much time in the air as he can. And our connecting flights in Atlanta know about our lateness. When we land in Atlanta, we are told which terminal & gate we need to hurry too! Like it’s our fault they’re late getting us there!! My hubby & I were nearer to the front of the plane so we hurry to the next terminal/gate to give my daughter & her family time to get over there too. We’re greeted like it’s our fault they had to wait on us. We’re not the only people they had to wait on! Close to 1/3 of the plane from DFW was also getting on this flight with us! My daughter arrives a little after us & tells me they were calling there name over the speakers saying this was their final call?? My daughter is having trouble catching her breath because they ran all the way there!! This is not a good start for our vacation! My hubby & I are at the back of the plane in the very last seat/row. I have no window, I’m in a corner & the overhead is lower than the other seats/rows. I’m trying not to let the ‘closed-in’ feeling take me over! I started busying myself to occupy my thoughts. And thinking about Grand Cayman and SCUBA diving!! =)
We finally arrive on GCM! But, not before we had to circle & cirlce several times because evidentially we arrived the same time as three other flights! And it’s pouring down rain too! We get soaked going from the plane into the terminal, and are greeted by an over FULL immigrations room! They have all the lanes open but it’s slow going. I commented to my hubby the good thing is our luggage will be waiting on us by the time we get through this, instead of us waiting on it! Once through that process, we head over to claim our luggage & to go through customs. But, not so fast!! I was wrong about our luggage waiting on us! We have no luggage! It didn’t make it on the flight with us! I’m saying, let’s hope it doesn’t end up in China, like it did once before! We are told this has happened several times lately, and our bags may be on the next flight from Atlanta, which is scheduled to arrive in less than an hour, except, it was late leaving Atlanta too! Great!! We file the lost luggage claims, they give us a little toiletries bag, we go on through customs and head over to Andy’s, in the pouring rain. Drenched again. Once inside Andy’s, some guy laughs at us & says we should have called him & he would have come picked us up?? I didn’t know this! We just laugh it off & I said “My head needed to be ‘cooled off’ anyway! It was about to explode!” =) Then we have trouble with Andy’s! They were TRYING to charge me higher prices than I had been quoted! But, I pulled out my e-mail to prove I had been quoted different/lower prices due to my CAG20 discount code. The lady checked with her boss & we finally got it all settled.
At last we’re on our way to the resort. The directions I have are ‘strange’ and don’t make sense to us. We even asked directions. Everyone we asked didn’t know where the Ramada was, but when we said Grand Caymanian, they knew of it. But they still sent us to the wrong place. Eventually we stumble upon it! =) Now we have trouble at check-in. I had requested either adjoining rooms, or at the least near each other, across the hall, etc. Well, we’re none of those! We’re not on the same floor, heck, we’re not even in the same building!! I’m so frustrated by this time, I put my foot down and DEMANDED that we be on the same floor and in the same building!! I had put in this request early enough that there shouldn’t have been any problem doing so! I requested this at the time I booked the trip! The girls we encountered at the front desk are clueless!! After having us wait 15 or 20 minutes, they finally figured out how to change our rooms so that we’re ‘closer’. We’re in the same building, on the same floor, 2 doors down & on opposite sides of the hall from each other. This is much better! Also, during this waiting period, we tell these girls our luggage may be arriving, hopefully today, and what are their procedures about late arriving luggage. They told us they would let us know as soon as it arrives. And this they do by calling us and telling us to please come down to the lobby at once to get our luggage!! I was in the shower, so I got out & was getting dressed, when there was a knock on the door. It was a man with our luggage on a cart. Finally someone does something ‘nice’ for us. I tipped the guy accordingly and said “Thank You” with a big smile! =D By the way, our luggage arrived between 4 & 5 hours after we did. I was ecstatic to see my dive bag!!
We went to Wendy’s for our first meal on GCM!
Back at the resort, my hubby takes his meds, goes to bed, and turns the TV on. His back is really hurting him. I start unpacking, and getting out my/our dive gear in HOPES we’ll be able to go diving tomorrow. I also start charging my batteries for my underwater camera & strobes. All the stress of the day is starting to hit me now. Usually, I get to go diving on my arrival day. And that washes away all the bad things. That didn’t happen this time.
I took this picture shortly after getting in our room at the Ramada, during one of the brief moments it stopped raining…
Day Two soon to follow….
KSW….I’m so sorry for all that…it made me annoyed just READING it….that’s a heck of a way to start a vacation….but at least you made it on the same day you were supposed to arrive, and that’s a relief. Really hoping I hear about great dives, sunny skies, warm smiles from everyone in Cayman and relaxation at last in your next installment. Personally, a rainy day in Cayman is better than a day NOT in Cayman! 
I had some free time, so thought I’d add to my trip report…have fun. ?
Day Two – June 27, 2010
It rained HARD off & on all night long and this morning too! The wind is blowing so hard the palm trees are leaning! Then the sky lightened up a bit, the clouds are starting to break up somewhat. So we loaded our dive gear in the minivan and headed for Lighthouse Point. The water looked rough & murky. The man running the dive shop said the conditions there were not really good for diving today. But he had reports that the conditions are better up at Colbalt Coast. So we headed out, first stopping at Turtle Farm Reef [The Cracked Conch] to check the water conditions. The water was extremely rough there as well. We continued on to Colbalt Coast where the conditions were so much improved. This became our first dive of this trip. However, they were really busy. They had a group of handicapped people they were teaching to SCUBA dive. It was inspiring to see the smiles on their faces when they were being helped out of the water after diving. They were excitedly talking about everything they saw and what it was like to SCUBA dive. As for me, it felt really good to finally be back in the water/ocean SCUBA diving and taking pictures again. The actual dive area we went to wasn’t that great or interesting, but I still had FUN! My grandson was so excited, he ran out of air and had to buddy breath [use his Dad’s octo] on the way back in at the end of the dive. He had sucked his tank dry! ? Even with that happening, the dive lasted 1 hour & 5 minutes! Sightings during this dive: Caribbean Reef Squid, Flamingo Tongue snails, Barred Hamlet, spotted eel, brittle stars, and the usual reef fishes. I’ll insert a few pictures from this dive….
We ate lunch in our rooms. Then went to Eden Rock for another dive. I don’t have any pictures from this dive, for some reason my camera decided not to work. That was very annoying [for me]! This dive was only 40 minutes long. We cut it short in order to get back on shore before the dive shop closed because we wanted to refill the tanks. Sightings during this dive: very large Tarpon, several crabs, a small octopus, Christmas Tree worms, and the usual reef fishes. But, No pictures!!
After that dive, we got another set of tanks in order to do a night dive! Had some time to kill before it was dark enough to do a night dive, so we ate, in our rooms, then went to Diver’s Supply store looked around at various things and talked to the store employees. They’re very nice people, and don’t mind you just looking around in their store to pass time. At dusk we headed out for our night dive. We went over to Turtle Reef, the water was really rough, the surge was splashing all the way up to the top of the ladder! And it had started lightening again!! ? We just can’t catch a break!! So back to the resort we go. Oh yeah, about my camera not working during our dive at Eden Rock, I checked it out. Something is wrong with the memory card?? The camera worked when I took the memory card out, and worked with a different card. I can’t reformat this card, my camera and my laptop are not recognizing it as being in the slot?? I don’t know what’s wrong with it?? I decide to call it a day, we have plans to get up early tomorrow and get in a dive at Eden Rock before we have to turn in the tanks by 9 AM! End of day two.
**** Also, I’ve run out of free time! I’m sitting outside [at home], it’s started raining, and the mosquitos are coming out to feast on me!! ? So until next time…
:confused: What’s with the “Edit Date/Time”? It showed to be 24 July 2010 at 12:23:35 AM! I promise you that is incorrect! ? I am NOT sitting outside in the middle of the night writing a trip report & posting underwater picture!! It is 23 July 2010 at approx. 6:35 PM – How funny!! ? ? :jump:
Yesterday my grandson had to leave. His short visit home is over. Soon his ship leaves port for a minimum of 6 months. I already miss him terribly.
This is a picture of our grandson with us at a restaurant during his visit. He’s got a great personality and sense of humor. This is his GQ pose! ?
Day Four – Tuesday June 29, 2010
It rained hard overnight and was still raining when I got up to check how things looked outside at 6:00 AM. The wind was really blowing hard too! I went out on our balcony and took a couple of pictures, the entire sky is dark blue-gray and it looks like it’s here to stay for the entire day!
These are some of the pictures I took on this morning:
Also, we got a memo from the resort management telling us there will be a power outage from 9:00 AM until 2:00 PM in this area. The local power company “Caribbean Utilities Company” (CUC) has given them notice of this outage! So, IF this weather hangs around we’ll need to go out in it and do something during this time, or sit in the room in the dark. And it’ll get hot without the A/C!
While having breakfast in the room, then decide to go check out the other side of the island, Seven Mile Beach side/area. It looks a little better in that area, so we go to Eden Rock. We did two dives there. The first dive was for 1 hour & 16 minutes, the second dive 1 hour & 15 minutes. The second dive was in an area we’ve never dove before! :confused: It was a ways out & over to the left further than we’ve ever ventured to before. It seemed like we went so far over, I just knew we were going to surface at Sunset House!! ? The visibility was FANTASTIC! This was a surprise to us since it rained all last night and this morning, plus the strong winds!! Sightings during these two dives: there was a grouper that had a fish hook in it’s mouth with fishing line hanging down. We wanted so badly to help it, but that wasn’t possible! ? Also saw Christmas Tree worms, Flamingo Tongue snails, anemones with Diamond Blenny or anemone crabs in them, Feather Dusters, sea cucumbers, butterflyfish, rock beauty, Goatfish, Blue & Brown Chromis, Fair Basslets, Tarpon and the usual reef fishes. One of my strobes broke completely off as I was climbing up the ladder at the end of the first dive here. :crying: So I only had one working strobe during the 2nd dive. ? Sightings on the 2nd dive other than the usual were 2 different Lionfish, however I’m about ready to classify them as ‘usual’ reef fish! ? We went thru several swim-thru tunnels, they were cool & I took pictures inside them. Saw a Spiny Lobster, Lettuce sea slugs, Garden eels, some sort of clam or oyster, (my picture of it is out of focus.) a porcupinefish [puffer], Nassau grouper. We use to see loads of Nassau grouper in Cayman, not so much these days. And I read where they are on the endangered list! That’s really sad! I’ll add some pictures from these dives below.
This set of pictures is from the first dive today at Eden Rock:
this is the fish that had the hook in his mouth, if you look close you can see the fishing line hanging down too…
This set of pictures is from our second dive at Eden Rock/Devil’s Grotto:
After diving, on the way back to the resort, we stop at Diver’s World, located in a small shopping center just down the street from Treasure Island Resort. I wanted to see if they had parts for my broken strobe. Nope, but he said he could repair my broken strobe tray, or rather replace it by making ‘something’ work. Visions of some of my hubby’s ‘make something fit/work’ flashed in my mind! ? He said it would cost between $30.00 & $40.00. I would have to leave my camera with him so he can line everything up in the correct positions. And he’ll have it ready by 4:00 PM that same day. I left it with him.
We had lunch at the resort, then decided to see if we can dive at Turtle Reef. It’s fairly calm there, so we get to dive… yippee :bouncelaugh: We went out to the big wall, the vis is FANTASTIC!! A Great Dive!! We snorkeled out to the big wall area, dropped down, dove an area of it, then headed back in and finished the dive at the mini-wall. No camera, so no pictures! That’s a bummer for me, but not enough to ruin the dive. I still had a great time and enjoyed every moment of this dive. I love the big wall at Turtle Farm Reef. However, my all time favorite dive site is Babylon! But, we didn’t get to dive there this trip. The weather didn’t allow it! :crying: Something to look forward to next time! ? Sightings: on the Big Wall: We saw several turtles, loads of Black Durgon, Queen Angelfish, Queen Triggerfish, Trumpetfish, sea plumes, and beautiful coral & sponge formations. Did I say I love this dive? ?
After diving, we head back to Diver’s World to get my camera/strobes. Yep, just like my hubby, he rigged some other camera/strobe parts together to make it work. It doesn’t ‘really’ fit together, not a snug fit like the original parts do. But, what can you do? No one sells replacement parts on the island. He charged me $37.50.
Then we went back to the resort, and stayed there the rest of the evening. I rinsed off some of my gear, my lycra, swimsuits, dive socks, beanie cap & shorty wetsuit. They were starting to stink! ? I recharged all my batteries for my camera & strobes. That takes some time!! My camera uses 2 batteries, while the strobes use 4 batteries each! I had brought some DVDs from home, because I read the rooms include a DVD player. So I put in a movie and we watched it. I also uploaded my underwater pictures to my laptop and scanned through them, trying to evaluate what I’m doing right &/or wrong?? Entered our dives in our dive log books. Oh yeah, earlier today I was carrying my dive gear rinse bag from the car at Turtle Farm/The Cracked Conch, somehow, somewhere a staple got hung on the mesh part of the bag. It scraped against my bare thigh and cut a four inch long scrape across it. Man, did it ever hurt! It bled good enough to clean it out. This was before the dive. I thought it was going to sting like the dickens during the dive, but it didn’t. ? It was later after showering it started hurting. I always carry first aid items, so I had an ointment I could apply to it. Which I did often and with regularity so as not to get an infection. It has healed nicely by now, with just a hint of a scar. This ends day four…
