Our new catch phrase is “freakishly large” for Little Cayman Island. Why? You ask?
Lobsters that that could feed a party of eight hungry divers.
Green moray eels that could eat Debbie for a snack.
Grouper that could move Murray out of the way with one nose bunt.
Barrel sponges that could hide a fortune in gold bullion.
The reef here is has been a marine park for many years and these freakishly large creatures are a testament to that protection.
We dive “Ann’s Attic” this morning. The unique feature of this site are the barrel sponges that grow along the side of the mini wall.
Barrel Sponge
Tall, rotund, gnarly outside, smooth inside, sometimes harbouring creatures, in groups and standing solo.
The Aquarium
Yellow line Arrow Crab
Diving here is not very challenging, as if we are in an aquarium. There is no current, no surge, we don’t go deep, and the visibility is forever. The fish seem not bothered by us, we can get right in their face and they don’t swim off. It’s just like an aquarium.
Grouper
Brittle Star
It’s all about visibility under water here at Little Cayman Island. Our check out dive is complete and we are awed already. It is going to be a grand week.
The pressure of travel is reduced on our first leg of travel as we are only flying to Houston. No tight connections to make. Travel through the Edmonton airport, on the flight and through the Houston airport is easy, we get road blocked waiting for our free shuttle ride to the hotel. We are told the shuttle will be 15 minutes. At 30 minutes we phone again. Oh, in 10 minutes it will be there. Phone again. 10 minutes. At the 1 3/4 hour mark, the shuttle shows up. No explanation, no sorry, just a frustrated look on the driver’s face. Well, it is free.
While we watch every other hotel shuttles drive by numerous times, the sky gets furious and spews rain, lightning and thunder over our heads. The rain does not abate by the time we are at the hotel so we ask at the desk where we can eat that is close by. The clerk tells us that the sister hotel across the parking lot offers supper for $5. Pasta, marinara sauce, meatballs, salad, soup, dessert, juice, wine, beer……all for $5!!! And it is pretty tasty!
We sleep like rocks and are now sitting at gate E3 waiting for our fight to Grand Cayman. And….another road block. The sky is still furious. The weather gods have not been appeased and are now spewing forth lightning enough to close the runways. We are delayed. It is now pins and needles whether we make our connection on Cayman Airways over to Little Cayman Island.
ROAD BLOCK!!!
After pleading with the flight attendant to let us off the airplane first, getting off first, running through immigration, customs and the Grand Cayman airport we are 5 minutes late for the flight to Little Cayman. It is the Comfort Suites on Seven Mile Beach for tonight. A dip in the ocean and supper of jerk chicken makes life good again.
We are getting close to our trip to Little Cayman. It’s a dive trip and we are going with a minimal of day to day clothing. Well mostly.
Female vanity is striking again….. slightly. Here is what I am wearing on the plane:
Below is what is packed, either in my knapsack or my carry on bag:
This is NOT a lot of clothing! I have 3 evening outfits (mix and match) and 1 strictly day time outfit, that is not dive related. Not bad. More about that later. We also have a small bottle of liquid clothes detergent that will be mostly empty when we return.
The following is what Murray is wearing on the plane:
Murray’s knapsack and carry on luggage will contain:
Debbie’s dive clothing
We divide the clothes into three main categories – to/from diving, day clothes, evening clothes. For example, my diving clothes are swim suit, rash guard shirt, sarong, sunhat and flip flops. For day clothes I have shorts, lightweight wool shirt, undies/sports bra or swimsuit, sandals or flip flops, sunhat. Evening clothes are undies/bra, dress or skirt and blouse/shirt, sandals. Lots of choice and all my favorite pieces!
Debbie’s day clothing
The main idea behind the “diving” and “day” clothes and “evening” clothes is the first two get sweaty, dirty and salty. So we take a set of clothes that can handle this abuse and are separate from the evening clothes. The evening clothes won’t get as sweaty and are only worn for a couple of hours. Mine won’t need laundering at all over a 10 day stay as each outfit will only get worn 3 times (in my case, of course). Murray is slightly different, not having to deal with the vanity thing – we may have to launder his evening shirt once.
Debbie’s evening clothing
Murray’s clothing works pretty much the same way except he isn’t as fashion conscience as I am. Diving – swim suit, old T Shirt, flip flops, hat. Day – shorts, T shirt, underwear or swim suit, sandals or flip flips, hat. Evening – shorts or pants, shirt, underwear and sandals.
Murray’s dive, day and evening clothing
There are airplane and travel day specific clothes – socks, buff and jacket. I use my sarong and buff to wrap up in if I get cold. Murray uses the jacket as a warm layer. The jackets are also a rain layer, if needed. The clothes we wear on the plane double as either day or evening clothes.
Packing is easy as the dress, skirt, shirts and flip flops fit between the struts for the handle in the roller carry on bag. They provide a nice bed for all the dive gear that is going on top and filling up the bag! The swim suits and undergarments are stuffed in my fins or various crevasses. My socks, buff and sarong are in my knapsack and my nice straw hat (vanity strikes again!) gets tied to the outside of my knapsack. We will have fun finishing our packing and see you on the other side!
Bottom of Debbie’s Carry on Bag
We arrive home from the Galapagos Islands and I notice our message machine is flashing. Six new messages, three are from United Airlines saying…….”There has been a change in your flights to Grand Cayman and now there is a disconnect. Please call….” Great, barely home from one trip and we have to deal with our next trip. Sigh.
Back in the winter, we booked flights through Houston to Grand Cayman Island on United Airlines and then connecting onto a Cayman Airways hopper flight over to Little Cayman Island. Along with these flights we reserved a condo and scuba diving.
I phone United to find out what the issue is. Apparently the flights for the Edmonton-Houston and Houston-Edmonton legs are no longer operating. The agent explained that we are now booked on a later flight from Edmonton to Houston and that we would have to stay overnight in Houston. Wait a minute……we have a condo and scuba diving waiting for us, we do not want to be late arriving on Little Cayman. I told the agent that we will have to discuss the options and I will phone her back as soon as possible.
Murray and I decide that we want to keep the Houston to Grand Cayman legs the same to not mess up the Cayman Airways flights, condo and scuba diving. That means we will have to fly to Houston a day early, stay overnight and catch the existing Grand Cayman flight. On the way home, we will fly out of the Cayman on the original day, stay the night in Houston and arrive home a day later than planned. I research flights and pick out the exact flights we want.
All this discussion and deciding included our friend, B, who happens to be a teacher and we had to be sure that she could leave a day early. (She was never contacted about the change even though her phone number is on her reservation.) She then gave me the authorization to change her ticket too.
I phone United to make the flight changes. Holy s***! Two hours on the phone. Two hours! First we worked on going to Grand Cayman. We got those flights changed for both B and ourselves. Relatively easy.
Next came the return trip. United had kindly rebooked our return trip for us. Close your eyes. Picture this. Grand Cayman to Washington DC to San Francisco to Toronto to Edmonton. Sounds direct enough, don’t you think? I just laughed at the agent on the phone and said to her “Can you picture that please? There is no way we are flying that route!”. I gave her the exact flights that we want. We are going to fly Houston-Calgary-Edmonton because it gets us home earlier. Now this gave her quite abit of trouble, because even though I could choose the Calgary-Edmonton flight with a United flight number (and an Air Canada flight number), she could not see it. Her system is different than the public online system. She finally went online herself in order to see it, put me on hold for eons to talk to a supervisor and managed to book all three of us on the flight. What a hassle, but it is done. PHEW!
Next came booking a hotel in Houston for those nights we must stay there. We chose the same hotel we stayed in on another trip – Wingate by Wyndham Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport.
So we are all set for Little Cayman and just counting sleeps again before we leave.
Impressions of Ecuador
Ecuador is not third world. Not exactly sure how this rating system is applied but I would have to guesstimate Ecuador would rate as second world. The infrastructure condition and the amount of available amenities are not the same as North America or Europe but the folks are surely not suffering. In fact, I think the country is quite progressive.
Ecology
I only visit a very small part of the country but everywhere I go public trash cans have been converted into recycle stations where there are three bins for disposing of assorted refuse. One for garbage, one for recyclable metal and plastic and a third for organics. We live in a city that is a world leader in recycling and there are only a few of these types of stations placed throughout the city, but in Ecuador the single trash can is in the minority.
In 2017, Ecuador will shut off the last of their fossil fuel electrical plants and depend solely on renewable sources, hydro, solar and wind to provide the country with the required supply of electricity. This is far ahead of anything I have heard about in the so called first world. Kudos.
Public Washrooms
There seemed to be an adequate number of public washrooms about. Sometimes there is a toll to enter but all of the establishments I made use of were in good condition and respectably clean enough. This is not the case in most of the world and again first world countries could learn a thing or two.
Infrastructure
The roads we travel on, even in the remote Galapagos Islands, are in at least as good a shape as the roads here in Edmonton. The roads in Quito are excellent and the new highways are outstanding. In Canada we do have some weather challenges that mess up the roads but this is not a new thing and we should be able to maintain our roads to the condition of those in Ecuador.
Ecuador’s sidewalks could be improved. The sidewalks in Quito are quite good but the sidewalks in Puerto Ayora and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno are on par with Asia or Africa which requires walking on the road for a good part of any stroll around town.
Buildings
There is a lot of construction taking place. Flashy, modern buildings are being built alongside stately older structures in both Quito and the smaller communities on the Galapagos. There is some respect for the existing fabric and a lot of ‘heritage’ buildings remain close to their original state or renovated to modern standards.
Old vs New in Quito
The urban areas do have their share of dilapidated buildings but so does every city I have ever visited and they are no more unsightly than in my home town.
Safety
Whenever we decide to go somewhere we always hear how dangerous the place is and how one should not carry any valuables and be sure to be indoors after dusk. I do know that one has to be diligent when walking about anywhere and that tourists are easy targets for the local bad guys, but after spending a day in Quito I did not find it any more threatening than anywhere else I have been. We kept our wits about us and the one place we spot a bit of trouble we turn back towards the crowded centre of town and avoid any possible confrontation with the inebriated combatants. I don’t think Quito is any more dangerous than any other city in the world.
People
The people we meet and deal with on a one on one basis are wonderful. They are helpful, cheerful and friendly. In fact more congenial than other places. I find the atmosphere to be warm and welcoming.
Siesta
They still happen between noon and 3 pm (or sometime in those hours when the desire hits) everyday. After we found out about it we adopt the rhythm ourselves and go back to the hotel room between those hours. The rest was appreciated. Since we are close to the equator, this timing would of course put us out on the street looking for supper after the sun went down at 6 pm but not once did I feel threatened.
Bicycles
We do ride bikes and we live in a bike unfriendly city. I am amazed that a “second” world country would have bike lanes, but they do. Even in the towns on the Galapagos that have a minimum of traffic there are designated bike roads. Yeah for them!
Bike Lane Sign on San Cristobal
Mosquitoes
We must have been in the Galapagos in the mosquito off season because we encountered very few. On the Galapagos Islands there is the potential for huge numbers of the flying blood suckers. The islands have vast expanses of mangroves at the sea’s edge, perfect breeding grounds. The one time we loose a pint of the red stuff is walking back from a beach just after sunset on San Cristobal.
Snorkeling
We read about how good the snorkeling on San Cristobal and Santa Cruz Islands is and are quite excited by the possibilities. Frankly, in my humble opinion, the snorkeling is dismal. At the sites near the towns there is very little wild life and except for Los Gretas the visibility was less than optimal. If you cannot get out on day trips where I would hope it would be better, leave your snorkel gear at home.
Snorkeling off San Cristobal
Smoking
In most cities smoking is banned indoors. This seems to be no different in Ecuador. The difference is there are no crowds of people gathered outside the entrance to office buildings, retail stores or eating establishments puffing away. I do not see very many people smoking at all. I do note a few on the islands but most are tourists. If Ecuadorians smoke, they hide it very well. I’m guessing this has a very positive effect on their health care system.
Ecuador is a outstanding place. I don’t know if we will get back but if the right opportunity arises I would not hesitate.
Quito’s elevation is 2,850 m (9,350 ft) so I was preparing for some mild altitude sickness as I had experienced it when we were in Lhasa, Tibet (3,650 m or 11,860 ft). As we were standing in the Immigration line-up, we noticed some wooziness and I thought, “Okay, this isn’t too bad”.
It was hard going up the two flights of stairs to our room in the hotel. I noticed that I did not have a headache yet, which I was expecting. As we were trying to drift off into the dreamworld, as soon as our breathing slowed, we would jerk awake from not enough oxygen. I think eventually fatigue took over and we both passed out.
Amazingly so, the next morning I felt pretty good. No headache, no shortness of breath. As long as I moved slowly I was fine. This experience was alot different than the Lhasa experience, but there was a 2,500 ft difference in elevation. There were no issues falling asleep on night two.
Hopefully my body is getting used to this high elevation thing with trips to Lhasa, Quito, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado (8,572 feet or 2,613 m) and Taos, New Mexico (6,967 feet or 2,124 m) so the next time we venture into the clouds (Machu Picchu at 7,970 ft or 2,430 m) I will not suffer like I did in Lhasa.
Biodegradable Soap/Shampoo Bar
In the Galapagos, it is requested that biodegradable soap, shampoo and conditioner are used. Even though the dive live-aboard boat supplied these, I wanted to take some with us for our land portion. We had carried a Tea Tree soap bar with us to India and Bhutan and it worked well. Unfortunately, it is not labeled as biodegradable.
I found a bar made by Knotty Boy called “All Purpose Shampoo Bar” made with 100% Olive Oil that stated it is “100% biodegradable and mountain-stream friendly”. It tested well as both a shampoo and body soap at home. So the bar went to the Galapagos with us.
After using the bar for a few days on the islands, I noticed that even right after a shower, my arm pits still smelled. (It was rather hot and sweaty there!). Not acceptable. The soap may clean but it wasn’t getting rid of the odor. It was much nicer on my hair than the Tea Tree soap.
So, after trying this bar, it got left in the garbage on Santa Cruz. If a soap is needed for a good clean, especially for odor, I would not recommend this one.
Rain Ponchos
We took light rain jackets with us to the Galapagos. We quickly found out that they were not the best rain gear to deal with the torrential downpours that can happen on the islands. My jacket got soaked through and my shorts still got wet as they showed below my jacket.
We would recommend light weight rain ponchos that cover a person down to the knees or below. I saw some vendors that sold very very thin almost see through, ponchos and was tempted to buy one if we had stayed longer.
“It’s Not Free”
The scuba diving in the Galapagos is hard. We work hard before, during and after a dive. “It’s not free” is the comment most heard on the dive live-aboard and I must agree with it. It was NOT free.
