Week 13: Absolutely Fabulous Diving at the Grand Caymans

Staying on the Cayman Islands this week. This week’s shirt is one of my dive shirts. In fact, I believe this is my first one. I only started collecting them on this trip.

Diving in the Grand Caymans was a fabulous experience. I just earned my Open Water Certification the year before (when we went to Tahiti), so I still considered myself a beginner.

Given that diving the world famous Cayman Wall (wall diving is an advanced dive) which bottoms-out at around 6,000 feet, we decided to enjoy shallower diving along the beautiful Seven Mile Beach, where one can safely dive in 40 to 60 feet of water, just right for an intermediate (my husband) and a beginner (me).

My husband and I really wanted a small diver-to-divemaster (or guide) ratio. Unfortunately, the dive outfit at our hotel did not offer that luxury. Since ‘tourist-diving’ is such big business here, most of the dive shops seem to book as many people as the boat allows, often with a ratio of 20 divers to 1 divemaster: not ideal for any diving experience, let alone that for a beginner diver.

We found a dive shop that offers small group dives: Absolute Divers. The owner and divemaster, Mark, had a cold at that time so he could not dive with us, but he was able to take us to several interesting sites within our diving experience.  Before each dive, he gave us a site orientation and reminded us of various safety issues.

Diving along the famed Seven Mile Beach was awesome! We saw a great number of fishes, beautiful coral, sea fans, and barrel sponges (never saw those before and some 2 or 3 feet in diameter), and great (100 to 120 feet) visibility. It also included my first wreck dive, The Oro Verde. The Caymans sport an incredibly prolific reef life: we saw beautiful angelfish, wrasses, goatfish, yellow jacks, conchs, lobster, and even a garden of eels.

Mark is a great guide and a wonderful person. In one of our dives, we lost our new underwater camera. He probably spent 20 minutes looking for it.  Unfortunately, we did not find it. We figure either the camera was on its way to Cuba or a tarpon had it for a snack. He also drove across town to say goodbye to us and bring me this T-shirt. It would be quite challenging to find that kind of personal service with another dive shop.

For more info on Absolute Divers, check out their website at http://www.absolutedivers.com. For more info about diving the Cayman Islands, check out the diving page in the Cayman Activity Guide.

Week 12: Getting Conched Out At The Cayman Islands

My briefly writing about mudslides from Florida last week reminded me of the mudslides and all sorts of Carribean food we had on the Cayman Islands. So this week’s shirt comes from the Caymans.

I probably had a mudslide a day during our stay. It was a yummy frozen concoction, similar to a milkshake, but with alcohol in it. Best part, you could not even taste the alcohol: just the chocolaty creamy goodness.

In addition to mudslides, we also had conch. For those unfamiliar with conch, it’s like a huge escargot and one of the staple of the Cayman Islands. We enjoyed different versions of conch: conch stew, conch chowder, conch ceviche, and conch fritters. Indeed, one can really get conched out. We even had “fresh-from-the-ocean” conch and lobster ceviche in one of our snorkeling trips. Our guide just collected and prepared while we were snorkeling. That was really yummy!

One of the places that we visited was the Cracked Conch – where I bought this T-shirt. With a name like that, you got to try the conch. We even had Thanksgiving Dinner there where we enjoyed the usual turkey, conch of course, and even turtle (as a stew). I tried the stew, and it was delicious. No worries, the stewed turtles were farmed, not fished from the sea. I only had one bite though -- I kept thinking of the cute turtles.

The Cracked Conch also had access to diving. The restaurant sits on the rocky shores of Turtle Reef, which is one of the few shore diving sites on the Grand Cayman. We had our first trial dive here. The entry at that time was pretty rough – must be the ocean conditions, and the visibility was not ideal. We still had a great time and got our bearings for the next dive (More on diving the Caymans on my next post).

My Sweetie really wants to go back to the Caymans: the food is great, diving excellent, and the people are very friendly. You just have to get used to driving on the wrong (left) side of the road or get used to their public transportation system which is a series of vans that beep to greet each other, not because they are angry at the other drivers; It’s like saying “Hi”.

Gives me a chance to look forward to more conch and mudslides.

Week 11: Week in Tampa and Kissimee, FL

Writing about New Orleans last week made me reminisce about the week before which I spent in Florida. Although I spent most of the week in training and on business (really!), I was able to have some tourist time. Unfortunately, since I had the New Orleans trip coming up, I was on a limited budget, so my only souvenir was this t-shirt.

I flew in the weekend before and was able to rent a car and drive to Kissimmee, FL. I've always wanted to check-out Disney World and Epcot Center so I thought this would be a great opportunity to do so. I landed in Tampa and rented a car to drive to Disney World.

It was my first time in Florida. I had never seen so many toll roads in my life (maybe except in Italy); glad I had enough change.

Disney World was so much fun, but hot! It's not as much fun riding solo, though. Also, I remember the rides kept stopping because of the heat.

Since I've already been to Disneyland, I only spent a bit of time at Disney and focused on Epcot Center. Epcot was completely different. I think my favorite spot was the World Showcase where there were different buildings featuring different countries. I was pretty tired from the rides already so I only went to selected buildings. The shows and photos made me reminisce about my previous trips to Italy, Japan, and China. I loved it.

I took the long way back to Tampa and drove along the Atlantic Coast. I was very tempted to stop at Cape Canaveral, but I was afraid that I would arrive late in Tampa. After all, we had an early start the next day (in Florida time. Remember, I live on the opposite coast). I did get a chance to stop at a beach and feel the waters of the Atlantic. I was surprised at how warm it was (compared to the Pacific).

The rest of the week was not too bad. Our little group enjoyed good food as we checked out the culinary delights in Tampa. We probably went to a different restaurant each night and mostly enjoyed seafood. I had my first encounter with a mudslide, the deceivingly alcoholic drink that looked like a milkshake on steroids (I enjoyed this again years later in the Cayman Islands). We were eating so much that one night I decided to skip dinner and work-out to burn those calories.

What's cool about this shirt is the detail on the back: It has the sun and two alligators; one biting the tail of the other. My husband commented that the one in front is him, and the one in back is me, since I am often biting his behind (metaphorically).

Front Alligator = Hubby, Back Alligator = me (No, its not sexual).

I'd like to return to Florida and maybe this time, go to the keys. No mudslides that trip, only margaritas. After all, the keys is Jimmy Buffet and Margaritaville country.

Week 10: Weekend at The Big Easy

Blogger's note: I was going to write about another aikido shirt this week since we have another big workshop weekend. Since it has been only two weeks ago when I wrote about aikido, I figured some variety may be in order, so I decided to pick one from the pile.

Spring is around the corner and with warmer weather, folks are starting to think about traveling. So I am picking one of my favorite destinations: New Orleans. It's also fortunate that this shirt is black, so it matches my gray sweatpants well (Hey, I am still sick this week, so I am entitled).

Featuring New Orleans Jazz: Reminds me of Preservation Hall

I visited New Orleans only for a weekend a long time ago. I spent some time in Tampa, Florida for business and training, and decided to spend the weekend in New Orleans. I've never been there before and have heard so much about the city - specifically the French Quarter - so I was looking forward to a weekend get-away after a week of training. I was (and am) not a big party person, most especially when I am traveling alone, so I was not expecting to get drunk. I do love good food. I was looking forward to a weekend of great eats and eating my way through New Orleans.

I was not disappointed. On my first evening, I lined up at K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen (no reservations back then) and had jambalaya. It was community seating, so I had a chance to meet people and share conversation. The next day, I also enjoyed beignets and chicory coffee for breakfast at Cafe Du Monde, enjoyed po-boys at lunch, another dinner at Brennan's with my new friends, and yes, enjoyed libations here and there. I've never seen pina coladas and margaritas sold in machines like slurpees. It was a delicious time, and I surprisingly stayed sober.

What I did not expect was getting exposed to and enjoying the wonderful music. I met some new friends at K-Paul's, and we went out after dinner each night and enjoyed music afterwards. The French Quarter was filled with music every night - just go in a bar, order a drink, and enjoy (kinda makes bar hopping worthwhile). Music ranged from old piano standards at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop (the piano player even played "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" after finding out where I was from), techno pop, zydeco (my first exposure using washboards as a musical instrument), and of course, New Orleans jazz at Preservation Hall. I was so inspired by the music that the next day, I spent the whole afternoon taking in the Jazz Museum and bought this shirt.

I love New Orleans and am hoping that we can go back there someday. I haven't been back since Katrina, so I hope that they have rebuilt, but kept that wonderful New Orleans charm. I hope that next time, we'll have more opportunity to explore the city, the food, and the music.

Oh yes, a bit of the booze too.

Week 9: Join me at the Kidney Walk

March is National Kidney Month. So for this month, like the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), I am going to focus on kidneys and write about last year’s Kidney Walk T-shirt. I walked last year because I found that two of my uncles were diagnosed with kidney disease and undergoing dialysis.

The Kidney Walk is a very good cause. Per the NKF website, it is “a community event that helps people understand the need for early detection of kidney disease. “ “The money raised in the annual Kidney Walks ensure that the NKF continues with their mission of helping the millions of people with kidney disease.” This includes kidney disease education, early detection and prevention through the NKF’s free community health screenings, and supporting the search for better treatments by funding kidney-related clinical research.

Last year’s San Francisco Walk had a beautiful setting. All the walkers assembled at Justin Herman Plaza near the landmark Ferry Building and walked along the Embarcadero almost to Fisherman’s Wharf. It was a beautiful day for a walk. There were even some sponsors who had snacks and breakfast for us including bagels and cream cheese!

The entire route was about 3 miles. Since I am a slow walker and I took pictures along the way, it took me about an hour to finish. We had people cheering us, encouraging us to finish. It was a fun day.

I am looking forward to this year’s walk. I am hoping that it will be at the same venue and that I can come close to last year’s fundraising.

For more info on the Kidney Walk, visit the Kidney Walk website. For more info on the National Kidney Foundation, visit them at their website or follow them at http://www.twitter.com/@nkf.