Diving for cheeseburgers

Happy Thanksgiving Canada! Today I'm thankful that I spent a third of my weekend underwater. After battling (and winning!) this stupid bacterial infection, and then cancelling a dive last weekend due to Ev's newly acquired cold, we were so thankful to finally get beneath the surface this weekend. It's kinda silly - we spend all winter planning and waiting for a 1-2 week vacation, where we typically smash out 2 dives a day; yet, we've been here for 2 months and haven't been underwater once! Thank goodness we managed to get our ass in gear and oxygen tanks on our backs. Yesterday we attended my new friend, Katherine's snorkelling birthday party at a beach called Smith's Cove. This beach is awesome! It's hidden in a little cove, there's excellent snorkelling with tons of fish just a few feet off shore, and there's lots of shade for my buddy, Ev, whose freckles are beginning to join to the create the "ginger tan."We spent an hour or so snorkelling and then Katherine and I pulled up our big girl bikini bottoms and went cliff diving jumping off a 5 foot rock. It felt more impressive than it looks. Haha

Ready for it!

Go! yes, that's the paparazzi taking pics from the water

Today we did a shore dive, aptly name, "The Cheeseburger" because of its location directly in front of Burger King (how do we have BK, yet no Starbucks? How? What I would do for a pumpkin spiced latte...) A buddy notified us that the "Silversides" were in town. After realizing that he wasn't talking about a band, we researched (www.google.com) that the silversides are little silvery fish that arrive in the thousands - typically between June and August here in Grand Cayman. For whatever reason, they just happen to be in front of Burger King....today! Not just "The home of the whopper," people!

The dive was pretty incredible. It was shallow - we never descended further than 40 feet. We entered a long swim through (like a cave, with an opening) to discover a curtain of thousands of sparkly silver fish. In order to see where you were going, you actually had to reach out and spread the glittery fish with your hands - imagine thousands of tiny silver fish all moving as one, swirling around you as you swim through a narrow cave. Super cool! On the other end of the swim through were huge Jacks, just waiting to snack - on the silversides, not us!) Overall, great experience. I'm glad we were able to witness that, especially given that it only happens a few times a year.

This isn't actually from our camera - it ran out of batteries 10 minutes into the dive but this dude got a great pic

found this perfect conch during my Thursday lunch on the beach

In addition to some great water time, we had a pretty good week on the island. I'm not going to complain about the heat...ever...I promise (watch 325 people defriend me instantly on Facebook); however, I must say, I do miss some variation in the weather. Weather is such a huge part of our lives back home. We have hundreds of adjectives to describe the weather: "blustery," "frosty," "heatwave," "coldspell," "frigid," I can go on and on. The weather is always changing. It can be hot and 30 degrees Celsius one day in May turning to blizzard-like conditions the very next day. It gives us something to talk about - something to praise and something to bitch about. Here, we have hot, hotter, hot rainy, hot breezy, and finally... a brand new one this week...wait for it...."windy." I woke up at 6:30am on Wednesday for my daily morning walk with Dundee and I immediately noticed that something was different. There was a strong breeze and it felt almost...well, almost "crisp-ish." It was still like 28 degrees celsius, but the wind was actually refreshing. I came bouncing inside, "Ev! It's different outside today. It's like windy, but kinda cool windy or something!" Wowsers. If this doesn't make theweathernetwork.com, then I don't know what will. haha.

Even my buddies - the other new recruits noticed! At The Wharf bar and grill during Friday happy hour, my American friend commented, "Did anyone notice that there was kinda, I dunno, almost like a cool wind the other morning?" "YESS! we all chimed in. Exciting times. Exciting times. I have been told that the humidity will fall around November and the air will feel cooler during the "winter" months. My scarves (I only packed the "tropical" scarves!) are waiting patiently, hanging with anticipation in my closet. Stay tuned.  I look at pictures on Facebook from back home - colorful leaves, pumpkin patches, pumpkin-spiced lattes (sorry, I'm obsessed), family Thanksgiving dinners, and I definitely feel a bit homesick. It's only been a few months, but I find myself having to really remember what Fall looks, smells, and feels like. I'm so thankful for skype/facetime, which at least allows me to see everyone I love and miss. There's always a strange balance between missing the familiar and yearning for something completely new - so we're embracing the balance and eating our Thanksgiving meal out by the pool this year.
Happy Thanksgiving! Cheers!

mmm...stuffing from a box