2008 Turtle Video

We may have finally figured out how to get our videos onto YouTube so that we can share them with you guys. Here is a video that Scott took in 2008 of a turtle at Devil's Grotto. It may take some time to load depending in your connection speed.

Somber Saturday

Two weeks ago while Scott was in Orlando, one of our students was killed in a car wreck in Lower Valley. On the Wednesday after his death we held a memorial service at the college and yesterday was his funeral. Scott gave a brief speech at the funeral service on behalf of the college and several of the students in attendance went up with him to represent ICCI. We often jokingly complain about the stupidity of drivers in Cayman particularly the young ones who speed around in their cars like they are immortal. Yesterday was a stark reminder that no one is immortal and having such a feeling is just not reality. It was a difficult Saturday afternoon and burying a student is something we hope to never have to go through again.

Queen's Monument

We took advantage of the national holiday this afternoon and headed up to the north side of the Island to snorkel the Queen's Monument area. We had not been up to that part of the island for several months and it was great to get out there again. The tide was in so we were able to swim over many of the coral areas which were very active. Among the many new species we saw today were a Bearded Fireworm (at left), Yellow Fanworm, Flamingo Tongue (below) and a Nimble Spray Crab. We normally look for fish species but today decided to focus reef creatures since we have a book for those and haven't been able to fill in many of the varieties as having been identified. The water was fantastic and we actually spent a good hour snorkeling. We have found a very secluded entrance to the snorkeling area and once again had the beach to ourselves. The new camera worked great and fits the case perfectly.

National Heroes Day

Tomorrow is the celebration of National Heroes Day here in the Cayman Islands, a national holiday. Heroes Square in George Town will be the site of a big formal event. The crowds are usually pretty big and so of course Kathleen and I will head to the other side of the Island for a nice quiet picnic and some snorkeling. We picked up a new camera while I was in Orlando (thanks to my brother Kevin, for bringing it down to us) and plan to test it with the underwater case. We are both doing well with our exercising and Katie has celebrated the loss of ten pounds since we started (me around 4 pounds).

Local Coverage of Earthquake

Here are some articles from our local papers. We cant seem to get the link to load as a hyperlink so just cut and paste into your address bar.

http://www.compasscayman.com/caycompass/2010/01/20/Earthquake-rattles-nerves-in-Cayman/

http://www.caymannetnews.com/breaknews-19981--1-1---.html

Earthquake in Cayman

Update at 12:45 p.m.

The Earthquake has caused a few sinkholes on South Sound and apparently the buildings in George Town swayed a bit but we have no damage to our residence or to the college. Whether or not you felt the earthquake appears to be determined by if you were inside or not. The all clear has been given on the Island and no tsunami watch or warning was ever issued. They felt it at the college when it happened but other than being scary for those who felt it, nothing bad appears to have happened.

Original post

We wanted to let everyone know that we are just fine. Apparently there was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake about 30 miles off the coast of Grand Cayman this morning. We were out on our morning walk and didn't even realize it had happened. There are rampant rumors but we wanted you guys to know, since CNN just aired something, that we are just fine.

Tsunami Paranoia

Last night around 6:30 one of our students came breathlessly into my office announcing that the Cayman Islands were under a Tsunami warning because of the Haitian Earthquake. We quickly let him know that in fact there was never a tsunami warning only a tsunami watch and that it had only applied to eastern Cuba and the Island of Hispaniola (on which sit Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Further it had expired over an hour earlier. Never the less, for the rest of the night we had to assure restless students who came in after getting texts from friends, that we weren't all going to be washed away by a giant wave. It is amazing how quickly rumors fly on a small island. It was a reminder though that while tsunami's are rare in the Caribbean they are not impossible and with the Cayman Trench a mere hundred or so miles from Grand Cayman a magnitude 7 earthquake there would pretty much wipe out the Cayman Islands. We morbidly joked for the rest of the night that our tsunami evacuation plan involved two bottles of rum and kissing our rear ends goodbye as there really is no high ground on this Island (besides the trash dump). Oh well, another day in paradise.

Graduation, National Championship Game and Cold Weather

Last week was our graduation ceremony and on the same evening Texas played Alabama for the national championship. The ceremony was fantastic, the game not so much. The acting Governor, the Premier, the Minister of Education and several other Ministers and members of the Legislative Assembly were part of the crowd of close to 700 people who attended the ceremony. It went off mostly without a hitch and everyone raved about how great a job Kathleen did in coordinating the entire event. Scott made it home with about 5 minutes to go in the first quarter and agonized through the game which he is still convinced would have turned out differently if Colt McCoy hadn't been injured on Texas' opening drive of the game. This week the real story down here is how cold it is. The temperatures have been as low as 63 which is downright freezing for us. We haven't turned on our Air Conditioner this year and today actually wore sweaters outside. On Thursday Scott heads up to Orlando for a workshop on accreditation and is meeting his brother and family later in the weekend. he comes back on Monday of next week.

Happy New Year

We celebrated New Year's Eve in our normal fashion by being in bed and asleep by 10:30 p.m. This morning we did what is becoming our traditional New Year's Day bike ride out to Eden Rock. We have done a good job of keeping up our work out regimen these past couple of weeks since we got back from our cruise and are hoping that 2010 is the year we are able to keep going with the exercise and not putter out after a month or so. We wish everyone a very Happy New Year and a prosperous 2010.