Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Last night we attended the Cayman Islands celebration for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.  As a British territory, the Queen is the head of state and the celebration of her 60 years on the throne will go on for the next week plus including a national holiday on June 4th.  The celebration to start the festivities was held at Pedro Saint James Castle in Savannah.  As a part of the commemoration, a permanent cauldrn was lit in her honor.

Butterfield 800M Swim

Today Scott and I got to do our first open water race together, the Butterfield 800 Meter Swim off of Seven Mile Beach. We were worried that the race was going to be cancelled because of all of the bad weather this weekend. When we didn't hear anything we braced ourselves for a rough swim because storms tend to make the water rocky. Fortunately, that wasn't the case this time! Although it wasn't completely calm, the waves were very small and visibility was good.  The water was also cold which made it great for racing.  The race was in the same location as the Lime swim a few weeks ago and the CBAC swims we did back in March.

We left Arianna to play with Ms. Nadine and got to Governor's Beach early. After checking in and getting our numbers (S1 for Katie & I1 for Scott), we hopped in the water to warm up.  There were 100 swimmers who came out for the race including several Special Olympians participating from all over the Caribbean.

Scott sprinted too fast at the very beginning but managed to pace himself using one of the coaches from Curacao to get to the finish.  He finished in 42nd overall at 16:28 which is the best he has ever done at the 800 meter distance. Katie came in at 64th overall in a time of 19:46.

The biggest excitement was that Scott placed first in his age group (Male 40-44)! He got a medal!

Arianna and I are very proud of him!

Flooded Campus

The rain continues to come down in waves here in Cayman.  Yesterday we had to cancel classes as the campus was flooded and we didnt have parking for our students.  The flooding hasnt affected the buildings yet which are built up because we are in a low water area of the island.  We continue to get rain today and are worried about this evenings classes.  Here are some shots to give you an idea of the flooding at ICCI.

Front of Friends Hall

South Side of Friends Hall where worst flooding is

Rear of Friends Hall looking back to McLaughlin Hall

The view from McLaughlin Hall

Home from Atlanta

This past week while the island got inundated with rain I was in Atlanta for the spring term seminar.  I gave our students Thursday evening to work on their papers or go out on the town (which most of them chose) and I went out with Kevin to see a Braves game. I had never been to Turner Field before so it was great to check another ballpark off my list to visit.

As a part of the seminar we went to the World of Coca Cola, CNN Center and the Jimmy Carter Center/Library.  I also got a chance to drive up two of the mornings to Kennesaw National Battlefield and hike up the mountain for exercise.  It also reminded me of my old Civil War trips and how much I look forward to one day sharing my passion for history with Arianna.

As we flew in last night it was almost surreal looking down on the floods and seeing the literally hundreds of lakes that had sprung up. 

Shelter in the Storm

Today is the second day of pouring rain. Usually here in Cayman we don't get HUGE storms like this unless it is a Tropical Storm or Hurricane but this one must be big as it has rained straight since yesterday morning. Arianna has cabin fever but we are trying to keep her entertained. Thankfully Brayden brought over a new (to her, hand-me-down from someone leaving island) baby doll crib and stroller for her yesterday when they had their indoor playdate so having the new things has helped.

One moment of excitement was when a frog started to "sing" "in" the back room. I say "in" because it was LOUD! We went searching for it and saw it hiding right in the nook between the inner and outer sliding doors to the back yard. It was just looking for someplace dry to rest!

Mother's Day Training Update

This week both Katie and I achieved individual milestones in our training for the Flowers Sea Swim in June. Yesterday, I participated in the Lime 800 Meter Open Water race on the west coast of Cayman from Governor's Beach up to Seven Mile Public Beach.  I finished in 16:39 a personal best. There were 147 competitors in the race and I finished a respectable 74th, right smack in the middle of the huge field of competitors. This morning, Katie did a 1500 meter swim at the International School pool at Camana Bay in 34:22, a personal best for her. We are both doing another 800 meter race on the 26th of May ahead of the June 9 mile swim. This afternoon we have a special Mothers Day planned out at Rum Point. Arianna's gift to Mommy was delivered yesterday.

Here are Mommy and daughter from this morning.

Training for the Flowers Sea Swim

Katie and I are both training to do the Flowers Sea Swim on June 9.  That competition is a mile long swim in open water along Seven Mile Beach and it is one of the premiere open water events around the globe.  Each year it draws 800 swimmers including famous open water swimmers and Olympians.  You have to finish the mile in one hour and fifteen minutes.  Katie is already up to swimming a mile in open water and is now working on her time goal.  I am still working up to a mile and yesterday did a practice 800 meter swim doing freestyle the entire way with no stopping.  It was very calm and fantastic conditions for my first try at accomplishing that.  You may recall that when I did the CBAC 800 meter swim last month, I did it using a combination of freestyle, breaststroke and even some backstroke with just kicking.  I also was wiped out at the end of that swim.  So yesterday I wanted to see if I could do 800 meters without stopping, all freestyle and at a calm pace so that I would still have something in the tank at the end. 

I am happy to say I was able to do the swim yesterday in just about twenty minutes entirely freestyle and without stopping and without being so exhausted at the end that I was ready to pass out as had happened back in March.  I have two more practice swims this week followed by the Lime 800 meter open water swim race next weekend.  After that I will step it up to trying to swim a mile in open water without stopping and with any luck might actually be able to get to Katie's level and actually set a time goal for the Flowers Sea Swim and not just a goal of finishing within the allowable limit.

800 Meter Training Swim on May 5, 2012 

National Healthcare Strategic Plan and New Grant of Accreditation

As a part of my role as the Chairman of the Cayman Islands National Insurance Company I am often called upon to participate in any national initiatives dealing with health care.  This past week the Ministry of Health held a two day long meeting to develop a National Health Policy and Strategic Plan that I attended.  We are working on a national vision, values and strategic goals and had a great two day working process.  Working on things like this is what makes the CINICO position so interesting and the work so enjoyable.

We did get some very good news at the college as our new grant of accreditation arrived through December 31, 2014.  A lot of work went into that so we all were relieved to get the process completed.  Of course with it being a three year grant we start the process for the 2014 visit in early 2013 so just a year away from going through this all over again.