Kevin and the Stingrays

Today our twice delayed trip to the Sting Ray Sand Bar finally happened and Kevin got to swim with the rays. Here are some shots from the trip. The shot at left was taken at the Coral Gardens snorkel site as a ray came to see what was happening.

Kevin in East End and Northside

Here are some shots of Kevin this afternoon at the blow hole in East End (bottom), the Wreck of the Ten Sail monument (top right) and with the blue iguana's at the botanic park (top left). We circled the eastern side of the Island showed him the Districts of East End and Northside. We went swimming out at Rum Point before heading back to East End for dinner at Portofino restaurant which overlooks a wreck out on the East End reef.

Kevin at Wreck of the Callie

We went for an early Sunday snorkel to Wreck of the Callie which is in about 25 feet of water in George Town Harbor. Here are a few shots of Kevin at the wreck. The ship behind him in the picture above and to the right is the pirate ship that every year in November during Pirate's week "invades" George Town. This afternoon we are headed to the east and north end of the Island to show Kevin some of the traditional Cayman sites and see the blue iguana's.

Cemetary Reef

Some more shots of Kevin today snorkeling at Cemetary Reef. We headed up there this afternoon to get in some more swimming and beach time. Tonight is a rest night and tomorrow we plan to head up to rum point and the northside of the Island. Hopefully by Monday we will see a decrease in the winds so that we can do a sandbar trip to see the sting rays.

Kevin's First Day

Scott's brother Kevin arrived last night and we took him out for sushi as a welcome to Cayman dinner. Afterwards we headed over to Seven Mile Beach to watch the sunset. This morning we headed out early to Smith's cove for his first snorkeling trip of the visit (his picture is at left). We also snorkeled at Eden Rock giving him a full morning of getting used to swimming in the Caribbean. We saw a new fish called a scrawled file fish. We were supposed to do the Sting Ray sand bar but the high winds on the Island today caused the maritime patrol to close the sand bar. We are hopeful that it might open this afternoon to let us do the tour or we will try tomorrow or Monday.

Our next two years

As many of you know, our contracts with the college expire at the end of August. We have been spending a lot of time recently thinking about the next couple of years and whether we would stay here, move back to Texas or move somewhere else. In light of the on going economic issues in the US and the likelihood of our finding jobs in similar pay brackets and after much discussion and thought about our future, we have decided to seek a renewal of our contracts with the college for an additional two years (through August of 2011). There is obviously no guarantee the board will extend our contracts (though we are reasonably confidant they will) or that our work permits will be extended by immigration (though again we are fairly sure it wont be an issue). Staying an extra two years will mean that when we start trying to have kids that will happen down here (more on that in later posts). It also means not seeing family as often as we would like though we will try to get back to the States for holidays and our doors are always open for visitors. Speaking of which, we are looking forward to all the visitors we will be having this month and will post pictures and updates.

Land of the White Butterfly

Grand Cayman has been a land of white butterflies for the past several weeks. This invasion is a first for us to see. We don't know if this is because the weather is cooler this year than last but we don't recall seeing anything like the number of butterflies that are out. You cant drive down a road without seeing literally hundreds.

Miami Seminar

This past week was our Winter quarter Miami seminar and we both flew up to Miami to work the seminar and get some much needed shopping done. Scott who taught the seminar flew up on Wednesday while Katie came up Friday afternoon. Wednesday was a national holiday in the Cayman Islands (Ash Wednesday) so the seminar ran from Wednesday afternoon through Sunday morning. It was the first time Scott had taught the full seminar so it made for a long weekend. We stayed at a Courtyard by Marriott just across from Dolphin Mall which made the shopping very convenient. For field trips, the seminar students went out to an Indian Reservation, volunteered a morning at a homeless shelter and met with the Miami Dade Public School Board for presentations on Urban schools. The rest of the seminar was spent in class sessions at the hotel in a meeting room. Saturday night we completed that days sessions at 5 in the evening and we took advantage of the early finish to the day to go to something called a Cinebistro where you order a full meal and watch a movie (we saw Slumdog Millionaire, which was quite good). The seminar ended Sunday at noon and we spent the rest of the day running errands and shopping. We flew back Monday morning and are looking forward to seeing Scott's brother Kevin this Friday for a visit.

Long Saturday

Our day began yesterday with a 4:45 alarm. We were holding the college's annual Memorial Walk to raise funds for the Hugh Cummings Memorial scholarship and with sign ups and pre-walk activities starting at 6:00 a.m. and the walk kicking off at 6:30 in the morning that meant getting up and being out the door by 5:15. We have to start the walks early like that because by 8:00 a.m. it gets too hot for many people to be out strenuously exercising. We helped set up the tables and water stations along the route and then participated in the walk with Katie being in a faster moving group and Scott acting as the back end marshall having to make sure everyone was in front of him and that everyone who started finished the walk or got a ride back. About 40 people participated in the approximately 5k walk from the college campus down to Pedro Castle and back. Dubbed a walk from the birthplace of tertiary education in the Cayman Islands to the birthplace of Democracy in the Cayman Islands we raised over $1500 in scholarship money and had a great community building event for the student body.

Our late morning and early afternoon were uneventful but as evening drew near we dressed up to attend the long delayed retirement dinner for our past President Dr. Elsa Cummings at the Grand Old House Restaurant at Petra Plantation. The dinner and program lasted almost four hours and we pulled back into our drive way just before 10:00 p.m. and just in time to watch the second half of the Texas-Oklahoma basketball game (Horns won 73-68). At 11:15 we trudged up to bed exhausted from a long and eventful day. On Wednesday Scott heads to Miami and Katie comes up Friday afternoon. We will be in Florida through Monday morning returning early Monday afternoon. This morning we put Scott's father, John, on a flight home after a week on the Island and later in the week Scott's brother Kevin arrives and we are already planning the fun things to take him to (we hope he like stingrays because a trip to the sandbar has already been reserved).

Valentine Pizza

The past four years it has been our tradition to go out for sushi on Valentine's Day. But we have been to sushi so often of late that we wanted to do something different. So this year we decided to do our Valentine's date as a joint cooking together experience, something Katie is always pushing for. We made pizza and ice cream pie together with Scott making the meat and slicing up the vegetables for the pizza while Katie prepared the crust. For dessert Scott cut up the bananas and covered the chocolate crust of the pie, he also whipped the cream into a solid form while Katie put the ice cream and toppings on the pie after the crust was prepared. It took us a good 45 minutes together in the kitchen to get everything ready and then another 15 minutes of cooking the pizza's to make our dinner. It was a lot of fun and as we ate we watched a movie called Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day with Amy Adams and Francis McDormand, a really cute date movie that was a wonderful capper to a really fun evening of cooking together. It wasn't our traditional Valentine's date but it was really special.

We start a very busy run this week of relatives in town and trips of our own. Scott's father is in town for a week starting Sunday the 15th of February leaving on the 22nd. Then on Wednesday the 25th Scott heads to Miami to teach the Winter quarter seminar. Katie is flying up Friday for some shopping and get away time. We get back on March 2 and then on the 6th Scott's brother Kevin is coming for a visit. He will be here until the 11th and then on the 12th Katie's sisters arrive for their visit through the 23rd. We are planning lots of fun activities for all of our relatives while they are in town and looking forward ourselves to playing tourist. After everyone leaves we have a couple of weeks off before a trip back to Texas over Easter.

As some of you already know, we are currently weighing our options about where we will be and what we will be doing when our contracts expire this August with the college. We have to decide whether to renew the contracts (assuming the college offers to renew our contracts) and stay here another year or two or look for jobs back in the states starting in the fall and head back to Texas. There are a lot of factors to consider and we hope you keep a good thought for us as we decide what our next step will be.

It's cold down here

The temperature has dipped into the 60's the last couple of nights and we are getting very high winds in the western Caribbean. I know this cannot compete with what our family up north are dealing with but this almost 20 degree difference in the regular temperatures has everyone on the island sick with the flu and people walking around in sweaters. We have broken out clothing that hasn't been worn since we were in Georgia over a year ago.

Fitness February

In the past we have not been very good about maintaining our exercise regime and keeping to the good habits we always start the year off with. This year to make sure we keep on exercising and eating right we are doing a fitness February. We must workout 22 out of the 28 days, no alcohol for the entire month and a minimum of averaging 60 cardio minutes a day (which means for every rest day we have to do 120 minutes on another day). So far we have gone 2 for 2 with workouts yesterday and this morning. Today our bike ride was into a rain burst that left us both soaked but feeling very accomplished as we kept on going in spite of the shower. On Saturday we were able to run for 14 minutes around 40 or so minutes of walking. We walk to warm up then do 2 minutes of running and 2 minutes of walking seven times followed by a warm down walk. We both cant wait to get our I-pods which should arrive when Scott's father visits in February. The problem with running without music is that you tend to lose focus and get in your own head. The good news is we have both seen a small but consistent weight loss every week in January and while we are still well above where we want to be, that is slowly changing

Tomorrow is Johanna Bernard's birthday so an early Happy Birthday to Scott's sister up in Chicago. We have learned that we will be getting a visit from both of Katie's sisters in March and are already planning lots of fun activities. We are headed to Miami at the end of February for our winter seminar and now have confirmed a visit back to Texas over Easter so the next few months will stay very busy. We are in a period of time where we will be making some significant life decisions about where we will be a year from now, what work we will be doing and when we will start to try to add to our family. Keep a good thought for us as we mull over and make these momentous decisions over the next several weeks,

Great Turtle Picture

We have been very lucky with turtles on our last few snorkel trips and here is a great shot we got of a hawksbill turtle that swam just below us and that we are using as our background on one of our lap tops.

National Heroes Day

Today is a national holiday in the Cayman Islands celebrating National Heroes Day. The first national hero of the Cayman Islands is James M. Bodden Sr. who actually donated the land on which ICCI sits. He is a national hero for his work in making Cayman a tourism destination in the 60's and 70's. We took advantage of the three day weekend to do a getaway to the Reef Resort on the Northeastern tip of the Island. On Saturday morning we got up very early and drove home to get our bikes and bike back to the resort. The 22 mile ride was into a headwind and for the first time we got to deal with the hilly terrain of East End. Yesterday we biked back home to complete the loop. We returned by going across the north end of the Island on the Queen's Highway to Frank Sound road before turning south and then west again when we got to the southern side of the island. The return trip was a little over 22 miles but much easier because of the tail wind. We had a very restful weekend at the resort, aside from the biking. We are hoping to do the entire loop in a single ride soon but will need to factor in the hills in East End which really affected us. They aren't big hills but there are so many of them one right after the other that they really strain you. We are also doing more jogging to get into shape for another half marathon and both of us are seeing some changes. Last week Scott fit into a pair of shorts that he hadn't been able to use for six months because they were too tight. Katie has hung up a pair of jeans on the bedroom door which is her goal to get back into and she is getting close. We are getting fit and looking better and it is really improving our outlook.

33.12 Miles

This morning we decided to take it up another notch in our biking and try to go an hour and a half out and an hour and a half back. We left early getting out the door at 7:45 a.m. after our breakfast of eggs, spinach and mushrooms for energy. The weather cooperated with overcast skies but a very strong head wind as we made our way east on the main road did not portend good things. In spite of the headwind we headed out through Red Bay and Prospect on to Savannah and then Boddentown, past Pease Bay and Breakers, beyond Frank Sound Road and Heritage Beach to the outskirts of East End. We had rest stops about every thirty minutes for water and granola bars. Eventually, we stopped at the Blow Hole 1 hour and 42 minutes into our ride, the furthest East we have ever gone. The trip out was some 25.5 kilometers. The return trip was actually a little longer because we took the bypass back requiring a trip up Hirst road from Savannah and the return trip requires us to go past the house to a roundabout where we have to double back to get to the entrance to our street. The return trip with a tail wind was much easier though an intermittent cross wind kept psychologically affecting us. We pulled back into the house 3 hours and nine minutes and 33.12 miles of riding later. The actual time was some 3 hours and 45 minutes when you included our rest breaks. We were very proud of ourselves but exhausted having pushed ourselves close to the breaking point.

Next weekend we are doing a getaway weekend out to the east staying at The Reef Resort where we stayed during our first month on the Island to celebrate belatedly our firt wedding anniversary. They are running a 25% discount for locals over Heroes Day which is a national holiday on Monday the 26th so we are taking advantage of our status to get the good deal. Our plan for next Saturday morning is to get up very early drive home from the resort and then bike back to the resort. We would then bike home Sunday morning. Today proved we have the stamina to do the one way trip and with not much more work we will be ready to do the full loop of the eastern end of the island which has been our goal since we got here 20 months ago. Had we not gotten distracted from our biking the past year we would have been able to do this some time ago but everything happens in its own time so we guess now is just the right time.

Back in the saddle again

After several months of almost daily rain and very little opportunity to go bike riding the weather since Christmas has been great and we are cross training with one day walk-running and then the next day biking. We are resting one day in seven and thus getting three runs and three bike rides in each week. Today we decided to kick it up a notch on the biking and did a two hour bike ride from our house in Red Bay east out to Moon Bay. The almost 20 mile ride really pushed us but as we finished we were both pleased to note that we were not exhausted and that building up slowly to this longer ride had been successful. We both came out of Christmas overweight and feeling sluggish but in the last three weeks have both dropped weight with Katie dropping almost 6 pounds and Scott (who had ballooned up to 215, dropping 8 pounds). Our goal is not so much weight loss as it is getting into shape, though the weight loss that comes with it is happily accepted. We would both like to drop 10-15 more pounds each. We were very proud to finish the half marathon in December but distressed at how much it took out of us particularly considering we walked it at a pretty slow pace. We want to do another half marathon this year and shave at least 45 minutes off our time and also do our bike around the east end of the Island. Both of those goals require us getting into shape so we are hard at work on that with daily exercise.

Justice Finally

Texas wins a heartstopping thriller 24-21 Monday night and tonight 24-14 Florida beats the cheating, should never have been in the game, land thieves. Justice delayed but justice finally served. Another college football season in the books, only got home for one game this season, will look forward hopefully to going to many more in person next year.

New Grant of Accreditation

When we first arrived on Grand Cayman in June of 2007 we knew that our first and most important task was helping the college get ready for an accreditation visit that would happen sometime that fall. Several months of work leading up to the visit and almost a year of subsequent work were rewarded yesterday as ICCI received a new grant of three years accreditation through December 31, 2011. With the new quarter starting on Monday this was great news to start 2009 and has given all of us a nice shot in the arm to go forward.

First Snorkel Trip of 2009

This morning we headed north to the Queen's Monument for our first snorkel of the year. It ended up being a short swim as the current and waves were too strong to be swimming as close to the reef as you do up at that site. We headed back to the western end of the Island and went to the Sunset House site where we were treated to a Hawksbill Turtle (pictured with Katie at the left) and a Southern Ray. The rest of the day will be watching football and some work related tasks as we get ready for the quarter to start on Monday.

Happy New Year to everyone, lets hope 2009 is a great year for all.

Happy New Year

2009 should bring some big changes to our lives. We wish all our family and friends a Happy New Year.