JANUARY <strong>2015</strong> CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 30 CALENDAR OF EVENTS <strong>2015</strong>
— Continued from page 26 We explored all of the areas of the island we could via bike, such as the extraordinary Camana Bay community, countless pristine beaches, and more. The drivers on the road are very courteous to bike riders, so it is very easy and safe to get around. There is also a Turtle Farm and Wildlife Encounter, located in West Bay, where hands-on educational hook, collected our snorkel gear and jumped in. The wonderful part of this experience is that the stingrays have been going there for years and years. The fishermen from days gone by cleaned their catch here, so the stingrays soon discovered there was free food to be found in this waist-deep water. (See photo on page 25.) We had taken with us from our freezer some conch guts that we normally use as fish bait. The stingrays were as tame as pets and were in heaven trying to suck the Counter-clockwise from left: Posing with the sculpture of a Blue Iguana; a stop at the Tortuga rum-cake factory; a night out with Barefoot Man and friends Cayman. We just loaded up the equipment and picked a dive spot. The diving was phenomenal with a kaleidoscope of wrecks, deep walls, and shallower reefs from which to choose. A few of our favorite dives were the USS Kittiwake, Oro Verde, and Doc Polson. The abundant sea life, swim-throughs and swarming tropical fish were a true delight. In all of our years of sailing, traveling and listening to our CDs of the music of Barefoot Man, we had never seen him perform in person. Well, Grand Cayman gave tours are given. When Christopher Columbus first sighted the Cayman Islands in 1503, he named these islands Las Tortugas, since the waters all around them were teeming with sea turtles. Unfortunately, ships sailing through began provisioning with turtles, which severely depleted the turtle population. With this turtle farm in place, the turtle population has made a remarkable recovery. This island is also famous for the elusive and breathtaking Blue Iguana. It can grow to five feet long and weigh over 25 pounds. To celebrate our wedding anniversary, we organized a Jet Pack Adventure for Two. On a daily basis, we had seen the Jet Pack owner, Chris, come buzzing by our boat and the cruise ships, doing all kinds of sporty moves in the harbour. A few days later, we met up with him at the famous Seven Mile Beach and booked a reservation. The Jet Pack was an amazing experience for both us! It was like we were flying and we were able to go as high as 30 feet in the air. It was the sensation of a lifetime! We decided to slip the mooring and set off for the North Sound to get fuel at the beautiful Barcadera Marina and the George Town Yacht Club, which had a full menu of tantalizing island cuisine. After that, we headed to the ever-famous Stingray City, dropped the bounty from our fingertips. There were swarms of male and female stingrays all around us. The females were enormous and were all over us, while the significantly smaller males circled at our feet devouring the scraps. (Some stingray trivia: We were told by a Caymanian that it takes two male stingrays to get one female stingray pregnant.) After playing with the stingrays for a couple of hours, it was time to head back to the boat for a sundowner. We witnessed a beautiful sunset while being the only boat anchored there. When the night set in, we were then under the bright full moon with the shallows glowing as if neon lights were beneath. We love to scuba dive and since we have our own equipment, it was trouble-free to dive in Grand us our chance. This island is his home, and he was performing at the waterfront restaurant The Wharf, and the mooring we were on was directly in front of it. We went with friends from Spain who knew the owner of the restaurant. We met Barefoot Man and his band and enjoyed some drinks, great music and lots of dancing. We arrived in Grand Cayman, thinking we would just be there for a week. We loved it so much that we stayed another week. Then as fate would have it, a series of storms blew through the direction of our next passage to the Bay Islands, so we ended up being in Grand Cayman for five weeks. No complaints — the weather, beaches, dives, hikes, and sites were spectacular! We hope you get the opportunity to travel to this extraordinary place. Yes, there are tremendous shopping opportunities, however the real opportunities are the countless outdoor adventures yet to be experienced! We truly enjoyed every minute of our trip to Hell and back and more during our stay in incredible Grand Cayman, and we hope you do too. JoAnne and Bill Harris are from Clear Lake, Texas and both hold 100-ton USCG Master Licenses. They enjoy writing cruising articles and sharing their experiences. Visit www.jandbyachtultraadventure.blogspot. com to follow their sailing adventures. JANUARY <strong>2015</strong> CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 31