The Smith Family Adventures: Grand Cayman 2013!!

First night of vacation! I met Daryle at our hotel after his dive boat docked that afternoon, and we went out to eat with some friends he dove with all week, Lori, Dwayne, and Alan.

He actually let me get a picture of us!.... It was so pretty at the resort - they were decorating for a wedding taking place that weekend.

Up bright and early the next morning to go diving! Well, Daryle dove and I snorkeled. :)

The docks on the West End.

Our dive boat was a former Navy Seal RIB - super cool!

Nat and Art were our dive guides, they briefed everyone on the site before starting the dive.

Daryle and Lori waving to the Cayman Aggressor - their beloved Live-Aboard boat that they'd just spent a week on!

Daryle suiting up

Me and Art, my new 'mate from Australia!

Ready to snorkel!

And here I go!!!

The first dive was at a ship wreck of the USS Kittiwake - the first time that the US had ever sunk a ship on purpose for rec diving, in 2011! Alan and Rachel were kind enough to give us some of their pictures that they took while we dove together - so thoughtful and such a great job!

Awesome huge turtle!

Daryle-fish in action!

Lori and me

Our "taxi" to and from our dive site

I kept cracking up all weekend at all the air conditioners working over time to keep us cool - this is outside a group of restaurants across from our hotel

Here Leezerd leezerd leezerd....

We haven't been to Grand Cayman in four years - we were last here in 2009 over Ya'shar's 3rd birthday - and we couldn't believe how much had changed! One of our favorite Brazilian BBQ restaurants had closed down, however the blow was softened by this new yogurt place that opened called Peach Wave. Um, we stopped there almost every night.... Daryle's dive buddies, Dwayne, Alan and Lori.

The Westin

Art again!!!

Monday morning I went out again with Daryle to dive and this time, I actually dove too! I took a Discover Scuba course and it was very cool - Nat and Art took us to this great place for lunch and then to dive called Macabuca. You could literally sit here and eat and then watch people go over to the steps to the right in this picture and go down into a little lagoon and out into the ocean! I tried conch for the first time!

See I'm such a good student.... :) Nat, giving me the "flip chart" lesson part of my dive class.

Getting ready to gear up!

And here I am - DIVING!!! Daryle and Nat were with me the whole time and it was pretty awesome! I went down to 30 feet - wobbled a little but it felt pretty good. I didn't freak out and try to bolt to the top, but I did have a few seconds where I accidentally snorted some ocean water and had to cough, but I handled it ok! Apparently you can cough AND puke into your regulator if you need to... (I didn't puke, but I did get very full of air in my stomach after our lovely meal of conch... I only belched though. Whew.) Over all a great success!

That afternoon we went to Camana Bay, a new shopping center that opened a few years ago. They even added a movie theater, which we visited our last day because it RAINED!!!

Above is the pool at our hotel, and below is our beach. I always loved walking on the beach that time of night right before sunset - so serene and beautiful!

Tons of crabs, everywhere!

Relaxing by the pool, late night.

Since we'd been diving early every morning, we hadn't gotten a chance to eat breakfast at our favorite restaurant, Eats. But Wednesday morning Daryle didn't dive, so off to breakfast we went - LOVE the french toast!

This is the row of restaurants across from our hotel that we loved to eat at, Eats (50's diner/cafe), Legends (a sports bar where we caught some NBA playoff games and some hockey), and Yoshi - the best sushi on the island!

We went back to Camana Bay on Wednesday because it was raining, and we got caught in the rain again while we were there!

Sleepy.... Our last night before heading home......

Watching the hockey game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks. Chicago won!!

Palm trees at night....

After a stressful day of traveling, it was so good to look our window and see San Francisco! Home at last! We almost missed our connecting flight in Miami after our flight was delayed leaving Grand Cayman due to lots of wind and rain. We literally had to RUN from customs and do a "Home Alone" scene through the airport to make our flight. We were the last ones on the place, but we made it!!!!

We missed our babies! They did great hanging out with David all week, and on Friday, vacation continued when we picked them up from school and went out for ice cream!