Island Adventures

I went on a mission today to find the highly Endangered Grand Cayman Blue Iguana. In 2002, there were left than 20 left in the world. The Cayman Island wildlife conservation fund started a massive recovery program, that has allowed them to release over 40 iguanas back in the wild at the Queen Elizabeth II Botanical Gardens. Now there are over 219 captive-bred blues. It's not mating season for the lizards right now, but they become bright blue during the season.

I was able to spot 2 blues today. The first one was hidden in a forest-like area, but came out of the woods and perched himself in the middle of the trail as if he was staking his ground. He was massive! I'm talking about a 4 foot long lizard (tail included) that wouldn't budge out of the walkway. His blue coloring wasn't too obvious, except for on his face. It looks like the blue color will be more pronounced after he sheds his skin.

The second one I spotted was perched up in a tree about 7 ft high. He appeared more blue than the first. He, too, needed a good shedding. His coat shimmered in the sun and reflected the blue from the sky. I can definitely see why the caymans love these lizards.

So I broke down and bought a new camera today. Yes, before you tell me that I'm obsessed with taking pictures and have an addiction for buying cameras, let me tell you all of the reasons WHY I NEEDED THIS CAMERA!

1) The water here is so clear (some places have a visibility up to 100 ft), that I needed a camera that had underwater capabilities.

2) I need a durable camera that can withstand the beach conditions...sand, water, rain.

3) I've been so good at holding off on buying a car that I might as well reward myself with a camera.

4) I wouldn't be able to take all of these fabulous pictures to put on my blog if I didn't have a camera.

Ok, are you convinced yet? Check out the underwater pictures I took and maybe that will seal the deal for you.

Wow, I've spent 10 years driving on the right side of the road and today I took a ride on the wild side and explored the pleasures of driving on the left side of the road. I rented a bright yellow car for the day and went exploring on the east end of the island.

I didn't realize how comfortable I was driving on the right side of the road until I went to get into my rental car and went to the wrong side of the car. Yep, it was a right side steering mount, so I looked like a goofball not knowing what way to enter the car. I'm sure I looked even more crazy when I was driving with my windshield wipers on in the middle of complete sunlight. Every time I went to turn my blinker on, it was actually the wipers. That happened quite a few times. The Caymans also have alot of round-a-bouts that took a while to adjust to. Thankfully the locals were patient and realized that I was an "out of towner."

It was a beautiful drive to the east end of the island. I drove along the shore the whole way and had a great time "oohing" and "awhhing" over all of the amazing houses on the beaches. Most of the houses are named and the streets have pretty darn cute names too. Lime Lane, Coconut Creek, Rum Point, Niceville, and Turtle Bay are a few of the names.

The other side of the island was peaceful. It's more "country" and less populated. There are less tourists and everyone waves as you drive by. It's kinda like you're in an old-school movie. The furthest point is called "Rum Point." Legend has it that Rum Point earned its name from the barrels of rum that would wash up on the shore when rum smuggling schooners ran into trouble at sea. It's basically a little slice of heaven! I can definitely see myself going to the east end on the weekends.

So I'm going exploring in the Botanical Gardens tomorrow. I'm on a hunt to spot and photograph the Cayman Blue Iguana. In the early 2000's these iguanas were on the highly endangered list and there were less than 20 left in the world. They started a rehabilitation program and now there are over 100 left, most of them found at the Botanical Gardens. We have green and brown iguanas that run around the island, but they are actually considered to be "pests." I still think they are beautiful and can't take enough pictures of them. I actually saw one scaling the side of a huge building kinda like Spiderman.

The other teachers are coming to the island starting on Sunday, so I'm sure I'll have more pictures soon. I've waiting to explore some of the water sports until they get here. I'm actually buying an underwater camera tomorrow. I figured it would be a good investment since everything here is so watersport-based. Ok, that is actually just an excuse for me to buy another camera.

I'm not sure what is in the water here, but since I've been in the Caymans I have been super productive. I've read 3 amazing books, and can't wait until the afternoon showers stop so I can make a quick walk to the nearest bookstore and pick up a couple more books. I have the last book left in the Percy Jackson series and am currently reading "A Long Way Home." I just saw the preview for "Eat, Pray, Love" and can't wait to read the book before the movie comes out. There is something relaxing about reading on the beach!

I haven't ventured out too much from this area of the island. I can't wait to explore stingray city, the botanical gardens, the pirate caves, rum point, the sister island, and even learn to dive. Many of the "new" teachers at my school are coming at the first of August so I'm using a little self-control and waiting on some of these activities so we can all explore together. It's also nice to enjoy some me-time. I've been doing some art, like we did in Spain. I'll have to take some pictures and post it on here. I'm becoming quite the island artist! Maybe I can make some side money and sell it on the beaches (haha).

One of my new goals for my new home is to try and actually save some money. I'm planning on visiting the bestie in S. Korea for winter break, so I need some moo-la for the plane ticket. As an attempt to save money, I've limited my number of "eat-out/delivery" days to one per week. So far, so good! I've been making trips to the grocery store and actually buying "healthy" foods. Gotta get that beach bod! Anyways, my meal that I ate out today was jerk chicken with black beans and rice. Many of local dishes here are Jamaican since they were some of the first inhabitants of the island. Mmm, was it delicious. Oh, and I tried the BEST cupcake of my life today as my reward for saving money! The cake part was somewhat heavy and half was vanilla and half was a light guava flavor. The best part was the icing...mmm, delicious. Imagine a little piece of heaven in your mouth. It was fresh and homemade and delicious!

I allotted today my "taking care of business" day. Ms. Nimmi picked me up and took me to Cayman International for a tour of my new school. I immediately fell in love. The campus is gorgeous and my classroom is even better. I'm going to be teaching 3rd grade and my room is on the 2nd floor. I have full sized windows lining the walls, which will make a good view as I'm teaching. The other 3rd grade teacher, Jill, will be right next door and we have an office connecting our rooms. I have an old-school black board, a white board, two bulletin boards, and a SmartBoard in my room. The average class size is about 15, which was a relief to hear. The school also has some amazing sports facilities. There is an olympic sized swimming pool on campus, soccer fields, a gymnastics/dance room, full science lab, music room, and a breath-taking cafeteria. There are 3 local restaurants that cater the school lunches so my stomach of steel will probably no longer be needed. I'm very excited for pre-planning to start and can't wait to set up my new classroom.

I also got a cell phone today. I'm starting with a pre-paid plan (since I'm not really making many calls right now) and will eventually change to a monthly plan once school starts and I'm using my phone more frequently. My new number is 345-328-5758. I will be using the school's mailing address, so my new address is P.O. Box 31364, Grand Cayman KY1-1206.

The last order of business that I took care of today was getting my driver's license. I had to wait in this obnoxiously long line that appeared to get longer and longer the more I was waiting. It was a pretty easy process...I had to show my passport with the work permit stamp and then show that I had a full license back in the states. You might notice that my birthday on my license is different. It's because here in the Caymans they write dates by putting days first, so when I put 9-2-84 as my birthday, they typed it up and printed it as my birthday being February 9th, 1984. I guess this just gives me an excuse to celebrate twice!

Now that I have a license my next order of business is buying a car. I've been looking at a few used ones (that seems to be what everyone drives here), but can't really move forward with that process until I have a bank account opened. It's typical that my bank made a mistake on my reference letter, which is prolonging the process. I'm actually enjoying the exercise that I'm getting from walking around the SMB area and might wait until the beginning of September before I make any major moves and buy a car. I guess it can be a birthday present to myself!

I can't believe I'm actually writing this blog from my new home in the Caymans. I arrived early on Tuesday afternoon to the very small and unique Cayman airport. As soon as I stepped off the plane there was a local band playing reggae music. I immediately fell in love with the island life.

Ms. Nimmi, the vice-principal of my new school, picked me up from the airport and drove me to my apartment. I quickly unpacked the one suitcase and backpack that I brought to the island and ran out to the beach to explore. On my way out to the beach I ran into quite a few iguanas. They definitely startled me to death. I always remembered my brother having these lizards as pets, but never imagined that I would be living with these huge monsters running around everywhere. Thankfully they scurry up the nearest tree as soon as people are approaching them.

The beach outside my apartment is absolutely breathtaking. In the far distance to the left you can see all of the cruise ships that are at port for the day and to the right you can see a line of hotels where vacationers are enjoying "paradise." Most of the beaches are pretty rocky and great spots for snorkeling. The next major buys that I'm going to have to invest in are definitely a mask and snorkel and an underwater camera.