Grand Cayman 2023
Day 8: Sparkles are a girls best friend
No sleeping in this morning says my body and I was up before the crack of dawn at 5am.
I headed out to the beach before sunrise to find the water really calm and crystal clear. The sunrise wasn't the best today but none-the-less I snapped a picture because that's what I do.
I decided to walk along the beach and do a little beachcombing before heading back up to the house.
Today was going to be a lazy breakfast day where the family had to fend for themselves and we ate cereal.
Sakari had really wanted to do some fishing while we were here and I made a promise that she could. She had been begging all week but we either didn't have time to fit it in or when we went to the bait store and it would be closed. Today was going to have to be the day I suppose since we weren't able to do any diving today and I really didn't have anything planned.
Sakari had packed her tackle box but we would find that, even with her rod broken down, it would not fit in what I believed was a ginormous luggage to begin with that could possibly stow away my entire bedroom set if I tried. So, we would also have to rent her a rod and reel and I had hoped they did that here.
Sakari and I headed out to the car, but first a stop at our favorite grocery store.
We arrived to find it was a few minutes before the bait shop said it was opening and right on the dot she was there to open and motioned us in. She was very nice an informative on what bait we should use and gave us our options of rods to rent.
Rental was $25 for 24 hours but we would find that they only accepted cash. I guess I didn't think about that. She informed us that they only required a $50 deposit down on the rod until we brought it back the following day.
We headed back home to grab some cash. We were only about 10 minutes away.
When we returned, she said "Ok, that will be $95 USD. Wait, that didn't add up. She had told me $50 and that's what I had brought. Even if she meant $50 deposit PLUS $25 for the rental, that's only $75. So, not sure how those calculations added up.
She decided to take the $50 and then said when we returned the rod, she would just take the price of the rental out of the deposit. Yep, that worked for me. The pack of frozen squid would be an extra $1.50 so we grabbed one of those too.
We zoomed back to the house and I didn't even get a chance to ask her when she planned on going out to fish and she was nowhere in sight already. She was already down at the dock baiting her rod. Geesh, excited much kid?
I packed the cooler with drinks and snacks and headed down. We stayed out there for hours and she loved every bit of fishing off our dock. I knew she would. It was one of reasons I picked this particular place. After seeing the dock in the pictures and asking the rental company if you could fish off of it and they told me yes...it was the place for us. Sakari's last fishing adventure did not turn out the way she wanted. She thought deep sea fishing would mean going out in the water, casting a rod, and sitting there until she caught a fish. Not constant moving on the boat as the bait pulled through the water teasing the fish to chomp on it. She likes being still so "still" she was today and it made her very happy.
She started reeling in the fish and was super excited.
She caught a variety of fish and was so much more happier catching these little fish, compared to the larger barracuda on the fishing trip in Mexico, and you could tell by each little squeal she let out. She caught a lot of the needlenose fish as well but every time she pulled them up in the air, they managed to get away.
As she continued to fish, I decided to try to snorkel. There really was a lot to see out there at the reef right in front of our dock. A wide variety of fish and coral and it was beautiful.
I see you peeking out at me...
So beautiful down there...and it was in water between 5-6' deep. I just love it like this.
I was only this far from the dock and Sakari was still fishing.
I spotted some more Flamingo Tongue Snails. They are just everywhere in Grand Cayman.
There were also a lot of really big fish out there as well. I told Sakari she needed to go out in the kayak and fish right there and she'd be catching some pretty nice sized fish.
Spanish Hogfish
A cute little Spotted Trunkfish was busy searching for food.
Fireworm
I found a few conch's along the ocean floor.
I just loved the purple coral out there. It was so colorful and pretty.
French Angelfish
A large group of blue tangs blessed me with their presence only the water was a little murky where they were at. I wished that I could have gotten a better picture.
Another fire worm lurking around
So many Flamingo Tongue Snails all in one place snorkeling and these were out. I guess I didn't realize they looked like a small piece of coral when they come out with suction cups. So cool looking.
The water was starting to get stirred up and it was getting cloudy.
Sakari took a picture of me out there snorkeling as I was coming back in.
There was a purple feather duster in the sand as I was coming back in.
Around the dock were plenty of fish for Sakari to catch. I had to go in and rescue her line a few times when it got wrapped around parts of the dock.
Once I got back, it started to rain. But that wouldn't stop Sakari from reeling in the fish still. She enjoyed it rain or shine.
A little video of Sakari fishing and having a great time.
Sakari was not the only one who was fishing today. There was a guy a few houses down that had his poles out and he would go into the water to swim and then come back and check them. I'm not sure if he ever caught anything. I didn't see him reel anything in.
Here's a short video of my snorkeling today.
After awhile we started to see lightening and it was thundering so it was time to head back to the house. I was actually glad that we wasn't able to go diving today because it would have been a bad day for it as far as being able to get good pictures and the water being stirred up and now the lightening.
We made a few chicken salad sandwiches for lunch and took a shower.
Around 3:30pm, we decided to not waste the rest of the day and head into town before our excursion tonight. I thought maybe we could do a little bit of shopping down by the cruise port.
We circled around in town looking for a place to park and ended up by a library. It was still sprinkling a little bit but it wasn't nothing that we couldn't handle.
We hit up 2 shops and walked around the corner and then this happened...
We were STUCK! Like really stuck. It wasn't some short little Caribbean downpour and it goes away. We were there for a very.long.time! In the meantime we just stared at each other hoping someone would come up with a plan. I got nuttin! Neither did they. It was either wait it out hoping that the rain gods had punished us enough or make a run for it. We waited it out as long as we could and decided to make a run for it. The streets were flooded, the sidewalks were flooded and we were definitely getting wet.
The hubby pointed in the direction of car and assured me that "it's that way across the parking lot". So, off we went...and went...and went and we kept running into fences with no way out. We'd walk around it and then hit another road block. We ended up making a couple circles around the town and we were soaked. BUT, we found the car finally. I am now thinking the hubbys GPS has a glitch and he needs rebooted because this never happens.
Ok, it didn't look like it was going to let up so we decided to just head over to the marina for our excursion and wait it out as we dried out.
As we sat in the marina parking lot we started to see the lightening off in the distance. I wasn't hopeful that our excursion was even going to happen. I tried to get in touch with the vendor using facebook, email and their website. I finally received a response saying they would be going out as far as they knew. I spotted a guy on the dock that with their name on it and decided to get out and talk to him. He said the storm was "moving out" and we should be fine.
We waited in the car for 1 1/2 hours and had 2 potty breaks during this time. This was bathroom patrol and you had to outsmart them to make it in the door.
Inside the bathroom, I would find this sign...
I'm thinking maybe too many people that visit here have been to places in the Caribbean where you are not allowed put your toilet paper in the toilet and must put it in the trash can. That has to be it.
When it was almost time, one of the employees walked over to the car and told us we could come over and sign the waiver for the trip. There was another couple that was also waiting. The company also had a tour bus that left about this time. I guess they were headed to a hotel to pick up more people.
They told us to go ahead and walk down and get on the boat. They explained they had a brand new very nice boat...and nice it was.
So I bet everyone is wondering WHAT ARE YOU DOING MITSUGIRLY???? PLEASE TELL US!!
Ok, the suspense is up. We are doing a tour to the bioluminescent bay tonight to see it all light up in it's glory...at least we had hoped so. We tried this once before in Puerto Rico and although we did see a few glimmers here and there (after we put a large black tarp over the side of the boat and poked our headed under it, it was NOTHING that I thought it was going to be like. However, I had been reading the reviews of this place and they had a lot of good ones. I had also read that the best way to see them was to actually be inside the water splashing around.
I had checked the moon schedule, because this is very important in having the best opportunity to see this. The less the moon and light, the better the chance and I wanted the best chance we could possibly have during the time we are here. I used this chart to pick a day and from August 5th to August 12th, the best night to go would be tonight (well, other than the 13th but we didn't want to be out late that night due to leaving the following day).
This particular tour company is the only one that I found that will get you down in the water to swim with them. Others do the boating and kayaking but not down in the water. So, you are assured the best chance of seeing them this way.
So what is the bio bay? What makes it light up?
They are little microscopic organisms in the water that reacts with a light as a defensive mechanism when disturbed. These are called dinoflagellates. They are single cell plankton. An organism called "luciferin" is in the dinoflagellates cell and this chemical will illuminate light when combined with oxygen. They are found in bays due to the shallow depth, warm water, mangroves and decomposition of leaves that fall into the water and create a bacteria.
This company operates only 2 1/2 weeks each month due to the moon schedule. They provide you with full body wet suits, dive gloves and dive shoes. This protects you from any jellyfish that may be in the water. These are not your dangerous stinging jellyfish but the one's we held when we were in St Thomas. It's just a precaution and if you do feel a sting, it's faint and doesn't last but a few minutes.
The water is warm and there's no current. It is only 4 feet deep in the area you swim in.
We all suited up for our trip and thank goodness we got these suits just in time because the mosquitos came out in full force when the sun went down. They also had bug spray to use. This was only a problem as we sat in the marina and not while on the water or in the bay.
After waiting a little bit, a really huge family arrived and we waited on them to suit up before leaving.
Their new fancy boat came with all the bells and whistles and had pinkish red lights that would glow on our ride there.
Then we were off. They were playing music and the breeze felt wonderful. The lightening had moved away and it was going to be a good night.
It was about a 15 minute boat ride out to the bay. Now the area that we had to meet at to go on the tour was at the Yacht Club in West Bay. This was all the way across to the other side of the island. However, the place where the bio bay was is all the way over on the other side of the island at the Rum Point and Kai area. Ironic we would have to drive all the way to the other side of the island only to come back to the side we are staying on. But...we were doing what we had to in order to go with an operator that took us in the water. Even if that meant we would have a long hour drive home late at night. I was hoping it would be worth it.
The houses over there all lit up at night were gorgeous! The closer in we got into the bay the bigger and better they were. WOW!!
Woo wee, we had arrived and couldn't wait.
As we went really slow into the cove to find the perfect spot the excitement grew. We did see a few kayak's in the water. Our guide did tell us, you will never get the full experience unless you are in the water snorkeling with it. They will not be able to see what you will see when they are above water just splashing around. I promise you!
I decided to let the fam go in first. I wanted to see if I could capture them splashing around and get any pictures possible. The staff said that the only known way to capture any of it that they had found was by using the new iphone. Other iphones didn't quite work for some reason and to make sure to have it on a long setting. I tried several times with my camera, gopro and had no success. So, I tried with the iphone. Over and over and over again. The boat had the red/pink lights on so when I started to capture SOMETHING in the water, I was super excited. I told the family SPLASH! SPLASH AS HARD AS YOU CAN...KEEP GOING...DON'T STOP.
I wasn't 100% sure what I had but I had something and this is what it was. (Both the hubby and Sakari in the water splashing around and hanging onto the pool noodles)
Hey it's something right? You could see them in the water and you could see the plankton lighting up blue. It was so cool. I couldn't wait to get in now and see it for myself. Sakari kept saying "You HAVE TO SEE THIS!! Underwater is so cool mom"
One of the guides told me to get in and he would take some pictures for me...he never did so a little disappointing.
I got in and looked under the water and splashed around and OH EMMMMM GEEEEE! WOW! I never thought that was what it was going to look like...ever. It was AMAZING! The coolest experience I have ever seen. Like seriously! I can't even begin to express it.
We were in the water for quite some time. I didn't want this experience to end. We were trying different things. Sakari yells "mom, keep your hands really still under water and stare at them" so I did. It was like my fingers had sparkles all over them. We were trying everything and I was trying to get pictures or videos of it. It just wasn't working out the greatest. I don't know how people capture this stuff the way they show it online.
But, I had them frantically swishing the water around "Kick your feet like you are swimming from a man eating megalodon and wave your arms and hands as fast as you can like you're a bird trying to fly" I yelled to them. You could see the sparkles everywhere and I was trying every setting I possibly could on my GoPro and the camera.
If you look at the next 2 pictures, you will see all of the water with them moving around in it but you will see the sparkles around it and some of them happen to stand out at the precise moment I took the picture or video.
Can you see all the sparkles? And the blueness of them all around? (I turned on the magnifying glass on these pictures in case you try to get a better close up).
The guide told us to do various things like "snap your fingers", "keep you hands still and look at them" (we already discovered), "clap your hands", and "do the running man". Then he says "Whatever you do, don't pee...we will all know" LOL So, I had to try it of course. Nope, didn't work according to my family. They didn't see anything. HA!
They let us stay out there as long as we wanted. When a majority of people started getting back up on the boat, they finally told us to come. Yep, we were the last to get on. I just didn't want it to end. It was so pretty and such a mind blowing experience. One that we will never forget for sure and will brag about it for years to come.
It was time to head back and they provided us with a lot of water, beer, regular pop and flavored drinks...none of which we drink other than the water. I knew I should have brought my own Diet Pepsi. But I sucked it up, had water, and snuck a few sips of Sakari's sugary goodness drink.
Here's the video I made of our adventure. You'll be able to see the sparkles in the video of them kicking to stir them up. They were just everywhere.
We headed back and couldn't stop talking about our experience and I honestly couldn't wait to get home to see what I actually got on my pictures and video. I had my fingers crossed and hoped for the best.
All I can say is that if you get a chance to do this tour....DO NOT HESITATE!!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS EXPERIENCE.
We were starving by this time and decided to just stop at Burger King and cheat on the way home. I found it weird that most vehicles are right hand drive and we pulled up to order on the right side but the building to collect the money and get your food was on the passenger side. How does that work if you are alone in the car? Crawl across to get it? Super weird. There's one thing that doesn't change from the US to Grand Cayman...even there they can't get your order right.
We pulled over and ate in the parking lot because truth be known, I was scared to drive home in the dark to begin with and it would be my first time driving on the opposite side in a right hand drive car at night. The last thing I wanted to do is try to eat while doing it. We had a long drive too (about an hour to the other side of the island).
But, I'm happy to say that I made it home fine and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I pictured very dark, winding roads where you couldn't tell which way to turn but for the most part, the streets were all lit up...even in the areas that I didn't think would be.
After arriving home, we showered and headed to bed at 11:30pm. The latest we have been up since we've been here and our bodies could definitely tell.
