Autumn Inn-To-Inn Hiking In Vermont

Our trip started out with a bang.  We drove out of the Chicago area early on Monday, October first.  We were heading to Toronto for dinner with friends and then planned to re-enter the U.S. in northern New York state and spend a few days in central Vermont before joining an R.E.I. Autumn hiking trip.  A few miles before we crossed from northwest Indiana into southwest Michigan we felt and heard the highway get bumpy and in the fraction of a second that it took us to realize that the highway sounded a lot bumpier under our tires than it looked to our eyes, the right rear tire blew.  This wasn't one of your hissing deflations followed by a flop-flop-flop sound.  This was a sudden and total failure of the tire accompanied by full disintegration of the sidewall and a complete separation of the tread.  Getting to the side of the road wasn't a problem but we quickly realized that our schedule had just been dealt a blow as severe as that delivered to the tire.

When this happened, we knew we would never make it to Toronto in time for dinner

AAA membership, cellphones and GPS navigation made all of this a lot easier to deal with.  AAA had a guy at our car within twenty minutes and the smaller scale spare was on in no time.  In the meanwhile, I pulled the tire information from the glove box.  I had replaced the tires in July and fortunately had used a retail outfit with locations in many areas.  Their Benton Harbor, Michigan store was fifty or so miles down the road.  They did not have an exact match to the tire but had one that would fit and promised to order a replacement that we could have put on as we came back through town in ten days or so.

We we crossed into Canada at Port Huron and were able to reschedule our Toronto dinner as a breakfast the next day with one of our friends.  We arrived in the city about three hours later than we planned.  After breakfast the next morning we headed east out of Toronto and elected to re-enter the U.S. at Ogdensburg, New York after tracing the northern shore of Lake Ontario and following the St. Lawrence River eastward.  Ogdensburg is apparently not a frequently used crossing so we had absolutely no delay.  We drove southeast through upper New York state, including Adirondack Park.  Many people misconstrue what is referred to as the Adirondack area as a national or state park.  At six million acres (2.6 million owned by the state and 3.4 million privately held) the Park and the 105 towns within its boundaries is the largest protected area in the lower 48.  We entered Vermont near Port Henry, New York toward the southern end of Lake Champlain.

We arrived at the Strong House Inn outside of Vergennes.  We selected the inn since it is used by Backroads, a travel outfit we have used several times.  Innkeeper Hugh Bargiel greeted us and got us situated in our room.  We were in a building called the Country House Annex.  It is of modern construction and set a little further back from Main Street (Route 22A) just south of Vergennes.  Hugh suggested the Black Sheep Bistro for our late dinner, even though we just wanted a small meal.  This place was a real find.  Pam had the seared salmon cakes with caper remoulade and celery root slaw.  I selected the pork scaloppini with chantrelle mushroom gravy.  We skipped a first course and dessert but made reservations for two nights later.

After a very good breakfast in the dining room on Wednesday, Mary Bargiel us if we had our plans for the day in place.  When we said we thought we might take a drive she promptly produced a map and traced a route for us to take, pointing out highlights.  We headed east under cloudy skies with occasional showers.  Our route took us through Waitsfield and per Mary's suggestion we stopped at a place called The Store to check out some of the various Vermont products they offered.  The Store also has a demonstration kitchen and there was a class scheduled for the following evening that would feature the preparation of a few Cuban dishes.  We got back in our car and placed a call to our friends Sue and Craig who were driving to Vermont to join us for the R.E.I. trip.  They said they would enjoy the class so we then called and shifted our dinner reservation at Black Sheep Bistro to that evening and then stepped back into The Store to make a reservation for the four of us for the class.

 

Back on the road we turned north to head for Stowe, enjoying the Autumn color all the way.  Stowe is a ski village located in the shadow of Mt. Mansfield which,  at 4,395 feet is Vermont's highest peak.  We walked around the village and stopped in a few of the shops before continuing our drive.  Our goal was Smuggler's Notch, a narrow pass through the Green Mountains that features a road that winds around huge boulders.  The area was used in the early part of the nineteenth century as Vermonters smuggled goods to Canada in defiance of President Thomas Jefferson's embargo and later in the century it was used by runaway slaves escaping to Canada.  The narrow road through the forest allowed for tree branches to touch overhead providing a tunnel of Autumn color.  The beauty of this road, along with that of the highways elsewhere in the state made driving here a pleasure.  Additionally, the fact that Vermont is one of four states which prohibit highway billboards added to the beauty.* 

Approaching Smuggler's Notch

We did not even have time to explore the state's largest city, Burlington, nor its capital of Montpelier, the least populous state capital in the U.S.  Craig and Sue arrived in good shape and checked in at the Strong House and we were off to dinner once again at Black Sheep.  The salmon cakes made such an impression on Pam that she ordered them for the second evening in a row.  I had the coriander crusted bistro steak in a shallot and red wine reduction.  Sue ordered the pork scalopini I had enjoyed the previous evening and Craig had the applewood smoked bacon and brie stuffed chicken breast, balsamic cream reduction.  We agreed it was another very fine meal and the price was not bad either.



Thursday was our last full day before the R.E.I. part of our trip was due to start.  The weather was cloudy with the possibility of rain but after much too much time in the car we were ready to stretch our legs.  Vermont's oldest state park is Mt. Philo State Park and on clear days it features commanding views of the Champlain Valley and even the Adirondacks.  We walked up the road to the top of the 968-foot Mt. Philo.  We did see views of the valley below but the horizon was cloudy.

Pam led the way as we walked up Mt. Philo



The view of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks from atop Mt. Philo

Next we visited the Shelburne Museum.  With 37 buildings on 45 acres it has something for everyone.  In 1955 the 220-foot steamboat Ticonderoga which used to ply Lake Champlain was brought over land to the museum.  We toured the boat and learned about the steamboat days on the lake.  Electra Havermeyer Webb started this museum and for us the centerpiece of our visit was a tour of the incredible impressionist paintings displayed in a museum building that reproduced her parents' New York city apartment.  It is a small but very notable collection of paintings by Monet, Manet, Degas, Mary Cassatt (a friend of the Webb family), Gustave Courbet, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Charles-Francois Daubigny.  The lower level of the building presents a great display of bronzes.  All in all it is a very approachable collection of great art in a place you might not expect to find such wonders.

We returned to Waitsfield and The Store for our cooking lesson and enjoyed a few glasses of wine while chef John Lumbra prepared taro root soup, meat croquettes, Cuban pork chops, rice and beans and rice pudding for dessert.  Guests could participate if they wished or simply sit back and enjoy the lesson and dinner.


Chef John Lumbra showed us how to cook Cuban food

On Friday we enjoyed a final breakfast at Strong House and checked out.  We spent the middle part of the day exploring Middlebury and then headed towards Blueberry Hill Inn near Goshen where our R.E.I. trip was scheduled to begin.  The inn is located in the heart of the Moosalamoo National Recreation Area, 15,875 acres of forests, waterfalls, lakes and streams within the Green Mountain National Forest.  We met our guide Sue Wetmore that afternoon as well as the four other hikers who would be on the trip with us.  We bonded over a couple of glasses of wine and a cheese plate appetizer followed by a delicious salmon dinner.  We found the food on this trip to be absolutely first rate.  We enjoyed dinner at a long communal table that seated all of us as well as the other guests of the inn.  Some of the others were hikers like us while a few were parents of Middlebury College students who were participating in the college's annual family weekend.  One couple from England were there doing some scouting work for their group of antique car enthusiasts who were planning to ship their cars over to North America in 2013 for a road rally to be held in the area.  Meeting interesting folks is one of the top reasons to stay at inns like Blueberry Hill.

Our guide Sue

After a hearty breakfast the next morning we assembled in front of the inn with our hiking gear and our lunches which had been packed by the inn.  It was a windy, relatively warm day with temperatures expected to be in the high 60's but occasional showers were in the forecast as well so we had packed rain jackets.  After a short ride in the van we arrived at a parking area at Brandon Gap.  We were now technically outside of the Moosalamoo and had ascended a few hundred feet.  The winds were quite strong through the Gap as we started up the trail.  We intersected the Long Trail and hiked a section that took us along but not on top of the peaks.  The Long Trail runs the length of Vermont and is the oldest long distance hiking trail in the United States.  Sue had selected this section for the morning hike estimating the rainy weather predicted for the morning might not reach this area and it turned out she was largely correct.  We put on rain jackets halfway into the hike but the forest canopy did not let too much rain through.

From the trail we could look across to the cliffs of Mount Horrid

The height of Autumn color was not the only well-timed aspect of this trip.  The occasional rain, warmer temperatures and the onset of Autumn had prompted all of the late season mushrooms and other fungi to grow and spawn.  On this and subsequent hikes we saw fungi of every size (from one-quarter inch across to almost twelve inches) and color (brown, black, gray, yellow, red and even blue).  I have never seen so many fungi.

While traversing a darker section of the woods before reemerging into the brighter Autumn light, we recalled the words of Robert Frost (1874 - 1963) who spent almost every Summer and Autumn beginning in 1939 at nearby Middlebury College and his farm in Ripton, Vermont:

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Some of the woods did seem dark and deep...

... but most of the time they were filled with light

After returning to the van we drove a short distance to the Otter Valley Union High School parking lot.  We walked across one of their athletic fields and after eating our lunches in one of the baseball dugouts, we headed out on the Hawk Hill Trail.  In the eighteenth century, early settlers established the town of Neshobe (later to be named Brandon) in this area.  The town was moved to its present location at a later date.  Hawk Hill is part of the property owned by the high school and is managed by the town of Brandon.  We continued to find mushrooms of every description but the most surprising aspect of this hike is that we found bright orange salamanders moving through the leaf litter.  Usually you have to flip over logs or rocks to find them perhaps the warmer, moist conditions were prompting them to move to prepare for the onset of winter.  They ranged in size from barely an inch to more than three inches.

The indigo milk cap is an unusual blue mushroom

Turkey tail mushrooms are found on many logs

Hen of the woods mushrooms are found at the base of oak trees.  This specimen was about 12 inches in diameter

We found dozens of red eft salamanders on the trail

The red eft's bright color is a warning to predators that eating them would be a bad idea and perhaps a fatal one

As red efts mature, their bright red colors fade to shades of green

We returned to Blueberry Hill after a nice day of hiking and gathered in the living room for appetizers, drinks and to recollect what we saw on the trail.  As we prepared to go in to the dining room, someone glanced outside and said that the sun had dipped below the clouds and was now shining brightly.  Blueberry Hill faces west and there is a pond behind the inn at the base of some hills.  The setting sun had brightly illuminated the scene and we all rushed outside for some pictures of the scene.  We enjoyed another dinner together and then retired for the evening knowing that we faced a long hike the following day.  We would be checking out of Blueberry Hill and hiking between ten and eleven miles to Churchill House Inn near Brandon.  We were anticipating cooler weather but little or no rain.

Sunday did indeed deliver the expected weather and after breakfast we piled on an extra layer or two of clothes, packed our lunches and started hiking.  After about 3.5 miles we entered the Silver Lake area and hiked to the lake shoreline where we enjoyed lunch while watching a couple of loons dive for fish in the lake.  We then followed the eastern shore of the lake and went around the northern edge of the lake.  We ascended onto the Chandler Ridge where we enjoyed commanding views of the lake and of the larger Lake Dunmore.  We spent the rest of the afternoon hiking south along the ridge while flocks of geese honked as they followed their annual southward migration.

A young maple tree?  Nope.  This is a maple leaf viburnum

Often it seemed as though our path was a Persian carpet



We stopped at Silver Lake for our lunch

This little spring peeper frog wasn't much more than an inch long (photo by Sue W.)

From its very unusual blossom, to its beautiful summer leaves and finally its autumn color display, Indian cucumber-root is a singular plant

Club moss sends forth its "candles" to bring on the next generation

One of the scenes from our last hike of the trip

There was color everywhere we looked

We arrived at the Churchill House Inn tired but happy to have completed the hike.  After enjoying a glass of wine on the inn's enclosed porch, we sat down to a very nice dinner prepared by innkeeper Olya Hopkins.  After breakfast Monday we were driven back to the Blueberry where we had left our cars.  Our hike that morning was to be the trail around Hogback Mountain.  After hiking through the woods and a meadow where we saw a porcupine munching on bark on a high branch of a tree, we emerged out over a meadow and were greeted with a spectacular view of the valley below and more mountains in the distance, all covered in beautiful Autumn colors.  That view will remain in my memory for a long time.  We enjoyed our lunch at a picnic table near the Blueberry and then said our goodbyes.

Our route home took us back into Canada through the crossing in Buffalo, New York. As we approached the crossing back into the U.S. at Port Huron, we saw rather long lines of cars waiting to clear U.S. customs but that did not delay us. Within the last year we had both signed up for the U.S. Customs' Trusted Traveler program and were entitled to use an express lane where we presented our passports and our Global Entry cards and were promptly waived through.

Since quitting day-to-day office work two and a half years ago, we have tried to take Autumn trips to see the leaves.  We were a little too late in driving up the northern Mississippi River valley a couple of years ago and last year we were way too late to catch the height of the seasonal color when we traveled in Ontario but this year we feel we saw the area featuring the best color at its very height.  As we drove homeward through western New York, Ontario and Michigan, we enjoyed the beautiful seasonal color along the highway but driving by the scenery does not compare with hiking among the trees, lakes and mountains.


*The other states that prohibit highway billboards are Arizona, Hawaii and Maine

Sister Islands Sojourn

While staring down at my passport, the customs agent at Grand Cayman (airport code GCM) asked, "What is the purpose of your visit?"  "Vacation" I replied.  "Did you bring any of your cares and troubles with you?"  A smile crept onto his face.  "No, sir." said I.  He stamped my passport, snapped it closed and returning it to me said, "Welcome back to the Cayman Islands!"  On my previous three visits at this point in the trip I stepped outside of this delightfully small airport and headed to my hotel but not this trip.  I was heading deeper into this small island chain.  I was heading to the "Sister Islands".
The Caymans are a British overseas territory located west-northwest of Jamaica and south of Cuba.  The islands were colonized by the British from Jamaica in the 18th and 19th centuries and were administered from Jamaica.  They gained their independence in 1962.  The three islands in the chain are Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac (airport code CYB) and Little Cayman (airport code LYB).  Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are known as the Sister Islands and are located about 100 miles and 85 miles respectively from Grand Cayman.  Virtually all tourist movement between Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands is via air transit so I turned from the customs booth back into the airport and checked in for my inter island flights.

Cayman Airways inter island flights are via De Havilland 6 Twin Otter turboprop aircraft

Aboard Cayman Airways Express KX 4424 for the 40 minute flight from Grand Cayman to Cayman Brac with continuing service to Little Cayman, I enjoyed a wonderful view of the crystal blue water from our 7,500-foot altitude.  I could easily determine our altitude because from my seat I could plainly read the altimeter in the cockpit through the open door.  I had checked in online and selected a seat on the right side of the aircraft since I knew that would offer a southward view as we flew east.  However, as I boarded the aircraft, all thought of using one's reserved seat were abandoned as individuals seemed to take whichever seat they wished and none of the 17 seats were marked anyway.  Looking south from altitude, you could see a distinct line where the lighter blue sea gave way to inky dark blue waters.

Ask divers why they come to the Caymans and most will say just two words: "the walls."  Like most islands, the depths increase at a predictable rate as you head out to sea from shore but in the Caymans the bottom then drops off very sharply to almost unimaginable depths.  These sudden and dramatic drop-offs are in the form of virtually vertical coral and sponge covered walls that plunge thousands of feet.  In addition to being fascinating geography for underwater explorers, these areas between the deep sea and shallower reefs are zones where reefs featuring life on a smaller scale give way to deep waters inhabited by some of the sea's larger critters.

About 15 minutes into the flight the pilot addressed the passengers to advise that there was a minor schedule change.  We would be stopping first at Little Cayman and then the flight would continue on to Cayman Brac.  Those of us on the flight who were heading to Little Cayman would be arriving a little ahead of schedule.

As I had watched my fellow passengers board in Grand Cayman and as I looked around the cabin of the Twin Otter, it was plain that virtually all the passengers were traveling for a dive vacation.  The porous nature of the limestone and basalt rocks forming the uppermost layers of the Caymans and the lack of mountains or even hills mean that the Caymans do not feature any rivers, the drainage of which would add particulate to the surrounding sea.  This lack of runoff means that the waters surrounding the Caymans are very clear.

Walls + interesting marine life + clear water = happy scuba divers

The Caymans are the tops of a massive underwater mountain range associated with what is called the Cayman Ridge.  This mountain range stretches from Cuba's Sierra Maestra to the Gulf of Honduras and the Misteriosa Bank near Belize.  This area of the earth's crust has been pushed up as the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates grind against one another.  South of the Cayman chain lies an underwater feature known as the Cayman Trough the maximum depth of which is 25,217 feet (7,686 meters).  You won't find deeper water anywhere else in the Caribbean Sea.

Little Cayman's Edward Bodden Airport is located at the south end of the island and is comprised of a small, 2-room building adjacent to the island's fire station.  The 3,311 foot paved runway (4 feet above sea level) runs parallel to one of the island's roads with nothing more than a strip of grass separating the runway and road.  Airport usage is restricted to daytime since it is not lighted.  After we landed, a number of happy divers including yours truly deplaned to begin a diving holiday and a few glum looking folks boarded as their holiday was evidently ending.  I plucked my luggage off of the cart that brought it over to the terminal and found a patch of shade.  The airport attendant asked me where I was staying and I replied, "Pirate's Point."  He was kind enough to give them a call and in less than five minutes Michelle was there to greet me and to drive me to the resort.  This whole trip came about when my dive shop, DJ's Scuba Locker, offered a trip to Cayman Brac.  I was eager to explore the diving surrounding both of the Sister Islands but all trips I had seen offered a week on one or the other.  My solution was to arrange a week on my own on Little Cayman and then to join the DJ's trip to Cayman Brac.

I'm a dedicated reader of Undercurrent, a newsletter and online review of diving and diving destinations, resorts, scuba charters and live-aboard scuba boats.  When the prospect of visiting Little Cayman came up, there was really only one place I contemplated staying and that was Pirate's Point Resort.  Texan Gladys Howard bought the place a little more than 25 years ago and has carefully spent the interim years building it into a place that carries near legend status among divers, many of whom return year after year.  She is an award winning cookbook author and has studied with renowned chefs.  This is no loosey-goosey dive resort staffed by interns and college kids.  Many of her staff of about 9 have been with her for years and Gladys runs the place her way.

Michelle and I pulled into the resort and she walked me to my room (#2) located in one of a few small one-floor buildings on the property.  The room had a ceramic tile floor, queen size bed, a glass-topped table with two side chairs, a chest of drawers and a place to hang items.  The bathroom had a tiny shower stall.  Running the air conditioning is something you do while in the room, not while you are away.  Some of the resort's 11 rooms are closer to the water and catch more of the ocean breezes and are consequently not air conditioned.  Consider whether you want to reserve an air conditioned unit if you go.  I was there in early June and temperatures were in the mid to high 80's with high humidity.  As I learned over the next few days, a couple of the guests in non-air conditioned rooms had some uncomfortable nights, despite ocean breezes and strategically placed fans.  The rooms do not feature TVs or telephones.  You might think that the screen in the bar is a TV.  Nope, it's a monitor for playing movies or for watching divers' videos or viewing pictures.  My Verizon phone had no cell coverage here.  There is free wi-fi in the bar area and a computer for those who wish to check e-mail.

Michelle explained to me that they misplaced the keys to the rooms years ago.  There was a knob lock on the inside of my room and I locked the door the first night but the lock would not open the following morning without plenty of finesse on my part so I maintained an unlocked door policy for the balance of my stay and never had a problem.  I kicked off my Keens and left the sandals on a mat by the door.  After settling in I walked a short distance to the main building for the resort that consists of the front office, kitchen, dining room and bar.

When I made my reservation eight months before my arrival, I had sent a check for half the amount of the stay to the resort's business office in Texas.  I received a receipt along with a handwritten note from Gladys saying how wonderful the diving was in June and thanking me for making the booking.  When I heard nothing more regarding the payment of the balance, I e-mailed the resort a few weeks before my arrival.  I received a speedy reply confirming my stay and advising that the balance of the cost would be collected at the conclusion of my stay.  I could pay by credit card but they preferred a check if possible.  I arrived with a check in my luggage and they happily accepted it just before I departed without ever asking for credit card information.

Entrance to Pirate's Point office

As I explored this 7-acre property, I met Jeff the resort's chef.  He welcomed me, thanked me for coming and asked about any food allergies or concerns I might have.  The place is rather renowned for the food but I had no idea just what great dishes awaited me.  Michelle showed me the bar with its unique artwork supplied by guests over the years.  An annual contest is held where flotsam and jetsam that washes up on the beach is used to create art.  Winning entries adorn every space in the bar.  All beverages were included in the cost of my stay since I had booked the dive package for a week.  The bar was self-service and appeared well stocked.  There are many flowering plants throughout the property.

The Pirate's Point bar, featuring artwork made by guests over the years

Fellow guests David & Sheila from England showed me how to mix a proper gin & tonic

The shoreline at Pirate's Point as viewed from the resort

Curly-tailed lizards were a common sight at Pirate's Point

Young land hermit crabs like this one will use a discarded snail shell for a home and switch to a whelk shell from the sea during the later phase of its life

Just outside the bar and dining room area there is a patio space under shade trees where guests may enjoy their breakfast or lunch out of doors.  Michell let me know that appetizers appeared on the bar at 6:30 each evening as guests gathered for cocktails and that dinner was served at 7:30.  After dinner, guests who had arrived that day were asked to gather in the bar for a discussion of diving arrangements.  Owner Gladys Howard had been in Texas for a number of weeks undergoing some medical treatments but was expected on island Tuesday.  I did some quick paperwork and was given a plastic bottle emblazoned with the Pirate's Point logo.  The resort does not use disposable cups or dishware in an effort to be more "green".

Appetizers did indeed appear on the bar at 6:30 and I met my fellow guests, most of whom were returning to Pirate's Point.  Quite a few of them had been coming for years.  We enjoyed cocktails and talked diving and travel.  One couple was from Canada, one couple was from England and the balance of the crowd was from the U.S.  We adjourned to the dining room for dinner and enjoyed a delicious meal.  The main course was accompanied by several very nice side items and it was all followed by dessert.  Several wines were available with dinner.  This set the pattern for future meals: one main course, lots of side dishes that often included fruits, breads and salads followed by dessert and coffee.  You could eat breakfast and lunch in the dining room which was not air conditioned during the day or you could enjoy the meals out doors in the shade.  Dinner was served in the dining room with the air conditioning on for the evening.

At 8:00 the next morning we all heard the bell that serves to alert guests to a meal or the pending departure of the van for the short ride to the dock.  We had a great breakfast outdoors and then brought our scuba gear to the vans in front of the resort.  The ride to the dock may have been as long as 5 minutes.  Our gear was brought down the dock to the boat and we stepped aboard for our first day of diving.

Their boat is a 42-foot Newton Dive Special built in Slidell, Louisiana called the Yellow Rose III.  We could see large waves outside of the reef structure protecting the harbor.  We were asked to rig our dive gear onto one of the two tanks we were each given.  Pirate's Point offers Nitrox (for an extra charge) to divers certified to use it.  Nitrox is air, the oxygen portion of which is increased above the 21 percent level of the atmosphere.  We were doing two dives a day at Pirate's Point so I did not elect to use Nitrox.  South Hole Sound where the Yellow Rose is docked has an entrance to the Caribbean Sea that can be a bit dicey.  Before leaving the dock the captain read each of our names to make sure all were aboard.  We motored across the harbor and lined up for our exit with all passengers seated.  The Pirate's Point captains have done this a million times and in just a few minutes we were motoring westward around the tip of the island and into much calmer waters.

Dive masters divided us up into two teams and we donned our gear.  We walked across the deck holding our fins and then slipped them on before jumping into the clear blue water.  We had been given a thorough dive briefing and advised that we were to accompany the dive master on the escorted part of the dive but that after we had been led back to the area under the boat we could then move about in teams of two or three.  We were asked to signal the dive master when we had used up half of our breathing gas and advised that we should return to the boat with a 500 pound reserve still in our tanks and that we should not dive so long that we had to make mandatory decompression stops as we ascended.  When returning, divers removed their fins in the water, handed them up to a crew member and then ascended the boat ladder.  The crew member held the top of your tank as you made your way back to your seat and saw to it that you were safely seated.  It was then up to you to swap your scuba equipment onto the next tank for the second dive of the day.  After each dive, attendance was taken to make very certain that all divers were back aboard.

A Nassau grouper welcomes me as I move from my world into his  (photo by Dave G.)

In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, an English private navy battled to loosen the Spanish hold on the Caribbean.  These privateers were essentially legal pirates, sanctioned by the English government.  Peace was declared early in the 18th century and the English moved to halt the piracy.  A battle ensued along the northern coast of what is now Little Cayman and the area acquired the name Bloody Bay.

This shot of Pirate's Point dive master Gay gives you some idea of how tiny these massive
walls make you feel (photo by Dave G.)

Pirate's Point owner Gladys Howard hosts guests to a cocktail party each Friday.  During my week sushi was served

During my week I made 13 dives off of Little Cayman, six of which were to depths of between 75 and 100 feet.  All of them were in the Jackson's Bight and Bloody Bay Wall marine park area and each site featured a buoy to which the boat was tied to avoid the use of an anchor that can damage or destroy coral.  Phillipe Cousteau is purported to have named Bloody Bay the best dive area in the Caribbean.  It is difficult to locate an actual documented quote by the son of the late Jacques Cousteau but what is not in contention is that countless big names in scuba diving and underwater photography have lauded the underwater beauty here.

All of the dives were beautiful but a typical one might have been the dive we made at a site called "Mike's Mount" in the Jackson's Bight area. This was our 2nd dive of June 3rd. We descended onto the sandy bottom and as we did, Michelle spotted a tuna quickly moving through the area. It is the first time I have seen one of these big ocean fish on a dive and sighting creatures like this that occasionally move in over reefs from the deep ocean is why many people come to this part of the world. The reef formation loomed above us like a ten foot high hedge as we looked north from the white sand beneath the Yellow Rose. We swam over the top of the reef and then descended over the wall to a depth of just over 60 feet where we cruised along the coral and sponge that cover the wall.  We felt like we were flying along the wall with nothing but thousands of feet of water beneath us.  A spotted eagle ray soared above our heads while we moved past the wall. Any dive from a boat can be a challenge when surface conditions are rough and/or when currents move divers horizontally or up and down the face of the wall but this was not the case during my entire Sister Islands trip. Diving conditions were near ideal.

Yellow Rose III prepares to depart for a day of diving

For those guests who wish to do a night dive while at Pirate's Point, one is offered on Tuesday or Thursday evening.  The dive is done from shore, typically from a dock.  However, during my visit the dock would be in use by a barge that delivers supplies to the island so we elected to enter from the beach near a dive site called "Cumber's Caves".  I let the staff know that I did not have dive boots since I use full-foot fins when diving in the tropics which fit over my bare foot.  One of the dive masters said that he would get me a pair of dive boots to use but unfortunately they were forgotten so when we got to the beach, he gave me his flip-flops to use.  Instead of wearing them as I waded into the water (among a cloud of very hungry mosquitoes) I left them on the beach.  That was a mistake.  The beach was soft sand and so were the first few feet past the waterline as I waded in but the substrate quickly turned into rock.  While the rock did not do any damage, I did get a few very small spines in my feet as I waded in and then waded out after the dive was over.  No serious damage was done but things could have been much worse.  If I had more seriously cut my foot on coral or gotten stuck with bigger spines, my dive vacation could have been over.  Sometimes we do something that defies common sense and get away with it.  Luck was on my side but a little more reasonable caution and smarter thinking would have been better.

We did not see an abundance of sharks during our dives but Dave G. got this nice shot of a nurse shark

This reef shark did pay us a visit early on in my trip (photo by Sy H.)

During the week I passed a milestone. On June 5th I made my 300th career dive at a site called "Sarah's Set". That evening one of my fellow divers was kind enough to celebrate the occasion by making a toast after we sat down to dinner. I appreciated the good will while being mindful that at least one other fellow guest had been certified to dive at my current age of 54 and has logged well over 1,200 dives! Now that's a dedicated diver who gave me something to shoot for.

Lettuce sea slugs could be spotted on most dives (both photos by Patty S.)

This green moray eel found himself a colorful home in the reef (photo by Sy H.)

Ever see the film "Alien"?  It is easy to imagine the multi-jawed monster from the movie was inspired by moray eels.  Although not typically a threat to humans, unless molested, morays do actually have a set of pharyngeal jaws in their throats in addition to their toothy main jaws.  Their poor vision makes them less than perfect hunters but when they do get ahold of a victim, it is seldom lost (photo credit Rita Mehta & Candi Stafford of Univ. California in Davis).

This beautiful portrait of a longsnout seahorse was taken by one of my fellow Pirate's Point guests.  In more than 300 dives I had never seen a seahorse until this day (photo by Dave G.).

I'm sure you noted the spotted moray eel but did you see the arrow crab beneath the moray's chin? (photo by Patty S.)

At a site called "Randy's Gazebo" you could return from a trip to the wall through this tunnel (photo by Dave G.)

Divers relax on the upper deck as the Yellow Rose III heads back to port

Divers get hungry but with lunches like this it's a wonder you can even waddle back for dinner (but we always did)

It is a tribute to the staff at Pirate's Point and to Gladys that the place was run beautifully in her absence.  On Tuesday she returned to the island and everyone was very happy to see her and encouraged by the positive medical reports she had received.  As far as I could tell, only one thing changed when she returned.  At 7:30 she promptly moved from the bar to the dining room entrance and announced that dinner was served.  She then sat guests in different configurations each evening so that you spent at least one dinner during the week at her table and were seated with other guests through the balance of the week.  By Tuesday we were all friends anyway and had already been rotating through different dining seating arrangements.  After the dessert plates were cleared, Gladys made an announcement that is evidently such a routine that several guests said the words with her, "There's coffee in the bar.  It's decaf!"  Diners moved to the bar and some then went to the dominoes table.  Newcomers to the game are welcome but be warned, Gladys will beat your brains out at this game.  The owner of the worst score is compelled to wear a necklace at breakfast the next morning from which a plastic rat dangles.

Gladys (foreground) holds sway over another great dinner

One evening I strolled through the resort snapping pictures of the flowers I saw...

 

The critically endangered Sister Isles Iguana is making its last substantial stand on Little Cayman where about 1,500 animals are known to exist. Their greatest threat is from road accidents that kill up to about 100 animals per year and from feral dogs and cats. It is estimated that less than 50 of the species exist on Cayman Brac. This creature is a subspecies of the more commonly seen Cuban Iguana. In addition to being a dive master at Pirate's Point, Mike Vallee is the local iguana expert and does extensive conservation work on Little Cayman. It was volunteer work on behalf of the iguana that brought him to the island. On Friday afternoons he presents his "Iguana Tour" where he takes guests to an area of the island that features many of the iguanas.  This was a very worthwhile tour done at no cost.

A resident iguana at Pirate's Point takes an interest in dive gear we left by the rinse tank while we enjoyed lunch



(photo by Dave G.)

Mike brought Lucky, a three-legged iguana he rescued, to his "iguana tour" presentation on Friday afternoon

As my week neared its end, Pirate's Point staff checked the air arrangements in place for all guests and discovered that evidently maintenance issues had caused the airline to make substantial schedule changes. I had hoped to make the brief flight over to Cayman Brac early on Saturday morning but my flight was changed to an early afternoon flight. This frustrated my plans to take an afternoon dive as soon as I arrived on Cayman Brac and no amount of speaking with the airline would get me on an earlier flight. The participants in the trip offered by my dive shop had their flight arrangements disrupted and they would not arrive until Saturday evening. Chef Dianne made me a great lunch and Gladys again thanked me for coming to Pirate's Point.  As I slipped on my Keens, I realized that I had not touched them since arriving a week earlier.  I spent the whole week in bare feet, flip-flops or fins.  Now that's livin'!

Little Cayman's airport (note the sign)

After landing, the Cayman Airways turboprop crosses Little Cayman's main road before coming to rest next to the sole airport structure to pick up passengers

Ed drove the the short distance to the airport and as we approached he smiled a bit and asked me, "What terminal?"   What a comedian!   Someone has put a small sign on the tiny building next to the runway that reads "Terminal A, Gate1".  The Twin Otter aircraft arrived on time and I jumped aboard for the 7-minute flight over to Cayman Brac.   I was the only tourist on the flight and one of only two people who had actually checked a bag.   After landing I jumped in a cab for the short ride to the Brac Reef Beach Resort.

Since I had arrived ahead of the 20 or so others on the trip I was part of, after checking in I did a load of laundry in the resort's coin laundry facility.   One washer and one dryer are available for guests.  I also stopped in at the dive shop on the property and did my paperwork to avoid the rush when our group and everyone else coming into the resort for a week of diving would certainly mob the place.  For the week's diving, most of the trip participants would be breathing Nitrox.  The oxygen portion of the Nitrox would be about 32 percent so the amount of nitrogen that would accumulate in our tissues while we breathed underwater would be reduced since the Nitrox's greater oxygen percentage offset some of the nitrogen in our breathing gas.  Safety practices dictate that each diver personally analyze the breathing gas in each of his/her tanks.  Knowing the composition of your breathing gas is critical to your underwater safety.  I took the opportunity to analyze four tanks of Nitrox right away. I was instructed to write my name and the boat I would be diving from on a piece of tape affixed to each tank. Additionally, I was issued a bag and asked to place it, filled with my scuba gear, outside my hotel door by 7:30 the next morning. The bags and tanks would be delivered to the boat.

Beach at Brac Reef Beach Resort (photo by Patty S.)

The cost of the dive trip included hotel, three dives per day plus a night dive, Nitrox, all meals and three bar drinks per day.  As I stepped into the dining room, Omar, one of the staff members, promptly introduced himself and let me know the dining arrangements. Although we could certainly sit anywhere, a couple of large tables had been set aside for our group. The dinner buffet offered breads, at least two salads, a number of side dishes and at least two main dishes. Water, iced tea and lemonade or punch and coffee were included with the meals but soft drinks or bar drinks were part of the 3 beverages per day package we had reserved. I enjoyed my meal and certainly never had to wait in any line for the buffet but this food was not quite up to the level of the fare offered at Pirate's Point.
At 8:00 that evening, I heard the Cayman Airways jet landing at the nearby airport and shortly thereafter people began arriving at the resort. I found my brothers John and Rob and the rest of the group having a late dinner since the resort had arranged for the dining room to remain open because so many guests were on the last flight. Some travelers prefer the jet service to Cayman Brac from Grand Cayman since it takes a bit less time than the Twin Otters and since the baggage weight restrictions for the Twin Otters do not apply to the jet.
After breakfast Sunday morning our group reported aboard the "Little Sister", a 42-foot Newton just like the Yellow Rose I had been on the previous week.  Reef Divers Cayman Brac is the dive operator at the resort and in addition to the "Little Sister", they have two other boats, both of them are 46-foot Newtons.  "Little Sister" was to be our boat for the week and it was reserved for our group exclusively.  There were at least two other large groups at the resort for the week.  If you and a dive buddy elect to go, keep in mind that many groups go here so be prepared to perhaps be out-numbered by your shipmates who may all be there as a group.
Mick Maher the Dive Operation Manager would be our captain for the week.  Darryl Bud Walton, Jr. (call him BJ) would be our dive master.  BJ was born on Cayman Brac.  Mick gave us a thorough boat safety presentation.  The dive experience Reef Divers offers could be described as "valet diving".  Our equipment was already on the boat and rigged to our tanks.  We simply walked to the back of the boat and sat on one of two aluminum benches mounted over the stern or on the deck in the middle of the stern.  Mick or BJ then brought our scuba rigs to us and after buckling ourselves in, we simply stood up and jumped off the boat.  When we returned after our dives we handed our fins up to BJ or Mick and climbed one of the two stern ladders and sat on one of the benches where the scuba gear was removed and then they lugged the gear back to where we sat on the boat and switched it to our next tank.  As on Little Cayman, attendance was taken as the boat prepared to depart the dock and after each dive to make sure all divers were aboard.
Cayman Brac features plenty of wall dive sites but lots of the more common reefs situated on the shallow seafloor closer to shore before the depths plunge off into the Cayman Trough described above. 

"Brac" in Gaelic is the word for "bluff" and the bluffs on the east end of the island at 43 meters are the highest point above sea level on the islands.


The rugged bluffs that give Cayman Brac its name are found along the northeastern side of the island

Aboard Little Sister each dive site is illustrated with a whiteboard drawing.  The boat at anchor is drawn in green in the middle of the board and the shallows are on the right with the abyss noted on the left.

Another seahorse!  This one is a lined seahorse (photo by Cindy H.)

A superb shot of a foureye butterfly fish (photo by Cindy H.)

I have found this one tough to identify but I think it is a saddled blenny (photo by Patty S)

A diamond blenny, one of more than 35 blenny species in the Caribbean (photo by Patty S.)

Here's a fabulous shot of an inch long Pederson cleaner shrimp.  The curlicue structures in the lower-right quadrant of the photo are tentacles of a corkscrew anemone (photo by Cindy H.)

Divers cruise along the top of the wall off of Cayman Brac (photo by John F.)



Divers wait at the stern of the Little Sister for their scuba rigs to be brought to them (photo by John F.)

At the conclusion of a dive, divers prepare to climb the ladder to get back aboard (photo by John F.)

Caribbean reef squid were spotted on about three of our dives (photo by Patty S.)

The relative lack of shallow water surrounding the Caymans means that any ship unfortunate enough to sink in these waters will probably go down in water much too deep to be reached by sport divers, unless it is purposely sunk to act as an artificial reef and a dive attraction.  In September of 1996 a 330-foot long Russian Brigadier Type II Class frigate known as Russian Destroyer #356 was purchased from the Cuban navy and scuttled off of Cayman Brac for just that purpose.  It was built in 1984 in Nadhodka, U.S.S.R. and is a popular dive site.  She lies on her port side about 55 feet below the surface.

This scorpion fish was found resting on the Russian Destroyer

We found this octopus on our night dive (both photos by Patty S.)

Octopus mostly make their way along the bottom but they can swim as well

Lionfish (photo by John F.)

The lionfish is a species of fish that is native to Indo-Pacific waters.  How it was introduced into the Caribbean is a matter of debate but its negative effect on native fish populations is not.  It is a voracious hunter of native Caribbean fish and reproduces at a very rapid rate.  It has no known predators.  Some of its fins sport sharp spines that carry a venom.  A sting from a lionfish is something you won't forget for a long time and to those who might have an allergic reaction, a sting can be deadly.  Different diving communities are handling the invasion in different ways.  On Little Cayman the dive operators do not spear lionfish while guiding paying customers.  Some feel that the kills attract sharks and when I was diving on San Salvador in the Bahamas a few years ago I heard the same theory.  Instead, the Little Cayman charter operators all gather each Wednesday afternoon aboard a boat provided by one of their own.  They discuss where the largest populations of lionfish were spotted during the last week and then descend on that area as a group, spearing as many of the fish as they can.  On Cayman Brac they speared them while we were in the water.  On one dive BJ speared eight.  The groupers like the free meal and usually eat them after a cautious approach.  Some of the larger lionfish are kept and handed over to the kitchen staff after their stinging spines have been cut off.  I'm told they are very tasty.

Here's a sponge brittle star on the lip of a strawberry vase sponge (photo by Patty S.)

 



Yellowline arrow crabs will sometimes capture their tiny prey and store the meal on the pointed tip of their body (photo by Patty S.)

With one exception, all of our diving was done while the boat was moored to buoys fixed to the seafloor.  This practice prevents the use of boat anchors which can break coral and destroy reefs.  The one exception was a dive we did at a site called "Kinder's Kingdom" near the end of our time on Cayman Brac.  Mick carefully anchored in a sandy spot and we headed over the side.  He hoped to be able to find an unusually large field of pillar coral.  We came upon the area about halfway into our dive and it was truly Disneyesque.  There were dozens and dozens of pillars from a few inches in height to five or six feet tall.

A forest of pillar coral (photo by John F.)

Brothers Rob, John and me (photo by Cindy H.)

Our week on Cayman Brac flew by.  Before I knew it time was up and it was once again time to take off my sandals and slip into my Keens for the plane ride back home.  My flight back to Grand Cayman was uneventful but I knew that I had a close connection in Charlotte, North Carolina for the final leg of my trip but I had a secret up my sleeve.  I recently registered for the U.S. Customs Global Online Enrollment System (GOES) program.  I did not have to complete form 6059B, the blue customs form returning U.S. citizens are asked to fill out.  Once in the baggage area in Charlotte, I retrieved my bag and stepped up to the GOES kiosk and swiped my passport under the reader.  I then placed my hand on the fingerprint reader and the machine dispensed a ticket that I used to walk right past the long Customs line.  I rechecked my bag for O'Hare and dashed to the gate as the flight was boarding.  I would have missed my flight had it not been for this program.

I will return to the Caymans, of course.  As a matter of fact I already have a trip to the East End of Grand Cayman on the books for next year.  Contact me if you want in on that adventure.  But I imagine as my plane descends once more toward the tarmac on Grand Cayman next year, my gaze will wander over to Cayman Airways Express fleet of De Havillands parked and ready to take divers on to their destinations in the Sister Islands and perhaps a little part of me will wish that my journey would not end on Grand Cayman and that I could travel on once more to Grand Cayman's sisters.