(Jill: 43) - Crusher's Wall. First dive of our Grand Cayman trip! Fairly windy and rough on the surface. Crusher's Wall is named after a very large turtle that used to live there, but has since passed away. They are trying to eradicate invasive Lion Fish, so a couple people have spears to kill them with. Divers can kill them at will. Water is very warm. I wasn't completely comfortable on the first dive and then lost Jill and the dive group briefly at a swim through. The coral is very beautiful, and there are giant fan corals, and a lot of very long coral. Not as many fish as Hawaii, but some fairly sizable fish. The dive master saw a shark, but I missed it. Overall, was a good dive as first dives go. My comparison to Maui is that there is more coral here, but more fish in Maui. 7/23/12 8:45 Depth: 101 Time: 39 Weight: 12 lbs (good) Wetsuit: 3M Shorty Visibility: ~50' Water Temp: 86 Air Temp: 90 Weather: Partly cloudy Conditions: Choppy Tank End: 600 Dive notes: Snorkel was annoying me so I put it in my pocket. Maybe leave it home. Weight was good. I was warm in my wetsuit. I could consider buying a dive shirt, but not sure I'll get use out of it.

95 (Jill: 44) - Kelly's Cavern. This dive was named after a dog that used to accompany the dive company on the boat. Apparently, one time they came up from the dive and the dog was missing. They looked for it all around, and presumed it had died. Then when they got back to the dock (15min ride away), the dog was waiting for the boat, so it must have jumped off, swam to shore, and trotted several miles up the road to the dock. The dog died later, and they dumped its ashes over this dive site. There were a lot of swim-throughs, we seemed to make zig zags all over the rock formation, going through caverns/swim-throughs. Much more relaxed on this dive, and used my air better. Jill had problems with her ears on the first dive, but did much better on this dive. Saw more fish on this dive, and one big grouper towards the end. 7/23/12 10:30 Depth: 54 Time: 47 Weight: 12 lbs (good) Wetsuit: 3M Shorty Visibility: ~50' Water Temp: 86 Air Temp: 90 Weather: partly cloudy Conditions: Choppy Tank End: 500

(Jill 45): John McKenney's Canyons. This was a great dive, my favorite up to this point. On the wall with dropoff down to 3000 feet on one side. A few swim throughs, some big groupers. I was very comfortable on this dive and the wall was spectacular. I did very well on my air on all the dives today, and was the last one up on the last 2 dives. Jill is also doing great on her dives, though she had some mask issues today, but she was able to solve it herself underwater. This was just outside the closest exit to the reef, took us about 5 minutes to motor over there and then we were jumping in. On this dive we saw one of the evil Lionfish. Such a pretty fish with lots of plumes streaming off of it, but it is an invasive species (and poisonous) and they want them all killed - the previous day some of the divers were hunting them (without success). 7/24/12 08:30 Depth: 94 Time: 42 Weight: 12 lbs (good) Wetsuit: 3M Shorty Visibility: ~60' Water Temp: 86 Air Temp: 90 Conditions: Rolling Waves Weather: partly cloudy

(Jill 46): Snapper Hole. This one took us about 20 minutes to motor to, and we used the further North-East exit from the inner reef, which was a much rougher exit. This exit has some old wrecks sticking up out of the reef next to it. Elliot (aka Hobbit) the dive guide said it was one of his favorite sites. There was a massive old ship's anchor embedded in the reef at one spot, and the rock was like swiss cheese with swim throughs, some of them pretty tight, but it felt like we spent most of the time just zig zagging in and out of swim throughs and that was pretty cool. Elliot said it was more holes than cheese. On this dive Jill's mask band came off and was all tangled in her head, but after seeing me remove my mask she did the same and fixed it up. I was able to be last up because I did so well on my air. Some very pretty tiny bright sparkly electric blue fish. 7/24/12 10:00 Depth: 63 Time: 50 Weight: 12 lbs (good) Wetsuit: 3M Shorty Visibility: ~60' Water Temp: 86 Air Temp: 90 Conditions: Rolling Wavers Weather: partly cloudy

(Jill 47): USS Kittiwake (enter ship specs from sheet) For this one you have to drive over to West Bay and park next to the Burger King that will let you drive your boat up to get hamburgers (if you call ahead, they will bring them down to the dock). So, we came in, had a nice lunch at the condo and then drove ourselves over. The Kittiwake is a former Submarine Rescue vessel whose job was to rescue sailors from downed submarines. It was intentionally sunk about 18 months ago as an artificial reef. Supposedly most of its missions are still classified, and it assisted in the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster recovery. It was placed closer to shore than it is now because a big storm pulled it 60 feet farther out and closer to the reef and wall. It is still upright, though listing slightly. We descended on the bow and swam about 270 degrees around the ship, between the propeller and rudder at the stern. Then we entered below decks and swam the length of the ship back to about the bow, and then we went along the main deck (outside) and zig zagged in and out a bit, even going into the bathroom where there is still a mirror in which you can see yourself. Lots of tiny Silverside fish filling the wreck at points to where there was no visibility due to all the tiny fish. Then swam up to the bridge. Divers with more than 1000 pounds could then stay down and the rest had to go up. Jill and I were the only ones with enough air to stay down (though I fudged - I was at 950). I presume Virginia could have stayed down, but she chose to return with Darryl to the boat. So, we swam around for a few more minutes and then returned to the boat. This was the first time I had ever dove without a wetsuit. I got a tiny bit cold at times, but overall was comfortable. I could have used a few less pounds of weight for certain without the wetsuit. Not sure I will do it again since I got a little cold, but was nice. 7/24/12 14:30 Depth: 66 Time: 50 Weight: 12 lbs (good) Wetsuit: 3M Shorty Visibility: ~60' Water Temp: 86 Air Temp: 90 Conditions: Calm, some light chop Weather: partly cloudy

(Jill 48): Heather's Hallway. This was the 3-tank "safari" to the north side of the island. The owner of the company is trying to find good sites to put more mooring points in on the north side of the island (I believe he's working with the local government on this), so this longer run goes around the island and puts in at random points to see what is there along the wall. This could be the first time anyone has dove this location. Heather guided, so she got to name the site, and it started in the sand, and then we dropped into a narrow trough in the coral (the hallway) and exited that on the wall. This was comparable to the best dive I did in Australia, the wall and coral were just amazing on this stretch of it. This is the dive that puts Cayman ahead of Maui - it was amazing. Just jaw-droppingly awesome and beautiful. Jill is doing so great on her diving now (though she could wave her arms a bit less), and both of us did well on our air. Jill used a smaller "63" tank and that put us pretty much exactly even on air - we both hit half a tank at the exact same time. The wall drops down to ~3000' here, and it is just amazing. Not a lot of big fish though. We did see 1 really big crab and some big lobsters, and one of the evil lionfish. The coral here is really beautiful. 7/25/12 8:45 Depth: 98 Time: 51 Weight: 12 lbs (good) Wetsuit: 3M Shorty Visibility: ~50' Water Temp: 86 Air Temp: 90 Conditions: Rolling Waves Weather: Mostly Sunny.

(Jill 49): Queen's Throne. This was a shallower moored dive after our deep one. Site was good, but not as stunning as the first one. Saw a lobster, and some cool tiny cleaner shrimp doing something to a shell. Also, saw another evil Lionfish. We moored within site of Stingray City, and did end up seeing one pretty large female stingray partially buried in the sand just hanging out. Even when a couple photographers (Daryl) included got within a few feet, the stingray did not move. Daryl kicked some coral badly while trying to get into position to photograph the stingray. I did not use a wetsuit on this dive and did fine. A barracuda circled me pretty close while I was doing my safety stop, it got almost within touching distance of my arm if I'd reached out. Was a little unsettling. 7/25/12 10:30 Depth: 57 Time: 57 Weight: 10 lbs (good) Wetsuit: None Visibility: ~50' Water Temp: 86 Air Temp: 90 Conditions: Rolling Waves Weather: Mostly Sunny.

(Jill 50): Random Anchor Drop. Another wall site for my 100th! This one was not as memorable, but was still a fun dive. I don't think they'll be marking this one in the GPS for inclusion in new mooring sites, but we did see the wall again, which is always great. Because we had gone deep in the morning, we couldn't really stay deep here without risking going into deco. This would be my only disappointment with the dive company so far - unless they are going to have everyone on Nitrox, they shouldn't do a deep dive in the afternoon. Most everyone had to come in with lots of air left, because we were trending towards deco. Saw a pretty good sized lobster again and some cool nudibranchs. 7/25/12 14:30 Depth: 87 Time: 44 Weight: 12 lbs (try 10 lbs next time) Wetsuit: 3M Shorty Visibility: ~50' Water Temp: 86 Air Temp: 90 Conditions: Rolling Waves Weather: Mostly sunny.

(Jill 51): Sunset Reef. Took most of the day off and went shopping and a bit of sight-seeing, but then we headed down to the dock at 6:30pm for the Ultra-violet Night Dive. They gave us UV lights to see the bio-luminescent critters on the reef. Jill re-injured her calf on the giant-stride entry, so that might curtail her diving on Friday, but she toughed out the dive. The coolest looking critters were the anemones. You would shine your light on them, and that would attract critters that the anemone would then gather while it closed up and it would eat them. Pretty neat. Also saw tiny glowing hermit crab perched on the tip of a piece of coral, just sitting there glowing in our UV light. There was a large anchor from "The Wreck of The Ten Sails" back in pirate days, and that was nice too. Overall, the dive was nice for about 15 minutes and then we were done seeing things and could have been done. Definitely a must-do dive once, but I can see why Virginia and Daryl did not do it again. Another couple saw some lobsters and an octopus though, so it could have been better. This did not improve my opinion of night diving, so I don't think I'll become an avid night diver any time soon. Still was enjoyable and neat to experience UV night diving. The lights were pretty cool, they said they were all handmade LED UV lights made by some guy in his garage, and they cost $300 each. They were pretty sturdy. 7/26/12 19:00 Depth: 20 Time: 44 Weight: 10 lbs (good) Wetsuit: Swim shirt Visibility: ~50' Water Temp: 86 Air Temp: 90 Conditions: Calm Weather: Dark and clear

Just Daryl and I on these 2 dives, the girls stayed home (Virginia was done, and Jill hurt her leg). Cathy Church, a famous island photographer, owner of an underwater photo school, and member of the "Women's Diving Hall of Fame", was on our boat with us. She seemed like a nice lady, with a huge camera rig, and she went on a long rant about how the reefs are doomed, etc. Amusing and educational. Underwater she tried to help Daryl get a good photo of a Cayman Drum fish (cool little triangular looking fish with neat fins, but she only succeeded in adjusting his camera out-of-focus. Kind of funny. This was a great location for a dive, probably 2nd best after Heather's Hallway. A pinnacle on the edge of the wall that you could swim around, and then along the wall. Neat swim-throughs and then the amazing wall. We saw a small turtle on the surface from the boat at the end of the dive - this was the first turtle I saw on the trip, though other diver's saw some. Matt, our night dive tour guide, was on the boat as a passenger with his quite hot girlfriend. He was looking for Lionfish to spear and then sell to restaurants. He said he mostly sells to Tukka, and he caught 8+ fish, so we went to Tukka for a great dinner Friday night and had Lionfish Ceviche which was quite tasty. Daryl and I did learn to not descend until the dive guide starts descending because there were a few issues on the surface, and we burned through 500 lbs. of air at 60 feet waiting for Tilly to come down.

104: Delwin's Delight. This site was decent, but not as good as Babylon. Saw some cool nudibranchs and some scenic coral. I was able to get a nice hour-long dive on this one, even going down to 60 feet. 7/26/12 10:30 Depth: 62 Time: 60 Weight: 8 lbs (good) Wetsuit: swim shirt/skin Visibility: ~60' Water Temp: 86 Air Temp: 90 Conditions: Rolling Waves Weather: Mostly Sunny. Overall, the diving in Grand Cayman was A+ and the dive operator, Ocean Frontiers was excellent as well. We loved the full service aspect of it where they did nearly everything. Here's the people I remember: Matt - great, from LA, cute girlfriend Tilly - dive master/boat driver, seemed fairly senior and he was British and also great Heather - blonde woman, good guide, named Heather's Hallway while we were with her. Brittany - another blonde, good guide Colin - young guy, from New England, been on Cayman 7 months, did the stingray tour for us. Very nice. Said he got his dive master cert with OF last year and they offered him a job after that. Elly - photographer, really nice. Only one guy, I think it was Giles, we didn't care for, and can't remember his name, but he was British or Australian, and made a couple jokes about killing/dying before the Kittiwake Dive. He was odd.