CRIKEY!!!

Almost 2 weeks ago to this moment, I was silently, sleekly, deftly, and casually crusing along, RIGHT ABOVE MANY STINGRAYS!!! To make matters even more exciting, I was reaching out and touching them, grabbing them, and generally enjoying my harrassment of them. In my mind, I was thinking, (with and Australian accent) "Oh Crikey, look at this little beauty! She's just swimming along, probably looking for food or a mate. She's got this little barb right here that would cause quite a lot of pain if stung by it. Gotta stay away from that end!"

Then, I find out, only a couple of short days later, my idol in many ways, my mentor in the handling of many animals, and my Australian accent teacher dies from a barb to the heart from a stingray.

So it begs the question, did I defy death? I'm pretty sure I did. In fact, I think I'm quite a wildlife icon of our time. I'm waiting for calls from the major networks in Australia to fill the void left by the untimely death of our croc-hunting friend.

I'll miss you Steve Irwin. We all will.

Caribbean

Last week I soaked up the sun, on the glorious Caribbean island of Grand Cayman. It was wonderful. For those of you wondering where Grand Cayman is, it's just south of the Western part of Cuba. It's a small island, shaped a little like this:


If you look up near the top middle of the map, there's a number 48, next to a place called "Rum Point." Near this little number, which by the way, I never actually saw that number anywhere, is a home, on a beach, with a pool, and a Slushie machine. Yes, you read correctly, a SLUSHIE MACHINE!!! Not a "Pay a fortune for 12 oz." Slushie Machine, but a FREE ONE!!! It's there, at the house, on the beach, in the Caribbean, for all those inhabiting that home to enjoy.

Also, next to the home on the beach, with the pool and the slushie machine, there's a dock, with a boat, with dive equipment on it, ready to go. Again, this is not one of those, "Pay a FORTUNE for one, MAYBE two dives, with 20 other people and a dive master that's grumpy but hoping to still get a tip" type boat. It's a private boat, where everything is ready to go. You motor out, find a great dive spot, and SPLASH, you're diving, seeing turtles, lobsters, sharks, tarpon, crabs, LOTS OF FISH, stingrays (yes, another blog to address this one shortly), spotted eagle rays, and MUCH MUCH MORE!!!

Also, next to the home on the beach with a pool and slushie machine, and the boat dock with a boat and dive gear, was little motor scooters! HOW FUN IS THAT?!?! So you can motor around, act like you're a Hell's Angel, and just feel really cool.

Can you tell I had a great time? Can you tell I'm trying, ever so subtley to rub it in? Can you tell I am WISHING I wasn't back at work? Can you tell I want to go back right now and maybe never leave? Can you tell that even as I write, there are tears welling up at the very thought of this wonderful vacation?

Oh Cayman, I love you so... And Slushie machine, I love you so too...