Cayman Islands Photos

I just uploaded some of my photos from the Cayman Islands. To check more photos follow the link to my Flickr account or go directly to the SLIDESHOW.

Cayman Aggressor Video

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Back in the Netherlands - Photos coming soon

I just got back from my trip to the Cayman Islands. I am working on the photos and will upload some very soon.

Captain's Log already on Aggressor Website

Taken from Aggressor Website

"Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Entry By: Alan Roberts

March 1-8, 2008 Water temp: 80f. Air temp: 85f+. Vis 100-150ft. Wet suit 3 mm full suit. Greetings once again from the beautiful Cayman Islands. Today we were joined by 18 happy guests from all over the USA and Nuno from Portugal. We were fortunate to have Ralph Neely, who played 13 years ‘America’s Team’, the Dallas Cowboys. Ralph participated in 4 Super Bowls! Wow! Also Jamie & Steph who have both recently returned safely from serving their country with the US Army in Iraq and will be getting married in the near future! Some late arrivals made sense for us to stay at the dock and leave early Sunday AM for our first dive site. Again Savio and Yanis spoiled us all with no doubt the best BBQ on the island followed by homemade cherry pie and ice cream! Yummy!

Sunday. The wind is still blowing from the Northeast, so we chose the wreck of the Doc Polson for our first site. A perfect place to check out our gear, weights and get wet. A small 70ft tugboat intentionally sunk in the early 90s makes for beautiful wide angle photography as well as a turtle, resident barracuda and a couple of eagle rays. Stingray City was the afternoon dive and again these pesky critters came looking for squid and our blood! They found both with several Stingray kisses being received along the way! We opted to get an early start for Little Cayman and started our 75 mile crossing early to give us a calm night’s sleep in LC.

Monday. Still a little bumpy on Bloody Bay so we dove the “Black Hole’ on the south side for our first dive. A crack in the reef drop down the wall exiting at 110ft. A shear wall, pillar coral and incredible vis made the bumpy crossing well worth it. Lea Lea’s Lookout on Bloody Bay Wall, is what they came for. A long crevice of the edge of the wall, the “great room”, shear wall, shark motel and plenty of reef critters. Next stop was “The Meadows” which should be named the Aquarium! Schooling jacks, groupers, reef sharks, turtles, eagle rays and a giant goliath grouper made for a fun afternoon. The night dive was awesome with all the usual suspects being present! Crabs, lobsters, squid. sharks, sleeping turtles and of course octopi!

Tuesday. Randy’s Gazebo was first. Always a highlight of the week and this was no different! The two chimneys, crevice and archway were all explored as was the shear wall and shallow reef. 3 Fathom wall was the PM site. This to me has to be one of the best sites in the Caribbean! You name it, its here. Shear wall! Shallow sands, swim thru’s, turtles, eagle rays, sharks, green eels, spotted eels, scorpion fish, blaa blaa blaa! And once again the night dive was productive with eels, crabs lobsters, crabs and of course octopi!

Wednesday. We woke to calm sea’s blue skies and a Russian warship underneath the boat. We are in Cayman Brac to dive the 356, a 300+ft Russian naval vessel which was sunk as a dive site in 1996. Two awesome dive’s were enjoyed exploring the wreck, with its many swim thru’s, engine rooms and of course the naval guns. The “Bus Stop was next back on Bloody Bay! A mini wall and shear wall with plenty of sharks, turtles, scorpion fish, and eagle rays, flounder and sail fin blennies! The night dive was again a good producer of nocturnal critters with squid, lobsters crabs and octopi being spotted.

Thursday. 9 brave souls awoke at 5.30AM for our pre-breakfast dive to watch the sunrise at 50ft! There is nothing like hot coffee and eggs benedict after a predawn dive. Nancy’s Cup of Tea was up next. 2 dives on the pinnacle with all its cleaning stations, hanging sponges, reef sharks and a couple of old anchor we think that was left by Columbus. Just kidding…..Today was Lance’s birthday and we celebrated with making him a chocolate cake! One which he will never forget! The Great wall was next! 20ft to the top 6000 ft to the bottom kinda says it all! However often we have up to 5 resident friendly groupers including “Freddie the rock star” today we had two! Freddie and Frederica and boy did they put on a show Nuno had tears in his eye’s having to leave them swimming after him all the way back to the ladders!

Friday. Where did the week go? Already we are thinking about the snow in Boston and the flights home to the USA. We still managed to enjoy our final 2 dives at Round Rock and the wreck of the Oro Verde. All that’s left is a gear wash down start packing our bags, Savio’s fabulous lunch and our evening cocktail party to say our farewells and laugh one more time and dinner onshore. Congrats to Jamie and Steph for completing their PADI Advanced and Nitrox courses and to the rest of the fun bunch for another safe week of Spring Break diving Aggressor Style!

Until next time
Captain. Alan Roberts"

Back from Cayman Islands - In Houston, Texas

What is good always ends fast. The liveaboard is over and I am on my way back to Amsterdam. At the moment staying over night in Houston, Texas. Tomorrow flying back home. In the plane it is time to work on my photos. Have great stories including a new friend I made underwater, Freddie the Giant Nassau Grouper.

Grand Cayman - Dinner at Aquabeach Bar & Restaurant

Just got back from dinner at AquaBeach Bar & Restaurant, considered one of the best places with live music in the Cayman. The place was not bad at all but I was also not impressed. Food was way too much (never a bad thing). The ribs were very good. A bit pricey though.

Already in Grand Cayman

After a long journey, I am finally in Grand Cayman. Today I got to go for a while to the beach in front of my hotel. Water was 27 degrees celsius and there were quite some fishes near the shore.

While snorkeling I spotted a school of cuttle fish. Apparently they are not afraid of people :)

Leaving Atlanta... On my way to Grand Cayman

Gonna take a bath now and on my way the airport once more. Next stop: Grand Cayman !!!

=====

Vou tomar um banho e lá vou eu uma vez mais no caminho do aeroporto. Promixa Paragem: Grand Cayman !!!

Finally in Atlanta / Finalmente em Atlanta

Finally got here. Now on my way to the hotel for some deserved sleep.
Tomorrow Cayman Islands.

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Finalmente cheguei. Estou agora a caminho do hotel para um merecido descanso.
Amanha Cayman Islands

Got to Newark. Waiting in the plane

I guess there is gonna be running for me. Plane is late one hour and I need
to get the next plane to Atlanta. Feel tired as I couldn't sleep.

My schedule for the Cayman Islands Dive trip

Thursday, 28th February

- Flight to Newark, NY from Amsterdam

- In Newark, flight to Atlanta, GE

- Sleep in Atlanta

Friday, 29th February

- Flight from Atlanta to Grand Cayman in the morning

- Arrival in Grand Cayman at approx. 12:00

- Stay one day visiting Grand Cayman

Saturday, 1st March

- Board the Cayman Aggressor at 14:00

- Welcome drinks and briefing from the Captain

Sunday, 2nd March - Friday, 7th March

- Dive, dive and more dive

Saturday, 8th March

- Check-out Aggressor

- 17:00 - Flight from Grand Cayman to Houston, Texas

- Stay overnight in Houston

Sunday, 9th March

- Flight from Houston to Amsterdam

Monday, 10th March

- Arrival in Amsterdam at 7:00 am

Going to Cayman Islands aboard the Cayman Aggressor

After some unforeseen events, I decided last minute to leave for a while and go to the Cayman Islands aboard the Aggressor. I will go one day before to the Cayman and take a look around. The liveaboard will be between 1-Mar and 8-Mar.

Here's a picture of the boat:

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Utila Aggressor: April 7-14, 2007

I spent a wonderful week on the Utila Agressor in the Bay Islands. Although the weather forescast was not very promising, we were blessed with beautiful weather the whole week with temperatures around 30 degrees C.

The water had an average of 29 degrees C with visibility ranging from 15 to 40 meters.

Almost all objectives were achieved in this trip. Not only did we get some great diving, we also got to swim with Whale Sharks, Mantas, and a some of us with a Blue Marlin! Well, only one objective was not accomplished - the "Rembrandt" of the whale shark, like Clyde said... Well, next time!!!

What made this trip even more special was our group. I was lucky to be with a great... I mean... really great group!!!

Sunday, April 8

We started off our week of diving at Cayos Cochinos where we dove on three different sites. Throughout the day we saw a baby Southern Stingray, Honeycomb and Scrawled Cowfish, a Smooth and Spotted Trunkfish, Great Barracuda, a Diamond Blenny, a Large Eyed Toadfish, four Caribbean Octopus, huge Spotted Sea Hares, a mini Sea Hare, a Slimy Doris, a Tufted Nudibranch, Reef Squid, and a Lettuce Sea Slug.


Monday, April 9
For our second day of diving we moved around quite a bit. We got to dive Coco's Seamount which is 6 miles off of Cayos Cochinos, then Mary's Place and Valley of the Kings on the South side of Roatan, and then Taviana’s Wall on the West end of Roatan. At Coco's we saw Horse Eye Jacks, Yellow Tail Snappers, Great Barracudas, Ocean Triggerfish, huge Barrel Sponges, a Southern Stingray, and a free swimming Green Moray. On the South Shores of Roatan we saw different types of Black Coral, a Spotted Moray, a Cubera Snapper, Blue Tangs, and soft Gorgonians. For our last afternoon and night dive we saw a Caribbean Octopus, Brittle Stars, Caribbean Lobsters, and a Long Horn Nudibranch.



Tuesday, April 10
For our last day of diving on Roatan we headed to the West side of the island. We dove the Aguila Wreck/Reef for the morning dives. During the first dive Capt Eddy and DM Nestor went down with the guests to put on a little show. Our friends the Black Groupers, the Cubera Snapper, and the curious Green Moray all came out to play. For the rest of the day we dove at Half Moon Bay Wall where we had some amazing dives. We saw a couple of Hawksbill Turtles, a Spotted Eagle Ray, a Caribbean Reef Squid, a Spotted Lobster, schooling Blue Tangs, French Angels, a Scrawled Filefish, a Spotted Drum, Yellow Head Jaw Fish with eggs in their mouths, a Caribbean Octopus, a Nodose Rubble Crab, Tufted Nudibranchs, and a Fringe-Back Nudibranch.



Wednesdat, April 11
Early in the morning we made our way over to Utila for our two morning dives at one of Utila’s seamounts, Black Hills, off the East side of the island. During the dives we saw a free swimming Green Moray, Hawksbill Turtles, Horse Eye Jacks, Black Durgons, Pillar Coral, huge Sea Fans, and Scrawled Cowfish. After the morning dives we headed out into the blue to search for Mr. Big. We could see quite a few fish boils so we agreed to sacrifice a dive so we would have more time to search. We ended up finding two different Whale Sharks and got to do a few jumps! Everyone got to see Mr. Big at least once and smiles were from ear to ear. For the last two dives we headed to the West side of the island to Jack Neil Point. During the dives we saw a Hawksbill Turtle, a Yellow Stingray, a Large Eyed Toadfish, an Intermediate Spotted Drum, Caribbean Octopus, and a Quilfin Blenny.


Thursday, 12 April
For our last full day of diving we dove the Marine Reserve on the North side of the island at Old House for the morning. Everyone loved the site and all the macro options that were available. There were Lettuce Sea Slugs a plenty, Red Lip Blennies, mating Flamingo Tongues, two Red Banded Lobsters, School Masters, Mahogany Snappers, big Brain Coral, and a beautiful sheer wall. After our "Burgers in Paradise" lunch we headed back out to look for more whale sharks. For us the shark was more important than diving so we ended up spending all afternoon looking. The first hour was looking to promising but then we hit the jack pot! We ended up swimming with four different Whale Sharks as well as Manta Rays and a Blue Marlin! The sun started to set so we made our way over to the east side of the island at Radar Reef for our night dive. We saw a baby Hawksbill Turtle, a Copper Lobster, a Sculptured Slipper Lobster, Lettuce Sea Slugs, a Nodose Rubble Crab attempting to eat a Flamingo Tongue, a Sand Dollar, and beautiful Bio-luminescence.



Friday, 13 April
For our last morning of diving we Dove Ted’s Point on the East side of the Island. Just when the guests thought that the week couldn’t get any better, they were proved wrong when DM Nestor found a small white Long Snout Seahorse, and a Southern Stargazer! We also saw Brown Garden Eels, an Eyed Flounder, Sergeant Majors, Bermuda Chubs, and a Spotted Drum.

Utila Agressor - Already in Atlanta, US

On my way to Honduras, I am staying tonight in Atlanta, US. Today I rented a car to go to a dive store over here.

Guess which car I got???

Ford Mustang... Not bad, hey?

Well, prepare to go to bed. Tomorrow another day carrying my luggage around.

Almost there - Utila Aggressor

The day has come! Friday morning I will be flying to Atlanta, US where I will stay overnight, and Saturday I will be flying to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. From there, I will go to La Ceiba where I will join the Utila Agressor for one week.

The weather forecast doesn't look that great: thunderstorms, rain all time. Let's hope this changes !!!!

My best half (Pinnie) will not be able to join me this time. This is the bad part about this trip... I hope I can still have a good time without her (not easy). I will miss you Bi !!!

Going skiing to Austria

I will be skiing for a couple of days in Sankt Anton, Tirol area in Austria. No diving for me this weekend. I will be back next week.

Dive safe !!!

Going to Honduras !!! 7 April - 14 April

I am preparing myself for my first liveaboard ever. Unfortunately I will not be able to share this experience with my other half. For this first I chose the Agressor Utila liveaboard. Utila is considered the Whale Shark Capital of the Caribbean. I will be travelling from the 7th April 2007 - 14th April 2007.


Local fisherman and the older scuba divers in Utila tell stories of "Old Tom", a legendary barnacle encrusted Whale Shark reputedly cruising the waters around Utila since Adam was a boy. Old Tom has been variously estimated at 40ft, 50ft and even 60ft in length, depending upon who's telling the story. In reality, the most common size seen in the waters surrounding Utila is between approximately 6m and 10m (20ft and 33ft), weighing around 15 - 20 tons.