Oh Canada!

After arriving too early for my flight to Toronto, I met Shirley at LaGuardia airport and I was upgraded to first class. I fell asleep immediately and we landed early while our friend Andrea was meeting us from Newark. Weeks ago, three risk managers decided that we wanted to explore Toronto and have a foodie girls’ weekend! Shirley comes to Canada for work often, but hasn’t had a chance to explore that much, so we thought this would be fun.

In Toronto, I told the customs agent I was here to eat and see restaurants, all amidst the commotion of a Korean Air flight arriving at the same time and a lady asking me for help with her automated passport control kiosk. I wanted to tell her I wasn’t on her flight, but I helped her anyway.

We decided for brunch to have Hakka Chinese food which is Indian Chinese and famously available near the airport in Mississauga - the neighborhood near the airport and west of Toronto. We went to Hakka Asian Legend and ordered Manchurian soup, cauliflower, sizzling Bollywood beef, popcorn chicken, and Hakka noodles. A collage below:



We then ordered a car to go into downtown Toronto. Our driver, Omar was amazing with food suggestions for the one hour ride to the Hilton. We checked in early and rested for a bit before we got some Starbucks’ drinks downstairs in our hotel. Our driver, Mohammed this time was super funny with lots of gripes, jokes, and a healthy dose of sarcasm. He was charged with driving us to see the storefront for the popular Canadian television show, Kim’s Convenience. The show is hilariously funny about a Korean Canadian family and I enjoyed taking photos:





Although this was not a great neighborhood, we opted to walk to the famous distillery district where there was a Toronto Christmas market. We enjoyed a chimney stack and meandered throughout the stalls. We also shared an artisanal grilled cheese and took some fun photos with sculptures and holiday decor:











Shirley had arranged a happy hour with her work colleagues and we all met at C’est What? which was famous for beers and music. Shirley’s colleagues, Victor and Michael were kind and we chatted away. Some photos below:





After drinks and a round of Canadian Whiskey shots, we decided to walk up to the famous Hudson Bay Department store and checked out their holidays windows:



All of us then walked past the old city hall and to the new city hall where there were more shops and an ice skating rink:



We walked through Eaton Centre mall and mini-Times Square at Yonge and Dundas Square. Hungry, we decided to find a poutine shop and a popular chain is Smoke’s. Here’s a photo of our traditional with bacon, butter chicken, and double pork poutines:





As the guys needed to eventually go home, we strategized and decided to take a car to the Fairmont hotel which is near the Hilton, but also near the transit for Victor to get home and close to Michael’s apartment. At the Fairmont, an originally Canadian company, we had a round of drinks at the Library Bar where we also ran into the famous comedic actor, Seth Rogen who is Canadian. I didn’t believe it was him, so Victor went up to him and said, “my friend doesn’t believe you’re Seth Rogen” and Seth just responded “believe it.” We opted not to bother him for a photo, but you should believe this story.

After drinks, we all headed our separate ways and agreed that we had a successful first day in Oh Canada!

CaymanKind

Today is my last day “on island” and we had a lazy wake up. Here’s a final view from Mikey’s beautiful condo - you will be missed!



As Mikey is working for Luxury Cayman Villas, we were able to visit a few today. They were all beautiful and on beachfront property with glamorous pools. Here’s a photo of one from the entryway - what a view!



And then a better picture of the pool, with an ocean view, and jacuzzi in the middle:



Upstairs, the master bedroom has ocean views, but has a tub and clear shower in the middle!



As we were on East End of the island, we stopped by Pedro St. James, a former monastery and prison, but has a beautiful view of the ocean. I tried to take a panoramic photo, but due to the sun glare, I couldn’t really see the photo, so that’s why there is a lovely view of some chairs:



The drive was fun as we stopped and picked up some fresh fruit juice - a blend of star fruit and pineapple! As Mikey knows all the tricks, we checked in my luggage at the airport and then drove down to George Town Yacht Club where many people were planning to fly out after their meal from the sight of piles of luggage.

The food was fantastic as we enjoyed mango ginger mojitos:



Mikey enjoyed fish and chips while I had a fabulous curry shrimp with some naan bread:



Afterwards, I returned to the airport where I ran into the couple from DC from my first dive and then the solo New Orleans diver from my second day of diving. We all chatted and shared more dive stories. I even gave my email to the New Orleans woman as she took some amazing photos of the nurse shark. One photo even had the shark swimming straight into her and looked like it was smiling. With the flash, the shark looked like something out of Finding Nemo! I hope she sends the photos!

What an amazing vacation these past few days! Truly the people of the Cayman Islands are so kind as they like to officially promote as their tourism slogan - whether volunteering directions when taking a public bus or chatting about dives! And as always, spending time with Mikey is always special! A friend with such a similar moral compass and work ethic, while a passion for living and exploring! From our very first trip to Israel in 2006, I am so grateful for your hospitality and generosity! I look forward to many more adventures and trips!

So on my uneventful layover in Miami, I’m bearing myself for the cold and much work waiting for me back in NYC!

Fireworks Friday

As I leave tomorrow, I decided today would be a nondiving day - you need at least 24 hours of surface time before flying and I return to NYC tomorrow.

So today I decided to check out the turtle farm on the northern part of the island. The Cayman Islands is famous for turtles (we saw several on our dives), but also when Columbus discovered the region, it was named Las Tortugas because of the many turtles!

After getting ready, I waved down a public bus which are basically vans that can pick you up or drop you off at any part of the route and costs 2 Cayman dollars - it kind of felt like Via which is a shared taxi service in NYC. Here’s a photo of my first ride up West Bay Road and a selfie - I’m wearing a hat from Papa Kim:





At the turtle farm, there are two price points - the more expensive ticket includes swimming with turtles and seeing the nurse sharks. Since I already did that in the ocean, I opted for the basic ticket.

I perused the education center, the turtle tanks, and got to hold different turtles at the touch tanks:





Then it was feeding time in the breeding ground. Apparently, they are fed 9 buckets of this feed a day:







Here’s a link to a video of them eating. Mikey described them like the children’s game “Hungry Hungry Hippos”: https://youtu.be/GMisDdbMwAA

After my visit, I flagged down another public bus and asked to be dropped off at a northern part of Seven Mile Beach. Here’s another bus selfie:



I stopped in at The Ritz Carlton poolside restaurant called Bar Jacks and had their famous piña colada  and West of Cayman salad (I was craving vegetables) pictured below:



After digesting my lunch, I meandered down the beach and napped in a few places. Here’s one beach view from the day:



As with every other day, I returned to the condo and relaxed by the pool for a bit and washed off the sand from the beach. I met a nice family from Michigan and we chatted about the Pirate Week festivities.

I showered and headed out again to catch the public bus as Mikey asked me to meet him at his office downtown. The roads were already congested and the fireworks for the festival were downtown.

So I headed south in a very full van and Mike and his colleagues met me at the bus stop. We got drinks at Bread and Chocolate and hit up the street food fair. We shared roti and chicken curry, Cayman style beef, coconut curry shrimp, jerk chicken and pork, and various sides of Mac ‘n Cheese, potato salad, plantains, fritters, and rice and beans. Caribbean culinary heaven!





We ate in Mikey’s office benefitting from the air conditioning, but then having a balcony view of the fireworks!



All of Mikey’s colleagues were so nice and one colleague brought her 1 year old daughter and 4 year old son, Kaizer. As he couldn’t see over the railing, I had fun holding him during the fireworks display. Then we all ran around in the office, drew outlines of their bodies on the erase board, and spun them on the office chairs. We even squeezed in a quick video call to William!

What a fun time as my Friday night went off with a boom in Grand Cayman!

Aargh!

Today was my second day of diving. Living the dream picked me up and we were a combination of solo divers from: New Orleans, Omaha, Phoenix, Seattle, Rochester, and Sacramento.

Our first dive was at Ghost Mountain. Apparently the conditions are rare we can actually dive there due to strong currents - it’s at the intersection of where the west and northern corners of the island meet. Our captain, Christian, was super excited and he said it’s usually unbearable the same way the corners in NYC have the strongest winds and traffic.

This may have been one of my deepest dives to date - my dive computer said I went down 93 feet. Ghost Mountain was super cool and we saw all sorts of sea life. One of our divers struggled with his air and being able to drop, he later realized he was having equipment issues, and unfortunately he missed out on the dive.

The second dive was on the north wall, called Lemon Reef. We saw barracudas and many schools of fish. But the most exciting part was that a nurse shark basically followed us and interweaved between all of us the entire time, staying particularly close to our guide, Allen. All the divers were super experienced, so they were all carrying elaborate cameras and the shark was definitely playing to the cameras. When we started to ascend, the shark went and laid down underneath a shelf - we all surmised the shark just wanted to hang with us.

After our dives, they dropped us off on the northern part of the island at the yacht club. Here are some photos of the water while returning to land:





After settling up at the dive shop, I was dropped off at the same place where Burger Shack was located and went to Al La Kebab for a gyro pita sandwich. Mikey said it was delicious and indeed it was!



After digesting my lunch back at the condo, I headed to the beach and napped. This time I didn’t walk up Seven Mile Beach as much and hung out by some trees.





Like yesterday, I returned to the pool where I rinsed off the sand. We all spotted a pirate ship that was part of the Pirate Week festival down here:



Mikey returned from work and we ended up at one of his favorite restaurants, Agave, which is Mexican. I had a delicious mule drink, and we shared guacamole, red snapper ceviche, pork knuckle tacos, and a chorizo burrito. For dessert, we had fried ice cream. The service was great and I really enjoyed our meal.



We returned to the condo and tried to watch some TV, but fell asleep. The sun and heat definitely tire you out!

Living the Dream

Today was my first day of scuba in the Cayman Islands! Mikey had recommended a dive shop called “Living the Dream” and their boat even says “dream big”! Indeed life down here is positively good!



They picked me up at 7:30 am and couples from Denver, DC, Chicago, and a solo guy from Wisconsin were on our boat today. Everybody was really friendly and also more importantly, competent - we were all mindful and did not invade each other’s space which is common in group dives with varying levels. The dive shop was also really professional and helpful. Our captain was Ty and our guide was Matt. Here are a few shots on the boat:





Our first dive was at The Big Dipper, which was off the sea wall. We saw turtles right away and beautiful fish. It was also my first time not diving with a wet suit as the water is so warm. I had bought a rash guard for the trip as I knew this could be a possibility.

Our second dive was at Oro Verde, a wreck dive with a really cool history. It was a naval ship, and its sister ship was seized by North Korea! Eventually the boat was used to haul bananas, and therefore got its name as “Gold Green” as the bananas started out as green and would ripen on its voyage to Miami and make money for the boat owners. However, apparently, they may have been hauling marijuana too which led to a mutiny?! Here are more details: https://www.idivecayman.com/oro-verdes-untold-story

We saw sting rays, fish eggs, cleaner shrimp, and many schools of fish! My air management was better on the second dive, but we were also not as deep. It felt so different not being in a wet suit. On the boat, we had Rice Krispie treats and chatted about various diving sites, the cruise ship folk that can crowd diving sites, and life on the island.

I was the last drop off, so I asked Matt to drop me off at Burger Shack which is a few minutes before Mikey’s condo. Mikey had recommended it and told me it was better than Shake Shack which it was! I had fries with their jerk mayo and a cheeseburger back at Mikey’s condo. Here’s a photo of the shack:



After digesting my lunch, I walked up Seven Mile Beach and enjoyed people watching the various hotels and condo developments. It was also very windy - here’s a photo with my not-so-glamorous-post-scuba hair - I didn’t realize it was this glamorous due to the sun glare on my phone:



Here’s a better one - the water is so blue and clear!



After napping on the beach and wading in the water, I returned to the pool at Mikey’s condo and watched the sunset:



There was also a rainbow!



Mikey met me back at the condo and we had dinner at Cracked Conch - his favorite restaurant on the island. We had fried conch, conch ceviche, lobster, and red snapper. I paired my meal with their special pina colada and all was delicious! A collage below:



After dinner, we ran an errand at the local Costco type store and ATM, which happened to be where the Marsh office is located! I always remembered having to work with colleagues here during my 11.5 year tenure at Marsh. It’s nice to know they have easy access to wholesale items.



Then we returned home. What a fun day - clearly leading a life of cyn is living the dream!