There's something about basking in 30 C weather (90 for all you Americans out there), sipping mojitos and doing absolutely nothing that makes celebrating birthdays relatively painless.... not that I'm particularly hung up about birthdays or numbers of birthdays anyway, but everyone else seems to think it's a huge deal, so I thought my annual trip to Grand Cayman would be a great place to ring in the new year AND celebrate my birthday... and it was!
My friends there continue to keep upgrading their home and environment, so it's become like a 5* resort now... they have a great boat, a lap pool and are about a stone's through down the canal to the ocean - I never have to leave the property now!
As usual, I had a fabulous, very relaxing visit, and was re-energized after a crazy and hectic fall... it was really nice to just be lazy, visit, cook, swim and bake in the sun... I did get some great diving in towards the end of my visit, b/c there were quite gusty winds for the first few days, which made it difficult to get out. I met some new friends down there, who are avid divers, which was excellent, because it's always nice to have someone you trust down there as your buddy. I did 2 boat dives the day before I left, off a very small boat, which was a cool experience... there were only about 7 people so not a lot of commotion under the water and everyone knew what they were doing, so they were really good dives. We swam along one of the long fingers of coral that run perpendicular to Cayman, and there were tons of cool swim-throughs, and loads of fish - the visibility is amazing there too, at least 100 ft, sometimes more on a good day....
Anyway, we rang in the New Year, playing Cranium and drinking champagne and setting off fireworks on the back dock. It's great to watch the fireworks from all the neighbours and the big hotels there - especially b/c there is no artificial light so it's very dark and you can see the lights really well..
We got out on the boat several times, which was great - it's nice not being at the mercy of tour-boats - we went out to a couple of great sandbars and to Stingray City one night after all the crowds had cleared - we were the only boat out there, with about 50 rays... it was very cool.
Anyway, there are definitely worse ways to celebrate a birthday, that's for sure (like staying in grey, gloomy, snow-bound, sunless Michigan - for one)
Happy New Year! Nuovo Anno Felice
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