Generally speakng, the weather in the Cayman Islands is fantastic. It stays above 80 degrees all year, the water temperature never drops below 75 degrees, and while it can get humid, it’s not as bad as many other places. There’s not even a real rainy season here, as there is on many other tropical isles.
The one down side to Cayman weather is hurricane season, and we are feeling that down side right now.
Last week we had hurricane Gustav, which came very close to the island. Andrea, Duffy and I were back in the United States at the time, which was very fortunate. We didn’t have to worry about our safety or about weathering the storm. The flip-side to being away, though, is that we did have to worry about our property and possessions. The big concern was our vehicles. In particular, I drive an old Audi, which I had left parked in the lot at my dive shop (and stupidly, I did not leave a key behind). I was sure that the car would get flooded during Gustav, because the parking lot floods during a heavy rain, and a hurricane is much worse than a heavy rain. When I returned to the island I was very relieved to find that the Audi was fine — the lot had flooded and the water was tire deep, but there was no water on the inside and no serious damage to the car. Our other cars and our apartment were also fine, so we were very lucky with Gustav in terms of property damage.
Gustav did affect me in two other ways, though. First, it delayed my return to the Cayman Islands by a few days. I was lucky to be able to stay with my in-laws, Gladys and Andrew, and those extra days turned out to be very nice (one night we went out to dinner and got a HUGE seafood platter that had more seafood in it than I see on a typical dive!). Getting new flights (and the lines and crowds of people trying to get backto the island) turned out to be a big hassle, but I really can’t complain about it too much, as Andrea, Duffy and I were all able to get back to the US safely. Once back on the island, though, I felt the second impact of Gustav — no tourists, and thus, no diving. Because Gustav was headed straight for the Caymans, the vast majority of the tourists evacuated. So for the first six days that I was back, there was no one diving. I ended up just sitting around the dive shop trying to find ways to kill time. It was boring and very frustrating.
I had my day off from work on Monday, and Andrea and I were excited to do some diving together (since we hadn’t been diving during the lull after Gustav), but Hurricane Ike decided to ruin our plans. Ike has been brutal for a number of islands (Grand Turk, Haiti, Cuba), but fortunately it did not come close to Grand Cayman. What it has done, though, is stir up the seas, making diving very difficult (and not worth the effort of fighting the poor conditions). So there was no diving for us on Monday. And today (Tuesday) I am back at work, again just sitting around bored, trying to kill time until the work day ends.
In general I do not miss my job as a lawyer, but one thing I do miss is working near a computer. At my old job, when work was slow (and sometimes even when it wasn’t) I could amuse myself by surfing the net or emailing/IMing with friends. When you work in a dive shop, that’s not an option. We do have a computer in the office (I am using it now to write this blog), but I can’t spend the whole day sitting online — at most I can get 30-45 minutes on it before I have to go back down to the shop and resume the painful task of passing time.
Today is a waste of a day, and tomorrow is likely to be the same, as we wait for hurricane Ike to move far enough away for the seas to calm. Don’t get me wrong — we are lucky that Ike missed us, and I am grateful that we haven’t had a big hit from a hurricane (although Dean came very close last year) or suffered any major damage from one. But still, hurricane season is not that fun. Even when you’re not hit directly, they can still impact you, as I’m learning with Ike right now.
Unfortunately we are right in the prime time of hurricane season right now. September and October are the months where there is the most potential for a big storm. Obviously, I’m hoping that Ike is the last storm I see for this season, and that the diving picks up again soon! Until then, though, you can find me sitting in the dive shop, reading a book and watching the clock….