It’s Day 4 of my Grand Cayman getaway and one that started with me having great difficulty getting up. My dreams had been filled throughout the night with violence and anxiety and it honestly felt like my body had gone through the wringer by the time I awoke. But prayer helped me to get beyond this, as today I had an extended session of talking with God and felt much better after it.
My partner and I opted today, after finishing my morning spiritual routine, to head about 40 minutes away to a small area called Smith Cove where there was a small inlet surrounded by a huge reef. Before we left to go there, I rented some snorkel gear so that I could explore the amazing life that exists under the sea.
Every year for close to 10 years now, I’ve made sure to do several snorkeling adventures when I’ve come to the Caribbean. Today was the first of those here in Grand Cayman and I was rather excited to explore the depths of the ocean.
While I would rather go to much deeper depths by doing scuba, my ears unfortunately don’t equalize the pressure so I’ve come to acceptance that I can still enjoy God’s beauty in the ocean by spending some time snorkeling. If you’ve never done this, I highly recommend it, as I find it’s quite soothing to the soul.
When we arrived at the busy little inlet today, it didn’t take long for me to put on my gear and head out into the reef. Immediately I saw a fish that I’ve seen in aquariums before. It was one that literally swims on it’s side, but appears as if it’s eye is on top. Over the course of the next hour or so, I got to see many other types of fish as well. There were blue ones, orange ones, yellow ones, and plenty of shades in between. I also swam through several schools of these tiny silver looking ones that merely moved aside as I glided through them. Probably the most stunning fish I got to see today though was a parrot fish.
I should tell you that I do have a concern every time I snorkel and it’s that I don’t let the waves run me into the reef. Some of the coral is poisonous to the skin and there’s also these spiky little sea creatures hidden throughout it that really hurt if you touch them. Thankfully none of that happened to me today.
When the snorkeling was done and my partner and I began to feel a little hungry, we headed along the coastline back towards our resort, stopping a few times along the way to take some pictures. We grabbed one of what’s called a “blowhole”, which is where the sea water blows up through the coral and creates a fountain. We also took one of this strange cow that was lying near the roadside all by itself. At first we thought it wasn’t even real because every time we had passed by it, the cow was seated in the same spot and position. Ironically, it was real and apparently a sad and neglected one at that. It was tied to a rope in the middle of some cleared out jungle. It looked malnourished and had a water bucket in front of it that was totally empty on a very hot day. As we approached it, I watched the cow immediately stand up and look excited to have some company. I had felt very sad for it and decided to give the rest of my large bottle of water for it to drink, of which it seemed extremely grateful. I really have an appreciation today for all of God’s living beings, cows included, and find it truly disappointing when anyone or anything is being mistreated. As we left the cow and headed to a late lunch, I told it I loved it and hoped it would be ok.
Finding a place to eat proved to be a slight challenge after that because of the time in the day. It was smack dab in the middle of the afternoon after lunch was over and dinner hadn’t started yet. Most places we checked out were closed, but thankfully we found one named Tucca that wasn’t. It was an Australian owned and themed restaurant and I have to say my partner and I had the best meal so far on our trip to Grand Cayman. We dined on a porch overlooking the ocean where I had some tempura fish and my partner an angus burger. Interestingly enough the place had a kangaroo burger and something with crocodile in it. After we finished our food, we shared a dessert that was titled “Luv In A jar”. Filled with multiple layers of crème, chocolate, graham cracker, and a few other ingredients, it truly was heavenly.
Alas, the rest of our evening was much less adventurous, other than us getting locked out of our room for a good hour. Somehow the door simply stopped functioning, but thankfully it all got resolved. Something like this in my past probably would have challenged my patience quite a bit, except in this case it didn’t. I think that’s because I’ve learned that getting overly bothered by things like this only stresses me out and causes more pain to my body. And that’s something I definitely don’t need anymore of.
For the remaining hours before hitting the hay, we cooked a late dinner of shake and bake chicken and hung out either on the balcony staring at the full moon or watching some television. As the 4th day of our vacation came to a close, what I felt most was appreciation and gratitude for my Higher Power for still being able to snorkel, for having my heart open up to something as simple as a neglected cow, and for leading us to a small little Australian restaurant in the middle of nowhere where the food was just incredible…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
