Author: stefaniescheidgen

Last day

Itยดs my last day but I am not sad. My stay has been so unbelievable, never in my wildest dreams had I thought that it would be like that! I am so grateful for the wonderful experiences I had here. Iยดm not sad because I know that my story here in Cayman will be continued. My main intention with this stay was not my birthday, but to find out if I still wanted to live here. And the answer is YES!

I know it will be a long process, it is not easy to get work permits over here and with an expat rate (people who are from abroad) of almost 50% the government is trying to monitor that number closely. Which is totally understandable. But I believe that there will show up a way to do this. I already talked to a recruiter down here and fortunately they have a demand for both software engineers and project managers. So at least the chances to get a job here are not bad. I also already made friends with several people who can help me with the search.

Live in the Caribbean is so relaxed and people are very friendly over here and also very social. Most of your free time you can spend outside, the possibilities are endless!

So with this positive thoughts I will close this journey, full of happiness and gratefulness! I could not be any happier at the moment ๐Ÿ™‚

Happy days

Days have passed unusually fast but I guess that is always the case when you have fun! What an amazing stay it has been so far! Never in my wildest dreams I had imagined how great it is!

I met a lot of people here, all very nice and fun to hang out with. And I will be forever grateful to Brenda, my home exchange partner from our first stay, who made this trip very special to me because she organized so many fun things for me!

Today I drove to Spotts beach for a short stay there and then headed north to Rum Point and Kaibo. It was very windy today and at some time the wind was almost like in Iceland, but the wind is warm ๐Ÿ™‚

From there I went to Kaibo and just stopped shortly at the beach there. Then I went over to Rum Point and it is very sad that this great location is stuck in a forever renovation. Magnea and I had wonderful times there and it was a beautiful place.

After I returned from my trip I bought some groceries and hung out on the balcony at home. In the afternoon I met with Brenda and Judy at Governors beach, that was so nice. They always meet twice a week to swim together, either at Governors beach or at Brendas pool. We had a lovely time chatting in the water after their swim. When I went back home from the beach I felt a little bit like a local, hanging out with friends at the beach after work ๐Ÿ˜‰ I was so happy.

I went early to bed to try to keep a little up with the Icelandic time. So grateful for my stay here!

Stingrays and snorkeling at a reef

Today I started early driving to Safe Haven because I wanted to visit Stingray City and snorkel at a beautiful reef. I went with Red Sails sailing and had a wonderful day. I held a Stingray, both a female and a small male. But in comparison to last time there were not many rays in Stingray City, but very many people. But fortunately our catamaran was not very crowded, so we had at least a very nice time sailing.

The reef we snorkeled at was amazing and it was also one of the best memories from our last trip. It is unbelievable how clear the water is there and how many different fish you see. I could spend there the whole day!

Later I went to Cemetery beach for a short swim, but then went home and relaxed.

Best birthday!

I had such a nice birthday today! My day started with opening the package that Ramona, Uli and Linda had given me prior to my departure. I took it with me to the Caymans and it contained money, chocolate, glimmer and birthday items, a card and a “Happy Birthday” crown! It was so nice! I was so happy about it, knowing that they had carefully collected all the things in the package for me. Then I called my parents and they were very happy that I called and sang to me for my birthday. The chat with them was really nice and they were happy to hear that my day had started great and the vacation so far is an absolute blast!

I spent my day on both Governors and Cemetery beach, spending my birthday there was THE ultimate birthday present to myself. Later in the afternoon I went to Brendas place and we hang out by her pool and chatted. We then made ourselves ready for the evening and met with her friend July for dinner at the Lobster Pot in George Town. Judy had brought me a “happy birthday” balloon, which fitted perfectly to my birthday crown. We had lovely food and a cocktail and watched also the feeding of the Tarpons, which are very large fish, that gather around the lights of the restaurant in the harbor.

It was a great day and could not have been any better!

Sunny days

I have to start to apologize that I did not finish my post yesterday. I got distracted and then forgot to finish it. And no, I don’t have ADHD ๐Ÿ˜€

Today was a relaxed day on the beaches. I started the day going to Smith Barcadere, where I snorkeled a little and enjoyed the good weather.

Later on I went to Spotts beach, where Magnea and I used to snorkel with sea turtles. This beach is really like a fairytale. Later I went home and sat on the balcony and chilled. Great day and perfect to take it easy.

Lazy Sunday

I almost forgot to write today. I started the day sitting on the balcony and had my morning coffee there. Then I went to Cemetery beach and enjoyed the sun. Around noon I went to Brenda and together we went to a birthday brunch of a friend of her at the Kimpton resort. It was a very hot day and unfortunately we had to sit outside. I was really difficult to sit in this heat and I was wondering that it’s maybe not such a good idea to move here, hahaha.

Because of the heat we went in the pool of the resort to cool down a little. After that I went to Governors and met Dean. We sat there until it was dark and then had a casual dinner at the Westin.

Tomorrow I will just have a relaxing day and spend some time at the beach ๐Ÿ™‚

What a day

This day was in many way an unexpected one. Today I had a date with a guy here for lunch. My friend Brenda recommended dating to me and I thought why not.

But I still had some time in the morning before the date so I decided to go to Governors beach because the restaurant was in Camana Bay and is close by. I asked Brenda if she wanted to join me at the beach and she came over. There is a very nice reef out the at the beach but I once tried to go there when I was here the last time but got kind of attacked by fishes there and went back (Magnea was on the beach and did not want to come out with me that time)

When Brenda asked about going out to the reef I was really exited because I would not dare to go there alone because of the weird fish some year ago and also because it is not really close to the beach. So we went there but on the way out I could feel that I got panic because I had the feeling that I could not get enough air. My gear was working totally fine and I knew that it was just a mind thing. I managed to calm myself down and we made it to the reef. The reef was amazing, I saw many new species and we even saw a puffer fish, which was really puffy, hahaha. I really enjoyed it, but on the same time I thought “next time I will not got out that far, not even with company”. We spent some time there and it was amazing.

We then went back and on the way back I suddenly got the feeling again that I could not breath. I tried to beat the feeling again, but when Brenda asked me if I was ok I said no and that I had the feeling that I cannot breath. She told me to take off the mask, lay on my back and counting slowly. At this moment I was totally panicking because I had the feeling that I could not make it back to the beach because of the breathing difficulties. Fortunately she managed to calm me down and when I floated on my back, focusing on the counting, I finally started to calm down. After some time I managed to swim back to the shore without problems. But this was such a scary experience and I was really taken off guard. I donยดt know how I can thank Brenda for being so supporting and calm.

Now itยดs evening and I still feel exhausted and have no idea what actually happened there. It was a pure panic attack by the book, but I never had one before and it was really frightening. Brenda convinced me to go home, take a shower and still go to the date. Because it was only one hour later I did not want to cancel it because it would have looked weird and impolite to cancel with such short notice. Also I was really interested in that guy, the texting with him had really been nice.

So I went to the date and it was sooooooooo nice! After lunch we went to the beach together and we will meet again tomorrow. This was really unexpected and it looks like he also was surprised by the good time we had. Unfortunately itยดs his last day tomorrow, but the good thing about living in the moment is that you just enjoy it and donยดt think too much. So, good night everyone and enjoy the moment ๐Ÿ˜‰

TGIF

What a wonderful day! This day was just the loveliest day in a long time! I started having my morning coffee on the deck with a great view on the Caribbean sea! Then I went to my favorite dive shop and bought myself a new bikini. I spent ages there because I could not decide which one to take. Then I went finally to Cemetery beach, my most favorite beach in Grand Cayman!

I snorkeled a lot and was in awe over all the fish that I saw there. It is just the very best beach ever! I love the chickens on the beach but got disappointed that they had culled the green iguanas, which are not native to the island and have been a thread for the local animal population. It’s weird to not have them around.

In the evening I went out with Brenda, my former home exchange partner, and her friend Ryan. It was such a fun evening! It only took Brenda minutes to convince me that my next destination to live will be the Cayman Islands! We started with a drink at the Westin on Seven Mile Beach. From there we went to Waterfront in Cabana Bay and had dinner. We wanted to end the evening at the Wharf with “Boogie nights”, but the entrance fee was a rip off, so we did not go there. Ryan was very relieved about it because he hates dancing ๐Ÿ˜€

It was a great evening and I am looking forward to much more Cayman fun!

First day in Grand Cayman

Wow I am so tired! I woke up at 3 in the night US time, got up at 5 and went to the airport around 6. Now itยดs only 18 oยดclock and I will soon go to sleep.

Cayman has changed so much! Much more traffic, new roads and overall it seems changed. I was lucky with the rental car and got an update and a brand new, much bigger car. Itยดs strange how quickly I got used to driving on the left side again.

The sea is quite “rough” compared to last time and the water not as turquoise as it was last time. My Airbnb is very nice, I did not expect such a big und well equipped space! The land lady is also very nice. I was so happy when I saw the chicken all around here again. I went grocery shopping and everything is still much more expensive than last time! …. and I am from Iceland! I should be used to high prices in the grocery shop.

When I finally arrived I was so tired, but still wanted to go to the beach for just a little while. I am very close to West Bay public beach, I can basically walk there. Tomorrow I will go to my favorite beach, Cemetery Beach. I can see it from my rental and it just feels like a dream that I am back here.

So happy to be here again, I felt so much joy, though the island has changed and is a little different than last time.

Tomorrow I will meet a friend of mine and we will have dinner together. She is our exchange partner from our first stay in Cayman. Looking forward to it, very nice to be able to go out for dinner over here and know at least one person ๐Ÿ˜€

Day one

The first day of my journey started in New York City. I flew from Keflavรญk to JFK International and went from the airport straight to the hotel to get rid of my luggage.

After that I went to Battery Park in Manhatten to catch the Ellis Island ferry. I started to go with the hotel Shuttle to Federal Circle at JFK Airport, where I took the Air Train to Jamaica station. I remember that we went there the last time we were in NY, when we went to Broadway and did some sightseeing by bus in 2017.

From Jamaica station I took the Long Island Railways to Atlantic Terminal. From there I went on subway nr.5 to Bowling Green. When I was looking for my train at the subway station at Atlantic Terminal I was overwhelmed by all the different lines to take and while I was looking for the right platform there was a split second where I thought about just turning around and go back to the hotel. The reason was that there were signs that showed some trains were heading for the Bronx and I thought to myself: knowing my special ability to find myself in the most unbelievable situations, I will probably end up somewhere in the Bronx and get murdered ๐Ÿ˜€

But all went well and I even got the ferry, that I booked in advance on time. There it was very crowded, but of course itยดs one of the top tourists stops in the city.

The ride on the ferry was quite nice, the weather sunny and compared to the icy breeze in Iceland there was no wind and just perfect weather. I did not go off on Liberty Island, but went to the museum of immigration at Ellis Island. I donยดt know why, but that island had always fascinated me. I walked through the museum, which was very nice, but was soon quite tired, so I decided to head back to the hotel and around 18 oยดclock in the evening I went to bed (already 23 oยดclock in Iceland).

Now itยดs 3 oยดclock in NY (8 in Iceland) and I am fully awake. So I decided to use this time to write in my blog before I will reach my final destination, the Cayman Islands.

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