Day 1

So today was pretty crazy, as expected. International travel always has its points of mandatory torture and the usual 'hurry up and wait' scenarios. With 3 flights in the books for getting from Philly to Little Cayman I knew it was gonna be a long day.

Wake-up at 4:30
Off to the airport at 5
Big breakfast in the terminal at 6
Off to Miami at 7:30, arrive at 10:30

So far we (myself and the 2 professors teaching the course) were off to a good start, no major delays and all our bags of gear on the way to Grand Cayman. It was in Miami when the fun began..

We get on the plane at around 11:30, flight is supposed to take off at 11:30 (clearly this did not happen). We end up rolling down the tarmac at about 11:45 only to find out that Cuban airspace was currently being blocked to US flights (for reasons unknown). This left us in the plane for another hour and a half before Cuba cleared us to fly over them.

We arrive in Grand Cayman at 2:30, the time one of the connecting flights to Little Cayman was supposed to take off, so that connection was not made. We go through more mandoatory torture (customs), and go to recheck our bags and try to remedy the lost flight. Long story short, half the class cant get to the island till the 6th and will stay on the main island. In the meantime, the other half of us got to Little Cayman on the second connecting flight.
- Fun side note, the airport is half open, so there were chickens and lizards running around! Was very different from your typical airport -

This is the reason only half of us could make it to Little Cayman today:



The plane is so small! There were only 14 seats on the plane and juuuuust enough room for all our luggage. The plane was run by propellers and was not a quiet ride. But at 5:30 we were on our way to Little Cayman.

The flight was gorgeous, looking out over the ocean and seeing the reefs edging each island. After about 30 minutes we landed in Little Cayman and made our way to the research base we are staying at the duration of the trip - Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI).
Check them out here --> http://reefresearch.org



We were given a delicious dinner of rice, beans, chicken, stuffed peppers, and salad, which I ate two servings of having missed lunch today.



After dinner we did a quick orientation and settled in for the night, I cant wait to see what tomorrow brings!!

- J