From Yucatan to the Grand Cayman

We're on our way to the Grand Cayman!. The noon position was 21 deg 01' N, 86 deg 13.9' W. We are close hauled which means our world is 15 to 20 degrees off normal in 8 foot seas. Everything is fine. We are just now setting up for the first night.

We are just chugging along here. It started out as a beautiful sail - bit bumpy - the seas are still quite high, but OK still. The sea is deep blue. The sky just has a few puffy clouds. We had seen almost no shipping since we left Isla Mujeres. During the night there had been a halliard flapping against the mast, which was driving me crazy but not crazy enough to go forward in the dark with the occasional wave

sweeping the decks. So this morning, at light, when I went forward to tighten up the offending halliard, I grabbed hold of a shroud that felt more like a string of spaghetti than a steel cable. One of our shrouds has failed. This is not serious - 'cos I found it in time - but we took down the main sails to ease the load on the mast and we are now motoring in with just the mizzen sail up. (It has a different mast).
Now we head on into Grand Cayman and see what the problem really is. It could be that one of the fittings just failed under the load. If so, I probably already have the spare part on board.

North 19 degrees 21.4 minutes, West 81 degrees 22.6 minutes
We are tired and we are going to bed right NOW, but we are here safely in Grand Cayman at the Cayman Island Yacht Club. Our position is 19 deg 21.4' N and 81 deg 22.6 ' W.

The rig didn't fall down. We didn't get in a fight at Customs over all that wine and Attila has to stay on the boat. We are tied up at a floating dock like the one at Kemah. Had supper, full belly, two beers and am fallllliiinnnnngggg.........

Well today is a whole new day. Tied up at a marina with bacon and eggs, tortillas, tomatoes, and pineapple juice for breakfast. This is as opposed to a granola bar and a swig of tepid water. Actually, I have been grazing fairly non stop and it's somebody's fault that they sent sugared almonds and Xmas cake.

We left Isla with the dawn of the 13th. Isla was a pleasant interlude but it was time to leave. The seas were bigger and steeper than I expected from the forecast but were also forecast to drop later on in the day. For someone who tends to be queasy for a couple of days, this was not a useful combination.

We sailed "close hauled" for the first 24 hours and apart from bouncing around a lot, were making good progress. On the morning of 14th., I went forward to tighten up my slapping halliard. What this is, is one of the unused lines going up the mast, which gets to vibrate with the wind and goes "slap, slap, slap...", all night long. As I told you yesterday, I found that the rear lower shroud, on the starboard side was hanging loose. This is not supposed to be this way. This is what holds the mast up and if it falls down and goes "boom", it is really messy. Bad thing.

Anyway, we reduced sail, motor sailed into Georgetown, Grand Cayman, and got in at about 1130. We had been told by port security, to tie up to an orange buoy near the main dock. We hung here for about an hour and a half. We had a turtle swim by about 20 yards away, hordes of snorkelers a few yards away and were right in the middle of 5 enormous cruise liners. This means that there are about 5 million boats zipping by just yards away, ferrying cruise liner people back to their floating hotels. Then we got the radio call to come to the main dock.

This is intimidating for a sailboat, since all these concrete and big rubbery things are designed for battleships and stuff. Nevertheless we zipped up to the dock, moored like professionals etc. while all these people in uniform stood by looking at us. Attila also stood by looking back at them, so they showed no inclination to come on board.

(Attila had the same effect on a boat load of Mexican navy people in Kevlar flak suits, helmets, AK47s etc. They glared at us and Attila glared back. We knew and they knew that they were bluffing, they really weren't going to shoot. What they didn't know was if Attila was bluffing. If she really was going to bite. She did not look too impressed with all the automatic weapons etc. They also declined to come on board)

I hopped up on the dock and signed a bunch of stuff saying no-one had died of plague on board etc. A "dog" man showed up and looked at Attila's paperwork and gravely announced that she did not have an import permit. I said that she is fine to stay on the boat. He pondered this for a while, then said "OK".

We then left the dock and headed up to where the Cayman Yacht Club was supposed to be. When we got there, there wasn't even the hint of a marina. Got back on the radio. No answer. Eventually, the yacht club guy answered and after some discussion, we decided that I would motor around to the North side of the island and I would hire a guide to show us the way through the reef. Amazingly, the guy showed up and we had an exciting hour following him. What made the trip even more exciting was that a) I could see the gosh darned reef and it too close! and b) our satellite navigation system clearly showed we were sailing over the land.

Nevertheless, we made it into the marina, tied up, tried to get power hooked up - wrong plugs. Drank a couple of beeeers / glass of wine. Went to bed.

Yesterday (our first full day in Grand Cayman), we got up early. I went to the marina office and used their phone to call a car rental agency. Went back to the boat to write an e-mail to daughter (as promised). Back to the office to meet the car rental guy. Picked up car. Went to Bank to change money. Grocery store to buy bread and mangoes. Back to boat to see if first mate had washed boat and dog. Lunch. Over to electrical store to buy adapter to plug the boat into the marina power. Hardware store to buy two pieces of plastic tubing so Annette can make a modification of the net across the back of the boat to stop Attila from getting off that way. Then the liquor store to get 3 six packs of local beer.

Back to the boat. Climb the mast to recheck the rigging and then send an e-mail off to Amel asking for advice. Another e-mail to the bank. Finally, I had to drink three beers and eat supper. I thought this was all supposed to be slow and relaxing?
Now I just have this host of people who have e-mailed me and want to know if I have been getting their e-mails...........

I am going to find a dive shop today and do something really useful!

This morning if it stays calm, we will go diving for the first time since Bequia. The dive place is right on the shore and you walk down into the sea, swim maybe 20 yards or so, and then drop down a wall to 60 feet on sand. It looks like an easy start and we will wear full wet-suits and take it easy.

We went diving this morning. It was a walk in dive from the scuba shop. You went down a ladder to the sea and then swam out about 20 yards to a buoy. Down 15 feet, then along a rope to a second buoy in 18 feet. Then you dropped over the edge of a wall to a sand bottom in about 50 feet. It was a fun dive but I wore a full wet-suit which I had not done before. I didn't have enough weight, since I was set up for my shortie. I had to go back up to the shop for another 6 lbs. We saw fish! It was fun.
We were sorta planning on going back tomorrow but there is a weather front coming through, so it may not be pleasant. We will have to see.

Annette bought an underwater camera and was clicking away like crazy. It uses film though, so I am not sure what she does next. I will try to get the pictures - what we have anyway - copied to a CD and then snail mailed.

We went to look at turtles today. It said "Turtle Farm" not "Turtle Sanctuary" on their literature. They had all sorts of stuff about conservation and endangered species but yes, they are raising turtles for food. When we drove past the place a couple of days ago, there were buses lining up disgorging hundreds of people. Today it was empty. It seems that the cold front that is coming through,

makes the main harbor untenable. Four cruise ships that were scheduled in here, just picked up their anchors and left. We met some folks from a yacht who came in here (at the Yacht Club) to escape the impending conditions. It is no big deal, it is just that the prevailing winds are from the west and the main harbor is on the east side of the island. When a Norther comes through, the winds then blow from the other direction, so the wave action means that you cannot get an anchor to hold and the waves break onto the west shore line, so you can't land there. If you remember, we went around to the north side of the island and then through the coral reef into a protected water. When we chatted to the "other" yacht, they said they had been searched for 3 hours at customs with drug dogs. We apparently did not fit the profile.

We plan on being here through the week and will probably leave early next week. I have serviced the engine and transmission - messy job. Takes about 30 minutes to change the oil and another 2 hours to clean up the mess. Now, we just need to top up our diesel and water and we are ready to go.

Today we went for a drive around the island. We first stopped at a "Pirate cave". There was also a "mini-zoo". The mini-zoo contained

one baby sting-ray in a tank full of carp. Two chickens and an iguana. There was also a small pond full of mosquito larvae. The cave was sort of fun. A really low budget version of Disney Land with glued on skulls and bones etc.

Next was lunch at a restaurant called "The Light House". The highlight was dessert - sticky toffee pudding with Guinness ice cream.

The island is 22 miles long and 8 miles wide and took about an hour or so to drive around. About one third of all the real estate we saw, appears to be currently advertised for purchase. There were some awesome looking homes with fantastic ocean views.

We may scuba tomorrow if its not rough. It rained a little last night when the front went through but I slept through it. The temperature has been fairly constant around 80 degrees. I think the bugs found us today, since we both have little bug bites. Trouble in paradise.

We didn't make it to the scuba today. Instead we experienced the Cayman rush hour. They really do have one, with a single two lane road heading downtown for all the commuters. Anyway, our goal was an alleged fish market. We found it but they don't sell fish there until noonish, so we were too early. We returned via the grocery store as someone needed to buy fish - any fish would do. Back to DoodleBug. We rescued the dingy from the stern locker, washed and fueled it and set off with a picnic lunch to scout how we get out of here when we need to leave. We found an entirely different exit through the reef. We took with us a hand held GPS and a portable depth sounder for the dingy. We found a marked channel from the marina to the gap in the reef. We messed around in the gap in the reef with 3 foot swells dwarfing our little dingy. We found that we had at least 14 feet of water in the reef gap (we need six and a half) and the channel to the marina was about seven and half at it's shallowest.

We piloted our dingy back to a restaurant / bar where we had lunch on our first day here. Over margaritas in the bar, we determined that the rumor we had heard about a fish market at this location, was false. I am sure that the fresh fish market will be attacked before we leave.

We are taking a lazy afternoon break. This morning we went to the museum, that took 10 minutes! Then, off to the Port Authorities office to see about what we need to do to leave Grand Cayman Island AND collect our Hawaiian sling, which they confiscated upon entry from our survival gear as a dangerous weapon. I can't help wondering how many banks have been robbed by a snorkel and mask clad swimmer using a pointy stick with a rubber band dangling from it's other end? That's just me busy wondering again. Well, that done, we went in search of yet another island brewery. Success! The Old Dutchman Micro Brewery was open for business. Next door to that

was a small beach where some local fisherman sell their daily catch. We selected a red snapper which I plan to turn into a sumptuous feast, along with a chilled white wine and a mango salad for this evening's dining pleasure.... Or we'll skip the food and head straight for the wine and a romantic sunset! Whatever!

January 24, 2004
This is Annette's account of a day in Cayman: The trip to Stingray City was positively unforgettable. Ever been smacked in the chest by a 35 lb lasagna noodle? Bizarre! About 25 of us set out on our scheduled tour early in the morning. First thing on the agenda was a reef snorkel dive to witness the spectacular assortment of corals and fish AND to reaffirm just what a klutz you/I can really be, by swallowing a half gallon or so of disgusting salt water through a bent snorkel. I almost drowned in an attempt to get photos of the 3 ½ ft green moray eel that our guide coaxed out of a dark dank hole in the reef and held for us to see. Mr. Moray grinned at us with ALL of his teeth displayed. NOTHING, not one little tiny thing on this planet could have induced me to hold that fearsome creature!

The next stop was Stingray City just a 10 minute boat ride away. There, no less than thirty Stingrays were swarming, SWARMING! over a 3 ft deep sand bar waiting for the next batch of oiled tourists to come feed them. Chris, our handsome, dark, muscular guide with the most beautiful Jamaican accent …… sigh!… but I digress, cradled a huge stingray so that those what waz feelin brave like, could pet the beastie. I swear to you, it felt like a big ole slippery lasagna noodle. After the group-pet we were handed some slimy chunks of what could have possibly been squid, or not. Standing there, chest deep on a sand bar out in the sea, some 2 miles off shore (where no

one could possible hear the screams!), a knot of willing humans were tickled and bumped and had our fingers sucked by a black swarm of 35 lb lasagna noodles! If we weren’t speedy enough at handing over the slimy stuff, they swam at you and bumped you in the chest to sort of get your attention. Sort of like rabid Jell-O.