Who needs a Bridge when there are so many Islands, Condy?
18 December 2011 | Georgetown, Cayman Islands
Judy, and the weather is perfect
Customs dock, Georgetown
We made it! After exactly 100 hours, we successfully completed 608 miles of upwind sailing to arrive in the Cayman Islands Friday at high noon! We had a bet going for who can get the closest to the time of arrival. I blurted out 0930 Friday with little thought compared to Torben and Mike, who had to calculate how long we'd be on port tack ect... Needless to say, I won the bet!
Torben was nice enough not to mention that on the third day out, I came down with seasickness. The waves were so unorganized compared to the nice rolling motion of the Pacific. Thank goodness Mike was there. He and Torben took my watches while I recuperated in my bunk!
It took us up until we were practically on the Cayman Islands before we spotted land. The island is mostly really a reef with cruise ships attached to it! Even so, it was a welcoming sight. We pulled up to a cement dock in crystal clear blue water and were greeted by very friendly English speaking officials. Even the papers I had to fill out were in English. They assigned us a free mooring ball as to not to destroy the coral with our anchor. This island, hands down has the prettiest water I have seen yet.
We snorkeled for the better part of this afternoon right off the transom of Tivoli. Unbelievable! The tourists are paying $85 to be taken out on a snorkel tour and we are getting it for free! We decided to let Tivoli rest for a while. There is a dry warm breeze that blows through the cabin on a continuous basis. Maybe, just maybe I can relax my anti molding regiment as the weather here is much dryer and the wind blows more easily without being held back by all the humidity, mosquitoes and no see ems! I am in heaven! Mike left this afternoon for the Bay Area, back to his real life. He was an awesome help getting through this difficult passage. I always hate to say goodbye but eventually I come around to being grateful it's not me getting on that plane!
Christmas in the Cayman's? Sign me up! We'll leave shortly after to spend New Year's in Cuba, weather permitting. Quick change of plans though. After this last upwind bash, I successfully convinced Torben to sail into Cuba by the shortest route possible which puts us into Cienfuegos, we will leave Tivoli in a marina and take a bus to Havana where we'll meet his sister and her husband for New Years. Hey, I'm learning!
check out latest photo album and a little video from the Cayman approach.
http://youtu.be/Oe4Ur1xy3es