Our Time in Grand Cayman - Until We Voyage to Panama the Beginning of June
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This time, in Barcadere Marina- Grand Cayman, similar to Bocas, Panama, I have befriended the resident cat. I estimate she is less than a year old, with silky black fur like Precious, minus the white streaks on her nose, belly, and paws. She must have been abandoned when she was born, as the Marina staff said she was hanging around since she was as tiny as the palm of one's hand, scrawny, and scared. She obviously is traumatized, stalked by a loitering feral tabby cat almost daily, and as a result, very skittish.

I began the process of feeding her two times a day... mid-day and in the evening. She's the most polite cat I have ever known, with incredibly brilliant emerald green eyes. When I whistle for her, and call "kitty, kitty, kitty" (even though the staff calls her "Bella"), she peeks out from beneath the wooden deck of the Marina shower stalls and peeps a few small dainty meows. I feed her sardines, eggs, tuna, leftover chicken, and salmon.

After a few days of this routine, she allowed us to pet her nose first, then her ears, and then her back. We've managed to hold and stroke her several times, but cautiously. She squirms until we calm her, but she is very careful never to scratch us. And, she never jumps on tables, and has not ventured out of the Marina pool area, certainly not to our boat just across from her "home".

Just the cat I would love to have as a pet, although that will never happen since we have become sailors, traveling frequently, and with the convoluted quarantine regulations. Mark assures me when we are too old and tired to keep a fast paced life, cruising and all, we can certainly have a cat, dog, or several. I guess I'll just continue to "adopt" the local pets, until we are land locked again.

So, even though we have entirely become "unemployed boat and beach bums", we have had much to work to keep us busy.
For the remaining weeks of May, besides adopting the Marina cat, we spent a lot of time organizing, and drilling down on large task lists we both had, interspersed with a some snorkeling and diving when the weather cooperated.

Mark hired Compass Marine to knock off some pending issues with our mast. He caught wind from a previous Atlantic 57 owner's blog that a possible corrosion problem with the spreaders on the mast could exist, as it had with his, after several years of heavy voyaging. Not good news, but in our case it was. The rigger from Compass Marine identified the beginning of some corrosion, so we hired them to dismantle it for repair. When hoisted for dismantling, he also found our missing Spinn halyard knotted up near the spreaders (YEAH!!!), dismantled a useless night vision camera, added more fairleads to prevent the main halyard from chafing, and replaced our emergency hailer horn. Mark knocked off more tasks on his list including replacing our window hatch blinds, he had our outboard motor for the dinghy serviced, caulked the galley's sink, removed the electronics associated with our night vision camera, repainted scuffs from removing our 2nd satellite phone we never use, prepped new Spinn halyard lines, purchased his new GOPRO and a massive upgraded underwater camera system, organized accumulated stuff, cleared out unwanted items from the boat, etc. etc. Time to simplify he says.

I created my own task list, adding to it every day. I crocheted another baby blanket, many hats for cancer patients, more shawls and scarves to give to old women in need of comfort, began sketching again, generated some ideas of creating photo books and calendars with poetry phrases, nurtured a coconut (we found on the beach) on board into a baby palm, and of course, fed "Bella".

We also spent a good amount of time together planning another African safari in the Fall, this time to celebrate Mark's 60th birthday. Lots of work and planning, but we're looking forward to it.

We tend to play hard and work hard, so before a freak rainy period the week of May 11, we managed to squeeze in diving at the famed "Devil's Grotto". a myriad of convoluted tunnels on the West Bay of the island, filled with healthy coral, many tarpon, and many many fish. We snorkeled many times, often swimming a mile or more out and back. And, boy we were sore, but did not regret it. We explored parts of the Island we had not been to before, the Botanical Gardens, Pedro's Castle, dined at some renowned restaurants, Salsa danced to a local band that plays weekly at a seaside restaurant, and enjoyed several massages at the Westin and Marriot after a week of real work. It was though, a good time and just a good excuse to get stuff done, as the rains surprisingly hit us hindering any outside activities for about 10 days. So, for the final week of May we will prep, provision, and clean aVida inside and out before we voyage the first week of June to Panama with MarkJ and Christian. Oh well - Work hard, play hard.

Goodbye Barcadere Marina, Grand Cayman. Similar to Bocas Marina in Panama, we will miss you, the friendly staff, and of course our adopted Marina cat - Bella.