Happy hour Update Wednesday

Today proved to be a contrast to the past 2 that had very benign
conditions. The squalls that started this morning continued with periods
of sun and good wind interrupted with rain and winds in the 30's for
brief periods. We had our sails reefed so we could match the speed of
our buddy boat so when the squalls hit there was really nothing for us
to do and we sailed right through them. We're keeping our electronics in
the ovens just in case of lightNext ening.

We are now 137 nm from our waypoint off the south coast of Belize. From
there it is only about 20 miles to Livingston. By morning we should be
very close. Our concern now is pirates so we conferred with our buddy
boat and agreed on security measures we'll employ for the remainder of
the trip. Of course the biggest security is that there are 2 boats and
we will stay close together. Most attacks are on single boats.

We saw a pod of dolphins today for a while playing in our waves.
Ironically we also saw a seagull flying around way out here. Usually the
only things we see flying are Flying FIsh. I threw one off the deck
yesterday.

This is more than our usual 1 or 2 over night passages but once we get
to Rio Dulce we'll be there for 5 months.

Next update sometime around 8. It is sometimes hard to know exactly when
we can update based on what's going on and having a good satellite
connection.

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Fwd: Blog Update Morning 2

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	Blog Update Morning 2
Date:	Wed, 31 May 2017 07:22:58 -0500
From:	ltcme108 <ltcme108@ocens.com>
To:	ltcme108.amekaya4sea@blogger.com

We are no more than halfway. We are less than 200 miles from our   waypoint off Belize and then 30 miles or so to Livingston, Guatemala.    Very challenging evening. Lots of squalls moved through with lightening   off in the distance but nothing close. Suspect the storms were over   shore areas. This morning it continues overcast with showers that will   probably be around most of the day.    When the squalls came up we pulled in the sails and secured all our   electronics in the oven to protect them from lightening. With our sails   in we motored all night because of the risk of severe weather and at   night it isn't seen coming.    Yesterday in taking down the whisker pole the sail got loose and wrapped   around the stay. It caused some issues that we resolved but when we   tried to get the sail in last night there were challenges. I was able to   resolve them and get the sail in but then we couldn't get it back out.   Something to resolve today. We're sailing again with a reefed main and   the staysail until I get the jib resolved.    Next update sometime about happy hour.    --   Sent via OCENSMail satellite email service.  www.ocens.com    

Blog Update Morning 2

We are no more than halfway. We are less than 200 miles from our
waypoint off Belize and then 30 miles or so to Livingston, Guatemala.

Very challenging evening. Lots of squalls moved through with lightening
off in the distance but nothing close. Suspect the storms were over
shore areas. This morning it continues overcast with showers that will
probably be around most of the day.

When the squalls came up we pulled in the sails and secured all our
electronics in the oven to protect them from lightening. With our sails
in we motored all night because of the risk of severe weather and at
night it isn't seen coming.

Yesterday in taking down the whisker pole the sail got loose and wrapped
around the stay. It caused some issues that we resolved but when we
tried to get the sail in last night there were challenges. I was able to
resolve them and get the sail in but then we couldn't get it back out.
Something to resolve today. We're sailing again with a reefed main and
the staysail until I get the jib resolved.

Next update sometime about happy hour.

--
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Progress update 1730 Tuesday

Continue to make progress slower than hoped. We just passed our target
waypoint and are now 160 nm from Cayman Isl. Our next waypoint is 290 nm
at aheading of 246 just off the coast of Bellize. From there it is about
30nm to Livingston, Guatemala where we check in.

Wind has built a bit and the swells are more behind us and bigger but
less quick and rolly. We cntinue to mostly sail with a few small
interludes of motoring when needed. The wind is supposed to build so
hopefully we can sail all or most of the rest of the way there.

This morning was a bit squally and we saw one cloud that had a
waterspout near us but dissipated before it got to us. Pictures on the
blog when we can post via internet.

Next update tomorrow morning probably about 0800.

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U[date 1st Morning

It is about 0650 island time and the weather continues. Moderate winds
from almost dead behind us and small fast chop almost on our beam. Sun
is shining nicely and should be another warm day but with cool ocean
breezes. We caught up with our buddy boat and we're both doing about the
same speed in these conditions. Still debating about using the spinnaker.

The chop overnight made it tough sleeping but we'll nap and stay rested
and hydrated.

Saw several cargo ships and tankers overnigt passing in different
directions.

All is well so far. Next update about 1700.

To contact us I get my regular gmail email or you can email us at
ltcme108@ocens.com


--
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Update 1905 29 May

The trip is going well. We are doing a bit slower than we hoped in
lighter wind but we're sailing averaging 5-6 kts with fair amount of
fast small chop coming almost on our beam. Sun has set and it is
beginning to cool off. Beautiful sailing today with a nice breeze and
mostly sunny. Wind is behind the beam so we have been adjusting our
heading to keep the wind from getting too far behind us. Maybe tomorrow
we'll run the spinnaker although the wind is supposed to go more
southerly so we might get a beam reach for a while.

Spoke to our buddy boat earlier and they are about 8 miles ahead of us
having gotten out before we did. We're about 40 miles from the channel
out of North Sound with about 113 mi to our next waypoint which is about
1/3rd of the way to Guatemala. We could have done a rhumb line from
Cayman to Guatemala but there are shoals along the way we want to avoid
so I made waypoints by the hazards to be sure we were far enough away
when we passed and wouldn't inadvertently sail through them.

Still hard to believe after all the talking, thinking, planning and
preparing we are underway.

Will post the next update in the morning


-- get a beam reach for a while
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We have left the Cayman

We left the marina and made it through the North Sound channel about
noon. We have turned west and once I finish this post we will be turning
southwest toward Guatemala.

It's hard to believe that after talking about going to Guatemala for a
year it is hard to realize and believe that we are now underway toward
the goal. About 470 miles and we should be there by Thursday afternoon.
Our buddy boat left about an hour before we did and they were outside
George Town and didn't need to go around the Sound as we did.

We really enjoyed Grand Cayman and clearing out this morning was very
easy and we even stopped back by Cayman Spirits and bought another
bottle of Seven Fathoms and the Reserve Coconut rums.

Will try to post next update about 2000 tonight.

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Cayman stayed

We always knew this was a wonderful island but after being here again we found it to be an even more wonderful island.Although the growth is shocking. It is almost like being in Miami.

Downtown George Town.

Moon rising over the marina.

So much to share.

After our beautiful overnight sail from the little Caymans we had to accommodate the authorities by traveling around to the port for check in. Unlike many countries the Caymans require that you check into Grand Cayman after leaving the little Caymans. Cuba requires that you check in and out of each port with no stops but many islands like the Bahamas provide a Cruising Permit to go wherever you want in the country. But from here we will continue on to Guatemala so we just clear out of here to travel to our next port.

The George Town Yacht Club at Barcadere Marina.

One of the reasons we chose to stay in the Barcadere Marina as we did was because Customs will clear in and out here. That they wouldn't come here was a disappointment but they will clear us out here and after they do we can buy fuel duty free so that will be some amount of discount. Staying here in the marina is very nice and we're right across the dock from our friends on Symbiosis and Tropical Blend. We've gotten very comfortable here. There has been a nice steady breeze during the day to keep it cool. We have our sun covers up to keep the sun's heat off the boat and at night we run the air to make it comfortable for sleeping.

The blue flip flop outside the Margaritaville Resort on Seven Mile Beach.

Having a rental car here has been great. Everything on the island is expensive but the rental cars. We have a full size car for less than $20 a day. Even though the marina has a shuttle, using it with bus or taxi fees would be more than $20 a day for 2 people and less convenient. Having the freedom to move about the island makes so many opportunities available. There is just so much to do here.

The plaza at Camana Bay shopping area.

After being on the hook in the little Caymans for over a week there were some priorities requiring attention. Laundry, food shopping and maintenance were top of the list. The next tier agenda included getting dive gear, doing diving, getting boat supplies, seeing Barefoot Man and enjoying some of the world class activities here.

The bountiful and well-stocked super markets of Grand Cayman. A truly welcome site after the Bahamas and other islands.

After our first day of casually getting about we started doing shopping ventures and picked up our car on Wednesday to help in getting the laundry done. Our days were a mixture of doing errands and chores;  socializing with friends; and enjoying the ambiance of this diamond rising from the deepest depths of the sea.

Our friends Serge and Charlotte after lunch at Vivo.

Thursday we had lunch at Vivo at Lighthouse Point, a mostly vegetarian restaurant, with friends Serge and Charlotte from Kuaka who will be buddy-boating with us to Rio Dulce. We met Serge and Charlotte in Port Antonio. They have been cruising for years and are on their way to their home in New Zealand. We're really happy to be sharing this travel leg with them. They have a slower boat than we do but we will adjust our speed so we can stay close together. Especially as we navigate through the Gulf of Honduras and in to Livingston.

Thursday night we did another rum tasting on Tropical Blend. I regretted not having some of my favorite rums there to share. One new one we opened was Seven Fathoms brewed right here on the Cayman Islands and we were all pleasantly surprised. It was an immensely enjoyable evening with our friends as we listened to their "cheesy mix" of songs and enjoyed the multitude of rums.

Our rum tasting at Cayman Spirits. Of course we had to buy some.

Friday we worked in a tour of the Cayman Distilling Company and got to sample all of their products and especially all the rums they produce. Enjoying the rums and the tour was a highlight of our visit. Unlike other distillery tours it was really fun and the rum was great too. Our friend Bahama Bob from Key West was here recently and they sell his book there.

Saturday we drove to the extreme point of the island, Rum Point to grab lunch, swim and snorkel. The houses around the area were amazing and the resort guests made the activities interesting. Rum point is the kind of place where you could really waste away with a rum drink or margarita. But then, that's almost everywhere on this island.

Wreckers Bar at Rum Point.

Saturday night Linda and I went out to Deckers, a very nice restaurant with entertainment. There specialty for the night was all the lobster you can eat for $50. We simply enjoyed the music, a few drinks and the wonderful evening. Celebrating a week in Grand Cayman already.Hard to believe how quickly the time has passed here.

The south coast of Grand Cayman.

Sunday morning we had a buttermilk pancake with blueberries breakfast for the first time in months. It has been since Marsh Harbor that we actually had real buttermilk with real blueberries to enjoy in our Sunday morning breakfast. Amazing that buttermilk is not available everywhere and blueberries are a delicacy in the tropics. Sunday we went with our friends to a locals beach for snorkeling but the water was rough. Like everyplace in the Caymans there is so much to see.

Monday I went out on a dive boat for 2 dives. It was really nice because there were only 2 other divers and our guide. During the first deep water dive we saw a friendly nurse shark and 2 green sea turtles attempting to mate. The underwater scenery in the Caymans continues to impress. I've done 8 dives while here and would have like to do more but with all the time we have it is really limited. Hopefully we can come back here and I can do many more dives. In the fall we will go to Belize and Roatan to do many more dives.

One of the errands we had to do here is to buy a complete set of dive gear. It was one of those things always lurking in the background but here we did it. I now have, a tank, dive computer, dive camera, BCD, regulator and I had to buy a new set of fins because my old ones developed a crack after 12 years. Now if we hook something with the anchor (like we did in Inagua) or have any underwater issue (like bottom cleaning) I can dive on it with enough air to stay down long enough to resolve it. This was one of our large outstanding issues since we moved aboard. In some places I can use the dive gear to catch conch or lobster. So with our time here we moved closer to absolute self-sufficiency.

Tuesday we went to Lighthouse Point with our friends to snorkel the reef and have lunch again at Vivo. The dive site is interesting because it is really set up for a shore dive so it is an easy snorkel because the wall is relatively close to shore. But, Linda and I snorkeled along the shoreline that had extremely interesting and complex draws and canyons that all had colonies and schools of fish in them as well as presenting a compelling seascape. I snorkeled out to the first wall and got to see the Guardian of the Reef Statue that was in about 40' of water. On Tuesday evening working with IP 38

Guardian of the Reef Statue.



owner Steve Elliott we organized a happy hour on his boat up in Governor's Creek with our friends Serge and Charlotte, new friends Dave and Janice on Livin Life to discuss going to Guatemala. We also discussed going to the Margaritaville Resort on Wednesday to see the Barefoot Man. More on that later. As I've said before, we constantly meet old friends and new ones almost everyday.

The Cayman National Gallery.

Thursday was our next big day because Wednesday was election day in Caymans and everything was closed. In the morning Linda and I visited the Cayman National Gallery. Its current content is small because it is so young. Cayman has only had an artist school for a few decades and it was interesting to see the transition of old Cayman to new Cayman as seen through artist's eyes. One of the seminal events in Cayman history was Hurricane Ivan. It is interesting to note we were here one week before it hit so we followed closely the tragedy and it could fully understand the artists commentary. Also on Thursday we drove out to the eastern side of the island and toured the Queen Elizabeth II Botanical Garden that serves to preserve and explain the islands flora and is a preserve for the endangered Blue Iguana that we saw many of in the Gardens.

Scenes from the Botanical Garden.

A traditional Cayman home moved to the Garden from the East End. The house was about 150 yrs old.

One of their rare blue iguanas napping.

A dwarf pineapple. Probably would go good on a cocktail straw.

Miss Botanical Garden.

Thursday night was another one of those really high points of our visit here on Grand Cayman. Regardless of everything else we wanted to see the Barefoot Man perform. Barefoot has been an institution on Grand Cayman for decades. He expanded his territory to the Bahamas with his Nippers Concerts and we saw him there once. The Margaritaville Resort opened recently here and he was supposed to perform there Wednesday night but I guess the party planners didn't get the memo about Election Day here in the Caymans because no alcohol can be served before 1900 and Barefoot was supposed to perform at 1730. They had to cancel but we found out he would be at the Wyndham Reef Resort on Thursday night so we planned to go and we channeled everyone to the Reef Resort.

2 person deep sea submersible exploration vessel on display at Eagle Ray Resort.

Happy hour and dinner at Eagle Ray Resort.

We had 10 people sitting around a large bar table enjoying the Barefoot Man at the Reef Resort. This is the venue that made him and his show as usual did not disappoint. We wanted to buy his latest CD which he had sold out of and what a great guy in chatting with him. So our other key objective on Grand Cayman was achieved! Seeing the Barefoot Man. It's great that he has gotten into the Jimmy Buffett-sphere after all these years. He was performing at Margaritaville Key West last week. Great for him! A Cayman Island original.

Barefoot in concert as seen from the cheap seats.

An after-show selfie with the Cayman Island legend.

Friday night we went to happy hour at Rackams a very cool place down on the George Town waterfront with Steve, Livin Life and 3 other boats that we met for the first time. The cheese curry fries and jerk chicken were fantastic! Most of us at the happy hour are going to Guatemala so we'll see everyone there. Another fantastic night of socializing with cruising sailors.

Most of these folks will be in Rio Dulce with us.

We left the Bahamas just short of 2 months ago. We spent several weeks in Jamaica and now time in the little Caymans and Grand Cayman and we like all of them better than the Bahamas. We don't have the island to island sailing that is nice in the Bahamas but the water is clearer and the underwater scenery greater here in the Caymans. Jamaica is a better place to be than the Bahamas. Here in these islands we also don't have the credit card Captains that charter a boat for a week or two like they do in the BVI that have no regard for the cruising life. It's strangely remarkable when we tell people we live on a boat and sailed here they are almost starstruck because there are so few cruising boats that come this way. So far this has been an incredible passage.

The beach at Rum Point was hard to leave. I could sit here and drink rum all day and never move.

Now we prepare to depart on Monday for Guatemala. We have a friend, Jim Upson, flying in who will help us with our passage. The upcoming passage will be the longest continuous passage we have done. to date although not that much longer than Linda and I have done on our own  Once we get to Rio Dulce we will be there for several months to do work on the boat and travel around Central America visiting famous places.

We will do email updates with our progress but the next big update will be once we have settled in Guatemala. Hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend remembering the sacrifices of brave Americans who defended and continue to defend our great Nation.

Al Lee (Linda's Dad) 1920 - 2017 WWII vet.

Test blog by email with more to follow.

I have finally figured out how to post email updates to our blog and it is really simple. So on our 3+ day trip from the Caymans to Guatemala next week I will post updates so friends and family will know where we are and how it is going. Right now the weather looks relatively benign after the forecast over the weekend of a possible tropical storm forming this weekend.

We are having a blast here on Grand Cayman with our friends from Tropical Blend and Symbiosis. I will write more on our blog and post with pictures after this post. Last night, Tuesday night, we drove up to Governor's Creek and had happy hour with 4 other boats that are going to Rio Dulce. Nobody knows exactly when they're going but it looks like we may have 1 boat going with us when we leave probably Monday.

Lots of our friends are ending their journeys for the season. Meanwhile we are still enjoying Grand Cayman and have several weeks of adventure planned in Guatemala before we travel back to the US for several weeks of visits.

More to follow.

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What happened to the Little Island?

We visited Grand Cayman in 2004. It was a very nice place to vacation. A small out-of-the way place although in the major leagues of international finance. Already well-known for diving I did my first dives here. But a week after we visited Hurricane Ivan struck a devastating blow. The entire island was under 6 feet or more of seawater knocking out 85% of all the buildings, all utilities and as the water receded looting broke out as people looked for food and water. The loss exceeded 183% of the islands GDP. Far worse than Katrina in New Orleans.

Today Grand Cayman has a full-time population of 50,000+ and on any given day at least as many tourists in the hotels, villas and off cruise ships.  As one Brac'r described it, it is Miami Beach. Not only has the island recovered but it has prospered at the expense of no longer being a little island. The Brac and Little Cayman pride themselves on being what Grand Cayman used to be.

The beautiful little islands.

On Friday we very sadly returned from Little Cayman to Cayman Brac to clear out with Customs. The Caymans are divided administratively into 2 regions: the sister islands (LC and CB) and Grand Cayman. Foreign boats traveling between the regions need to clear out and in with Customs almost as if they were foreign countries. So we did as required and cleared out with the sister islands and had 24 hours to depart. Our friends on Tropical Blend and Symbiosis left immediately for Grand Cayman. But I was determined to dive on Cayman Brac.

Dinner at the Asian House the last night on Cayman Brac.

The surge in the anchorage was not as bad as when we left and got better overnight. In fact by Saturday morning it was relatively flat. Friday night we did a little bit of shopping and had dinner ashore. But the real treat came Saturday.

My pet grouper.

We dinghied in and were picked up on schedule by Martin, one of the owners of Brac Dive Shack to take us diving. We joined several other divers and the boat went back around the island to where we were moored. The first dive was a deep wall dive with the usual fish, beautiful coral and sponges but the second dive was amazing. We motored up to the mooring ball next to where Amekaya was moored. So cool! The dive was shallower around the coral heads that permeated the area growing up from the bottom like Christmas trees. But more than the vivid colors were the critters. Up under one ledge we saw probably the biggest lobster I've ever seen. Then a little further along a big grouper swam up to me and let me pet him and of course get some good pics and just after that a Hawksbill Turtle was munching on some grass and did some nice friendly poses. What great dives!

A school of jacks under a ledge.

When we got back from the dive we had 2 hours to get off our mooring to stay within the 24 hour limit after clearing out so we got the dinghy up, secured the cabin and left.  We wanted to stop at a dive mooring by Little Cayman but the wind was blowing nicely and we put up the sails and decided not to test our welcome.

The front end of Mr. Lobster. The camera didn't pick up his entire body.

We left after spending about 10 days on these small islands. When we originally planned to visit the little Caymans we planned a week on each island. We now regret not spending more time on them. They are very beautiful, the diving was great and the people so warm and friendly. Even though they are small islands there was so much to do and see. We definitely need to come back.

We got off the mooring and got the engine warmed up just in time to shut it down. The wind was blowing about 8-12 just behind the beam so it gave us an apparent wind angle of about 80. We were in no hurry because we didn't want to get to the North Sound channel in the dark so we pulled out the sails and took off.

Lots of people think of Island Packets as slow. It is true they are heavy by design and especially when fully loaded for long-term cruising. But, the standard for cruising is to be able to do at least 50% of the apparent wind speed. With 8-10 kts of wind we were sailing 6-7 kts. In fact our ETA kept getting earlier and was about 3 in the morning.  The sailing was perfect. A nice comfortable speed, the water was mostly flat, clear sky and nice temperature. Over night we had a nearly full moon.

But, we had to slow down. First I reefed in the jib but the wind picked up so I finally brought it in all the way. We continued nicely getting the ETA back to about 0700 which was manageable. Then about 0500 I called the port security to report being in Cayman waters and request our check in and contrary to our plans, hopes and dreams they told us we needed to come to the Port in George Town and would not clear us in the marina as advertised. That just added 20+ miles to our trip. The wind was now dropping so after about 12 hours of great sailing we had to turn on the engine and motor around the island to the Port for checking in.

Check in was easy because there were no cruise ships in port. So we checked in and then motored all the way back around to the Sound and followed a crooked path to the marina and into a slip. Once tucked in we cleaned the boat, put up the sun covers and met our friends from Symbiosis and Tropical Blend for happy hour at the George Town Yacht Club.

We are staying at the Barcadere Marina which is next to the airport and not far out of downtown George Town. It is collocated with the George Town Yacht Club and shares facilities. The marina facility is in excellent condition, people are all friendly, they have a shuttle and the bar has a nice happy hour.

The Bracadere Marina.

Monday was a holiday so most businesses were closed but we went downtown and walked up along the hotel area on West Bay. Many of the stores were closed for the holiday but there was still lots to see. There is a new Margaritaville Beach Resort, lots of new resort hotels, high price stores and amazing cement prosperity. It is amazing what has happened to the little island. It still resembles what we saw years ago but now it more resembles anyplace but here.

One of the premier shopping districts today.

Sunset on our first day exploring Grand Cayman.

Wow! So much has happened

Wow!!! So much has happened so quickly it's hard to keep up that I'm already behind.

Little Cayman Beach Resort.

We were enjoying Cayman Brac. We rented a car and drove around the island looking for things we wanted to explore more although the day was broken up by lunch with friends from Port Antonio who had just arrived and Linda wanting to watch her son Seth receive an MS from Utica College in New York. We also went on an expedition trying to find some fresh produce since we couldn’t bring anything in when we cleared Cayman Customs. Ironically, they never checked. So here we were again looking for food and the barge just arrived.

Amekaya from the dinghy dock and jetty,

Saturday two other couples that we knew from Port Antonio made it here and that night we all met at Barracudas for happy hour and their famous wood oven pizza but the real story starts after that. Larry and Debby Gaddy on Tropical Blend and Scott and Noi Neuman on Symbiosis made it here from Montego Bay and we hung together before moving on to Grand Cayman.

Looking east off Cayman Brac toward Jamaica.

The East End Light on top of Cayman Brac.

Saturday night the wind dropped and the normally benign swell became relentless. The island of Cayman Brac runs northeast to southwest so the prevailing easterly swell is deflected and mooring on the north side of the island is safe. But, with the wind down the swell built from the northeast and built and built. We couldn’t sleep at all that night because the current kept the boat sideways to the swell and with the boat rolling things that never even happen on a passage happened. We had to secure everything as if we were sailing and stuff in our lockers still rolled and slammed about as the sudden jerking about relentlessly grew.

The "Skull Tunnel." Cayman Brac had lots of tunnels including several used for hurricane shelters.

Sunday morning, we were scheduled to go diving and we managed to get into the dinghy and went to the jetty. But the swells were crashing over the rock jetty that serves as a dinghy dock and there was no safe place to land or leave the dinghy. If we would have gone into the beach we would have never gotten off. It would have been like Tom Hanks and Wilson trying to get beyond the reef. Everyone was in the same situation. None of the others had slept either. There didn’t seem to be many options but there was one. The South Sound on Little Cayman. The only issue was we knew little or nothing about it but we had a contact.

South or Owen Island Sound a welcome relief after the night from hell.

I had been given the name and phone number by our friend Marc Pothier of a sailor who used to live on Little Cayman. So even though it was early on a Sunday morning I called him. He was very happy to talk to me. He offered us his mooring in South Sound and gave us total local knowledge about the channel and the Sound. So I called Symbiosis and Tropical Blend on the VHF and offered that we would go over and take the mooring and check depths around the sound. Then call them and help them get in. We did that and by 1400 everyone was situated; us on a mooring and the others on anchor in the relative calm with protection behind the reef. For our time in Little Cayman we slept well making up for the one rough night.

All came to celebrate relief. Larry and Debbie Gaddy from Tropical Blend; Scott and Noi Neuman from Symbiosis; along with Linda and the photographer (me) enjoying respite.

Little Cayman turned out to be a boater’s dream. In the Sound we had protection from the surge and largely wind shelter from every way but south. A large dive resort was situated on the beach close to where we were. Little Cayman Beach Resort had a nice beach bar, we could get their wifi with our booster, we were able to drop off trash, no issues with landing our dinghies there and a great dive operation. All was good.

Heading out on a dive the next morning. If I can figure out how to edit the dive videos I will post the incredible footage,

I couldn’t wait to dive the Little Caymans. For years, I’ve read how great the diving is and Monday morning I went out to find out. It had just finished raining as I left the boat and went into the dock. The rain returned and it poured right up until it was time to leave. The boat went around the island to the Bloody Bay Park reported as one of the best dive sites in the world. Did 2 dives there with spectacular scenery. We did several swim throughs that came out onto the wall, swam along the wall and swam in shallower coral gardens full of reef fish, rays, turtles and several friendly groupers.  The walls in the Caymans are truly awesome. They start in as little as 30-40 ft and drop straight down thousands of feet. It is magical to float along these mountainous cliffs of coral suspended weightless 100 ft below the surface but thousands of feet above the bottom. Everything sparkles in the sun lit clear water but as darkness robs the light looking down there is only blue.

Iguanas have the right of way on Little Cayman.

The dives did not disappoint. I only wish I had more time to dive. We had originally planned a week on each island but with the changes to our plans and the weather it looked like about a week and a half was all we would get on the Little Caymans. I did do another dive which was equally spectacular and every chance we got we snorkeled. Just off the boat where we were moored on the Brac and by Little Cayman there was great snorkeling. Occasionally a ray or barracuda would swim by and you could see them from the boat or watch them through a snorkel mask.

In our crash gear with great scenery.

Out and about on our scooters. Is this a travel brochure pic or not?

Few boaters ever come here and the reason tourists travel here is for the diving although on the Brac there is wall climbing, hiking, caving and birding. Just too much to go into with all that.

We, along with our friends rented scooters one afternoon and toured Little Cayman. What a beautiful island with iconic scenes everywhere.

Another stop on our scooter trip at Southern Cross Resort.

During the week the weather gradually improved and we did more things around the boat and on the island. I managed to spend the time and clean off the bottom of the boat. From time to time I had managed to get parts of it clean but this was the first time since we launched last June that I was able to completely scrub the bottom clean. Hopefully that will help with speed and fuel economy going to Guatemala.

Just another gratuitous beach scene at Southern Cross Resort.

As always our week flew by and we needed to return to the Brac to check out of Cayman Customs before continuing on to Grand Cayman. There was still surge in the anchorage but it was nothing like the last night here. Saturday morning, I did 2 more dives and Linda snorkeled before leaving getting to see just a little more of the famous Little Caymans.

The "No Trespassing" sign on Owen Island.

I went back into our blog to a post I did about 2 years ago and the blog posts are getting longer and more involved because there is so much more to talk about. Cruising the east coast, working on the boat and even the Bahamas pale compared to the interesting things we’ve been able to do since we left George Town, Bahamas. The Acklins, Great Inagua, Jamaica and now the Caymans offer so much more adventure and very few boats come this way. Most places in the Bahamas or the BVI’s there are hundreds of boats on any given day. Here, we rarely see another boat. When we moored in Little Cayman and went ashore everyone had seen or heard about the boats out in the Sound because it is a novelty. People on the dive boats talked about the boats anchored there.

Full moon over the Little Cayman Baptist Church.

Now we get ready to make our way to Grand Cayman. It is a big city without the charms of these little islands. We can shop and provision for our trip up the Rio Dulce. Find time for some more diving and eat in fancy restaurants. But most importantly get the boat ready for our next passage and the longest of this trip and possibly to date. It will be about 460nm and take us about 70-75 hours.