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!
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment