The sail to Grand Cayman was pretty uneventful overall, the hardest part was getting past Jamaica which is far longer than I’d imagined and we only really passed the island fully about 24 hours into our sail.
The sea state was lumpy when we departed and we debated our sail configuration quite a lot to get the best out of the winds direction v the swell. When the swell died down a little we agreed that putting the pole out to keep the Genoa in place would give us the best angle, so Ross clipped on and headed off up to the bow to rig and set the pole. Once set up we changed our angle and suddenly we had a lovely downwind angle, pushing us at 6.5 knots towards our destination.
Ross and have started to have a bet on each passage regarding how many other boats we shall physically see, AIS target alone doesn’t count. We’d both been completely wrong on our sail to Jamaica so the stakes were high for this shorter passage. In the end we both got it wrong, neither of us taking into account the cruise ships also heading to our destination. It took two full days to make the passage, arriving around 3pm on the third day at George Town port. The cruise ships which had come past us overnight now anchored or using their stabilisers to hold station in the bay. There were 6 ships in, with a hive of little boats ferrying guests back and forth.
We’d radioed port control when we got to the island several hours before we’d actually make George Town, letting them know of our impending arrival. As we rounded the south west corner into the port we radioed again and we’re swiftly greeted by the port harbour patrol boat who escorted us through the cruise ships and their tenders to a mooring. Once tied on they chatted briefly all smiles and welcome to the island, before saying have a lovely evening don’t get off the boat and we’ll be back to get you for check in tomorrow morning. The cruising guide does also state you cannot even swim, but the patrol team we’re happy for us to at the very least check the mooring out as they were clear it was at our own risk.
Putting the boat to bed, Ross jumped into the clear blue water to check out the lines, it’s probably to most solid mooring we’ve been on date, and we then enjoyed a lovely sunset on our first night in Grand Cayman.
The next morning we got up and made a coffee, unsure if the authority’s would be coming aboard or if we’d be moving to the dock. Around 8am the port patrol was back and asked us to fender up starboard side and follow the fishing boat who was also checking in. It didn’t take long to fender up with everything we had, it was a concrete dock and the books we’d read all commented there could be some surge, before we dropped the mooring and joined the little precession to the quayside.
We’d read about the dock being close in, shallow and sometimes the surge made it impossible to safely tie up. On this occasion I can clearly say the 1st two were very true and the third got worse the longer we stayed tied up, I’d be very glad when we could leave as at one point I was unsure if the stern cleat taking all the pressure would hold. I even double lined just in case one line snapped in the pressure.
First up was the lady from immigration, she picked up our paperwork and check my passport looking at me to check I was indeed whom we said I was before she and Ross left to handle the rest of the formalities. Customs had arrived on the quayside and before they went to the office the only real concern they had was any fire arms (don’t have any) and the spear gun/sling we had onboard. We handed over our fishing spear and then I sat onboard stealing WiFi from the local shopping mall whilst Ross filled in the necessary paperwork.
About 20 minutes later Ross returned and we called up the port patrol who would escort us back to a mooring and ensure we didn’t end up on the reefs which were very close on either side of where we’d docked to the quay. It was a nerve wracking departure but we were soon out into the wider bay and following the patrol boat back to a mooring a little further away from the port. Secured to a new mooring we had breakfast before getting the dinghy off the deck and into the water so we could head to shore.
There are 9 public mooring in the George Town bay, where we currently were and about 5 in Spotts Bay on the south should a north westerly or westerly weather system pass over which is possible between December and March. There are several marinas in the North sound, a large horse shoe shaped bay, but the entrance through the reef was shallow and everyone we’d checked with didn’t think we should attempt the pass unless we really needed to.
Dinghy in the water we made our way to the dinghy dock and our first taste of Grand Cayman. Initial impressions where great, the town was busy with cruise ship guests and we did spend at least a few moments of every conversation with a we’re not on one of them. But we easily found the ATM to get some Cayman dollars, the supermarket (think Waitrose) and lots of bars and restaurants. As it was cruise ship central the shops are geared towards the usual tat and waffle for tourists, but all the same it was a great first day. Every single person smiled and said hello, it was easy to see why so many people come to the island.
As with every boat day there is always some boat jobs to do, whether is cleaning or fixing and this was no exception for us. The engine was due a full service, we needed to ideally find a new cap for the gearbox and the mosquito nets on the port side had not survived the journeys from Bonaire and Jamaica (this list goes on) so we had plans to hire a car in the coming weeks to pick up the bits we needed for boat repairs and provision before our Cuba and Bahamas passages.
Cayman is known for it diving, with something like 280 site around the island. In George Town, there are quite a few all within a short dinghy ride and we had some wonderful dives, as I’m newly qualified we made plans to get in as soon as possible and in our first few weeks we dived Bob Spot’s Reef, Eden Rock and La Mesa. There were lots of fish, Bob Sotos Reef is where the cruise ship guest snorkel, we did our dive early in the morning and we’re gone before they arrived but it was clear the fish where used to being treated as they swarmed the moment we got in the water.
Eden Rock was my first experience of swim throughs and diving between coral walls and canyons. It was amazing, we were treated to a beautiful eagle ray feeding on the wide expanse of sand between the coral heads as we exited our first long swim through.
La Mesa, was another great dive, a bit deeper but you could just sit at the bottom of the anchor line and be surrounded by so many fish all going about their days. When we returned to the line to do our safety stop, a beautiful nurse shark lazily swam by like we weren’t even there.
(Check out our Instagram account for all our diving photos)
Near the dinghy dock is a dive centre, Living the dream divers, we popped in to speak about doing a two tank boat dive to the USS Kittiwake which is a relatively new wreck (sunk on purpose) and would be my first experience of wrecks. We had an excellent afternoon, the Kittiwake is an ex-USS submarine rescue vessel which was sunk on purpose in 2011 to for the dive industry. They vessel has two claims to fame, sort of, one the only submarine rescue it ever had to do was to rescue submariners from the vessel it was in front of on the dock. As due to a incorrect replacement on the throttle it reversed over the submarine behind it and had to rescue the crew. Secondly it was the lead vessel in the recovery of the space shuttle after the challenger disaster, until recently it was thought that they had accomplished the collection of every remaining part, however several parts have been recently discovered in a lake in Florida!
Our second dive was a site called Spanish Anchor as as the name suggests there is a 15th century anchor, officially dated. It is covered in corals and you could swim by if not for our guide but its clear to see once you know it’s there. We saw lots of fish, sharks and eagle rays on this dive too, beautiful.
Looking on AIS, we’d been delight to find friends on the catamaran Earindil were also in Grand Cayman, a quick what’s app message later and we were planning drinks and nibbles for later in the week. Not the mention a dive adventure. We spent several fun days and evening with them during our time and we will hopefully see them in the Bahamas as well.
As we’d had to change our sailing route we’d been investigating our next destination which would be Cuba. Asking for advice and information from our fellow OCC members we’d learned that Simon Currin, OCC commodore we’re currently in Cuba and heading our way. We’d posted messages and arranged to catch up should our paths cross. It would be wonderful to meet Simon and his wife Sally and get their first hand knowledge of Cuba.
During this investigation I found a local resident of Cayman was also an OCC member and contacted him to say hi and if he would like to join us for a drink. He had been on island for approx 25 years, being hired as a chief of surgery at one of the original large medical facility on the island and had stayed. We spoke and arranged to meet up in the coming weeks.
We had several parts and provisioning we now needed to do as our onward journey would be taking us to pastures with either very limited (Cuba) or very expensive (Bahamas) stores. Grand Cayman is in no way cheap but it was important that we did a full engine service and had stores in place for the coming months to manage our budget and time effectively. We initially hired a car for the 3 days however two days before we were due to pick it up the wind and swell turned to the NE but the weather off Cuba was driving waves from the west, meaning our current anchorage may no longer be viable. We hadn’t planned to move as the forecast wasn’t showing any significant strength, so headed to watch the England v Italy rugby match asking our friends on Earindil to let us know if the weather changed whilst we were away.
After the match we headed straight back to run another weather report, Earendil had already moved deciding to see the south regardless. Around 2pm they messaged to say it was nice but the swell was lumpier than in George Town. We stayed put until around 4pm when the harbour patrol came over to suggest/advise we move, it’s our decision but they were expecting the swell from the west and we’d slowly seen all the local boats vanish in the last hour so we quickly dropped the mooring and headed south - so did all the other monohulls .
It’s was about 30 mins before sunset when we picked up a mooring in Spotts Bay and tried to get comfortable in the long lazy swell which caught hold of us on the beam every so often. It had been calmer is the west bay, but we assumed this would change as the wind and swell direction moved NW so the southern swell would dissipate over night. It didn’t, it wasn’t overly uncomfortable but it made the boat creek and groan with every roll.
Over the next few days we waited for the weather to switch back, and listened and watched the cruise ships trying to get people on and off in the swell. In fact both the cruise ship which tried gave up in the end and I guess that was a fun day on board for their customer service teams who I’m sure had to deal with a lot of questions and annoyance at not actually stopping at Grand Cayman.
We arranged to do a dive close too on the mooring with our friends on Earendil making the most of our enforced southern coast adventure. And had a tough but lovely dive in some relatively strong current and surge. Trying to tuck ourselves into swim through to escape the waters flow and encountering lots of fish all happily gathered being pushed and pulled back and forth.
Luckily the car hire company had been wonderful about moving the dates and after 3 days we moved back to George Town and picked up our car without any fuss.
Day one we spent chasing down boat parts and finding all the bits we needed for maintenance and the engine service, which was due. Most of the different stores are spread out so we ventured across most got the West side of the island. But eventually we found pretty much everything and even managed to order the gear box cap which was currently broken.
Day two was island explorations day, we drove round the whole island, stopping at the caves for a tour. It wasn’t a bad tour, pretty pricey for 3 caves, a few bats and one really good underwater pond.. but hey we enjoyed it.
Next we drive to Rum Point thinking to find a spot for lunch but it was pretty quiet up there amongst the fancy houses so we headed back toward the main town and a jerk chicken place we’d driven past. It was full of locals, a good sign, and delicious.
Our last day was all about provisioning and picking up the gas bottles, which after some hunting around we’d finally found a company who could fill our gas bottles. Stocks replenished we dropped the car off once again and enjoyed a sunset and relax after three very busy days.
Several other OCC members had arrived on the island, including the commodore Simon Currin and his wife. We arranged to meet for dinner along with Chris who lives on the island. It was a wonderful evening, Chris had live there for a long time and had lots of stories to tell about how and when he arrived, the hurricanes and changes on the island. It was a fab evening, we agreed to meet up for dinner again before we left and Chris also gave us the locals tours which was fun.
The rest of our time in cayman was filled with diving and snorkelling, catching up with friends old and new. And prepping for our sail north to Cuba. We needed to refuel the boat but as the surge onto the docks was strong we decided to take the dinghy over with the Jerry cans, having arranged a time with the harbour, we puttered over laden with cans.
What we hadn’t anticipated was the height of the dock, and zero cleats to tie to. The fuel guys was super helpful as I clung onto the rock/wall face and Ross lifted out cans over my head. We then sat in the dinghy motoring back and forth until we could collect our cans and proceeded to repeat the process in reverse, it wasn’t much fun, dropping these heavy cans back into the dinghy and the motor back to the boat was slow and damp. Now prepped, our time in Grand Cayman was coming to an end.
In our last week we checked weather and got some final provision, as I was speaking directly with the marina Manager, Pire in Cayo Largo, to ensure had everything we onboard as there would’ve very little available to purchase, except Rum.
Checking out was straight forward at the office, but they did make a song and dance about the pole spear, we’d planned to leave at 1st light the next day so collecting the spear and checking out we’d originally headed into the offices just after lunch. But they would not let us have the spear until the end of the day, sneakily telling us to come back after 4pm.
As Ross and I are usually early for appointment, we got to the office about 3.45 and almost had to pay an overtime charged as it was then past 4 , which was closing time, by the time we’d agreed with the reluctant agents to release the spear. They would not give it to us in the office though, but made us walk back to the dinghy dock, where an agent met us and proceeded to watch Ross drive the dinghy and out to put the spear back on Blue Mist before he drove off. It was a faff and clearly each agent had a different version of the rules they would be willing to adhere to, but it was finally done and after dinner in town of the most gorgeous fish and lobster stew we put the dinghy on deck and went to bed, hoping for a good night rest before our departure in the morning.
Lovely 😍,
Xx Monica