Tuesday 18 August 2015

78. Cayman Brac

The sail from Negril to Cayman Brac was one of my best ever. There was a flat sea and enough wind to go 6 knots – beautifully smooth gliding through the water. Also my homemade autopilot worked like a charm. I barely touched the tiller. I had little birdies flying along with me, darting in and out of my sails, trying to land on my spreaders.

There was no moon so the sky was black, so was the ocean; sometimes it was difficult to see the horizon. Sailing along watching the Milky Way pass overhead I saw shooting stars, one massive one that lasted a few seconds and had a sparkling tail. I was happy though as always to see the sun rise.

Sun rise at sea

In the morning the wind died and I had to motor the last 20 miles, which took 4 hours. The water around Cayman Brac is unbelievably blue, and cheered me up. I arrived at Creek where I could check in. Swiftsure were already there. They set off later than me but had passed me at about 9pm. Immigration was easy – the guys were the coolest – one sprayed Sonic Boom for mosquitos (costing $31). Here there are free mooring balls everywhere – and shower blocks too. I picked up a ball down the coast a little, and Swiftsure joined me.


I went to bed thinking how nice it was to arrive after a passage and the boat be still in order. Later I woke up and saw everything being churned around like a washing machine. A very big storm passed over Cayman Brac with huge winds and lots of lightening, I bounced around on the mooring ball and everything got thrown around inside. In the morning I saw my dinghy paddle had blown away, and my wind generator stopped working.

North Coast Cayman Brac


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