The US Coast Guard arrived in all its glory... and nothing broke on the boat.
We don’t think the arrival of the refugee boat and a day or 2 later the Coast Guard is a coincidence. Sure, the Cayman Islands are British, but the US Coast Guard has a real presence in the Caribbean. So far we’ve seen a number of small boats come out to the boat people, but obviously just keeping them in food and water while decisions are being made behind the scenes. I also think I underestimated the number of people on board as only 20.
But we too have had a lot going on behind the scenes.
Knowing we have to get out of the hurricane belt has had us focused on heading east from here to Jamaica, and then getting a better run to the San Blas Islands, Panama, below the hurricane belt.
With that plan in mind, Daryl, one of the Cruisers Forum members, offered to join us and spend a couple of weeks showing us the Jamaica the tourists don’t usually get to see. He loves the place and has been there 22 times. He has a lot of friends there and just like South Africa, it’s not too dangerous if you know what you’re doing.
It sounded like a wonderful opportunity.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, a variety of obstacles delayed his joining us, and in the mean time we’ve been discovering more and more things that need doing on the boat. Some of it vital for a couple to be able to sail this behemoth.
My old sailing buddy, Tom (tribute in Vic’s Space) is due to join us on July 19 for the 5 day sail from Jamaica to San Blas.
That was a great plan when our expectation was that we’d bob around exotic, remote islands doing a bit of varnishing and waiting for the hurricane season to blow itself out. But San Blas is no place to get any of the kind of the work we need to do, done.
So, we have 2 important issues.
Firstly, we have to get out of the hurricane belt. We’re already into the season and pushing our luck a little, although statistically the worst happens from mid August to November. Ever tried predicting weather?
Secondly, we HAVE to get this ridiculous ground tackle situation fixed, along with proper fuel management systems etc etc..
Tom has a dock and extensive workshop, to say nothing of a ton of experience. He has offered me the use of his place on a number of occasions before. I guess that was always assuming we were in the area.
A new plan is born.
Tom still joins us on the 19th but instead of heading SW for an easy, with the wind sail to San Blas, we’ll tank up and punch east into the wind until we can head north, up the Florida east coast and make our way up to Tom’s place on the Sassafrass River at the top of Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. It’s a 2000 mile trip and not a fun one. We will be keeping a very wary eye open for tropical storms and hurricane development and expect to be motoring and motor sailing a good part of the way. We’re expecting a 4-5 week slog. The big initial decision is, to get around Cuba do we head east from here and go to Jamaica, bottom edge of Cuba, through the Windward Passage north of Haiti, all into the wind? Or do we head NW from here and go around the west tip of Cuba, catch the Gulf Stream and head for Florida? It looks to be quicker, but once we get around Cuba we will have strong easterly wind meeting strong westerly current. That makes for a washing machine of short steep swells where you lose everything that's not tied down, including your meals, eaten or not! This is one we will be considering very carefully.
The upside is that we will have at least 2 months to solve some of the serious issues on this boat. This really wasn’t how we saw our sailing life starting, but come November we will head south again with a better boat, just as it starts getting seriously cold up there.
We’ll still be heading for the Panama Canal in February, but we’ll have a chance to see more of the Caribbean on the way.
We’re learning early that the sailing life is all about finding the best way to deal with the unexpected.
So, that’s the plan, unless a hurricane blows it out of the water.
Now I’m off to take a shower. Sheldon, our harbour master buddy is picking us up at 12 and we’re going to some place for lunch. We’ll get to meet his wife and kids. Looking forward to it immensely.
Until next time...