Hello Again
 |
| Alec bailing out tender after rain |
Well our last few days in Grand Cayman saw the start of the
rainy season. Oh help summer must be on
its way. We experienced an overcast day
followed by a day of constant heavy rain with thunderstorms. Yes that
lightening was flashing about everywhere.
Then it was back to overcast days again.
We did a big stock up of stores that will hopefully see us through our
time in Cuba, and beyond. There were those last Skype chats with the
kids as we will once again be out of contact with them for a while. We will keep in contact with our shore
manager – son Murray – with the “iridium go” satellite system, plus get our weather
through it. Actually my NZ Vodafone phone works in Cuba, so that will be my
back-up.
 |
| Refuelled and ready to leave |
 |
| Our three stowaways |
Friday 21st April and we ride our bikes down to
Customs in George Town from Mitchells Creek where we are anchored, and complete
the ‘clear our’ procedures. One is given 24 hours to leave. They have not returned our Hawaiian Sling to
us as one has to be seen sailing out when it is handed over. It is forbidden to use any form of spear gun
here hence we had to hand it over when we arrived. We then ride around to a café for
coffee. While there it starts to pour
with really heavy rain, and we are stuck there for about two and a half
hours. The following morning the sun is
out, and we motor down to the Barcadere Marina where we pick up our duty free
diesel and wait for the customs officer to arrive with our sling. He turns up right on the dot of 10.00 a.m.
just like he said he would. Then we are
on our way. It still takes us an hour to
motor out across North Sound and through the reef before we can set sails for
Cayo Largo. Then the wind dies – we have
no more than 5-7kts. Help this is going
to be a slow trip, and yes it is. We
motor sail nearly the whole way 140nm!!!!!
We have three swallows join us in the evening and they stay with us for
the rest of the trip.
