Posts in category: Friends

Thursday May 30, 2013

There was something very strange about being anchored in the North Sound last night.  It wasn’t that we had four people packed into a West Sail, getting tipsy on a game of Settlers of Catan, that’s actually quite normal, it’s that we were on a boat that was absolutely still.  It was so calming that I almost told Brian and Stephanie that this would be Rode Trip’s permanent location until Matt and I decided to make our next passage, and hey, by the way, we’ll be staying here every night until then.  Having enjoyed ourselves way too much at our little slumber party the night before, alarm clocks didn’t go off until after 8, and even then we were rubbing weary and bloodshot eyes.  Brain took the remaining leftovers from the previous night of chicken and potatoes, and tossed them around in a skillet with a few spices and an egg on top.  I really must try this thing that people call cooking.  Spirits were high as we had full stomachs and the sun was shinning.  I think the words ‘perfect day’ were uttered too soon though, and as soon as that phrase fell into the air, more dark storm clouds rolled in overhead.  We’ve noticed that when the rain actually does come, it passes by fairly quickly, so we’d just wait it out in the cabin before traveling the few miles across the sound to the shallow banks of Stingray City.  Settlers of Catan was broken out once more, without the distilled sugarcane and molasses this time, but Matt decided he wouldn’t get suckered into playing again.

Beautiful morning we’re having!

I think Settlers of Catan was too much for his brain to handle.

When the rain finally let up, even though the sun was never looking like it was going to make it’s way out, we upped the anchor and began making our way to Stingray City.  Visually we could see right where it was by the plethora of other boats packed into one tiny area, but we did still have to keep our eyes glued to the charts since the North sound is full of shallow areas only 5 to 6 feet deep (with the sandbars around the rays at only 3 feet).  Still keeping a safe distance, we dropped the hook in a patch of sand and lowered the dinghy in the water.  Maneuvering our way through jet skis, we dropped the much smaller hook on the dinghy and fell back into the water with our snorkel gear on.  For a few minutes we floated around only staring at sand and the occasional conch, until a few dark spots began drifting our way.

It’s a stingray floating by us!

As soon as one came by, the rest of them began to swarm over as well.  Since we weren’t part of a group and didn’t get the ‘swimming with stingrays’ lecture, I was still a little unsure of what I could or couldn’t do around them.  Both the guys told me to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground so I wouldn’t accidentally step on one, but with the waves that were just rolling in enough from outside the sound, keeping my feet flat on the sand was much harder than I thought.  So I instead floated at the surface, watching the stingrays swim by and weave in and out of people like they were cones for a drivers test.  It wasn’t long before Matt and Brian wanted to go a step further than having the stingrays just swim around at their feet.  They wanted to feed them.  So pulling out some squid that Brian had picked up at the marine chandler the previous day, they wiggled the tasty treat between their fingers….until the stingrays came to suck it out of their hands.

I tried to hover for a bit with the camera as swarms and swarms of them came by, the whole time worried that I was going to accidentally kick one and end up with a stinger through my food.  In the end though, it wasn’t me who got hurt.  Brian had a nice little chunk taken from his hand when he let the stingray suck on it for too long.  Maybe it was more of a bite than a chunk, but it still looked pretty nasty, and we’re pretty sure he’s going to mutate into some kind of sea creature.  It didn’t keep Matt and I from feeding and playing though, and even I had my turn with a feeding, trying to hold my ground as the ray literally kept pushing me back with it’s force.  I decided I was better off with the camera than feeding them, and went back to taking pictures of the guys until one came up to me and basically suctioned itself to my back as I floated there.  Sneaky little bastards…

I’m sure I would have been stabbed by this point.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy…

Like sharks being drawn to blood.

There goes Brian, getting his hand eaten off.

But they still ended on good terms.

Mmmm, finger licking good.

 ‘I swear, if I feel one tooth on my finger, I will eat you for dinner!’

Before long, another storm started making it’s way in and we made our way back to the dinghy so we could get to Rode Trip before a downpour let out.  It seemed like once more for our trip, we had to hide out for bad weather.  I thought this was supposed to be paradise?  I guess that’s what we get for staying in the tropics at the beginning of hurricane season.  When it finally let up we started the long trek back home, making a few light bumps on the sandy bottom while trying to get to the deeper waters of the sound, but clearing any coral through the channel this time.  Once all eyes were not needed on deck anymore, I was put below with a cup of tea, soon zonked out with the wonderful memories of our trip to see the stingrays swimming in my head.

Wednesday May 29, 2013

 

Can you believe that in all the time Serendipity and Rode Trip have been together, we’ve never sailed on the others boats?  Sure, there have been plenty times spent hanging out on one or the others, making dinners, playing games like 벳무브, or just enjoying a bottle (or two) of wine, but never had we all been together on one boat while it was in motion.  And probably for good reason too, if you’re traveling together you can’t very well leave one boat behind.  But it also means that we’ve forgotten the meaning of a ‘pleasure cruise’.  Any bit of traveling we did on our boats was because it had to be done, not just because we felt like going out for day to enjoy the water.  So today, we decided to change that.  With Brian and Stephanie ready to leave Cayman as soon as the next weather window pops up that will carry them North and then East around Cuba, they needed to top off Rode Trip’s fuel and water tanks.  There don’t seem to be any marinas in the West Bay where we’re anchored, only in the North Sound, about 12 miles away.  Another thing that happens to be in the North Sound is Stingray City.  It’s a series of shallow sandbars just inside a reef where fisherman used to clean their catches and throw their scraps in the water, causing the stingrays to come feed on them, according to an article on D2items.  Soon it became a tourist attraction, and now plenty of charter boats visit there every day, bringing herds of cruise line passengers to watch, feed, and play with the stingrays.

Getting to Rode Trip bright and early in the morning at 7:30 am, we figured the trip up would take 3 hours, we’d play with the stingrays, fuel up the boat, have a little lunch, and be back to our mooring before dinner.  Matt and I tied our dinghy to the mooring ball so the spot would be saved for when we got back, and we were off.  Matt worked with Brian to raise the main sail, and then with Stephanie to raise the headsail.  I took it as a vacation and sat on the coachroof, watching us now ‘racing’ the pirate ship that’s moored by us and also decided to head in our general direction at the same time.  Brian made some coffee to perk us up and help us get over the dreary, overcast morning that was on top of us.  Tropical storm Andrea, what we had been keeping our eyes on a few days earlier, wasn’t coming close enough to us anymore for us to be worried, but she was forecast to bring lots of rain our way.  While we were sipping on coffee, Stephanie showed me these baby crabs she said they’d been finding all over their boat, mostly likely climbing up from the mooring lines.  At first I expected hard shelled crabs in miniature form, but these looked like they had just hatched that morning, big buggy eyes, but still cute nonetheless.  I tried to keep one as my pet until he started to run away and I accidentally squished him while trying to get him back.  No one ever give me kids.

Come on Matt, you have to earn your position on this boat.

It’s 8:00 in the morning and we’re out of bed.  Cheers!

RIP Herman.  5/28/13-5/29/13

(Above two photos courtesy of Rode Trip)

The remainder of the morning was calm and uneventful.  We kept a close eye on speed, and even though we were hoping to keep an average of 4 knots .  We were doing ok for the most part, but once we passed all the fancy hotels on 7 Mile Beach and were ready to start heading around the corner to the North Sound, the wind was coming closer and closer to being on our nose, which was really slowing down speed.  In the end we decided that the only way around it was to fall off the wind, meaning we’ll have to eventually tack back in, and add a few miles to our journey.  That’s ok though.  It was still early, the sun was not quite shining, but we had coffee and music and good friends.  Another hour or so on the water wasn’t going to hurt us at all.

Ok, so we’ve managed to commandeer Rode Trip……..now what?

All was looking ok for us to start making our way into the North Sound.  We were running parallel to it and just when we’d start navigating through the narrow channel, the engine would be turned on and we’d motor in the rest of the way.  The channel isn’t supposed to be very wide, or even very deep at 8 ft, but with coral reefs on each side we wanted to make sure conditions were perfect before making our way in.  So when we spotted some very dark storm clouds off in the distance, threatening us with not only some nasty winds and showers, but waves that would probably do everything in their power to keep Road Trip on her straight and narrow course.  And since we don’t want Rode Trip to suffer a fate like Serendipity, and I didn’t want to ruin my afternoon by abandoning ship due to a coral wreck, we changed course to head out into open water instead while the storm blew by.

As the sky grew darker, the winds picked up as well.  Matt and Stephanie quickly doused the headsail while Brian put a reef in the main.  The haze of rain on the water advanced closer to us, I didn’t even wait for it to hit before scrambling below.  The boat was already leaning at a pretty good heel, and with much more cockpit space than I’m used to, I couldn’t find my normal footholds to brace against, and I figured a storm and a man overboard drill at the same time was probably more than Brian wanted to deal with at the helm.  Once the rain did come though, everyone else was quick to join me, and we let the windvane do it’s job as we tried to stay dry and warm.  The storm was fairly quick and as soon as it passed, it was all hands on deck again.  Except my hands.  They stayed nice and warm as I napped on the settee.  Where I was told to stay by Matt so I wouldn’t get in the way.  “There’s no reason for you to be up here right now.”  That’s fine.  You won’t hear any complaints from me about not being able to sit in the remnants of the chilly rain.

 I think….yeah….I’m pretty sure it’s gonna rain.

Captain Brian, keeping us on a safe and steady course.

It’s hard being me.

I let everyone do their job for the next hour or two while I caught a few winks of sleep.  I did want to see what going through this dangerous channel was like though, and I was hoping someone would come wake me for that part.  And I was in fact woken up while passing through the channel.  By Rode Trip.  As she hit some of the coral and stopped moving.  I didn’t want to make a bad situation worse by running up on deck yelling, “Oh my god, what happened?!  What did you do?!”.  So instead I peeked through the portholes below and kept my mouth shut until we were moving again.  Which was pretty soon, and no one seemed worried about any damage since it was a relatively minor bump, and Rode Trip has a big ‘ol honkin keel.  I slowly made my way up anyway, where all of us had the discussion that we knew was coming by now anyway after our now extended trip up to the sound. There was no way we were going to make it back to our mooring that night.  It was already after two, we hadn’t done anything we’d started out to do, and even if we turned around that moment, we may not even make it back by sunset.  What we could do, was make it into the marina to make sure Rode Trip was topped off for her Atlantic Crossing, see the stingrays if there was still time, and then tuck into a cove for the night where we’d have a crazy slumber party.  Cause even 30 year olds like to dress up in jammies and have pillow fights sometimes.  With the decision made, we hurried into the marina so we could get at least one thing checked off our list that day.

This marina had the coolest little island vibe to it.

And at only $0.90/ft, we should have stayed for the night!

After all the tanks were full we made our way back into the sound to find a good anchoring spot to make it into town.  There was a ship chandler where we needed to buy things for both boats (a $250 bill for epoxy and resin plus a few other minimal things, ouch!), and then a run to the grocery store so we could get something for dinner.  Along the way we followed a channel in the dinghy that led by plenty of nice homes, many with sail boats and motor boats docked out front.  And strewn along every lawn and boat was a blue iguana, supposedly one of the most endangered animals on earth.  To us though, it looked like we were in a scene from Jurassic Park, with a million reptiles leering at us, ready to pounce any moment.  We even had one swimming toward us in the channel, although he ducked below the water as soon as the camera phone was pulled out.  Seeing that dark clouds were also on their way, it was a mad dash through the store as we acted like contestants on Supermarket Sweep, throwing various items into our cart and trying to make it to the check out as quick as possible.  Back into the dinghy, we zoomed back through the channel as fast as we could.  Getting to the open bay, the somewhat building waves of another storm on it’s way would crash over the bow, drenching everyone inside.  The cold air would send a chill down your spine, until the next wave of warm water would come crashing over.  Looking over at Stephanie who was up front next to me, I smiled and yelled, “This is our life!”.  Somehow it had much less enthusiasm than it did back in the Bahamas.  The rain never did come, but all the clouds that piled in made for one of the most amazing sunset’s we’d ever seen, the sky illuminated into bright pink and blue colors.  It almost didn’t look real, and as we motored the big boat over to our anchorage for the night, no one could keep their eyes unglued from the horizon until every bit of color faded.

Dinner was very enjoyable since we had someone who actually knew how to cook preparing it.  When we were finished. we cracked open one of the extra coconuts from our day snorkeling, and added the sweet water to some pineapple juice and rum.  Then it was on to one of the favorite things for three of us on the boat to do, and one of Matt’s least favorite.  Playing Settlers of Catan.  It’s not that he necessarily hates that game, he just hates playing any kind of game.  So after the first round when most of us were ready to go for another one, but we were quickly losing Matt’s interest, we found a way to make it more interesting.  Since the game is focused on building a settlement, we thought we could spice it up by making a person take a shot of rum each time they wanted to build something.  Which you hope to do on every turn.  And since that would put me out of the game and passed out drooling on the floor after about two roads and one settlement, we brought down the ante to only a 1/4 shot for each item built.  We had much more fun the second time around, although probably drew out the game even further initially, each person collecting cards and not wanting to build anything.  But since this might be the last time we play Settlers of Catan with Brian and Stephanie, we all soon decided to go three sheets to the wind.  Game on!

 Brian knows he has it in the bag before he even begins.

Sunday May 26, 2013

 

One thing I have to say about Grand Cayman, is they have some world class snorkeling and diving areas.  Seeing all the coral heads under us as we brought Serendipity to her mooring ball last week, we took a little little snorkel our second morning here just to see what we could find.  And lo and behold, there was a whole amazing underwater world right off of our back porch.  All of it is a protected area with no fishing allowed in depth under 80 feet, so there was a plethora of every kind of imaginable fish swimming under our feet, unaware and non frightened of any humans bobbing around a few feet away from them.  Unlike the Bahamas, where not only did they fish know they were your dinner and made a mad dash in the opposite direction any time you started to move near, there also wasn’t the wide expanse of sandy patches between coral heads.  This area was all coral, no sand.  Swimming further and further, we came to a ledge where we looked down to find a spotted eagle sting ray below us, and schools of large jacks darting in and out of caves.  It was easy to become lost in this underwater world, and we even got a nice scolding from a dive boat that passed by since we had now swam a few hundred feet away from the boat with no dive flag up.  A few days ago I collected Matt and Brian in the dinghy so they could explore a shipwreck just off the shore, and keep an eye on them and other boats while they swam.

(Above photos courtesy of Rode Trip)

Today the four of us planned on another snorkeling trip together, and when Brian and Stephanie came to pick us up in their dingy, we had some important information from them.  Ren, from s/v Nila Girl, had just sent me a few links to weather sites showing there might be a tropical storm headed in our direction.  Brian and Stephanie are getting a new stay made for their boat, but were planning on leaving as soon as it was ready, in the next few days.  But from this forecast, we’re looking at some pretty nasty weather from the 28th to the 6th.  Which means none of us have time to get anywhere else without the chance of being caught in this storm.  Ren also sent us a map to a creek in the North Bay that we should be able to tuck ourselves into if things get bad, so we’ll really be keeping an eye on the weather for the next few days and moving our boats if necessary.  I let Brian take over my computer for a bit, since we were now able to use our long range wifi to pick up Burger King’s signal, and let him spend a little time researching site after site to see what might be coming our way.  While this was going on, Stephanie and I amused ourselves by finally getting an American radio station in again and jamming to the tunes.  When one song came on I could see her cock her head to the side, and as she looked at me, I blurted out before she could ask, “This is Fun”.  She just looked at me, “Yeah, we’re going to have a lot of fun today, but I just wanted to know..”.  “It’s Fun”, I broke in again.  “Jessica”, She sighed, “I love spending time with you guys, but sitting on your boat, checking the weather, isn’t that fun.  I just want to know who sings this song”.  By this time, Matt and Brian were cracking up with me.  “Stephanie”, I slyly smiled, “The group…is called Fun”.

I keep trying to tell you woman…this is Fun!!

Our weather guru, making sure we’re safe in Grand Cayman.

Fifteen minutes later we were satisfied that we couldn’t do anything about the weather except keep checking it for the next few days.  Piling the four of us into Rode Trip’s dinghy, we thought we’d go up towards 7 Mile Beach (which is actually only 4 miles long), to see if we could find any good dive sites there.  The boys also really wanted to check out ‘The Wall’, an area that drops off from 30-40  feet to hundreds of feet deep in just the span of a few meters.  Getting a very wet ride in their low sitting dinghy, we roared on near 7 Mile Beach and all the fancy hotels with their high class customers sipping on fancy drinks while sitting in shade covered lounge chairs (Ahem, J & N! (don’t worry, they come in later)).  Tying off to one of the dive balls in front of The Ritz and watching wave runners and hobie cats race by us, we put on our gear and flipped into the water, gearing up for some great coral and fish sightings that day.  While we did have a fun time (See Steph, you were right!), this area didn’t seem to offer as much as where we were anchored and all the dive shops are located.  I’m starting to think that they know something…

I swear, I’m not a Trekkie.  I have no idea what’s going on with my hand.

After spending a little time in the extremely warm water and catching glimpses of what fish we could, it was back in the dinghy to take the guys to The Wall.  We really had no idea where it was, it was not an ‘official’ sight, we just needed to look for a dive ball where the water turned from aqua to a deep emerald blue, and hope we found something there.  The wind was beginning to pick up, and now that we weren’t extremely close to shore, the waves a current were getting a little nastier where we sat tied to the dive buoy we found.  While the guys jumped out to see what they could find, Stephanie opted to stay in the dinghy the whole time, and I did get in the water, but wouldn’t let go of the dinghy.  There wasn’t much to see anyway, at least from my vantage point.  Just a whole lot of blue, and then a whole lot more.  We were already parked in close to 50 feet of water which makes it hard to see the bottom anyway, but since we did happen to be right at the drop off, it was impossible to see anything after that.  It looked like an area that you did have to be in dive gear for, or at least like our friend Ashley, where you can hold your breath for six minutes.  Brian did take a few dives down, getting to about sixty feet, while Matt was just a little shy of him at 40.  They played around for a few minutes, but even with their diving skills there was nothing for them to see either, and we turned around for beaches and beers.

The dinghy ride was so wet, Stephanie had to wear goggles just to see.

Brian: ‘There’s a whole lotta nothing out here!’

There isn’t much public beach space on West Bay, but we managed to find a little spot of sand to beach the dinghy on where we could relax and enjoy the Red Stripes I packed for us.  I don’t always plan ahead, but when I do, it usually involves drinks.  We found a little wooden platform to park our butts on as we popped the tops on our beers and watched storms come in from the distance.  It took all of five minutes for Matt and Brian to get restless, and they began chasing iguanas up trees and hunting for coconuts.  Trying, and failing, to climb the trees themselves, they instead found old coconuts on the ground and used those to knock fresh ones from the trees.  When a pile of six or seven had fallen to the ground, they brought them back over to us to try and open…without any kind of knife or machete or sharp objects.  With caveman ingenuity, they took to smashing them on sharp rocks over and over again to split the husk, and then ripping it apart as best they could.  It took a lot of huffing and puffing and grunting, but each guy was able to open their coconut, passing it around to drink the water inside (don’t hate me, but I can’t stand coconut water) and then breaking the rest into smaller pieces for us to dig into the meat.  After multiple days of projects, and running around, and other ‘have to do’ things, I think a day like this is exactly what all of us needed.

Thursday May 23, 2013

 

A couple days into Grand Cayman, and I think we’ve seen almost every supermarket or bulk food store they have.  This may have consisted of wandering around in 92 degree temperatures for hours, walking out as far as the airport and loading our backpacks full of Oreos and Mac & Cheese, but we made sure to spend some time out of the heat as well in such fine establishments as Burger King and Popeyes Chicken.  Don’t judge.  We know we have a problem.  And the first step is admitting it.

Having split up from Brian and Stephanie for a few days so we could each get our own work done, we met up for drinks tonight at Da Fish Shack.  It is among one of the many restaurants and bars along the waterfront on the West Bay, and Brian and Stephanie had gone in earlier that day for a drink after a sign outside caught their eye, ‘$10 pitcher of beer’.  Since the six pack of beer that had been the equivalent of Natural Reserve they had purchased the other night just about ran them $10 anyway, they popped in to enjoy a tall frosty glass along with the free wifi.  Coming by in their dinghy, Stephanie, on a very empty stomach but in a very happy mood, wanted to inform us of the special and ask if we’d like to join them that evening for another pitcher and dinner.  We skipped out on dinner, eating more of our Cuban meat and potatoes back at the boat, but we did join them later for our own pitcher of Caybrew.  They discussed their upcoming passage to the Azores while we went over the information of a marina we just made a reservation at in Guatemala.  Pretty soon will come the day where we’re not buddy boats anymore, so these last few nights of the four of us together need to be savored before they disappear.

A front row seat to Serendipity.