Movin' On with Marty

I have five brothers who are as different as the night and day. And I dearly LOVE each one for a different reason.  Of the five, only one is crazy enough to want to sail with us annually and his name is Marty.  Not only does he enjoy sailing, but this year Marty even wanted to experience passage making on board Exit Strategy! 

Hm, I thought, if he joins us on passage then he can take a turn on night watch and I can sleep more!  Yeah, and he likes to cook, so I’ll cook less.  FANTASTIC!  He’s an avid fisherman and we’ll be feasting on his catch of the day!!!

“Come on down!” Captain Dan and I quickly responded. And so, it happened that my brother and his friend Rick flew into Montego Bay, Jamaica last month to join us on a passage to Grand Cayman. (Although Rick likes to say that HE brought Marty to sail with us.)

Rick, deep in thought 

We spent a few days showing them around Montego Bay and urging them to try some local foods spiced with jerk, as well as some ackee and salt fish- Jamaica’s national dish.  On another day we hired a driver to take us up into the Blue Mountains where the rough road snaked through fields of coffee, bananas, pineapples, mangos, and citrus.  

Feeling the need to move on to Grand Cayman, we arranged for Customs and Immigration to meet us ashore in order to complete our clearance papers. That afternoon, we experienced the full meaning of "soon come" being as it took the officials about three hours to meet us at the designated place.  It was a true exercise in character building. The crew of Exit Strategy were rather patient; only our two guests escaped to the bar to refresh themselves after the first two hours. 

The wind was predicted to be astern and it was.  It just wasn't sailable. (Is that even a word???) However, we began motoring and stayed the course hoping that more favorable winds would materialize.  They did not.

Captain Dan took his usual first watch of the night and Marty volunteered to take the second. Then, sweetheart that he is, Marty let me sleep an extra hour before I reported to relieve him of watch duty. Rick groggily joined me in the cockpit just after sunrise.  He was most appreciative of the mug of coffee I gave him.  Everything was fine on deck, so I went below to brew a second pot.

I swear- I wasn't below for more than a minute when Rick sheepishly poked his head through the companionway and said, "I think the boat is going in circles." I hurried to secure things in the salon and rushed to the helm.  The vessel was indeed turning in circles and the centrifugal force had sprayed Rick's coffee about the cockpit.  A check of the instruments showed that the autopilot had let go, so it was easy to get us back on course. BUT not before the Captain gruffly entered the cockpit to see what had stirred him from his restful slumber. Fortunately, the rest of the motor-sail was fine and Marty caught a mahi mahi for our dinner.

CRUISERS: If you travel to Grand Cayman,
do not anchor off 7-Mile Beach by the Weston Resort

We cleared into Georgetown, Grand Cayman and spent a night in the bay.  It is called Hog Sty Bay for a very good reason-  it smells like a hog pen when the wind is slight.  The next day we moved to anchor about midway along Seven Mile Beach (Grand Cayman, not Jamaica).  This spot off the Weston Resort turned out to be one of the busiest places on the coast with parasailing or tubing runabouts, jet skiers, and wayward Hobie cats.  The next day we moved again to tuck into the far corner of West Bay.  Here we found some solace and exquisite snorkeling.  

Oh, and we also walked to HELL and back. (Hell, Grand Cayman was named by a Brit
eons ago when he discovered the rugged terrain and said, "This must be what hell looks like.")

From this location, we did a self-guided walking tour to the Turtle Conservation Center (AKA the Turtle Farm where most are raised for meat and about 20% released to the wild) and Hell (strictly a tourist trap, but we succumbed). Our favorite place on Grand Cayman during previous vacations was Rum Point. Therefore, another day was spent finding our way there via the local bus routes.  Marty and I wanted to stop at the QE II Botanical Gardens, so we took different buses and planned to meet Dan at Rum Point for lunch.

The gardens were quite impressive and artistically arranged with just enough splashes of rich colors for the dry and rainy season. But once Rick, Marty, and I got there, we couldn't leave...literally.  That stop is not on the bus route, so the woman at the gardens called to have a bus swing by.  She called several drivers and no one was available.  Finally, one man said he'd come by.  About two hours later he did and the woman was happy because she said there was only one other driver to call, but she was reluctant to because that driver was a "Crazy Lady."

Couldn't resist snapping a picture of this rooster.

Our bus swung out onto the main road and shortly was flagged down- lights flashing- by a bus heading in the opposite direction. The other bus driver was a large lady wearing huge floppy bunny ears and she was insisting that our driver let US get into her bus.  It was very confusing until I looked more closely at the person in window behind the bunny eared driver and realized it was DANNY!  He seemed to be trying to escape, but the door would not open.  I got out of our bus to talk to him through his small window.  He did not look pleased when I said we would meet him back in Georgetown AFTER we had lunch in Rum Point.

Rum Point was a big disappointment and in retrospect, Dan and I really should have known that it wouldn't remain the quaint, laid back beach that we knew and loved.  Throngs of tourists were on the beach or standing in cues at the multiple bar and grill stands.  It was sad.

To complete our adventure with Marty and Rick, we moved a bit along the north coast of the island for a few days to take refuge from an ocean swell that was coming into Seven Mile Beach area. It was a nice quiet end to their stay and they easily arranged a taxi to the airport from there.