Cold front comes through

GYesterday, Wednesday, it was the start of our second full day of south winds and good sized breakers on the reef.  Before my trip to shore on Tuesday I watched all morning to see how they were breaking and where I'd want to approach the gap in the reef.  It's right where the cruise ship passenger shuttle boats dock on a single concrete pier.  A red buoy marks the right side but it's well inside the reef so it doesn't really mark the gap on the outside.  The waves were intimidating on my approach so I used caution and stayed well out until I saw the gap straight in line with the pier and went in successfully with waves on either side breaking on the reef as I rode in on a wave that didn't break due to the deeper water.  The waves yesterday when Walter went ashore might have been even bigger than Tuesday but mostly it was that they came even more from the south not SSE like Tuesday.  He set out and I was surprised he was on a direct line toward the gap rather than staying well off the reef until in line with the gap, then heading straight in.. I watched with concern hoping no big sets would roll through.  Then I saw that he was not going to be so lucky and he was hit by a big breaker I suppose 50 to 100 feet before reaching the gap. I thought for sure he had been flipped as he disappeared behind the breaker and was quite relieved when I saw the dinghy finally reappear right side up with him still in it once past the reef on the calmer water inside.  He had been hit and tossed to the floor and surfed right over the reef all without hitting any coral with the outboard..  He was of course soaked but his tablet was ok being in both a semi water resistant case and his daypack.  I was glad when I saw him get back up on the side tube and continue motoring toward the dock at the public beach.  He was greeted by folks at the beach saying awesome surf dude or something along those lines.  

I credit my years of whitewater kayaking and sea kayaking and facing similar paddling through gaps in reef or avoiding breakers in general gave me a better appreciation of why you do not want to take short cuts to a gap in the reef?  Anyway it was a relief that the dinghy was not flipped!

As Walter was on shore I did laundry in the sink in a bucket.. I washed in seawater then rinsed in sea water than rinsed a couple more times in fresh water.  During this process I'd noticed 3 sailboats heading this way from the George Town direction.  As I went out to hang my laundry I noticed the wind had picked up to 12 knots from the west so Asperida was now beam to the waves of the 2 days of south winds and was rocking and rolling.  The 3 sailboats were hoping for the 3 port authority moorings here at Spotts Bay but were out of luck and one had to anchor.  Then later the small 'Pirate' tall ship circled around the already moored sailboats.  It's a boat that is listed in tourist brochures doing group and family tours with the crew dressed as pirates.. sword fighting on deck, shooting off the cannon, snorkel stop etc.  It was called 'Pirates of the Cayman Islands'.  I'm not sure of the boats name but it too was out of luck and continued east around the point where it likely knows of other moorings or good anchoring.  Then a while after it got dark a sailing trimaran came right toward us as if they could not see our anchor light?  Walter turned on our bright spot light and they altered course and tied to a makeshift private mooring right next to us.  The wind had done just as the grib files predicted.  During the night the light south wind clocked west then north and about 4 am was howling in the rigging at 20 to 25 knots and the southerly seas were somewhat flattened.  It was the most restful few hours toward morning compared to the last 2 nights of noise and rocking and rolling all the while just 150' upwind of a coral reef.  Going up on deck in the morning, we also have 2 tugs towing barges out aways just heading back and forth avoiding the unprotected George Town area until the wind slacks off.  Also a huge private mega Yacht anchored just beyond the 3 sailboats, 4 counting the catamaran on the private mooring right next to us.  Another small cruising sailboat is anchored or moored far to the west of us and out from it quite a ways was a huge, huge, huge tall ship.  It later came by fairly close to us perhaps looking for a better place to anchor or perhaps they have what the cruise ships have.. Where the boat stays as if docked using thrusters and GPS?  It was that big.. 

The 3 sailboats.  The closest one at anchor plus the Pirate Ship circling around before continuing east.

In this morning photo you can see the 3 sailboats who arrived together and the Red Sail Sports catamaran plus not so easy to see the huge tall ship in the distance...furthest to the left.  You can also see the mega power yacht and theres a 6th sailboat you can't really see in the photo.  

Even with 20 to 25 knots it's pretty flat and much more relaxing though so far quite cold out on deck.. At least in shorts and a T-shirt.  We've just been reading and listening to Cayman Islands radio station.

The big tall ship I mentioned even unloaded a few tenders and shuttled passengers to shore.  It's now left the area but I'm sure remains on the south side of the island.... Or not as the wind has dropped?

Ok the grib files have proven inaccurate for today Friday the wind is around 15 knots and a lot more from the east like ENE?  The grib files had the wind still 20 to 25 knots eventually from the NE by Saturday.  Anyway Walter decided to go ashore for email and hopefully also a grib file update.. Plus dinner for tonight.  

We plan to both go to George Town tomorrow, Saturday morning to clear out of the Caymans.  I guess if you do it before noon on Saturday there is no overtime fee.  Then we will set out but we might wait until morning.. Sunday the 22nd which is also my 61st birthday.  I really had assumed and hoped we'd be in Rio Dulce by now for my birthday.  Now I'm hoping we can at least do the passage in 7 days at most! It's about 497 NM all the way into the Marina area from the Cayman Islands.  That's about 570 statute miles!! 

A cruise ship came here this morning and has been shuttling passengers back and forth.  It's quite cold out and time in the cockpit is brief.  The sun has tried to break through the clouds so an improvement over yesterday which was completely overcast.  I have a feeling we might start to see some sun tomorrow and hopefully it will not be a cold start to our passage to Guatemala.

Walter returned and I guess it was 40 degrees in Miami?  the low I'm assuming.  Cold all up the east coast.  Often that can mean warmer than usual back in Minnesota?