On Monday, 14 March at sunrise we weighed anchor and set sail from West Holandes, San Blas Islands for Grand Cayman or Cuba (depending on the weather). On day one a pod of dolphins riding along the bow wished us "Bon Voyage". At first the west flowing current pushed us towards Nicaragua, but after Providencia and the Hobbies we could aim better for Grand Cayman. On day two with a pleasant breeze on the beam, all hell broke loose, the fishing reel screamed like a banshee! While reefing sails at record speed to slow the boat down and getting a koei-poepol (rod holder) onto Jaco, barking Canela kept eyes on the fish. (Nothing disturbs Coco's snooze!) We hooked and landed a good size delicious Mahi-Mahi... mmm sashimi!
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| Coco and Canela inspecting the catch of the day.. |
Day three with "Helmut", our hydrovane, steering in calm seas on a beam-reach tack, the reel screamed again. This time we hooked and landed a great size wahoo.
Squals and thunderstorms with a bumpy sail kept us both awake all night during the fourth night. To avoid another squally night, we opted to stop on day five after 600 NM at Grand Cayman to give the crew (Christelle and doggies) a break before we sail on to Cuba.
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| Docking at Grand Cayman for inspection and checking in at Immigration and Customs. |
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| Won't be dilly dallying to long here because the kids are not allowed on land due to regulations. |
After all the formalities were taken care of, we were glad to see a familiar boat in the harbour, our friends on-board S/V"Nomad". We grabbed a free mooring next to them. While waiting a few days for the cold front with strong north winds to pass and turn favourable again we stocked up with a few expensive, luxury groceries bought at Kirk.
Sundowners turned to sunrises while planning our Cuban cruise with buddy boat "Nomad".
A fun filled fishing day, 12 Nm west of Grand Cayman, was spend with Nate and Ana on-board his Catamaran.
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| Smiling Ana spend all day in the galley! |
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| Eyes on the rods |
Jaco and Canela kept all day watchfull eyes on the 5 rods and reels, while Nate steered up and down the bank and Ana serving delisious meals from the galley. At long last we caught a great Mahi-Mahi! Bit dissapointed with only one catch, but a memorable experience for Songerie crew!
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| Hee-Hahhh! |
