Wind and swell spoil our peace

Monday 20 Apr, KY day 37: The wind has started, and with it the swell. It’s been blowing only from the east for weeks now, but this week it has shifted to SSE. This means we are soon going to get bombarded by swell, for certain.
After breakfast we remove the over boom cover before the wind damages it. And with it gone, we find out how the new side shades on the bimini really look and perform. The early morning sun would normally penetrate the cockpit under the bimini. But with these new shades the rays are greatly reduced. It would have been better sun protection from a solid canvas rather than a mesh, but we can sail with the mesh because we can see through it. So a good compromise really.

And with the over boom cover off the new solar panels also swing into action. At 9am charging at 10amps, up to 28amps in the midday sun. During the day they take the battery from 52% to 85%. Given we use only ~18% at night, this is a big result. Maybe we never have to use the generator again to charge batteries? That would be a good outcome for the solar project. Certainly much better than my expectation. And I wonder why it took 4 years of ownership for me to be convinced of this additional solar project?

Late morning I make some calls. First to the CBP (USA customs and border protection). It seems they are open for foreign yachts to arrive as per usual. I call 2 centers, one in Florida and one in Maryland and get the same answer. That’s positive. Then it’s calls to a yard in Panama (Shelter Bay) and the yard here in Cayman, to inquire on prices for summer haul out. Surprisingly, USA, Panama and Cayman prices are all within 5% of each other for a combined haulout, power-clean, 5 months stowage and relaunch. Lastly, an inquiry to our insurance to see if they will offer coverage for named storms should we decide on either Panama or here. Our current policy and premium will not cover us. This all changed after hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.

As the day progresses, so does the swell. We are bouncing quite consistently now and Oana has to take a sea sickness pill. We debate if we should go around and into the protection of Governors Harbour for the week, until this SSE blows itself out by the weekend. But decide to play it out here, at least for today. We are on the perfect mooring for shelter, WiFi, distance to the dinghy dock and proximity to the supermarket. So we are reluctant to lose this position (once we move, one of the further out yachts will likely come in and get our mooring ball). So instead we again rig up stern line bridle to the buoy and payout on the bowline to put our bow more into the swell. It works well in reducing the uncomfortable rolling movement. Clearly more strain on the mooring though, now that we are side-on to the wind. The mooring ball is pulled underwater most of the time! I take a snorkel to check it out. All looks good, it’s a very strong mooring.

And while in the water I note there seem to be more and more fish arriving each day on the coral below us. Is this nature reclaiming its territory now that 99% of marine activity has stopped? I can only imagine what it must have been like here when 10,000 people on the daily cruise liners all try to get a glimpse of this house reef in the harbour. I guess nature is taking a well earned break from homo-sapiens all over the globe right now. When we first moored there were virtually no fish below us. Now the area is swarming with individual and shoals of small colourful varieties. And today I saw the first baracuda, a big puffer fish and a large grouper as it lazily swam passed. I’d like to have a spear gun right now! On the other hand I’m happy to just see them also enjoying this special time of non-threatening peace.

In the afternoon and evening we continue with the aft cockpit sunshade. This one is trickier than the side shades. It has to perfectly match the shape of the bimini arch on the upper edge as well as the deck camber on the lower edge. The intention is to pin the lower edge to the cockpit coaming, using the same fittings to secure it as the cockpit tent.

On the news from ashore they announce another 6 positive Covid-19 tests out of 70 performed. Worryingly 5 of these are community spread and only 1 related to someone who was in contact with another positive case. There are also 6 now in hospital, though none on ventilators.
On the Commissioner of Police report there were interesting situations yesterday worth a mention. Firstly, police were tipped off about a cock-fight session with over 20 people attending. A chase ensued complete with police helicopter but it seems all but 6 participants managed to run and hide. And 17 badly injured cockerels (who couldn’t run) had to be put-down. And secondly, a group of elderly gents were caught in the open playing dominos. These curfew violations kind of define how some of the local population see this lock down.

And there is goes … another day in lock down paradise stuck on board again. Well, not paradise today. Very bouncy in the swell and without the full sunshade we’ve been uncomfortably hot 🥵 all day and it looks like we have more of the same for several days to come.