BACK TO FULL-ON SQUALLS

It is better to start off with this windswept picture of the 'Poinciana' in the rain than to tell you about the windswept 'everythingelse' and the rain. But windswept it has been, and rain like it isn't going to end. The good goes hand in hand with the bad and when a squall is on approach with the higher gusts, the lightning and "white-out", you do some serious questioning.......... and then the first huge rain drops hit and the downpour begins and you know that the worst is over and the windspeed begins to drop to under 20 knots and your heart rate starts to slow with the eminent deluge. Despite the wind and rain, after two solid days on board, we venture forth to an island, just to get to 'somewhere else'. Not all days are brilliant, though the trees and flowers everywhere dispute that fact. Double click on the photos and you will see.
Below is "SVEA" at anchor in Baker's Bay near Guana Cay with an approaching squall. Ten minutes later,(picture on the right), the same view out of ARITA's window. Kind of speaks for itself without the 'Rock & Roll' being visible.............. Still, tomorrow or some day real soon the sun will come out again.............. Nothing ever stays the same for very long and being at anchor is the safest of all options. We have been watching yachts departing for the US East Coast, who by now, are in the thick of the same mess with nowhere to go except to keep going. ANCHORING is the lowest common denominator. It is the mother of the "de-powering equation". The lowest number in the opposing forces. Good ground tackle beats insurance and a sorry story. Good anchors, good chain, good holding, means the weather passes you by, instead of taking you with it.



Even in the rain, and in between squalls, we have seen some remarkable things. Take this marina in Black Sound, GREEN TURTLE CAY in the photo above, as an example. Great looking yachts, heaps of money, beautifully spaced on the hard-top, all out of the water, all standing on a hard surface with supports beneath them, and all with high centre of gravities, almost ready to topple in a really strong wind. A near perfect set of DOMINOES................Even the three muskateers would agree..... "ALL FALL ONE AND ONE FALL ALL".

On the right and below is the "before, during and after" photos of the passing of the super-yacht "P2". State-of-the-art technology, in yacht design, materials, elctronics and communications. You have to double click on these pics to see how much money has been spent. Look at the cabin windows in the side of the hull almost at water level. This yacht has a draft of 12 feet deep and the top of the mast is so high, it probably has a different weather system up there. It was on its way back from Antigua in the Caribbean. The crew on this mega-yacht, as shown by the nationality flags on the port halyard, are Australian and South African, even though the vessel is Cayman Islands registered and American owned. They must be good sailors, for it can't be that the Corporation was trying to save money on the hired help.



Here's another Aussie sailor sneaking a sip of a Baker's Bay rum punch during our trip to the development project on Guana Cay. The channels for the deep-keeled yachts, require the use of excavators to scour the hard calcified bottoms. The material is loaded on to flat-bottomed barges and taken out to sea for dumping. The same excavator stays on the barge to do this and does it all backwards.



The Queen meantime, has done some excavation of her own on the sea-bed, including this starfish. A star quality starfish.................and then there is tonight's sunset, caught by our 'star' photographer ( hot out of the camera and worthy of a double-click). You know what they say about "Red sky at night....... sailor's delight"... Let's see if it's true. and then the very last photo is included only because we are sick of squalls, gusting winds and rain and for no other reason.................................. whatsoever.