Little Cayman is a tiny island of around 150 people. About ten miles long and one mile wide. When the weather is no good for being in the water you have to go looking to the land for excursions. Fortunately we met Johnny, who gave us a car, and we had the run of the island.
West end lighthouse. Okay, light, not lighthouse, but whatever.
Combing the beaches for treasures. Lots of goodies washing up in the fresh winds.
The locals blame Haiti for their plastic waste, and I’m sure that’s true to some degree, but at the same time they have no recycling program of their own.
This is what it was like on Bumfuzzle for two weeks. Not horrendous, but not very comfortable. Just getting on and off the dinghy was a test, and the ride in and back was always a wet one. Swimming was out of the question. I could barely make it to the front of the boat and the water was too silty to see anything anyway.
There is one other sailboat in the bay with us. He’s anchored just inside the reef pass about 100 yards behind us. Here’s a picture he took the other day that the whole island is passing around on Facebook. Sorry I don’t have a name to credit, if anyone else does let me know. The dive boat was making a test run to see if they could bring paying passengers out. They blew out the windshield instead. Needless to say, Bumfuzzle will be staying put until that swell lays down.
The wind did die down to about ten knots one afternoon, and for a little while the water calmed and cleared a bit. The kids and I jumped in to go hunt for our lost back anchor. I held out about 1% hope that we’d find it. Then, somehow, we swam in a straight line to where we spotted about a three inch piece of rope sticking out of the sand with some red tape wrapped around it. I dove down and grabbed it, but it immediately floated free of the sand.
Underwater I scrambled, reaching down into the sand where I felt metal about four inches down. As I was running out of breath, and sure I’d lose the anchor if I surfaced since the entire bottom was just scoured flat sand with no defining features, a piece of coral fan floated past in the still strong current. I grabbed it, shoved it in the sand and popped back up for a breath. It took some digging, but I got the anchor up, and then the kids and I all took turns carrying it back, underwater, a couple steps at a time. I could have done it in two breaths, but it was way more fun with the kids helping. Watching them dive down, grab the anchor, and shuffle along the bottom of the ocean with it. We were all quite proud of ourselves when we got back onboard.
We’d spend mornings on the boat and afternoons at our friend’s empty bungalow doing laundry, making pizza, and walking the rocky beach.
I feel like these last few postings I’ve become a plastic pollution crusader. I’m really not that hardcore at all. I should be, probably, but I’m not. But when good chunks of your days are spent on beaches it’s hard for plastic not to become a central issue.
From the bungalow the basic routine for us was to drive around the east end to visit Fluff and stare out at Cayman Brac, just four miles away across the wind whipped waves. Fluff would hear us coming and come trotting right over.
A bunch of midwesterners who somehow managed to travel the world and stumble across some of the same far flung places. Johnny had us over to his place one night to meet a friend of his, Barefoot. Barefoot had also been to Palmerston a few years before Johnny, maybe in the late 70s. He is a singer/songwriter, a true island character, and was a ton of fun to hang out with.
Turns out that when Johnny visited Palmerston Atoll in the 80s he brought along a video camera. Back in the day when that basically required carrying two large suitcases worth of equipment. He shot a bunch of video of the islanders while he fished and lived there with them.
Anyway, one day, years and years later he was showing the video to another Little Cayman friend when they heard music playing in the background while everyone was fileting fish together. Johnny’s friend who was watching said, “Hey, that’s Barefoot singing.” Turns out Barefoot had left a stack of tapes with them when he visited, and all those years later they were still jamming to his music.
We spilled a little rum that evening with our Palmerston Atoll friends.
Still blowing.
It wasn’t easy to avoid kidnapping Fluff to live on Bumfuzzle with us.
17 Comments on “A Chicken’s Pace”
Family reminded me of the man who was married to my mother’s best friend. He was born on Brac and his parents both died when he was about 5. His older brother, 8 at the time, raised him. He told us about the times he and his brother would sail their 14′ open sailboat over to Cuba to steal chickens and goats. He was 6 when that started. They did it for years until the boat sank at their mooring. They fished that same area you are anchored in. During WWII both joined the British Merchant Marine. His brother died but Mac was in Port Arthur Texas when the war ended. He stayed there the rest of his life, working as a electrician at a oil refinery. He taught me how to shrimp the bay and fish. He was rather….. a crusty old goat and drank rum like a fish. He built all of his fishing boats. He saw no other reason to boat except to fish for food. He saw no problem rebuilding a old pirogue boat and turning us (his son Mike and I both age 10) loose in the swamps around Port A. They were full of gators and snakes. We had a blast (including climbing on old ships in storage there). Now days he and we would be in a jail somewhere to “protect us”.
What a great memory and time! These connections we all have. Love.
Sweet ♥️
Great that the kids are so tuned in to picking up plastic/trash, I wish more people everywhere in the world was. Curious to where you guys are taking the bags of plastic? Its quite the conundrum if the island doesn’t recycle.
Sad to say but recycling anywhere seems a myth, according to this article:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/21/us-plastic-recycling-landfills
We need to make manufacturers responsible! Loved this post-cluck! cluck! Fluff is so adorable! Thanks again for the windy reminder of why we’re now land nomads-LOL!
Yes, there isn’t much hope as we put it in the trash cans around the island. Maybe the trash is floating in from offshore and not the island’s garbage. We hope.
Just heard about an earthquake in the area. Hope you all are safe.
Hi
Just read about the earthquake of Jamaica.
have you had any effects of a tsunami or is this just media hype.
cheers
We’re in Montego Bay, Jamaica. We were at lunch at a restaurant on the water when it hit. Gave us a good shake and sent the bartenders and waitresses running out of the building. 🙂 No tsunami here, fortunately, and no real damage. Reports were the “tsunami” wave in the Caymans was 6 inches high. So, all good.
Thank you for giving us an update. I know you’re posts are not current time, but still when I heard about the earthquake’s location, I first thought of your family. I said a little prayer and am relieved all is well!
Aww thanks, Valerie. It is appreciated.
Hey Pat and Ali,
Been following you guys for years. Looking to head to Puerto Vallarta for the month of June with my 4 kids. Where do you guys stay when you are there? Looking for a safe place with pool.
Hey Blair, you are going to love PV in June – the tourists will thin out and you will get it to know the real city. We stayed in Old Town, right up the street from the cathedral. There weren’t Airbnb’s then so I don’t have a place to recommend. The one tenant, of the six-unit building, we stayed in with the roof top pool shared her’s with us. We stayed on the second floor – even rented out both sides when Lowe was born for family to visit. Not sure if they are renting those units still or not. But man it was in the center of everything – walked everywhere, pool, view, loved it. We should really buy a place and rent it out – it is our most asked question! Let us know if you need any other info – have fun! Here is the penthouse info: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8549748?adults=1&ref_device_id=060d306dcf446931bc24d674e1be7b36acfadb6c&s=42&user_id=2569103&photo=0&fbclid=IwAR1RWRbek42tgbQTz9T_efmU32WCsjRa_K3TOfWg-R5gq9qYVFXKfGgYd1U&_branch_match_id=760531760610073191&source_impression_id=p3_1582563144_lpqLodhAxNU5ewG3
I have a few Barefoot CD’s myself that are fun to listen to when I begin to miss the Cayman’s. He has a book as well that’s worth a read.
Awesome! He was a great guy – it was his daughter’s wedding weekend, and he still stopped by to have a beer with us. What a neat memory we will have. Will check out the book. Thanks!
Preach on about the plastics! After cruising for so many years we felt we needed to do something to reduce single use plastics. We love Topo Chico fizzy water here in Mexico, but finally realized how many of those plastic bottles we go through each week, I think it was close to 7 or 8. We’ve finally switched to a Soda Stream. I’m also using reusable vegetable bags. I thought the cashier would be confused, by them, but they were more amused by my reusable wine bag! It’s not much, but it’s getting better.
Right?! We too bring all our bags for shopping, or not take any and look ridiculous carrying our stuff home. 🙂
All we can do is keep doing our part, pick up what we can, teach the next generation to do better, and hope. Btw, love the reusable wine bag comment! We buy the ballena beers to help as well. 😉