December 16 UNTIE THE LINES II #56 – Ciao Cayman
The penultimate episode of UNTIE THE LINES season II is one more Cayman Video. I had spent three weeks on the island and I made some great new friends. It was a real treat to visit Cayman. Two people, Davide and Jeff, had offered me to stay in their homes. And I gladly accepted.
It is actually quite the funny story how I met Davide. He is from Italy and works in Cayman as a dive instructor. When he first wrote me, he called himself a “sailing maniac”. Because he had watched my sailing videos and had followed me on Facebook, he had seen a picture I posted stating that I was visiting Cayman. He sent me a message, asking where I was at. And when I told him the name of some bar I was at, he replied “don’t move, I will be there in ten minutes”.
Five minutes later we had our first beer together and started chatting about his crazy plans of building some community in Italy. I am really greatful that I meet so many awesome people through my sailing documentary and my journey in general.
Davide offerd to take Jeff and me on a dive at Eden Rock. As I said, he works a diving instructor, so we only had to pay for the bottles, which was great. The coral formations were outstanding with beautiful colors and crazy shapes. My wish was to see some christmas tree worms and Davide did find us some.
Of course, we also had to go and eat some wicked tasty gelato and have some italian food. Davide let me use his flat as my temporary office to do some computer work, which is always a great treat. And one night we went to some crazy night club where I nearly got a heart attach when I heard what they charge for a beer. As you can tell from the picutre, it’s good that non of that is part of this last Cayman video…
Well, and Karl needed some little last minute repairs before I could leave, too. In Cienfuegos, Cuba, some Swedish drunk had dragged on top of Karl in a storm and had damaged my roller furler. I had managed to use it on my sail to Cayman. But it had gotten stuck every once in a while. Since I had not trusted the damaged furlex, I had ordered a replacement and had it shipped to Cayman. Quite straight forward, worked out really neat.
Jeff was so kind to lend me a hand when I changed out the roller furlex. It is a bit tricky, especially if you don’t want to lose any of the tiny bearing balls.
Oh, and for those of you that remember that I said my engine did not fire up when I arrived in Cayman…It was one of those stupid things. The cable lug of my electrical fuel shut off had wiggled itself loose, which is why no fuel had gotten to the injectors.
I had checked my tank just in case, to make sure it was no algae. And whilst I had those annoying 50 diesel tank bolts off, I decided to clean the tank. In that process, I also took off the pick up pipe, to clean it and to clean the fitting. Too bad it was still lying around once I had the 50 bolts all back in and nicely snug.
Yes, I do curse. And yes, that was a moment that I did curse.
I hope you enjoy this Cayman video and that it brings some warmth to you, in case you are living in one of those places where it’s cold winter right now. Next week it’s time for the grand finale…so stay tuned!
Love the dive video, it was nice to watch at 4000ft on a snow caped scottish mountain with -10 below wind chill outside the shaking noisey tent Brr! it so warmed me up & that coral blew me away & i had to watch it over & over again until my battery run flat, Have you tried using filters lenses for your go-pro, they can bring out a huge difference to the colour of the corals & they only cost a few bucks 😉
some level of independent scrutiny. One response has been to use avalanche transceivers on a discretionary basis, this sets a dangerous precedent in Scotland and would not have saved the lives of the deeply buried.
A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said no decision could be taken on an FAI until the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had completed its investigations, which were still ongoing . He added: “Depending on what was in that report we would possibly give considerations to possible criminal proceedings.” Only after criminal proceedings had been concluded or ruled out, would consideration be given to an FAI, he said.
An HSE spokeswoman said: “The time taken to date is not unusual. Investigations into fatalities are complex and require specialist input from a variety of sources which takes time.”
Meanwhile a spokesman for the sportscotland’s Glenmore Lodge said Chalamain Gap had been a tragic accident. The instructors at Glenmore Lodge were highly skilled and always followed the appropriate routes while continually carrying out a risk assessment.
He said Glenmore Lodge’s own internal inquiry had produced some answers.
He said: “Our report has enabled us to establish some conclusions and recommendations, review our processes, and continue to support staff, family members, and students involved in the incident. Through our continual dialogue with mountaineering organisations we have been able to share some of the key observations.
“Our investigations concluded that the slope which avalanched had a group on it unrelated to the Glenmore Lodge party, and that our party was well informed about the avalanche conditions, had good awareness of the weak layer deep within the snowpack, and had a continuous dialogue concerning the evaluation of this risk on their journey into the mountains.”
He said a sector-wide survey had been conducted leading to a three year trial of avalanche safety equipment at Glenmore Lodge to help inform the mountaineering community about best practice. “This trial is now in its second year,” he said.
I am glad that you had the time to spend in Cayman. My family has a long history there. I have many cousins there and it is such fun to be there with them. Thank you for your inspiring videos.
Nike -Merry Christmas and thank you for 2016. Terrible things happening in Berlin makes me send hopes to you that all is well for your friends and family. Life prevails and we must not let the narrative be influenced- before Karl is parked for the night. Enjoy the stars and good winds. Cheers