A slow day at Grand Cayman on 11 December 2014

December 13, 2014

What I did not share with any of the blog readers is an observation on all my internet/WIFI [dat heet wiefie opa!] and sms/WhatsApp/FaceTime communications, I sometimes fail to actively make or passively obtain communication except with the Volvo Ocean Racing news/charts/ videos/ranking or tracking. How they manage that so well I not know but I am very much impressed. So if you would one day observe that the suffix in my E adress or webpage will have changed into .volvo or .dongfeng you know the reason.

So now I have shared it with you.

Our morning started late with a breakfast in the garden at 0930. Thereafter I had a meeting at 1100 with Chris van den Bol to discuss various financial matters, questions and investments for 2014 and 2015. We discussed this for two hours. We took a glass of white wine to make sure our discussions would not become too dry. Sophie went to do some shopping, Urs worked solidly after 1030, except for a short nap at the swimmingpool (we really caught him by surprise). You do realise he deceived us a little bit with that nap, but friends foregive each other quickly, isn’t it.

At 1320 however Sophie organised a stingray [rog] tour by boat. It was a combination of my visit to the Great Barrier reef in December 2008, (joined by 200 Japanese tourists) with my visit with Floris to the Cricket Match at 0530 in September 2014 on the Bramble in the Solent. I cannot show now any photo taken at the Great Barrier Reef, but I can and will show you two of the Cricket Match here below.

We went in 26 degrees C. water of say 1 meter depth and were immediately surrounded by a group of quite large but friendly and entirely harmless stingrays. They came to look for food, usually they get fed some squid. We could hold them like one holds a tray, as long as we made sure that the two breathing holes on top of their vins were just kept underwater. It was really like keeping a baby in our arms. What was a little bit exciting was when a stinger just came from behind or below and started sniffing along our ligaments.

Extremely touristic, but we were nothing else than tourists.

We had a quiet evening, especially after Sophie fell ill and had to stay behind in her bed in the hotel.

The best news of the day was that BRUNEL was able to keep DONG FENG and ABU DHABI behind them, though only at a marginal distance.

The worst news of the day was that we did eat now all chocolates on board, even the ones we intended to reserve and hold in good condition for Inge. When the a/c was not flying we could not keep the cool box running. So sorry Inge, we will see what we can buy for you now in Montreal to replace the lost chocolates. Godiva is a brand I believe is liked by the Québecois.