@Divetech Cayman
Tony,
Don’t want to hijack the thread but you mentioned “move boats around”.
Do the dive shops diving the west side dive sites keep their boats moored in the ocean by the west bay dock over night and only bring them up and around to the marina for weather and maintenance?
We move them so they are on the leeward side of the weather. This is for guest comfort, so we are not diving or loading in bad weather, and also for the boat's safety. The way the topography of the north side of the island is, there are no moorings, so all boats are left in marinas in North Sound when we move north. When weather allows, we will run out of the marinas north, and dive the north wall.
About 330 days of the year, the winds and waves are from the east, making West Bay perfectly fine for both mooring the boats, and diving. The other days, we get these weird weather systems that come in, causing west winds or swells from a different direction. The his can cause issues. For example:
Right now, winds are NE at 11 knots, swells are ENE at 1.1 meters. West Bay is perfect for diving. As the week progresses, the wind strength will increase, to as much as 30 knots. Again, no big deal if we stay in West Bay. The problem is as the week goes on, the swells will change to ESE and get to 2.4 meters.
Swells are odd, as they will diffuse around the island. Even though West Bay should be protected from a ESE swell, it isn't. As the direction turns more SE, they will wrap around the SW point of Grand Cayman, and will roll into West Bay, and this is where it gets tricky. Swells don't appear dangerous, but they are. Swells will making docking at West Bay Dock very unsafe for both passengers and boat. While our moorings in West Bay are as secure as one can make them (double pin into hardpan, redundant 1.5" lines, lots of scope and large heavy bridals,) we don't want to leave them there, because - stuff happens. If we lose another boat, we are in serious trouble, considering Atatude still is not functional after last year's incident.
So we are faced with the dilemma, do we move the boats North now, and put them in safe harbor? If we do so, we loose business on some diving days. Or do we move them later in the week, and face heavy winds and horrible sea conditions? The latter earns us more money, but is much less safe to the boat crew and boats.
It's actually not much of a dilemma. We always err on the side of safety. Boats are getting moved today after the morning trip. We will lose business, customers will get mad at us, but our passengers, crew and boats will be safe, and those are our priorities. In that order. Might the weather change? Yes. Might it not be as bad as forecast? Probably. Could we be making the wrong call? Possibly. But hey - weather.
A well kept secret on this island. Boats do get lost due to weather, and delays in making the decision to move them.
Last week, I received a frantic call for help, (on the phone) that a boat left in bad seas in West Bay had broken off its mooring and was drifting towards Mexico.
2 years ago, a smaller dive op waited too long to move. During an attempt to move it in enormous seas, it capsized, almost killing a crew member. The anchor line got wrapped around her leg, pinning her under the boat, but she somehow managed to escape. It destroyed the boat, which ended up washing ashore.
During the same season, a very large dive operator waited too long to move their boat. When they did, massive waves swamped them several times. They put out a mayday call, and the boat sank. Both crew-members were miraculously pulled from the water by another boat. I think it might have been the marine police, but I can't remember.
Last year, another smaller operator again waited too long to move the boat. This guy was very lucky, in that he was by himself. Around the area of 3 towers, his boat capsized, and was lost, but he was somehow able to swim to shore.
Or there is this guy. I have no idea what happened to him. We found this boat smashed to pieces, and debris all over south sound. It happened just hours of Lee and I bringing one of our boats to Red Bay.
These are the major incidents. There are tons of smaller ones.
Tony
