Teignmouth Electron

This is a story that proves that when you bring a history nut with you on vacation, you never know what you may find.

Once apon a time (1968), in a land far far away (England), the Sunday Times sponsored a single-handed, around the world yacht race called the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. There was a British man named Donald Crowhurst that believed he could build a new, innovative yacht that would win the race. He named it the Teignmouth Electron. This boat was a trimaran, which was untested for such long voyages and difficult to right, if capsized. Crowhurst added a special buoyancy bag to the top of the mast, just in case, and set off from Teignmouth, Devon at the last possible minute.

It turns out the boat is on Cayman Brac! Here is a photo of the boat today:

As you might suspect, things did not go so well for Crowhurst or the Electron. He had no prior experience on this type of yacht, hadn't taken the boat through any tests and left a lot of supplies behind. To sum up, he fell behind early, started radioing in false positions (making him sound in the lead), possibly was being poisoned by his food supply or water filtration system and then committed suicide by drowning in the ocean. His boat was found abandoned and was sold multiple times before it wound up decaying on the south shore of Cayman Brac. Go here and here for the full story.

It is weird. The story is really interesting and yet, there is no mention of it in Cayman Brac. No plaque at the site, no mention on any map. Just a pile of garbage between the beach and a road. The local girl at the hotel had never heard of it and the boat is located less than a mile away!

Here is our "history nut" with the Electron. Thanks James for telling us this interesting story, I can't believe the Brac doesn't take advantage of such a great tale!

Cliffs and Caving in Cayman Brac

Last weekend we took advantage of the Queen's Birthday holiday and went to Cayman Brac for the long weekend. This trip has been in the works since January and was planned by our good friends Alanna and James.

Cayman Brac is a bit different than Grand Cayman. It has a large bluff going through the center of the island. This allows for some great caves that have been carved out by the wind and water over the years.

Here we are in Skull Cave. The caves were ridiculously hot, probably due to the high humidity and the fact we went caving at noon. Of course, we didn't learn from our mistakes and did the same thing the following day.

I was looking forward to seeing the lighthouse. Sadly, I was a bit underwhelmed.

It turns out that modern working lighthouses aren't as exciting as their picturesque older brothers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We did take turns climbing to the top, though I'm sure it was prohibited.

Here is the crew at the top of the bluff, near the lighthouse.

This is the north side of the bluff, which we climbed on a very rugged staircase.

Near the top of the bluff is Peter's Cave which residents can still use as a hurricane shelter. It was VERY HOT!

Here is a shot of Bob and I on the top of the bluff.

This is on the far east side of the island. That little rock is known as Little Cayman Brac. We did not attempt to climb it.

And now a photo from the West end of the island on our final night.

It was a very fun vacation fill with plenty of pool time, some snorkeling, too much food and lots of laughs with friends. Thanks Alanna and James for a great weekend!

A Second Trip to the QEII Botanical Park

I am really starting to love this park! Everytime I go I find new flowers and interesting plants. I have no idea what these plants are called but they are awesome!

This time I went it was very sunny and hot, perfect weather to bring out the extremely endangered Blue Iguanas! They are large and blue. The juveniles are brighter blue but those are reared in a controlled environment. We saw 5 of the iguanas while walking around, it was a real treat!