Friday, March 24, 2017
Since we're still stuck here in high winds and rain, rain, rain, we're having another day of tackling little jobs around the boat. (Apparently, there's a tropical storm north of Puerto Rico. Yeah, I think we're in it.). Unfortunately, it's only the inside jobs we can complete, but we're checking things off our list. Added to that, we did some planning on places to go in the Bahamas and how we wanted to make our way up the Bahamas chain of islands. I'm looking forward to the snorkelling opportunities.
When we came in here on Wednesday, we saw a familiar power boat--Queezy (I love the name). Queezy was in Palmas Del Mar Marina on the east coast of Puerto Rico when we were there. It's funny when we catch up to another boat that we last saw hundreds of miles away.
We've had a pretty relaxing day, but I did manage to make some raisin bread.
Around 8:00 pm, the wind started to really howl. It had been raining off and on all day. We were actually heeling over, at anchor, from the wind, and our anchor chain was getting tugged and jerked. It was a little unnerving, because if our anchor dragged, we knew we'd be aground on the Caicos Banks, a shallow area that covers many square miles. Throughout the evening we kept checking our location in relation to the two other boats in the harbour and the lights of the town. All good.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Boy, was it howling last night! This morning a new sailboat appeared in the harbour and the catamaran that had been anchored just ahead of us is now back and to the side. Hmmmmm, looks like someone dragged! But, not us. We are grateful they didn't hit us on the way by.
Although the wind and swells should be manageable tomorrow, we will have to stay put for another day. It is supposed to be rainy and overcast all day. Tomorrow, we need to cross the Caicos Bank to get to Providenciales (aka Provo). When crossing the Banks it is recommended that we use VPR (visual piloting rules). That means that someone should be on the bow with the sun overhead, or behind us, looking for coral heads all along the route. The Banks are very shallow and coral heads stick up shallow enough for us to hit. Nope, we don't want to do that. When it's overcast or rainy, it's much more difficult (not to mention uncomfortable) to use VPR. I guess we'll stay here an extra night and leave on Monday when the sun is supposed to shine.
Today, we checked several things off our to do list. I hemmed the Canadian flag with tiny stitches. My grade seven Home Ec. teacher would be proud.
I'm shocked and dismayed at the state of the national flags we've seen on boats. We've seen so many that are torn, frayed, faded, and just a mess. It's hard to find US, Canadian or European flags down here, so cruisers need to pack a few extras before leaving home. I wish we had!
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Happy birthday, Cam!
The weather forecast we looked at yesterday morning indicated that it would be rainy and overcast all day today. It would be very difficult to cross the shallows of the bank in conditions like that, because we have to have someone visually watching for coral heads all along the way. With that in mind, I slept in until 8:00, because I had very little sleep through the night for some reason. Unfortunately, the weather forecast was wrong. It was a bright, perfect day for crossing the Banks, but we needed to leave much earlier to make the 60 nm trek. Grrrrr. You'd think weather forecasters could forecast at least one day ahead. Nope.
I did tons of navigational planning today. I figured out our entire route, including anchorages and stops, all the way to Florida. If we make all of the stops, it will take us a month to get back to the mainland. Yikes, that's a little longer than we were planning, and this doesn't even take into account any weather days. Oh, well, I guess we'll see everyone in September! LOL
Carey spent hours working out a preventer for the boom when we sail downwind. This will keep us from having an accidental gybe when we're sailing wing on wing.
Monday, March 27, 2017
Overnight, the waves were slap, slap, slapping the boat from all directions. It sounded like we were inside a washing machine. Slosh, slosh, slosh.
We finally left South Caicos this morning at 7:30. We are happy to be on the move again. I haven't been sleeping well for the past three nights, which is probably from the lack of activity and fresh air (and the noisy waves don't help). I'm hoping today's trip will tire me out.
By 9:00, we had started over the Caicos Banks. We need to keep our eyes peeled for rocks and fishing nets. We've got waves on our nose, which means we slam down into them every once in a while. Nothing too terrible, though. That settled out quite a bit as we moved more into the Banks.
Carey was vigilant looking for coral heads. The water on the Banks is shallow and sea green. So beautiful and clear. That makes it easier to see coral heads. They look like dark patches in the midst of the sea green. We can easily go around them, or slow down and go over them. By 10:20, we had entered the shallower part of the Banks (10-20 feet vs.19-25 before) so we had to be even more vigilant. Clouds really confuse the issue, because the cloud shadows darken the water and look like rocks. We definitely need bright sunshine to traverse the Banks safely.
Just after lunch Carey saw dolphins swim right by our bow. I was down below, cleaning up the lunch dishes, so I only caught a glimpse of the last one as it swam away. Shortly after, though, another one swam by and then two more swam by later. They are very curious animals--I think they want to check us out as much as we do them.
We can see no land in any direction. The Caicos are low islands, just like the Bahamas, so you can't see them at any great distance. Halfway through the day, the closest land was 23 nautical miles away. Here, the depth went to 9.1 feet. Yikes, that's shallow. We just barely missed a large pile of shallow rocks, but Carey saw them at the last minute and veered around them. Phew! I can't wait to get into deeper water. This is stressful!
We arrived in Provo just after 5:00 and dropped anchor in an industrial area that was somewhat out of the wind and swells, and just around the point from our dinghy landing.
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
This morning, our plan was to get topped up with diesel and water, to go to Customs to clear out of the Turks and Caicos, and to reprovision. We called Southside Marina who said that if we came at high tide, which should be around 10:50 am, then we'd make it into their shallow marina with our 6 foot draft.
Figuring out the tides here is a little complicated, so we were confused. I sent Bob, at Southside, an email asking for clarification. I wrote: Our tide information says that high tide will be at 9:00 am tomorrow, but you said approaching noon. Can you confirm please? We do not want to go aground.
Bob replied: Today, Tuesday 28 March, daylight high tide is at 9.51 AM at the official tidal station Sandy Point N. Caicos. It will take up to an hour or an hour and a half to come up the south banks of Providenciales depending on wind direction and intensity. Northerly winds at 10 knots today would make that about an hour later today. High at 10.51 AM at South Side Marina estimated. Wed 28th. There will be about 8 inches under your keel for the last 300 yards prior to the final turn into our entrance.
Yikes. No wonder we were confused. So much local knowledge was needed. Good lesson--always ask a local when depths look dicey.
So, after a light breakfast, we headed over and motored into their channel at 10:50. Yikes, again! There were rocks everywhere and our depth meter kept showing shallower and shallower depths. Bob, the dockmaster/owner, said that at high tide we'd have 8 inches under our keel. Not a lot, but enough, I guess. We seemed to be getting just that and not another inch.
We made it in and docked at their fuel dock without an issue. It took a while to get the hose stretched long enough to get back to our fuel tank, but we finally managed it. However, the attendant couldn't (or wouldn't) fill our fuel tank until the fuel truck was finished. Okay, then, we got to work on filling our water tanks. Finally, the truck had finished pumping and we could fill our tanks. Just then, Bob came over and expressed a concern about us getting out. The tide was receding much faster than it had come in and it might be too shallow if we didn't leave pronto! Uh, oh. We quickly turned off the water (which wasn't quite done), paid the bill ($4.80 per gallon) and threw off the dock lines.
Bob had given Carey some advice about how to get into deeper water faster--stay close to the green channel marker and then turn to port and you'll be fine. We did just that--and promptly went aground. Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh! Bob called on the VHF radio saying, 'Why would you turn into shallow water?' Oh, he meant the SECOND green channel marker. Nice of him to mention that. Thanks, Bob! Carey managed to back up and free us and then turn to starboard to get us back on the track that we had taken coming in. We went through some very shallow water, but we managed to get out without further incident. Thank goodness! Nope, we're not going back there any time soon!
We motored back to Sapodilla Bay (pronounced Sap-o-dill-a not the Spanish pronunciation Sap-o-dee-ya, which I was using) and anchored in front of a beautiful sand beach surrounded by villas. Our next task was to dinghy into the beach and go to Customs. It was a long walk to Customs, because we had to walk around the Sun Oil Refinery (a much smaller version of ours). The Customs guys were very friendly and couldn't guess our nationality (because we had no accent, they said) until Carey ended a sentence with 'eh.' Haha. Canada, eh! We paid the $50 clearance fee and walked back the way we came and then a little further to Las Brisas Restaurant. What a beautiful view overlooking Chalk Sound, an inland bay. By now it was after three o'clock and we were starving.
We had a delicious meal, then walked to a gas station (which we had passed on the way to the Customs office) to pick up a few items. We had given up on getting a taxi to a grocery store because it would have been $25-30 each way! As you can tell, everything is very expensive in the Turks and Caicos. Then it was back to our dinghy and back to the boat.
At Southside Marina today we saw Queezy, a motor yacht we had first seen in Palmas Del Mar, and here in Sapodilla Bay we saw Makena, a catamaran we had seen in the BVIs. Small world. I'm pretty sure we're all just going around in circles. (Makena is heading to Ireland!)
Since we are leaving for Mayaguana in the morning, we tried to put the dinghy up on deck, but it was getting too windy, so we left it until morning. Hopefully, the winds will be calmer then.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
We got up at 7:00 and immediately put the dinghy on deck. Carey secured it while I made us a quick breakfast. By 8:00, fed and watered, we headed out of Sapodilla Bay on our way to Mayaguana. It's 60 miles, which means at least 10 hours. Another long day.
By 9:30, we were out of Sapodilla Bay and through the Sandbore Channel into deep water, and into the Caicos Passage. We put up the sails, but kept the engine going at low idle just so we could get a minimum of 5 knots per hour. That is always our limit, so that we don't arrive at our destination in the dark.
We turned off the engine at 10:00 and were getting between six and seven knots of boat speed. Today, the forecast was for six foot swells. Yup, we're getting that, but they always neglect to mention that tenth wave, the rogue, that looks more like ten feet!
We are sailing in the Caicos Passage (North Atlantic Ocean) with two miles of ocean beneath our keel and no land in sight. During the morning, we were getting 6-9 knots of wind and we were moving at 5-6 knots per hour. Not bad.
At around 1:30, the wind had decreased to 5-7 knots and we were slowing down, so we furled the jib and put out the Code Zero, our large head sail. Amazingly, with the bigger sail, we were going almost the same speed as the wind! Now, that's the way to harness Mother Nature. It felt great to have the wind in our sails at exactly the right angle and strength. No motoring for us today. Priceless.
It was 4:00 by the time we could see land--the west end of Mayaguana. We are now in Bahamian waters. We'll have to hoist our yellow Q flag when we drop anchor since we haven't cleared into the Bahamas Customs and Immigration yet.
We dropped anchor at 7:00. Boy, am I tired and hungry! Since we're low on provisions, I created a new recipe for dinner. I'm calling it Penne Pescadoria. Penne with a sauce of pesto, olive oil, diced onions, green and red peppers, and tomatoes, and I added tuna for some protein. Top with parmesan, and delish!)
Thursday, March 30, 2017
We got up at 7:00 and I put some bread in to bake. We lifted anchor at 7:35 and ate breakfast as we rounded the western point of Mayaguana and headed for Attwood Harbor on Acklins Island.
We motored for the first while, while we ate, then unfurled the main and the Code Zero at 9:00. The winds are fairly light, so we turned so that we'd have them on the beam and we could move faster. However, this took us further from our destination. Oh, well, we were sailing!
It's sunny and hot, with a fresh breeze. The ocean is a beautiful shade of dark blue.
We sailed for the first few hours, and then furled the sails when we had to turn more north, which put the light wind right on our stern. We motored the rest of the way to Attwood Harbor and just relaxed with our books.
We were met at the entrance by a dolphin and he led us into the harbor. What a welcome! Obviously, he's very proud of his home. It is lovely here with white sand beaches curving around on three sides, and beautiful, clear aquamarine water. This place looks like the Bahamas. Woohoo!
We dropped anchor at 3:45 at Attwood Harbor, Acklins Island, Bahamas.
Friday, March 31, 2017
Up by 6:30, anchor up by 6:55, out of the harbour by 7:00, and breakfast on the way. Today, we are heading for Clarence Town, Long Island, Bahamas.
It's a good thing I write the date every day on the blog, because otherwise I wouldn't have a clue what day it was, or even what month it was!
We had to motor all day, despite the 12-15 knots of wind--directly on our stern, of course. We could have sailed by tacking back and forth, but this is already a long distance to go. If we had zigzagged, it would have taken twice as long and we'd be in by midnight. Too late. Swells today were relatively calm, but we were still bounced around.
When we arrived, there were huge crashing breakers on both sides of the entrance. Very intimidating. Thank goodness we have a chartplotter to show us where the safe water is. We decided to anchor just in front of the marina, behind the breakwall, even though I'm pretty sure the Flying Fish Marina wasn't happy about us being there. This is much closer to shore and much more protected than the other designated anchorage.
It's also much shallower and we actually went aground when we tried to anchor. We were able to get it off in minutes with a combination of kedging (pulling us forward with the windlass) and powering forward with the engine. We moved forward into a little deeper water and dropped the anchor again in 6-7 feet of water. This is low tide here, so we have a little bit of wiggle room.
We stilled haven't cleared into Bahamas Customs and Immigration so we have to do that asap, but it may have to wait until the morning when we can get the dinghy off the deck. The wind is blowing 15 knots right now, so it may be a little difficult to get the dinghy off.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
After breakfast, we launched the dinghy and dinghied over to Flying Fish Marina where the guidebook said we could clear in through Customs. This is a beautiful facility, with pretty buildings, but the docks are high wooden docks with spiles. Not our cup of tea. We asked the owner about clearing in, but he said they don't have a Customs office here. However, he phoned them for us.
Well, we are on the road again, even though we were hoping to stay here for a day. Clearing into the Bahamas is supposed to cost $300 CASH, however they wanted to charge us an extra $100 CASH for travel expenses to come to us in Clarence Town, Long Island. Grrrrrrr. No, they weren't just April Fooling us. We said 'no, thanks' and we will clear in at Georgetown instead. Very disappointing. We need to provision, get fuel and water, do laundry, etc., but all that will have to wait. So today, we are going to Rum Cay which is about 33 miles away. Supposed to be great snorkelling there. Hope so!
We left Clarence Town about 10:40 am and it should take us about 5-6 hours to get there. We have the main sail and the Code Zero up in light winds, and the engine to keep us moving between 5 and 7 knots.
We arrived at Rum Cay at 4:00. We dinghied over to the dock where the mail boat ties up and looked for the grocery store and restaurants that were shown in our Explorer Chartbook. What a disappointment. No restaurants, just a shack with a tiny, rustic bar and a few canned goods in a side room. So, we dinghied the half mile to the marina which was also written about in our chartbook. What?! No marina. No water to even get into the old marina. The whole place was abandoned--no marina, no restaurant, and a huge sandbar across the entrance so that we couldn't even get our dinghy into the basin. Back to the boat. No dinner out for us...again. (Later, we found out that the hurricane in the fall had wreaked havoc in this area. Looks like the marina was a casualty. Sad.)
The highlight of our day at Rum Cay was a four foot reef shark under our boat. The water is so clear we could easily see him. He hung around for quite a while and let me take pictures of him.
We will have an early night tonight, because we have decided to go to Georgetown tomorrow, ahead of the high winds that are moving in tomorrow night. Another long travel day. Ugh.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
We lifted anchor at 7:15 and tiptoed through the coral heads to get out of the anchorage. We rounded the point of Rum Cay and set a waypoint for Cape Santa Maria at the north of Long Island. Then, we headed for Georgetown. It took me over a half hour to set the waypoints to pick our way into Elizabeth Harbour at Georgetown. It is chock full of coral heads and rocks. Ugh.
We put out the main sail and the Code Zero, but left the engine running, same as yesterday. Light winds, but just enough to keep wind in the sails.
One of the most interesting things we see are flying fish. They are amazing. We see them almost every day skimming across the top of the water, and yet I'm still fascinated by them. It's amazing how far they can "fly".
At 11:30, we furled the Code Zero because we were losing the wind, and what little there was, was astern. We put it back out around 12:30 and motorsailed all the way to Georgetown.
We arrived at the entrance to Georgetown around 3:30 and then motored into Stocking Harbour, which is just off Stocking Island. This island, along with a few others, form a protective barrier between Georgetown and the ocean winds and swells.
When we anchored, our long dinghy towing line got caught on our rudder, so guess who had to dive down to free it? Yup, Carey avoids going into the salt water whenever he can. It was a straightforward detangling maneuver and was completed quickly. I was happy to get into the water after so long.
Afterward, we dinghied over to Stocking Island to the Chat 'n Chill. It's a little beach bar/restaurant. We bought a pig roast plate and ate at a picnic table on the beach, with a Kalik, the Bahamian beer. Delicious dinner. We sat with a couple from Virginia who were staying at a resort with their grandson. Fun place, but the coolest things were the stingrays. They come right up to you in the shallows, and you can feed them conch from the conch salad bar. I didn't have anything to feed them, but they came close to investigate, anyway.
Monday, April 3, 2017
After breakfast, we needed to clear into Customs and buy provisions in Georgetown. However, the dinghy ride was almost a mile long and the water had gotten quite choppy overnight with the higher winds. We'd definitely get wet if we went across in our dinghy. So, we lifted anchor and motored across, dropped anchor, and dinghied toward town.
Around 10:00, we went through the tiny waterway tunnel to Lake Victoria, a small saltwater lake around which Georgetown is located.
We tied up at the dinghy dock and proceeded to the Customs office. After an hour wait, we finally got up to the counter. Then, after going through a pound of paperwork and paying the $300 fee, we walked up the street to the Immigration office. (Why they can't put these two in the same office, I'll never know.). Immigration was a shorter wait, but still a wait. That done, we walked to the Shop Rite market where the aisles aren't actually wide enough for a cart, the produce is wilted and wrinkled, the meat is scarce, and the prices are exorbitant (e.g., $4.54 for a small can of mushrooms, over $9 for a jar of honey). We found cream! Yippee! We're getting used to this kind of shopping, so we bought what we could find.
By 1:20, we were finally sitting down at the Exuma Yacht Club for lunch. Their Blu Restaurant is kind of like a treehouse--up high and overlooking the gorgeous aquamarine of Kidd's Cove. Beautiful spot. It's a Blu View.
Later, we hit the Exuma Market, whose selection of meat and produce was a little better. The bonus was meeting the farmer who had set up his fresh grown veggies on the tailgate of his truck--spinach and tomatoes just picked that morning--he promised!
Then, it was a wet dinghy ride bumping over the waves back to the boat. We decided not to stay there overnight as it was rolly, so we lifted anchor again, and moved to another anchorage across Elizabeth Harbour on Stocking Island. We found a pretty calm spot, in Monument Bay, and it happens to be near Cottonwood, a boat we last saw in Hop 0 Nose, New York! What a coincidence to meet up with them again. There are at least five other Canadian boats here. Oh, Canada!
Finally, we could lower our Q flag and raise our Bahamas flag.
While we were relaxing with our arrivals drinks, Jim, from Romabout, came over to ask us about our Jeanneau. He has an older Benateau and they are looking at buying a newer model boat. He liked what he had heard about the Jeanneaus. We gave him a tour and he seemed impressed with the size and roominess. We're always happy to show off our home.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
We lifted anchor at 10:15 in 15 knots of wind. We are going to Emerald Bay Marina today. I need a decent wifi connection so that I can do our income taxes online. Ugh, not looking forward to this tedious chore, but it must be done. My sister, Gail, has been helping tremendously by electronically sending me the tax forms she has found in our mailbox. Thank you, Gail!!! Hopefully I've got everything I need now. Fingers and toes crossed. The important thing is to submit something, because I can always adjust information later if I've missed something. I definitely don't want a late submission charge.
The wind is on our stern, so the engine is on, but we've got the main out to keep us from rolling too much in these swells. It's only about 15 miles to the marina, so it shouldn't take us too long.
We arrived at the marina at noon, but then had to toodle around the basin for a while, while a big power boat filled up with fuel and water. Yikes, I'm glad we don't have that guy's bill!
When we finally got to the fuel dock, Carey started filling our fuel tank. (We always have to fill our own tanks down here.) When he had it about half full, suddenly a geyser of fuel spewed out, all over Carey and the boat, and into Carey's eyes. What a mess, not to mention a health concern. Fuel, and diesel fumes, everywhere! We mopped up a bit, but there wasn't a lot we could do there. Eventually, Carey finished filling the tank and we motored over to our dock. To make matters worse, when tying to the dock, we realized that the neighbouring catamaran had used all of our cleats. Grrrrrrr.
A cool thing is that the local sea turtles are hired to come and clean off all of the sea moss from the bottom of your boat. We have two working on our boat this afternoon. So awesome! LOL
While Carey showered the diesel off, I started scrubbing the boat. He chipped in when he came back and pretty soon we had soaked decks, soaked lines (ropes) drying, soaked cushions drying, and rinsed clothes hanging on the lifelines. By the time we were finished, it was 3:30, and we still hadn't had lunch, so we hiked over to the nearby resort, Grand Isle Resort, for some food and drink. We needed it! Wow, we ate by the infinity pool overlooking the ocean. So beautiful.
Later, we walked back to the marina, checked out the laundry (which was packed with people and dirty clothes), and went to the Cruisers' Lounge where the wifi is great. This is where I will work on our income tax returns tomorrow. Time to upload the blog!
Hours later, the boat still reeked of diesel fumes, but not quite as bad as before.
