What a difference a week makes! This week has been full with
so many different emotions, from pure fear to contentment.
The last time I wrote, we were in George Town, Exumas
preparing mentally and physically for our journey south to the Turks and Caicos
Islands. It was reassuring to see a family of dolphins (two adults with two
babies) swimming around our yacht while we were checking the yacht for our
journey.
I had mixed feelings of excitement AND feelings of pure
fear. We were going to a new place/country and seeing different and amazing
things and I knew once we arrived at the top of Long Island, heading east to
Rum Cay, we would start hitting the Atlantic swells.
On Sunday morning we left George Town, Exumas – our last
stop in the Bahamas. The sail out of George Town and to Long Island via Cape
Santa Maria, was lovely! I could see why Mel enjoys sailing as it was so
peaceful and there is definitely the sense of pure freedom and closeness to
nature. You are just using the wind to move forward.
Long Island is aptly named “Long Island” as it is narrow and
is rarely more than 4nm wide but it is 80nm from north to south.
We sailed NE from
George Town to the northern point of Long Island, Cape Santa Maria (see photo),
then took advantage of the clocking of the wind from S to W, to Rum Cay going
east. We sailed passed Rum Cay on schedule, between 5.30 – 6.30pm.
This is when the swells started and I started getting sea
sick.
We had discussed what we would do, once you set a course on
auto pilot, set the sails and you take turns to watch.
The AIS is also
pretty good as it shows us where all the commercial ships are and any small
boats that have AIS (most are starting to install AIS). It is compulsory for
commercial boats to have it and since we have it, they can see us and we, of
course can see them.
I tried to “watch” while Mel slept but he could not sleep
for long as I was so sick! We were both in the cockpit, with our life jackets
on.
While I was on watch, the heavens opened and we had a down
pour. We have side flaps for the cockpit so if we choose to, we can enclose the
whole of the cockpit. We have only put up the front side flaps as that is where
you sit mostly and you need protection from the wind or the spray.
I eventually had to go down to the saloon so Mel put on his
safety harness and “clipped on”. It is a safety precaution, if you are in the
cockpit on your own and the other person is “down below”, then you MUST wear
your safety harness and clip on.
At about 3.00am (Monday morning) Mel woke me to say he had
to go on deck as the genoa had twisted and he was concerned that with the
unexpected winds we were having, it may rip! My worst nightmare!!! I have had
quite a few nightmares in the last 12 months of Mel going overboard.
When we are doing an ocean passage, along with the harnesses
and life jackets, we put the “jack lines” out along the boat. These are for
when you have to go on deck and you clip your safety harness to the jack lines
so you are attached to the boat and can “walk” along the deck of the boat.
We put our head phones on so Mel and I were in constant
communications, the deck light was put on and off Mel went to the bow of the
boat to sort out the genoa.
I had to control the lines of the genoa as Mel was trying to
sort it out. Like always, in a situation like this, it seems to take forever
but in actual fact it took less than 3 mins to sort out. Thank goodness!!!
Day broke and we were now east enough to start heading south
towards the Turks and Caicos Islands – we were about half way now.
I was feeling a bit better although I still wasn’t eating –
I managed to eat a few ginger biscuits and an orange in the two days we were
sailing – apparently Vit. C is very good for sea sickness. I stayed in the
cockpit for about an hour when I started feeling worse so went back down stairs
and that is where I stayed for most of the journey until we reached to
protection of the Turks and Caicos on Tuesday morning.
To make matters worse, the winds were great for sailing but
they were 5 – 10knots stronger and the swell was about 2metres more than forecast.
Mel reduced sailing to make it a little more comfortable and so we wouldn’t
heal so much. I know he was trying to make me feel better by doing this but I
was no use to man or beast. I was just lying in the salon feeling sorry for
myself.
Mel was happy as the boat performed beautifully - EVERYTHING
that he expected from her. She was cruising down the swells, at times at 8
-9knots (he told me this when we were in the safety of the marina). He was so
tired but an extremely happy salty sailor on his yacht.
During the night, about every hour, I would check on Mel,
poke my head up to see what was going on and check the AIS. We saw one cruise
liner, heading for the BVI about 6nm on our port side during the night. On the AIS, you can change the plotting range
from 1/2nm right up to 24nm.
Before the sun came up, we saw the northern point Lighthouse
of the Turks and Caicos. It took us another 3 hours to reach the waypoint for
the start of the Sandbore Channel.
We had to request permission to enter and of course we had
already taken down the Bahamian flag and put up our yellow quarantine flag.
We had already made arrangements to go to the Caicos Marina
where our generator was waiting for us since Mel had shipped it across from
Fort Lauderdale, two weeks ago.
Cross the Caicos Banks is tricky as there are many coral
heads and it is very shallow in some parts.
We passed South Dock and Sapodilla Bay, heading east to the
Marina.
We eventually arrived at the marina at 12.00 (high tide)
after having to do quite a bit of VPR (visual piloting rules).
Most marinas in the TCI are classified as hurricane holes
and this marina was sure one as once we had entered the channel, it was dead
calm. BLISS!!!
The marina contacted Customs and Immigration for us, so we
had to wait ON the boat until we had been given the all clear. We were both
dying to have a long shower!!!
An hour after arriving, Customs and Immigration came on
board and gave us the all clear, so we put the TCI flag up (the one I had made
about 2- 3 weeks ago while in George Town).
The Caicos Marine is also a ship yard and is where the
headquarters are for the Marine Police.
The TCI have a few issues with Haitians trying to enter
illegally. Provo radio (not sure how they got their name) have a sophisticated
radar set up, that picks up any boats about 12nm off the coast line. They then
contact the Marine Police, who go and investigate.
The TCI is a British Overseas Territory and the island group
has a governor who is appointed by the Queen.
The TCI consists of two groups of islands. The Caicos Group
– North, Middle and South Caicos, Providenciales (known as Provo) and Pine and
Parrot Cay (privately owned). The Turks Group – the Grand Turks and Salt Cay.
Prov, South Caicos and Grand Turks are the main areas where everything happens.
In the middle of the Caicos Group are the Caicos Banks which
are 60nm long and full of coral heads. We have to sail across the Caicos Banks
on our way south to the Dominican Republic.
Tuesday afternoon, after clearing customs and having a
shower, Mel washed the boat down as he always does and I put one load of
laundry in so at least we had some clean clothes. I tend to only do laundry
every second week now.
That night, it was early to bed and did we sleep well!
Wednesday, we potted around the yacht. There were a few
things that needed repairing as is always the case on a yacht. One of the
biggest problems is always chaffing of things as you sail as it is a constant
movement and the binghy straps took a beating.
There was another yacht in the marina – “Three Sheets” – Reg
and Phoebe – they were from Canada, had sailed down the west coast of the
States, through the Panama Canal, up to Mexico, Cuba and were heading for
Bermuda and hopefully to the Mediterranean. They had hired a car for the day so
asked us if we would like to join them for a meal out at a local Italian
restaurant. We accepted so off we went at 6.30pm.
Thursday – we decided to hire a car for two days, so we off
we went heading for the most western part of the island – we had actually
sailed passed this point.
The driving in TCI is the British system but in American
built cars –i.o.w. you drive on the left hand side of the road and the cars are
all left hand drive.
We stopped for lunch near Sapodilla Bay – this is where we
will be anchoring off once we leave the
Here are photos of Mel and myself enjoying our lunch of fish
fingers. We spent the day driving from one end of the island (West) to the other
end of the island (East). As always there are the big exclusive holiday resorts
and shops catering just for the tourists.
We found a HUGE hardware store and one of the marine stores
Mel enjoyed going into when we were in the States so of course we had to spend
some time there.
Friday, Mel wanted to go back to the marine store, I didn’t
feel like going so I stayed behind and did some sewing – for the yacht. I made
some covers for our Gerry cans.
That afternoon we went to the main shopping area to do some
grocery shopping – we always like to stock up on fresh fruit and veggies when
we can get them at a responsible price of course. We love our grapefruit but
are not prepared to pay $2US for one!
Saturday saw Mel return the hired car but NOT before going
back to the marine warehouse for something or other. There is always something
for the boat!
We were planning on leaving the marina and anchor off at
Sapodilla Bay but not today….
We are starting to prepare for the next stage of our journey
and that is to the Dominican Republic (DR). It will mean crossing the Caicos
Bank, which we should only do in calm weather as there is always a risk of
hitting the bottom if it is too much windy and choppy – there are some really
very shallow parts. We hope to stay overnight at Fish Cay before heading SE to
Big Sand Cay in the Turks Group. From there we will leave for DR in the late
afternoon as the passage across will be an over nighter as the winds are always
more favourable for this area then. It is approximately 90nm to Puerto Plata in
the DR and a whole new ball game sailing in this area. More info later when we
are actually there.
So that is the week that was. Next week we should be in the
DR so until then – take care.
Sending lots of love
Captain Salty Mel and Admiral Caryn/xx
Track our journey: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=VJN4467
