Don' Touch Dis

Stage 3 Turks & Caicos - Culebra to Providenciales: 16-20 Jun 09

A Leap of Faith along a Thorny Path

Our giant leap of faith was of course, five straight days of sailing….challenging or tempting fate for the GS!  Anyway, there’s little to report except another barracuda and a thankfully uneventful crossing.

So five more non-stop days of this

We had tossed up whether to follow the well travelled thornless path – south coast of Puerto Rico; wait for good weather to cross the MONA Passage (Please! Whispered reverence when speaking of these treacherous waters!) and then hiking up the north coast of the Dominican Republic.  Our need for speed had made us take the adventurous route and simply sail the passage between the Banks and the largest of the Caribbean islands – just like they did in days of old. 

And five more days of tweeking this & that.  But actually sailing!

The weather ranged from calm (motoring) to enough wind to give us a pleasant sail.  So what did we do?  We wore our harnesses, slept lightly in the cockpit, took turns at keeping watch for passing ships (fortunately not many) and made sure the ipod was well charged.  Our Cap’n-of-the-strong-stomach read a book-a-day and did all the cooking.  Don’t feel too sorry for him; all he did was open cans or make up cups-o-soups or 2 minute noodles, whilst GS survived on her potato crisp ration.  As the Cap’n read & slept, so the GS slept & read. 

Docked at South Side Marina

We had hoped to make landfall at French Cay, once a French pirate lair, now an isolated marine park on the southern edge of the TCI Bank.  However, our arrival at 4am and growing respect for navigating coral reefs in shallow water persuaded us to keep going to the “Freighter Channel”.  In the early morning light, even this deep water channel seemed to have bommies lurking at every turn so we rounded West Caicos and in better light headed for the Sandbore Channel; a mere 9.5nm of nervousness.

Sailing past Turtle Rock along the Sandbore Channel

So, in the space of 5 days, we had saved ourselves at least 2 weeks of day sails…thorny indeed but incredibly fast!  Our reward is to sit here in the magnificent warm turquoise waters of Sapodilla Bay, Turks & Caicos Islands.  Hallelujah brother, pass the beer!!

From: Cayo Pirata, Culebra Lat/Long: 18 18N  65 17W  Date/Time: 16/6/09: 1010

To: Sapodilla Bay, TCI  Lat/Long: 21 44N  72 17W  Date/Time: 20/6/09: 1230

Time Taken: 500nm (98.5hrs)  Distance (this year): 1037nm (238.5hrs)

Distance Total (since 2008): 1987nm  (406.5hrs)   Fastest Speed: Not noted**

Weather: Winds light to brisk, mostly ESE 10-20kts; Seas 5-6ft; SE current

(**Mixed bag of thunderstorms out from Puerto Rico; following breeze & current to push us along at a leisurely pace; no whales!)

Barracuda Boooooor ring....

Stage 2 Spanish Virgin Islands - St Croix to Culebra: 13 Jun 09

Dakity Harbor Culebra

There is little to tell of our crossing.  Fingers were crossed for a fresh mahi mahi, perhaps a tuna or something edible at least.  We caught yet another barracuda – a total of 5 now!  Full of ciguatera.  And nasty teeth.  Sent him packing but not before a fun tussle for the GS. 

Bar Pontoon

Our Cap’n Cautious negotiated yet another difficult harbour – thank goodness for GPS and modern computerised chart systems!  He safely dropped our hook in turquoise, reef-fringed waters of Dakity Harbor.  For the first time, moorings a plenty were provided free of charge for the fun loving Puerto Ricans.  Now there’s a sensible decision.  Being Saturday, we were lucky to snag one.  Later we sipped our rum punches listening to upbeat Latino music coming from a floating bar in nearby shallows – a reminder of our BBQ pontoons.  Welcome to the very definitely Spanish, and very cool, Virgin Islands.

From: Christiansted, St Croix Lat/Long: 17 45N  64 41W  Date/Time: 13/6/09: 0645

To: Dakity Harbour, Culebra  Lat/Long: 18 17N  65 16W  Date/Time: 13/6/09: 1600
Time Taken: 45nm (10hrs)  Distance (this year): 637nm (129.5hrs)
Distance Total (since 2008): 1486nm  (307.5hrs)   Fastest Speed: Not noted
Weather: Winds E 10-16kts; Seas 5-6ft.