After enjoying a wonderful Christmas and Boxing Day in Clarence Town, we finally got the weather window we were hoping. Jon doesn't back up well but Toi et Moi managed to avoid the jetty boulders and finally pointed her bow in the right direction.
And the right direction it was. We had a perfect sail for the first day and a half. Then we turned east, heading for the Turks and Caicos. Once again, the wind was on our nose at 20 knots. Another rough and wet ride, but nothing we weren't used to. After a day of beating with not a lot to show for it, we cranked up the Perkins to make the entrance to the reef outside Providenciales at dusk.
We had heard Turtle Cove Marina offers a free guide service through the serpentine channel that winds its way through shallows, coral heads and breakers. We were just about to turn around and standoff for the night when the guide boat showed up; we followed him in docking on New Years Eve. We celebrated our landfall and the upcoming new year with a conch dinner shoreside.
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| Our windy path to Turtle Cove Marina |
Woke up the next morning to the new year and a new island to explore.
We cleared immigrations and customs but Opti is still waiting on a visit from the Department of Agriculture to legally put her paws in the sand. Meanwhile, she's happy for landfall again and Jon sneaks her off the boat at night & early morning.
We will probably stay in the Turks and Caicos another week or longer. We bought a used sail online to replace our shredded ketch sail; hopefully it will be here next week. It is rated only fair+ but that is better than none and this original rig is hard to find used. Next leg to Dominican, Puerto Rico or Virgin Islands will be long and we need more power and balance.
We are tired so any advantage will help and this is a great place to rest. We met a single handed sailor from Quebec who, after beating to windward most of his trip down the eastern seaboard, is doing the same thing...R&R. We both have this long list of repairs to do yet we are lucky to get one thing done a day. Today Jon re-tensioned our aft backstay and saw chafe on the boomkin stays so did that too. Still, it's all good overall, a balanced well being of pain and pleasure.
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Pleasure: Enjoying the local beer at da Conch Shack |
We will probably stay in the Turks and Caicos another week or longer. We bought a used sail online to replace our shredded ketch sail; hopefully it will be here next week. It is rated only fair+ but that is better than none and this original rig is hard to find used. Next leg to Dominican, Puerto Rico or Virgin Islands will be long and we need more power and balance. We are tired so any advantage will help and this is a great place to rest. We met a single handed sailor from Quebec who, after beating to windward most of his trip down the eastern seaboard, is doing the same thing...R&R. We both have this long list of repairs to do yet we are lucky to get one thing done a day. Today Jon re-tensioned our aft backstay and saw chafe on the boomkin stays so did that too. Still, it's all good overall, a balanced well being of pain and pleasure.
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