We have finally arrived at Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos after a week of sometimes challenging conditions. Provo, as it is known locally, is our first stop after the Bahamas, and a logical stepping stone to the Dominican Republic and Caribbean Sea which lies 100 nautical miles to the south. As you can see by clicking on the chart of Provo Harbor, navigation here requires a knack for dodging coral heads and reefs which seem to be everywhere and have no markers. We are docked at the very accomodating and friendly South Side Marina with an interesting group of international cruisers. South Side arranged last minute customs clearance for us late in the day on Sunday which was quickly and easily accomplished for the minimal fee of $23.
Our last post was from Staniel Cay, mid way through the Exuma Islands.
Departing Staniel in good weather we took a short leg south to Black Point Settlement and enjoyed a tour of Willy Rolle's "Garden of Eden" which he has imaginatively formed from driftwood and rock sculptures. Willy is Loraine's uncle, Loraine of Loraine's Cafe fame that is. Following the garden tour we stayed around at Loraine's to watch the Jet's playoff game and enjoyed some of her good conch fritters and high speed internet connection, one of the last internet connections we were to find for a while.
The next day we took another short run south to Cave Cay marina which had been recommended to us by Marv Market at Royal Palm YC in Ft Myers. Marv told us that the marina offered excellent protection from the weather and it certainly does that although Diane was disappointed by the lack of a working laundry facility. The owner appears to have ambitious plans for expansion but it looks like everything is on hold at the moment.
Next day we cruised out into Exuma Sound via Cave Cay Cut to find that the forecasted strong easterly winds had continued to build. It was a brisk run southward to George Town in 15 to 20 kts of wind, open water and building seas. The forecast was for more of the same, at least another 3 or 4 days, and that proved to be unfortunately accurate as we continued south and east. After a brief fuel stop at Emerald Bay Marina we finally arrived at George Town late in the afternoon amidst a howling easterly wind. George Town is a popular cruising spot with a large fleet of winter liveaboards and a very active social scene with many structured activities. The best anchorage spots are already taken by the liveaboard population so you have to fit in where ever you can.
The strong easterlies continued. Braving the elements and getting hit with some large waves for a while, our next stop was Thompson Bay on Long Island which turned out to not only offer good shelter from the weather but was also a nice little settlement with a good store, excellent cell phone service, a dinghy dock and the newly opened Thompson Bay Inn. We enjoyed a nice dinner there with recently met sailing friends, Tim and Diane from Kingston, NY, and ended up spending an extra day waiting for a break in the weather which was slow to arrive.
The water south of George Town and west of Long Island is very shallow with only the long, narrow Comer Channel allowing a way out to the south. Comer has numerous 5 foot spots so we left on a rising tide and were able to get through with no problems. After catching a very feisty 3 foot barracuda, we exited south into deeper water and another set of 6 foot waves coming from multiple directions. Not fun. I had hoped to reach the southern end of Long Island that day but opted for Dollars Bay instead due to the challenging conditions. Dollars has a narrow, shallow approach that requires some extra tide and a lot of visual navigation but we entered successfully and had the entire harbor to ourselves. It is very unique and beautiful with vast areas of sand flats stretching off to the horizon in every direction.
Once again faced with a very brisk south easterly wind, we stayed close to the Long Island coast as we pushed on the next day. The forecast was for moderating winds clocking to the west later in the day but that was slow in arriving and the anchorage at South Point was not well protected, with only a small reef between us and 5 to 7 foot breaking seas. Not liking any of the available options we decided to make an over night run to the Turks and Caicos across the north side of Acklins and Crooked Islands, hoping to find some protection there from the south easterly wind and seas. That strategy worked reasonably well for a while, and the wind did moderate somewhat, but at 3:00 AM a nasty little chop developed from dead ahead. Faced with another 60 miles of bad road in the middle of the night we elected to pull in behind the reef at Mayaguana Island and catch a few hours of much needed rest.
Morning dawned bright and sunny with the wind blowing 15 knots from the south with large easterly swells breaking on the reef near our anchorage. The Turks and Caicos offered protection 55 miles to the south so we weighed anchor after breakfast and ducked back out into the elements. The chop had moderated somewhat and the swells also diminished farther south. We made an uneventful landfall and entrance late in the afternoon on Sunday, the 31st of January, two weeks after leaving home, and about 785 nautical miles closer to our goal of Grenada.
