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March 2008
Georgetown - Most of the boats hang out on the southwest side of Stocking Island that is about a mile across the harbor from the town. During strong easterly winds it is a real rough dinghy ride back from town in a 2 to 3’ chop against 25 knot winds. This year we anchored right off town as the cold front moved through. We were able to get all our town stuff (propane, grocery, and booze) done while being close in.
Anchored nearby were Maura and Skip from the sister ship Cat Ching. Skip and Maura live in up state NY and run their business during the summer months and cruise during the winter, very cool. They are waiting for a friend to join them next week and will then sail down to the Caicos Islands. We could end up having a small flotilla.
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Surf's up on the east side of Stocking Island
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After the cold front moved through we moved over to Stocking Island for protection from the relentless 20 to 25 knot winds. We anchored right off Volley Ball Beach. Being close to the beach was nice as we could dinghy to shore with out getting dinghy drenched in the choppy waves. We spent a couple of days hanging out at Chat ‘N’ Chill and walking the lovely beaches of Stocking Island.
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Georgetown Harbor view from Stocking Island
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After 3 days of high winds I start to get the feeling of being trapped. I am also getting anxious to get moving as we will try to meet friends in Provo on March 14th. It looks like we will get a break in the weather with winds moderating on Tuesday and shifting to the southeast which will enable us to sail to Rum or Conception Islands.
Monday morning as we are getting ready to move down towards Fowl Cay to stage our departure Jaime and Seth came by to say good bye and gave us a beautiful card and gift bottle of Canadian Maple Syrup. It has been such a pleasure to be with these people; they will stay in our memories and definitely be missed. Trying to prolong the separation we decided to join the crew of Slapdash, Zing and Wild Ride for a farewell drink/s ashore.
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| One last G Town Party |
Three hours later Some Days A Diamond and Wild Ride slowly moved 3 miles south positioning ourselves for an early morning departure for points south.
It was a rolly night. I got up early to download the last minute weather charts and listen to the days forecast. The winds are still forecast to be southeast and it should be a good close haul to Conception or Rum. It still looks like a go and as soon as we clear the Welk Cay cut the seas should start to moderate. There just seems to be something about sailing and planning passages, if the wind can shift to be on the nose it will. We did enjoy at least 4 hours of pure sailing, although it was close hauled and into a wet 6’ choppy sea. When it came time to turn the corner around the northern tip of Along Long Island the wind shifts further to the east (more on the nose) and we ended up motor sailing to Conception.
Conception is another beautiful island with crystal clear waters and pure white soft sandy beaches. The island is another park and under the protection of the Bahamas National Trust which make it a no take zone and remains very pristine. Cat Ching arrived the next day and gave us the opportunity for another party.
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Pristine Conception Island
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On Thursday the 3 catamarans motored down to Rum Cay (25 miles). Rum is a very cool little island with only 60 inhabitants. On the way into the harbor we saw Grant & Brenda on Belliza (we previously met in Bimini). They were on their way back to Canada (flying) and would be leaving their boat here until their return. They invited Carol and I over for a few drinks and a catch up visit. A big part of what has made this year’s trip so nice is all the people we are meeting and running into time and again as we all are making our way south.
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L2R - Tom, Carol, Skip, Gesille, CJ, Maura, & Gregor
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Yesterday we had a good time hanging out on the island. Not much here, only 60 residents. Carol & I walked around and talked with the locals. Lucky for us the weekly supply boat came in the night before so we were able to buy some avocados, tomatoes, lettuce, and bananas at The Last Chance Grocery Store. On the way back to the boat we stopped by Jan’s Sand Bar for a beer. It is a funky little place that actually had a sand floor inside. The bar opened in the 1950’s and is run by the owner an elderly lady named Delores who was born on the island. Delores cooked up some conch fritters for us so I called Charles and Giselle and told them to come ashore and join us. While we were there Maura, Skip, and Gregor (new crewmember) from Cat Ching stopped by and we had a great jump up party. It was a fun brunch but by 1:30 and several beers it was time for a nap.
Last evening Charles and Giselle hosted a party for the three boats. Charles and Giselle are seriously thinking about heading out to Panama this week and meeting up with Jaime and Seth from Slapdash. Cat Ching will leave this morning for Crooked Island. We are not sure what we will do as the forecasted northeast winds are desolving. Stoney will be in Provo next Friday and it is still 200 miles away so when we get going we will have to make some tracks.
I had my first success with baking bread (good bread that
is). I am using a food processor to
combine the ingredients with mixed results.
Finally, I’ve got the right formula.
The dough ball rose as it should and the bread actually tasted
good. We are on a roll now so we started
growing sprouts. There is nothing like
having some fresh produce everyday (not a problem for you land lubbers). Simple things make me happy.
We left Rum Cay early Sunday for the 60 mile trip to Crooked Island.
The winds are southeast forecast to turn more to the east. The waves are still short and choppy so it is
a wet ride. So far our trip has required
us to wait for weather more than 3 out of 7 weeks, progress is slow. Somewhat frustrating is the wait for wind
wave conditions that never materialize and you end up going in less than
optimum conditions, guess that’s sailing.
Last year the I65 route was much easier and faster.
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| Here we go Up |
Here we go down
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We dropped the hook just south of Bird Rock on the north end
of Crooked Island Too tired to do much of anything we cooked
some hamburgers, watched the last half of last night’s movie, and went to
bed. What this about watching the last
half of movies, oh our DVD player has been acting up and seems to be
overheating after about an hour of operation.
Must be too much salt air??? This
is on the list for replacement in either Provo
or PR. before sunset.
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Bird Island Light, north Crooked Island
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After a good night’s sleep and hardy breakfast we are
underway for a 35 mile trip to Atwood Harbor on Acklin
Island. The first part of the trip was fun as we sped
along reaching northward around the reefs on of Crooked Island. Once we turned southeast again it was back to
close hauled and motor sailing against a 15 to 20 knot wind. It was a pretty uneventful day and an early
arrival at Atwood. Wild Ride left a
couple of hours behind us and showed up in time for sundowners.
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Wild Ride - Buddy Boat and Sister Ship
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We left Atwood early the next morning for the 60 mile run
down to Mayaguana. We finally have a
nice sailing day (the first half anyway).
En route Charles caught a nice 15 lb Dorado so its fish for dinner. We pulled into Abrahams Bay
behind the reef for a stable anchorage.
Charles and Giselle brought a large Dorado filet over and we fixed
dinner on board Some Days A Diamond.
On Wednesday Carol and I spent the morning spring cleaning
and getting ready for guests. I flagged
down a local fisherman and purchased 2 dozen conchs and a couple of large
lobster tails for a very reasonable price.
The winds have shifted around to south southwest which would
be ideal sailing conditions to Provo so we decided to make an overnight run to
Provo rather than wait for the next day when it was forecast to be 15 knots of southeast
head wind. We departed Mayaguana at 6 pm
in light winds, and yup back to southeast and on the nose. A couple of miles south of Mayaguana we were
joined by another boat, ‘C’ Drifter, also heading to Turtle Cove Marina in
Provo. It was a beautiful moonlit night
with calm seas as the 3 boats ghosted along in a close formation. We encountered a very favorable current and had
to slow to 3 knots so as not reach the treacherous reefs north of Provo before
daylight.
By 0900 we were securely tied to the dock at Turtle
Cove. I really enjoy getting into a
marina at least once a month for a good fresh water wash down (for the boat),
laundry services, provisioning, and fuel.
The marina also arranges for customs and immigration to come to the boat
and handle the clearance procedures. The
clearance process was a delight (and easy).
The customs officer even gave us her cell number if we had any questions
or needed anything while staying in Provo. After we were cleared in she went to clear in
Wild Ride and then joined the 4 of us for lunch. Can you picture that in the
states?
Stoney’s friends Mark and Levardo were also on hand for any
of our needs. Levardo lent us his car to
run errands and Mark insisted on having his maid handle our laundry and filling
our propane tanks, does it get any better????
A big thanks Mark & Levardo.
On Friday Stoney and Carla had a tough time getting to Provo. They were staying at a time share in the Dominican
Republic and bought a one way ticket from the DR to Provo but the airline would
not let him aboard because they could not so how they were going to leave
Provo. I penciled in his name to our cruising
permit had Mark fax a copy to the airline and they relented and allowed him on
a later flight.
That evening we went out to dinner at one of the local
marina dock side restaurants and while walking back to the boat a transient Dominican
sport fishermen offered us about 25 pounds of fresh Wahoo (after he put 150 lbs
in his freezer). We immediately accepted
and gave half to Charles and Giselle.
Stoney spent the next hour cleaning and steaking the Wahoo. We had so many steaks that we gave a package
away to Ray and Irene on ‘C’ Drifter.
After a couple of nice days it was time to get moving. Our itinerary is to move around to the south
side of the island to Sapodillo Bay then head over to Sand Cay and wait for a weather
window to the DR and on to Puerto Rico.
We left the dock at 0930 and went to the fuel dock to fill
her up. I noticed that the fuel hose had
been patched so luckily decided to move our cockpit cushions so no leaking
diesel fuel would smell up the place.
Well, just as I started to fill the tank the pump hose burst while
laying across the cockpit. Fortunately
Carol acted quickly and grabbed the broken fuel hose and directed the gushing
fuel back to the dock. The pump must
have had some type of auto shut off as we only got 4 gallons in the cockpit
area, what a mess. For some pictures of
the clean up see www.wildride380.com. It took about an hour to clean up the mess,
refuel and get under way to Sapodillo.
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| Dragon Rock guards the entrance to Cockburn Harbor South Caicos |
The next day we motored 50 miles across the Caicos Banks to South Caicos. The
winds are forecast from the northeast and will be blowing a hardy 30 miles per
hour. There is a big gale up in the
Canadian Maritimes that will be sending northern swells (up to 20 feet) into
the Caribbean in a few days. With those swell conditions it makes it
impossible to get into any harbors on the north coast of the DR or PR so here
we will stay until wind and wave conditions improve.
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| Stoney fixing dinner |
On Monday Stoney treated everyone to a hair style. Stoney took over the Pretty Women Beauty
Parlor for the wash and cut. The women
(and I must admit Charles and I) are quite happy with our new do’s.
The little island
of South Caicos has a
population of only 1200 people. They
have more than 12 grocery stores and at least a half dozen Beauty Parlors. It is very noticeable that the women here take
care of themselves and dress very nicely.
There is also a large Haitian population and everyone lives
harmoniously.
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| South Caicos home |
Store owner
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High gas prices!
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Welding under a gas tanker?????
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Abandoned boat on South Caicos beach
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