Turks and Caicos

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Arrived yesterday at Providenciales (Provo) in the Turks and Caicos (TCI) and have good internet at the Marina. Terry's wife, Tuss, says that I need to include more "human interest" items. But, I will give a brief update of the itinerary before trying that. We left Emerald Bay on Grand Exuma on Saturday and made an uneventful passage across Exuma Sound to a small island called Rum Cay. This is one of the Bahamas "Out Islands" and you know you are not in Kansas anymore. Terry called the marina several times on the radio with no response. Finally, another marina guest responded and said that "Bobby" the marina manager was out surfing but to come on in as he was certain there would be a slip. We worked our way up to the fuel dock with no one in sight. A few minutes later, we were met by a happy Rastaman who just happened to by coming by. He got us settled, helped refuel and said we could finish the paperwork when Bobby returned. Rum Cay makes Jost Van Dyke look like civilization!

We left Rum Cay early Sunday morning for an overnight passage to the TCI. Most of the day was unnaturally calm seas and light winds. But, of course as we approached darkness, things turned more Caribbean with winds picking up from the east and seas starting to build. The sun rose about 30 miles from TCI and we headed on to the banks and into the marina. We plan to spend a day here just getting caught up on sleep, washing clothes and taking care of some boat things. We plan to leave for Big Sandy Cay on Wednesday, anchor overnight and leave early Thursday am for the DR. We hope to be drinking Margaritas at Ocean World Marina Thursday evening awaiting a good fish dinner.

Life aboard a passage making boat is fairly routine. We basically get up in the morning, prepare the boat for sea, make a pot of coffee and get underway. Breakfast and lunch are on the go. By 5:00pm we try to be at anchor or in a marina where we service the boat, clean up, have something to eat, go to bed and get up the next day and do it again! We are not in a hurry and yet we are not playing cruisers where we can find some place we like and spend several days. Neither of us has much interest in doing the tourist thing in the places we have stopped. Terry is very creative with the menu when we decide to have a full meal. The first day out he concocted something called "burgoo" which is a sort of catch all stew made from whatever you have handy. The core of this one was beans, vegetables and Italian sausage plus seasonings. All gets thown into the crock pot and allowed to simmer most of the day. It was excellent and has gotten better as the days go on! You can add to it and so have a perpetual meal. I think Terry had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the first several days.

If you know either of us or are lucky enough(?) to know us both, you know that we both like to discuss and debate. After a week and a half together, I find that most of the time we are on the same page and share a lot of common interests. This makes the hours at the helm pass by quickly. And at the same time, we are comfortable doing our own thing or just sitting quietly watching the ocean go by. Everyone we have met so far has been friendly and helpful but we have mostly just met marina people and they always seem to be the agreeable type.

Enough for now!

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