03/19/2010, Sapodillo Bay, Provodenciales, Caicos Islands
Yesterday morning after a pretty rough night motoring into the winds and seas we arrived in the Turks & Caicos, a British Crown Colony 70 nm southeast of the Bahamas. We have now entered our second country on Sanctuary's 2009-2010 Smell the Roses tour. After checking in with Customs and Immigration we promptly crashed onboard for some much needed sleep. We expect to spend a couple of weeks here as Just Imagine modifies their boat insurance for the trip south. I guess there are worse places to get stuck. The temperature and conditions (so far) are much more tropical than we saw in the Bahamas. Too bad.
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03/17/2010, Mayaguana Island, Bahamas
On our trip south leaving the Bahamas we stopped over at a popular place to wait out weather and stage for the jump to the Turks & Caicos, a small island country on the path to the Caribbean. We entered Abrahams Bay after a fairly quiet overnight passage from Clarencetown and were mesmerized by the crystal clear water. As I stood on the bow looking at the bottom I asked Carrie, "how deep is it?", to which she replied "46 feet!" The morning sun refracted some beautiful colors off of the white sand below and the coral heads were easy to make out. We anchored and promptly loaded the dinghy with our snorkel gear and with our spears, headed out for a morning hunt. I only got one lobster but the variety of fish and coral was spectacular. We rested the remainder of the day, remarking how incredibly peaceful the anchorage was. There is a small fishing settlement on this side of the island but otherwise the plants and animals have the run of the place.
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03/15/2010, Clarencetown, Long Island, Bahamas
At long last we have rejoined Robin and Cheryl on Just Imagine... In the early afternoon we got their call on VHF and watched them appear over the horizon traveling south down the east side of Long Island towards Clarencetown. They anchored next to us in the harbor and a wonderful gathering for dinner and lots of laughs occrured that evening. We also made plans to catch the favorable weather and get underway the next morning for our next passage, through the out-islands of the Bahamas and on to the Turks & Caicos, a small island nation on our way to the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean Sea!! Hooray!!!
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03/14/2010, Thompson Bay, Long Island
Carrie has acquired a new hobby from another cruiser friend, weaving baskets from the Silver Palm plant. As expected she has quickly become very proficient and here is her first basket. Now my duties as the Hunter-Gatherer also include being on the lookout for a suitable palm plant from which to harvest additional basket material. Darn, another reason to wander the beaches. Nice work for her first try, don't you think?
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03/14/2010, Clarentown, Long Island, Bahamas
We spent a beautiful afternoon wandering the beaches on the nearby Cays around Clarentown Harbor today. There haven't been many days like this to enjoy while we've been here so wasting this one was not an option. The skies were clear and the breeze was pretty fresh, but the sun warmed everything and everyone and we spent lots of time looking for shells and some additional palm fronds for Carrie's new hobby: basket weaving. We know, we don't have much to complain about given that this winter in the US has been one for the record books, but wearing my fleece and long pants in the cockpit with the wind blowing 25-30 kts is not exactly what we had in mind for our stay in the Bahamas. We had a great day, and expect to have many more down the road.
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03/11/2010, Clarencetown, Long Island, Bahamas
Its hard to believe that anything can grow on these rocky islands but all around you can see "Pot Hole Farming." Somehow the Bahamians drill or blast large holes in the rock where they find fertile ground. It is there that they grow Bananas, Pineapples, Green and Red Peppers and Plaintains.
The flowers somehow look beyond beautiful here, perhaps it's because there is so much rock and gravel that when you see them in bloom they are that much more magnificent.
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03/10/2010, Cape Santa Maria to Clarencetown, Long Island
After a day at rest in Simms we got underway pre-dawn today and motor-sailed around Cape Santa Maria on the north end of Long Island and felt the winds and swells of the Atlantic as we travelled down the Long Island's east coast to Clarencetown. Here we hope to find good shelter from the upcoming Cold Front before moving east through the Bahamian out-islands to the Turks & Caicos. It made for a long day and the swells can really tire you out but we "rolled" into Clarencetown harbor well before sundown and set the hook for a good night's rest as winds clocked around through East in prelude to a cold front moving through this weekend. Our friends Robin and Cheryl on Just Imagine have finally finished their repairs in Georgetown and we look forward to our rendezvous with them here before heading to the Caribbean. Each step further from home holds some unknowns a touch of mystery that make the journey very rewarding. Unlike the USA you can't always get the parts or groceries you need, and sometimes getting fresh water or disposing of our garbage ashore is a difficult task, but the people are friendly and the seas are beautiful. The adventure continues...
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03/07/2010, Alligator Bay, Long Island, Bahamas
We got underway from Thompson Bay this morning with hopes of sailing up the West coast of Long Island to Calabash Bay with our friends John and Patty on S/V Anhinga. We hoped to stage there for our journey from the Bahamas to the Turks & Caicos islands, our next stop on the way to the Caribbean. The winds and seas would not cooperate however and after some rough sailing, including a 30+ knot gust that heeled us over way too far and brought a torrent of seawater into the cockpit, we re-evalutated the day's plan and stopped a bit short in what turned out to be a nice quiet and uncrowded harbor part way up the coast off the township of Simms. Islands can do interesting things to the wind, and sometimes those winds are not quite as predicted. All lessons learned though and we gained additional confidence that Sanctuary, as well as her crew, can deal with some of the challenges the ocean might throw our way. We also renewed our respect for the forces of nature. We'll catch our breath and move forward from here.
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03/02/2010, Long Island, Bahamas
Another beautiful sight on the island was the churches, two of which were designed by Father Jerome, a monk who was also trained as an architect and designed several churches in the Bahamas. Here is one of two churches we visited in Clarencetown, on the south end of Long Island.
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03/02/2010, Long Island, Bahamas
Yesterday we rented a van with our friends on S/V Slow Dancing (Paul and Susan) and the four of us (five if you count their little dog Mickey) drove to the northern end of Long Island to view the Columbus monument. The islanders debate whether Columbus initially landed in San Salvador or here. Either way the day was beautiful and so is the monument. From there we worked out way south viewing the various sights on the island, enjoying the sights and a chance to meet local people and see their way of life. We ate lunch at a roadside eatery, viewed some famous churches and got the land view of several places we may visit later on Sanctuary. The highlight of the trip was Dean's Blue Hole, a blue hole that measures over 600 feet deep where Free Divers practice their hobby diving to record depths under a single breath. I only dove down about 20 feet, certainly not a record, but it was a wonderous sight to see, and made for one of many memorable sights on this island.
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