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Updated March 16, 2009 |
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From Rum Cay we went to Mayaguana, the furthest east of the Bahamas, where we intended to clear out and
jump off to Turks and Caicos Islands. Going to the Caribbean, even in a power boat, it is a good idea to
get as far east as practical before going south into the trade-wind belt, so one is not constantly punching into
it.
It is about 130 miles from Rum Cay to Mayaguana, and the anchorage in Mayaguana, like |
The Government Dock - Mayaguana |
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many/most in the Bahamas, is behind a reef, so one does not want to enter in the dark. This was to be about an 18-hour trip for us, so
we left at 1:45 with the idea of running all night and arriving at Mayaguana in the morning.
The trip was uneventful, although we did roll a little. We were racing a front that finally decided to stall behind us so we avoided its squalls. We arrived at Abraham's Bay, the harbor, at first light and picked our way through the reef to a secure anchorage. I did notice a little vibration, however, and once we were anchored, Barbara put on her mask and fins and dove down and cut a fair-sized piece of netting away from our shaft, which cured the problem instantly. Mayaguana used to have a missile-tracking station, but is now very much an outpost with two fishing villages. We laid over a squally day as the front went by, then went ashore and |
The Net From Our Wheel | ||
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cleared customs and walked around a little,
again meeting lots of friendly people.
We also met a large (maybe five feet across) ray, identified from a book as a "southern stingray," who decided to take up temporary residence under our boat. He stayed there (or in the near vicinity) for the whole time we were anchored in Abraham's Bay, ghosting around over the sand. Later he was joined by a smaller "spotted eagle ray." We never saw them actually catch anything, but they must have thought our boat with its shadow provided a good spot. |
Mayaguana | ||
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We wanted to run overnight again to get to Providenciales (universally known as "Provo"), the largest town in the Caicos part of
Turks and Caicos, in the morning, so we moved that afternoon to an anchorage just inside the reef entrance, where we could
safely leave from at night. Our ray came too, but quickly decided we had made a bad choice and left us.
We had a nice supper and took naps until time to leave. We actually left a little earlier than we had meant to, because we got bored waiting, so we hove to for about an hour |
Mayaguana | ||
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seven miles from the entrance to the Provo channel. The trip in was uneventful, and we were anchored in
Sapodilla Bay by 8:00. The first order of business was to clear customs, so we launched the dinghy and
went ashore, follolowing the directions given to us by Simon, of Southside Marina, over the VHF. As at Marsh Harbour,
the authorities are in the port complex, so we had to go through Port Security first and get Visitor's ID badges, and
then dodge 18-wheelers and forklifts carrying 40-foot containers. It was a fascinating place, but we were firmly
reproved when we tried to take pictures.
In Sapodilla Bay we met for the first time the crew of a boat we had spoken with on VHF in Mayaguana, the Israeli catamaran Rebecca. We had seen her running lights on the trip from Mayaguana, at least until we left her behind, but here we met Asaf and Hila, her professional crew, and their friend Irit. They were on the way to the BVI, where the owner was to join them for a week or so of cruising. We spent a very pleasant evening with them. |
Palmette - Providenciales, Turks and Caicos |
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| The next day (it is by now Thursday, Feb 26th) we went to the cookout at Southside Marina, where we met the crew of another boat, Licorice, that we had been playing hopscotch with since Rum Cay. The marina nicely sent a car for us, and on the ride over we got a look at the state of development in Provo -- everything is under construction, raw and new. The GDP has shot up in the last ten years, as the number of tourists (and with them the number and size of facilities to serve them) has increased hugely. What used to be sleepy fishing villages now have huge hotel or resort complexes. We particularly enjoyed meeting Simon, the marina manager, and his wife; they have been sailors much of their lives, but plan to retire to a barge on the French canals. We had plenty to talk about. |
Barbara Anchored in Sapodilla Bay | ||
| By now we were beginning to think we should catch up with our mail and be able to use the internet and even the phone to talk to our family and deal with some business issues, so we left Provo the next day to head across Caicos Bank to South Caicos, which is really still a fishing village. In order to reach Cockburn Harbour, the harbor of South Caicos, one leaves the banks for a short run in the open ocean, and as we ran north in the swell generated by the water depth going from |
A Resort South of Our Anchorage | ||
| 1000 meters to 25 in about a quarter-mile we had a call on the VHF from Rebecca, who had spent the night in the lee of Six-Hill Cays and was headed that evening to Luperon, in the Dominican Republic. We ran on into Cockburn Harbour and found a good spot to anchor. There were no other yachts in the harbor, but there were a couple of fishing boats. |
Resort Hotels North of Our Anchorage | ||
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Arriving at South Caicos | |||
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The South Caicos Waterfront | |||
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Since it was Friday afternoon and we did not want to pay overtime charges, we hurried to go ashore and
clear out. It was not immediately obvious how to do this, but a friendly storekeeper set us on the right
road to the customs office, and after that all was plain sailing.
South Caicos was hit very hard by Hurricane Ike, and everywhere there were houses being rebuilt, or in some cases still with blue tarps stretched over their roofs. Despite the huge destruction, however, the people we passed seemed cheerful and ready to talk. Island people are resilient the world over, it seems. South Caicos was the promised sleepy contrast to Provo that it was claimed to be, but we headed on the next day. We decided to forego visiting the Dominican Republic in favor of getting to Puerto Rico faster. The weather was promising for the next couple of days, but after that another front was forecast, and we did not want to be weather-bound in Luperon or Samaná. |
South Caicos | ||
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It is 322 nautical miles from South Caicos to Mayaguez, down the Turks Island Passage, south of Mouchoir Bank and
Silver Bank and across the Mona Passage. It would take 46 hours, and we left fairly early
on the 28th so as to arrive at Mayaguez at first light.
The passage would take us across the major mating ground of the humpback whale, and we hoped to see some, and the first afternoon we saw two, leaping high out of the water and landing with a great splash, over and over again. Then, for a change, they would stand on their heads, more-or-less, and wave their tail-fins in the air for minutes at a time. This went on for half an hour, until we were past them. We also had several dolphins for company, and huge numbers of flying fish. |
South Caicos | ||
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We kept track of our progress, speeding up or slowing down slightly to keep to our
ETA. On passages like this we stand regular three-hour watches at night and informal watches
during the daytime.
All the afternoon of the second day, the mountains of Hispaniola went by to the southward. We were driving into the northeast trades, about 18 to 20 knots, which confounded the weatherman, Herb Hilgenberg, who insisted we should be seeing only 10-15 knots. What he forgot was the convection over Hispaniola, the "sea-breeze" effect, which probably added 5 to 10 knots to the wind we saw. Barbara kept plugging on through it, shrugging the waves aside and cranking out her steady 7-1/2 knots. We duly arrived at Mayaguez at 6:30 (which was 7:30 local time, since Puerto Rico is on Atlantic Time), and we hurried to launch the dinghy, since we could see the ferry from the D.R. approaching behind us and we wanted to be through immigration and customs before her passengers arrived. It took us a while to clear; the CBP guys were very friendly, but their computer system was very sluggish, but finally we were cleared by Immigration, Customs, and Agriculture (which took away our "international trash" for secure disposal) by 9:00, just as the ferry passangers were lining up in the rope 'corrals.' |
South Caicos | ||
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South Caicos
| South Caicos | ||
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Mountains of the Dominican Republic | |||
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Sunrise Landfall at Puerto Rico | |||
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Mayaguez is the largest city in western Puerto Rico, and its waterfront is very commercial and not very protected.
Warned of this, we had decided to go on to Boqueron, a few miles south, where there is a protected bay and
where we expected to find forwarded mail.
The cruising guides warn of dangers along this route, but we had no trouble (Barbara just picks her way through shoals and around points), and by 11:45 we were anchored in Bahia de Boqueron and |
The Ferry from the Dominican Republic at the Mayaguez Waterfront | ||
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relaxing.
The story of our stay in Boqueron and our explorations of the area is for the next chapter. |
The West Coast of Puerto Rico | ||