Time to move on to pastures new and head out to Puerto Rico and the Spanish Virgin Islands. Armed with a pilot book and courtesy flags bought in Red Hook Bay we set off. It took us most of the day to reach Culebra, one of the Spanish VI's, and although they will allow you to check in on the phone we did not have a cruising license so had to stay onboard for the night until we could obtain one from customs the next day.
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| Bye Bye US VI's |
We spent a couple of days making our way
North to San Juan on the Puerto Rican Mainland and some long overdue culture.
We anchored in the harbour outside the marinas and headed out to the Old Town,
which is a fantastic place. Beautiful Old Spanish buildings all painted a
variety of colors with a mixture of wooden and metal balustrades and a vibe
that only the Spanish manage to create, very chilled and relaxed with an
underlying sense of chic. We had dinner out and sampled some of the local fare;
Andrew is still going on about his pork dish!
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| The Old Town |
The next day we spent the morning trying to
sort the Internet situation out and ended up in the largest shopping mall I
have ever been in, it seems the modern part of San Juan is very American! We
now have a Pay as You Go American phone, which will give us Internet in the US
but no international calls, so one step forward. Then we spent the afternoon visiting one of
the old forts San Cristobal and learning about the history of the Caribbean. I
was not aware for instance that there was an American Spanish War in 1896 or
quite realized how much of the America’s was Spanish until the rest of us Europeans
decided to get in on the action.
It was good to get back to sea the next day
and we sailed around to the West Coast and put our hook down in Mayaguez ready
to check out the next morning. Andrew obtained directions from a very nice
uniformed lady on the dock and we set off in the dingy, landing on a rather
dirty looking beach. As we climbed out through some barbed wire we came face to
face with a Police Car, Oh heck we thought there is trouble ahead and indeed
they did want us to get into their car, but only to help us out and take us to
the customs as we had misunderstood their directions and it was a good few
miles away. They obviously thought we have a couple of Muppets here lets get
them off the island a.s.a.p. Anyway we got our first ride in a Police Car and
the US Customs man could not believe what had happened!
As we have sailed northwards through the Caribbean
I have been amazed at how different each country is with such a mix of
different cultures, despite the fact that they all look quite similar from the
sea. Puerto Rico was actually the first
Island that seemed to be a working country, probably due to its American influence.
We will definelty go back as we have still got the South coast to explore.
We decided to miss out the Dominican Republic;
the stories of bribery and corruption outweighed the more positive tales. This therefore meant we had a 350-mile sail
to the Turks and Caicos Islands, the first time we have been at sea and out of
sight of land since we came across the Atlantic and it was fabulous!
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| Sunrise at sea |
At Sunset on the second day the conditions
were such that we saw the green flash as the sun disappeared, well Andrew did.
He had had the presence of mind to wear his sunglasses until the last moment, muggins
here stared at it for a good few minutes eyes wide open so as not to blink and
actually only saw a lime green haze, I think.
The Turks and Caicos Islands is a whole new
world, you certainly feel like you are off the beaten track as a sailor. I
understand it is a very popular holiday destination with quite a few hotel
complexes but we have kept away from those. There really are turquoise clouds
here, imagine that! The waters around the Islands are so shallow and the waters
such a vivid turquoise that they reflect onto the bottom of the clouds, so
beautiful. And the sea is like a bath and the water so clear you can see the
bottom as if you were in a swimming pool.
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| Turquoise Skies |
We checked in to Grand Turk, not a lot
going on there but we were very tired after our two nights at sea and just
wanted to sleep. Up early the next morning we motored into flat seas with no
wind at all. Having missed out on a mid Atlantic swim due to choppy seas we
decided to swim in the middle of the sea with over 2,000m below us. The skipper
instructed me to gently lower the ladder to avoid making a splash and not
attract any sharks, once in the water he then dived in next to me, I got out
very quickly because he made one hell of a splash! I didn’t actually like it
having so much water beneath me, but box ticked.
The weather seemed so settled that we
decided to spend the night on the large Caicos Bank, which surrounds the
Islands. The Pilot book said it would be a surreal experience to be at anchor
with no land within 50 miles, so we found a patch of sand half a mile in between
the reefs and it was an extraordinary feeling, amazing but quite eerie too.
After about half an hour the wind started to pick up and then the sea started
to get a bit bumpy. After three hands of Gin Rummy we had over twenty knots and
realized we needed to get out. There was still a little light left and we
managed to retrace our exact path in, thanks to our plotter, but it was quite scary
not being able to see the patches of reef around. It seems we were in the
middle of a weather system that the locals call a Norther. We sailed onto West
Caicos and dropped our anchor at 3am, very tired and a little shaken up.
The next morning things had settled down
and we decided to follow a tanker in over the Bank to get to Provo, figuring he
probably drew about the same as us. The depths going over the Bank are at times
only 3 meters and we draw 2.4 so a sharp eye is needed at all times. After
about an hour and a half we reached our destination but had to anchor 1.9 miles
off shore, we are a bit too big for these waters! It doesn’t help that there
are quite a few wrecks littering the shore, all commercial vessels but it makes
you think.
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| Jo Jo |
However we did have the most amazing welcome
to Provo. The Pilot book mentions the local dolphin, known as Jo Jo, who is
very friendly and he certainly is! He came to say hello swimming round and
round the boat for over an hour, such a beautiful sight. We both got in the
water with him and whilst he didn’t come up to us he continued swimming around us,
which was just awesome!
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| Jo Jo and the Affro |
Bravely we left the boat the next day and
took the dinghy 1.9 miles to South Side Marina. It felt like we had stepped
back in time but there was a washing machine and dryer so we got up to date on
washing, internet so we could deal with our emails, petrol so we now have a
full tank for the dinghy and a bloke disappeared in a car and came back with
our gas bottle refilled.
We had planned to go back the next day, as
the marina offered a free shuttle to the local supermarket, but we woke to a swell
and an increasing breeze and with less than half a metre below us, and nowhere
to run, we decided it was time to check out. Despite the fact we were almost
out of fags, beer and wine! Once out in the sea the swell and conditions were
such we decided to do an overnighter and head for the Bahamas. This proved to
be a very uncomfortable voyage and we were both glad to make land at Crooked
Island.
The next morning the Coast Guard boarded us
for a routine inspection, which was rather exciting!! Three young men came
onboard and I was “Kept Company” on the aft deck by one of them with a machine
gun whilst Andrew answered their questions. They were actually totally charming,
looking for refugees from Haiti and drug running.
The breeze was still up so we decided to
stay another night and ventured ashore in search of supplies, where we were met
with a surprise. From the sea we were totally unaware of the devastation that
had been wrought by a Hurricane last October. We chatted to several of the
locals who were unbelievably cheerful, despite the fact that their island was
in such a mess. Apparently the whole place was completely underwater, lots of
houses were devastated and all seemed to have lost their roofs. There were mutilated
cars, boats and machinery scattered all over the place along with power lines
and bits of broken furniture, trees and vegetation had been uprooted everywhere.
All this after several months of clearing up.
Luckily no one on the Island lost their lives in the hurricane but a
tanker offshore floundered on the reefs and all souls were lost.
We found a store and managed to buy Tea
bags and milk, no alcohol on sale and worse still no cigarettes. However Cyril
the owner radioed Ed and then Derrick drove us to meet him and we purchased two
packets of fags, so relief all round! Once back on the boat it was obvious
there had been a hurricane, amazing what the eye thinks it can see.
We woke early as we were in the middle of
the biggest bonfire, the whole island was engulfed in smoke and we could hardly
breath. Time to head off to Long Island and Clarence town in search of a
Customs. We moored of the little island and took the dingy ashore to find more devastation
from the Hurricane. No shops and no customs but a bar at the marina with beer
and wine and best of all served in glass, what a treat! We came back in for
dinner and had a great evening but it was a disaster for me. Despite spraying myself with Mosquito spray I
was eaten alive and I have over one hundred bites just on the back of my legs!
Andrew thinks it is very funny and I now go by the name of Peppered Pig!
Assured by the pilot book that there was a
customs office in George Town in Exuma, and keen to find one as despite our
best efforts we were still not checked in after four days and are not keen to
meet a machine gun in earnest, we left early and sailed North. We are now at anchor just off the beach and it
is just fabulous here, beautiful turquoise waters, at least a meter under our
keel, we are finally checked in and the provisioning is great so all stores
replenished! George Town itself is full of character and the locals are very
friendly. Andrew has even had his hair cut, nearly losing part of his ear in
the process.
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| The Start Line |
Hullabaloo and her crew all in great shape
despite the peppering! Looking very smart dressed overall in honor of the
Regatta. Our new kayak and the lack of
our usual tipple onboard for a few days has resulted in us both shedding a
couple of kilos each and that is despite our new love for rum and water. The
ants are still with us, we are winning the battle but it is a slow process,
especially now they seem to have got their sea legs! My phone has refused to
work since we left the BVI’s, which is a little frustrating. Andrew’s is
intermittent but the bars offer good Internet so we are managing to keep on top
of things. Never thought I would get blasé about seeing turtles.
We will work our way up the islands in the
next few days and then head over to Florida to await the arrival of the lovely
Emma which is very exciting as we haven’t seen her since October, much motherly
clucking to be done!
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| Local colours |
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| Leaning out on planks of wood |
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