So we left The Florida Keys on the next available weather window for the 600 mile trip east (ish) to the Turks and Cacos. It started well, we champagne sailed for 12 hours without the autopilot just using the sails to steer. Then the weather turned, nothing like the predictions. We had 25 knots of wind gusting to 35 on our nose for 4 days. We were not planning to go to the Bahamas as they want $700 for a 3 month cruising license but we did cut across the south end of the Great Bahama bank. It's very shallow, around 8 metres deep, so the waves are small but the frequency was not good to be bashing into it. It was hell, we were burning through our fuel like a Saturn V rocket and only doing 2 knots. (that's 2 days to do 50 miles) After 2 days we were looking to bail out somewhere as we were running out of fuel. The only places were either go back the keys, Cuba (they have no fuel in Cuba) or the Bahamas ($700) Then the genoa ripped. We argued, for the first time on the boat. We were going to sell it, Mandy got seasick. So we decided to head to Ragged Island, a remote Bahamian island where it said we could get some diesel and of course a bit of respite from the weather. It took 2 days to get across the Bahama bank and by the time we got there we were running on fumes. It was HELL. Then everything changed. We dropped the anchor in paradise. It was a bit shallow though. (But I am getting used to that)
We dropped the genoa and did the "sailing around the world is doing boat repairs in beautiful places" thing. A few hours of sewing and it was as good as new.
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| Filling emergency tanks |
Only 60 people live on Ragged island and the ragged island petroleum company is one chap, Phicol. A more decent human being you will never meet. Instead of doing many dinghy trips to fill up our tanks he brought the fuel out to us and filled our tanks.
We invited him on board for a drink and learn about his island. As well as helping sailors who have run out of fuel he looks after the solar farm and desalination plant. He has lived here all his life and the locals strive to keep the Bahamian government from building resorts on the island.
After a few drinks he phoned his daughter and got her to make us a pizza which he went and picked up for free. They just like having, not too many, visitors.
We went ashore to an uninhabited Cay to visit the Hog Cay yacht club. A Tikki hut built during covid by 30 sailors who got stranded here for 6 months. The locals helped by supplying wood to build the hut and once a week a supply boat came down from Nassau. So there was no shortage of food. What a stunning place to spend covid.
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| Mir in the distance, still in 2.5metres of water |
The next day Phicol showed us around the island. We had to navigate a sand bar at high tide to meet him at the dock and I got confused between pigeon cay and pigeon island so we ended up running aground on the sand bar - oops. Second ever grounding. It wasn't a problem, I just reversed off and went the other way. I am getting used to the shallow water sailing 😀 Also it cleaned the ecosystem on the bottom of the keel. He showed us the solar farm and his lodge for the few visitors they get.
Then it was time to move on to the Turks and Caicos to meet Gill and Sandra. We'll defo be back to see our new friend. He told us to put out our fishing line when we left and true to his word after a few hours we caught our biggest ever Mahi Mahi ever but it escaped just as we were bringing it on board 😞
We arrived a few days before our guests and made friends with a British boat, Tamarisk, the first British sailors we have met in 6 months and Starfish an American boat. We met on the beach at 5:30 each night for a chat and a few beers, great company and great fun.
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| Anna, Julissa, Doug and Dave |
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| Tamarisk |
Then Gill and Sandra arrived to a torrential downpour and we all got soaked picking them up.
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| Pina coladas in the water |
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| Golden hour. Not as romantic as you think when you have to hump a beached dinghy back into the water and carry food and diesel from the car. |
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| An amazing ancient coral reef beach miles from anywhere |
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| Our home, Sapodilla bay beach. |
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| Time to clean the boat |
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| A great job |
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| Boat games |
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| Lots of lovely meals |
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| Reminds me of Wayne's world |
Great fun had by all and another great soaking when we went ashore to drop them off at their posh hotel. The sea was really choppy that day. See you soon ladies. Very sad, lots of tears. Time to leave Turks and Caicos and head for Dominican Republic. Two days motoring as we are heading east at the wrong time of the year. But we saw these beautiful creatures in super clear water as we champagne motored in flat, oily, glassy sea to our next boat job in the sun.
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