Welcome to the Turks and Caicos Islands. It took us 4 days to get here - the longest single trek I will have taken on the Pintita's voyage.  She took almost 2 weeks to get from North Carolina to St. Thomas so this was small by comparison.  There , be one or two more single over nighters before getting to Baltimore in mid March.  Since overnighting is a lot different than Island hopping, I'll give some details on what it's like.

Over the days, we were on a watch rotation (for the 3 of us). It was more strict at night than during the day.  We stood one hour watches and rotated on the hour.

1.       Ron at wheel, Tom on standby in the cockpit, Phil below asleep.
2.      Tom at wheel, Phil on standby, Ron below asleep.
3.      Phil at wheel, Ron on standby, Tom below asleep.

The first night, it took 3 to 4 rotations before we were able to sleep well (with all the banging and wind noise).  We would begin sleeping at around 7pm.  After a day or two, sleeping on standby was no problem.  During daylight, those not at the wheel were free to roam about.

We certainly miss Bri's gourmet cooking but Captain Phil has done an honorable job of keeping the crew fed.  Eggs to order and toast, French toast, for breakfast, great sandwiches for lunch, and tuna, pasta, dinners.  A well fed crew is a happy crew.

Conditions from Puerto Rico to T&C

Generally, winds ENE at 25 with sea swells at 10 to 12 feet.  Squalls every 4 to 6 hours (usually when Tom had the wheel) - more frequent at night.  Squalls had light to heavy rain and winds 30 to 50 knots.  The stronger winds created a big weather helm that made the boat round up into the wind and made it nearly impossible to turn the wheel back down.  Fortunately, they were all short lived.  The seas had a fair amount of cross swells (waves coming from 2 directions) that made for very choppy and uncomfortable seas. Yesterday was a welcome exception - the wind and waves moderating some and fewer squalls.

We left San Juan at 8am (dock at 7) Saturday.  Captain Phil had cleared us out of the US on Friday.  Leaving the harbor brought immediate rough conditions that persisted for the next 2 days.  We were on a course of 310 to 340 degrees day and night.  We were broad reaching on the same (starboard) tack for the entire trip.  We tied a boom jibe preventer onto the mainsail boom to prevent accidental jibes.  Depending on the swell direction, steering a straight course was usually difficult. On the third day, we sailed on the north side of three banks (under water plateaus).  On the last day, the wind moderated and we motor sailed for about 14 hours straight.  At 4am today, we shut off the engine and hove to about 20 miles north of the Providenciales bight at the west end of the T&C.  We had to wait till 8am for our guide boat to come out and lead us in through the reefs. 

Over the 4 days, we were greeted on two separate occasions by schools of dauphins.  On the second occasion, Tom and I went to the bow and I'm certain the dauphins could see us as the swam back and fourth across our bow - sometimes jumping out of the water. They seemed to tire after about 20 minutes and would fall off behind.  This morning, about 5 miles off our entrance to the reef, we saw a hump back whale jump and clear the water making a huge splash when she/he came back down.  It was an awesome sight.

We will be here at Turtle Cove Marina tonight and tomorrow night.  Tom will fly out tomorrow and Dewey and Mary will arrive tomorrow night.  We will be off again on Thursday morning.  The entrance through the reef was unreal.  I assumed having a guide was a local money maker but after all the twists and turns, we were all glad we had one. 

 

The steering has held up well but the main sail keeps breaking the plastic slugs that attach it to the track on the mast.   Phil has tried finding slides at ports since Antigua but has been unsuccessful. Coming in this morning, he noticed 4 in a row that were broken.  The plan is to start removing slides from the mizzen sail to install on the main.  Also, found another small tear near the head of the jib that will have to be fixed before leaving.