Left Turtle Cove at about 8am.  In the end, Phil's interface with Customs lasted only about 5 minutes.  We has Joeseph lead us out through the reef.  The day was uneventful with 15 to 20 knot ESE winds and 3 to 6' swells.  We arrived at the entrance of Abraham's bay just after sundown which made entering the anchorage a little iffy.  We anchored about 1/2 mile behind a reef that was a little awash making the night pretty rocky. 

Because of the logistics of clearing out of the T&C, we have decided to leave Turtle cove tomorrow - a day later than planned.  Tomorrow morning, we will sail around 70 miles to the island of Mayaguana.  It is big enough to have an airport but is pretty small.  We got provisions for over a week today and ate lunch at a real "dive" - see photos.  Customs was to have met us at the boat at 3:30pm but never showed. 

Rest day in Provo

At Joan's suggestion, I'm reversing the order of the photos to put the most recent at the top - same order as the blog.  I'll be leaving what is there now "as is" till some later date. 

Todays photos are of Captain Phil doing his laundry on the dock and a short video pan of the marina. Tom left to fly home an hour ago.  We will miss him.  We have finish several boat projects this morning - patching a tear near the head of the yankee jib, swapping anchor chains to put the 100' chain on the number 2 (starboard) anchor.  The number 2 is a delta that holds better than the number 1 (CQR).  We will be leaving (cab ride) to go provision next.  Will likely be out of any kind of cell/wifi range for the next 2 to 3 days.   For those back home weathering the snow, ice, and cold, I'm sitting here on the Pintita sweating profusely in the AC.  I know it's hard to imagine. 

If you click on this link and zoom out and in, I think you will be able to see where we are now (Turtle Cove Marina in Turtle Cove).

https://www.google.com/maps/preview/@21.7852112,-72.22692,14z?hl=en

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.

 

 

The weather in Puerto Rico is significantly different than that ESE of here.   We have had rain 2 to 3 times since we came in 24 hours ago.  It's also odd that there are such a limited number of marinas.  We are at the only "public" marina in the city.  The marina office didn't open till after 10am - you can ignore the 8:30am on the sign.  Tom, Brianna, and I took a taxi into Old San Juan around noon and toured the majestic Fort El Moro (see photos).  The fort was on our left as we entered the San Juan harbor and will be on our right tomorrow morning when we leave.  We walked over 2 or 3 fairly major highways this morning to get to the Pueblo supermarket where we got our last provisions for the next several days.  Brianna left at about 3:30 to catch her plane back to Baltimore (brrrr).  We will certainly miss her and I'm only hoping we can survive on the cooking of the remaining 3 old "salts".  Time will tell but I'm sure we could all survive for several days on what we have gained in weight.  The winds for the next 3 days look a little stronger than normal - East, 20 to 30.  The night sailing will be "fun".   Will likely not post again until we get to Providenciales on Turks and Caicos. 

Woke up to a rain storm around 6 am.  Got clothes off the lifelines and closed up the boat but it only lasted for 15 minutes.  Left the anchorage at around 9am and didn't get into San Juan till around 5:30pm, making this the longest sailing day yet.  Had the biggest seas yet with swells averaging 6 or 7 feet with infrequent 9 or 10 footers.  As we rounded the fort into Old San Juan, we were hit with a downpour and squall just as we were taking down the mainsail.  By the time we got to the marina, it had cleared up.  Since the marina closed at 5, we ended up staying on one of the T heads.   Had dinner at the Sizzler steak house overlooking the marina.

Since Brianna departs tomorrow at around 6, we plan to tour the city tomorrow.  Captain Phil, Tom, and I will leave early Saturday morning for a 3 day, two night sail to the Turks and Caicos.  

Anchored in a not so sheltered cove in Endanada Bay on Culebra last night.  Had lots of wind overnight but the wave action made it a fairly good anchorage.   It was surprising to come in and see 10 or 15 boats anchored with no shelter but the reef on the south side of the entrance.  Was lots of noise but the best night sleep I've had yet.

This morning we were up before 7 and after our first "light" breakfast.  Weighed anchor at around 8:30 and were off for my longest (in a day) sail yet - about 45 miles.  It's funny because that's my average distance single handing on the bay.  Of course, I usually start out before 7 and sail till 4 or 5.   We sailed to a small island just off Fajardo.  It is the largest town on the east end of Puerto Rico and the place where Joan and I caught the ferry to Culebra two years ago.  In fact, we can see the ferry landing from where we are anchored.  There were lots of wrecked boats of all sizes all over the island.  The place looks a bit of an eye sore.  It appears they are still recovering from some recent hurricane.   We dropped the dinghy and went for a ride around the island - looking for some good snorkeling. It was refreshing to get in the water but the visibility was very poor. 

Tomorrow, it's on to San Joan where we will be staying in a marina.