Leaving Georgetown

Our weather window finally arrived.  We were on the SSB radio Monday morning at 6:30am with our weather guy (Chris Parker) and he said we had a three day window to get as far as we wanted to go.  His advice...go...go....go!

So, we left immediately for Clarence Town on Long Island.  It is about 60 miles east of Georgetown and one of the only stops on the route to the Turks and Caicos Islands where you can stop to get provisions and fuel.  It was a ten hour sail.

Heading to Clarence Town

We got to Clarence Town late in the afternoon.  While we were having dinner, we decided we would leave the next morning and sail straight through to the Turks and Caicos Islands.  We had a window and we were going to make the most of it....go...go...go!  It was a 160 mile sail south around several other islands (Crooked, Acklins, Mayaguana and a few other small ones in between) so it was going be be a bit tricky at night.

Tuesday morning the seas were calm and there was a light wind that would make for a great downwind sail.  This was our first overnight sail - very cool- the stars (and shooting stars) were unbelievable.

Sunset on the way to the Turks and Caicos

There was phosphorus (a non metallic element which glows in the dark) EVERYWHERE.  Kinja's wake turned into bright glowing light as we glided through the water.

We arrived at the Turks and Caicos Islands about 10am Wednesday morning.  We were going into  Turtle Cove Marina.  But, the entrance is full of reefs and very shallow.  They advise that you call ahead and have a guide boat come out so you can follow it into the marina.

Following the guide boat

We made it in with no problem, but it was shallow and we were glad to have a guide boat.

We had our yellow quarantine flag flying when we arrived at the marina.  The flag signifies that we are coming from another country and have not cleared customs and immigration.  We had to stay on board until the Customs and Immigration official arrived to check us in.  The guy came on board and we had a fun discussion with him about the islands while he processed the paperwork.  This is the way to go through customs!  The Islands are a British Crown Colony.  The islanders are mostly of African descent.  

Turtle Cove is a great marina...more on that later....

Tour of Georgetown

So, we are still here in Georgetown.  Hanging out while the weather settles down.  Looks like we will head out on Saturday to Long Island.  No, not the one we came from.  This is the first island on our way to the Turks and Cacos where we can anchor out.

Here are some pictures from our stay in Georgetown.

We had a family of dolphins stop by our boat one afternoon and they played around the boat for an hour or so.  They seemed to enjoy the music we were playing.

View from the Peace and Plenty Hotel, Restaurant and Bar where we hang out a bit

Road sign in town

We had to have an insurance paper notorized so we went to the city hall.  They called a guy out of court to come over to help us. He sat us down in his office and proceeded to take a very long time to review the document that required him to verify that we were who it said we were.  He finally signed and stamped the document without even asking for our ID's!  I guess anything goes here

Somehow, it is a logical combination... computer store and groceries

Georgetown

We are still anchored off Stocking Island at Monument Beach in Georgetown. Our weather guy "Chris Parker" (we listen to him on our SSB radio) says a bad blow is coming later this weekend of 25-30 knots of sustained winds for 5-7 days. So we had to decide if we wanted to make some headway south with limited places to get shelter, or stay put till it blows over. We decided to stay put in Georgetown.  It is very protected here and there are nice bars and restaurants for us to hang out in.

View from our anchorage...

The trail to the ocean from Elizabeth Harbor

View of the ocean

We are hangin out at places like the Chat n Chill

Where they have a very friendly stingray that you can actually touch!

The St Francis Yacht Club....

View of the ocean from the St. Francis

Like most towns in the Bahamas, downtown Georgetown isn't much to look at.  It has all the services you want but, but "it ain't charming".

The "super market...

The laundromat

Georgetown is either the turn around point for southern Bahama cruisers --- or the launching point for those heading south to the Caribbean.  This is the last place to stock up on supplies before heading south and crossing the Tropic of Cancer.  To go south from here one must commit to real blue water sailing with an Atlantic swell, very few safe harbors and little resources available until you get to the Turks and Cacos Islands.  This is why Georgetown is know as "Chicken Harbor".

So here we are waiting --again-- for a good weather window.  We hope after this next front passes we will have a window for the 5 day sail down to the Turks and Cacos.  From there we will head to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.  We hope to leave the boat for a few months in either Dominican or Puerto Rico while we head back to the U.S. to meet Laura and Wilson's new son...Landon Daniel!  He is due around June 18th.  Yes, Tom & Sue are now G-Daddy and G-Mama.

Headed to Georgetown

Leaving Black Point we headed out the Dathom Cut to the ocean.  It was blowing hard and study at 15-20 knots.  The cut had a very strong current of 3 knots or so.  It was slow going until we cleared the coast line.  Then we turned south and had a great 8 hour sail all the way to Georgetown doing 6-7 knots.

We arrived in Georgetown Thursday at 4pm and found a sheltered anchorage behind Stocking Island. 

 

The next morning we got up and decided to go into town to get supplies.  So we jumped into the dingy and motored across the bay to find everything in town was closed...it was Good Friday.

We figured we could a least hit an ATM at the bank and get some cash (since a lot of places do not accept credit cards), only to find that the bank was out of money.  Then we heard someone say that the gas station might have an ATM.  We walked over and there was not an ATM.  But the guy running the station graciously offered to give us some cash by charging our credit card.  He was going to be closing the station soon because he was out of gas and had lots of cash  Seems everyplace in Georgetown runs out of whatever they are selling on a regular basis.

So then it was a wet dingy ride back to the boat to settle in for the night. 

The weather front has passed

We rode out the storm in Sampson Cay and were very comfortable. We met quite a few boaters as we waited out the storm and had some fun nights at the restaurant.  We even met James Taylor.  No, not the one you are thinking of.  JT is the captain of Fantella (a large 80 ft. motor yacht).  A great guy who gave us a lot of tips on our future route.  He lives in Provo in the Turks & Cacos.  He invited us to catch up with him when we get there.    

It is time to move on so we are heading out mid morning for the short 20 mile sail to Black Point.  

We made it to Black Point early afternoon and anchored out with our friends Jim and Michelle.  We had them over to Kinja for cocktails and laughs.  They are great people and very fun to hang out with.

A boat anchored in the Black Point Harbor...

There is not much of a town at Black Point.  But someone was pretty creative when the decided to plant a mast in front of their house to use as an antenna...

Oh, and did I forget to mention that they do not accept credit cards anywhere in the very small town of Black Point... and of course there are no banks or ATM's.  Evidently money comes over on the mail boat when people request it.

We got up early the next morning and headed out for the 55 mile sail on the outside of the Exuma Banks (in the ocean) to Georgetown.

Sunrise at Black Point as we were heading out ...