Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI)

Beach at Clarencetown anchorage - we spent a very windy Easter Sunday afternoon here.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

We left Clanrencetown, Long Island at 7 AM last Tuesday and sailed directly for 30 hrs the 180 miles  to Sapodilla Bay off of the island of Providenciales in the Caicos chain.  We were worried about coral heads coming in but it was pretty easy to maneuver - just go around the brown spots.  Luckily, we also had calm seas then, though our trip here was bigger seas than predicted, but we were able to sail a lot rather than motor - Yea!  There are 40 some islands and cays in TCI, and we will not get to most of them.  We needed to get here to prepare for next leg to Dominican Republic, which is about 140 miles away.  Now we are at a dock at the South Side marina on Provo and it is great to have good wifi, take a walk every day, and enjoy daily happy hour at their bar.  Bob the owner runs a laid back personal business here, and will take us to stores or any where we want to go.  To see the sights would require renting a car, and since they drive on the left side of the road here, we are afraid we might kill ourselves or someone else!  Cabs are horrendously expensive, so we have learned to just walk along the road and a "jitney" driver will see us and for a much smaller fee drive us back to the marina.  I think the jitneys are illegal.  I always wanted to see the TCI but have to say it is a little bit of a disappointment from a cruising standpoint.  too expensive, too far  to walk most places, and many dangerous reefs that prevent us from taking the boat most places.  Plan is to stay here with friendly Bob and his crew until we leave for the DR, which may be over a week.

Our table set for Easter meal

Some of the shells I found on Easter Sunday

View of the entrance to South Side marina in Provo - with our 6 foot draft we can only come in on high tide.
A nice reef outside the red buoy.  The land on each side is used as a quarry.