Well, we made it to Providenciales, Turks & Caicos. It was a 24 hour passage, literally. We left yesterday morning at 7:30 a.m. and we did our preliminary customs clearance at about 6:30 this morning. Then it was another 9 miles up the channel (about an hour and a half) to our anchorage. It was kind of weird, we were outside the Providenciales channel waiting on the sun to come up - there are a lot of rocks and you have to be on the lookout. Anyway, Provo Radio (the local authority) called "the boat at a certain latitude and longitude". After almost 24 hours with little sleep, we weren't making the connection but finally figured out that they were calling us. We went through about a 20 minute discussion, relaying information about us and our boat, as we were doing circles getting ready to come down the main channel. The guy finally cleared us and we made our way, with me on the bow again watching for rocks, to our anchorage and dropped the anchor. We "preliminarily" cleared customs but now we had to lower D-Time and take it into town to clear the official customs house. Daniel took D-Time and all of our papers and headed for town. When he got back, about an hour later, soaking wet from the waves and his docking spot (he was told to dock next to the large container ships), we had cleared customs. I took down the Q-flag and sent up the Turks & Caicos flag.
Somewhere during the long night Daniel did something to his back and basically threw his back out. Thanks to our friends, Walter and Victoria (who were kind enough to give us some medication before we left), Daniel is laying down and feeling no pain right now. I, on the other hand, couldn't pass up these gorgeous waters so I have been snorkeling. Just saw 3 sea turtles - really, really cool! Our daughter-in-law, Sonia, the biology girl in our family, went crazy when she heard about the sea turtles - she was ready to come join us on the trip.
Providenciales, what I've seen of it so far, is a pretty town. There are lots of rocks, rock walls and I understand it is a great place for snorkeling and diving. I had big plans to go into town and to the grocery store but when I found out it was an hour walk to the store, I think I will put this shopping trip off and wait for the next major city or possibly buy groceries tomorrow when we stop for diesel.
Every day is different and every day is a blessing and a wonder. I say this after spending 24 hours on the passage from heck. Good news, I never did pull out the Dramamine. Our friends Mark and Amanda, the couple that was going along with us on the 24 hour passage in their boat, commented that the wave condition was a pretty big mess, not a good situation at all and the weather forecast just did not hold up. I told them since they have 10 years experience, I feel better knowing that my complaints were justified. It was a long, long, long night.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone, especially to my sweetheart.
Carla, glad to see you made it safe to the Turks and Caicos! I hope Daniel's back gets better or you will be the new captain! Happy Valentines and we miss you but love hearing about your journey!
ReplyDeleteJill P
Wow guys, adventure of a lifetime! I am thoroughly enjoying following your travels through your blog.
ReplyDeleteRoxanne Wells
Hi Carla and Daniel so glad to see you made your over night crossing and all went well. So after doing this how did your Hunter 410 handle the high seas? We someday plan to do the same with our 1998 410 as well and have outfitting it every year to feel safe and handle our cruising life aboard. I agree with you Carla about changing out the salon table for a smaller version to make it easier to move around the settee. We are heading today in te cold and snow to take some measurements and pictures of the support under the table as I found a beautiful oak table at restore for $12.00 and plan to use this for the table. I really enjoy your blog and love to see all the changes you have done, we have done many as well in the 5 years that we have had her. We have ordered the new led lights for the boat inside and I will be going up the mast to check the anchor light bulb size to change that one out as well,, unless Daniel knows this size(saves me going up again) I look forward to your comments on the boat trip over to Turks as its nice to see our boat through your blog. Ehjoy the sunshine, its cold here in Ontario, Canada. S/V Secondwind, Sandra(&Dave)
ReplyDeleteHi Sandra - good to hear from you again. I hope you guys get on your Hunter and sail down and join us. It is wonderful down here. C-Time held up well on the trip to the Dominican Republic - I just posted the details. Daniel said to let you know that the light is an after market light purchased from orcagreen.com it is USCG rated to 2NM. I have a picture, but there is no way to tell the size. Sorry we couldn't be more helpful. C.
DeleteHi Carla, well this is my 2nd attempt to write back to you. GRRRR I am using Dave's new computer that drives me crazy, windows 8!! So I will try this again. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I guess I will have to still go up the mast as the lights we put up last year to light up our mast neon blue need to be hard wired as we did a temporary wiring job that I used the track that runs along the mast to insert the wire and hold it in with grey foam weather stripping but it seems to be falling out as the two sided clear tape doesn't like our cold winters. So up the mast I will go and check the bulbs for the deck light and the anchor light and order new LED lights for these two bulbs as well. We went up to the boat on the weekend and had to climb over a 8' mountain for snow to just get to our boat(no laughing out loud) and then it was an easy climb with no ladder with the help of two large boulders resting against our rudder(will call marina to get them to move them so there isn't damage done) the boat looks great inside but it was so cold the deck floors were like an ice rink, we could have done triple sow cows and got an olympic metal for our efforts below. We measured for the new smaller table and we think the oak one I grabbed the other day will fit if we just use on half of the full table (its an oval shape oak table) we will take it up next trip and lay it on top of the old table before we cut any part of it off and sand the old color stain and refinish it. I am finally caught up on your blog entries and have enjoyed all your fun filled days and great pictures. We have been to Punta Cana Dr and loved it, The best beaches in the world with just white pure sand and not a sea shell to be found. \not sure what part of the DR you are anchored in but it must be beautiful! Just remember to put on your sunscreen, don't make me go all "mother" all over you for not wearing it. Yikes, I sound like my mom! Looking forward to your next island adventure, keep up the great blog, Awesome work Carla.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you! Sorry it took so long to reply! We are without internet a lot and sometimes when I get it in the cafes, I have to hurry. Anyway, so glad you're doing our table refit. You will love it! I love it. It is the best one as far as I'm concerned. I use it every day. So easy to get around the table!
DeletePunta Cana is right around the corner (sort of). We have really loved the DR - I never knew it was so beautiful here. The mountains at the water, just take your breath away! I use LOTS of sunscreen, "Mom", don't worry :-). Why don't you e-mail me at my regular email, easier than leaving a comment and reply. It's svctime@gmail.com. Take care! C.