Hello all. We’re still here hanging out in Provo, Turks and Caicos Islands.
We had to have our boat documentation sent here so that we would have it on board before heading out for our next adventure. We were able to work with a local mail service and…mission accomplished…yea! We’ve just been hanging out and enjoying Grace Bay Beach and Water Cay. On nice days we take Moon out to the beach and on windy days we hang out in the protected creeks. It has been windy as heck here blowing at least 20 – 25+ every day…so we spend lots of time in the back bay anchorages.
Grace Bay beach is heaven. Unfortunately when it’s nice enough to anchor out front we are so busy running all over doing chores that by the time that we get back to the boat it’s too late to snorkel any of the reefs so we have not had a chance to do that yet. We did get to spend one night in front of the beach because the winds were really calm that day but, unfortunately with the calm winds the swamp angles were also on the hunt and we got eaten alive!! (swamp angles, aka: mosquitoes. Read the book Totch and thought that it was neat that he called them swamp angles so that’s what I’m gonna call them from now on 🙂 )
For all of you that say that you are jealous of us you do not get to see the working side of all of this…like lugging groceries and jugs of water from the store and down the beach and then the challenge of getting back to the boat with the dinghy from the shore, fighting waves and trying to keep everything dry…it keeps things interesting. I’m sure that we are quite a sight too with our backpacks bulging at the seams and us carrying eggs and bread walking down the beach while everyone else is lying in the sun and running around in their bathing suits.
We did get lucky though and found a beach access that we can dinghy to when we are anchored far away from town. We bring our bikes with us and it’s only a 6 mile bike ride to town. Did I say only?? It’s really not too bad but we have to ride against the winds coming back, remember the 25+ winds that I mentioned earlier…yuck!
Good times! Well what can I say, it is what it is, and that’s that!
There is no public transportation here unless you want to rent a cab which we’ve heard is way expensive. What the locals do is stand by the side of the road and there are cars that will pick them up and drop them off for a few bucks. Nothing official, it’s just a person driving around trying to make some cash. (Gas here is $6.60) We did this one day to get around when we first got here but I’m not really sure if this is the safest way for tourists to travel so we decided not to do that anymore. We have our bikes and will go as far as we can on them. Of course Brian he could ride the whole damn island but I am not up for that!
So because of the winds we’ve mostly been anchoring in the calm protected flats where we have daily entertainment from all of the tourist boats that come back here. Party boats anchor by us and the tourists all jump from the diving boards up on the roofs and slide down the slides off the boats, kite boarders fly by us and the “Wild One” speedboat screams by us at full speed while the riders scream with joy or fright of which I’m not sure.
We’ve also been spending lots of time hanging out with the rock iguanas and beach combing on Water Cay. We had over twelve iguanas surrounding us one day…looking for a hand out. It’s kind of creepy to be surrounded by all of them!
Until today we have been the only cruising boat anchored here but we just had two catamarans anchor nearby. I was starting to wonder if we were in the twilight zone being all alone back here. It’s a great spot and we’re surprised that we haven’t seem more boats anchored here.
Well, when the winds are more in our favor we plan on heading out, we’ve been thinking that South Caicos will be our next stop, then on to Grand Turk.
As always we be sure to take lots of pictures for everyone to enjoy.
Until next time take care everyone,
Love and miss you all!
Jennifer and Brian
Hi Jen and Brian,
We’ve finally been sailing and are having a great time learning the ins and outs of the wind. We got 10 knots last week for a fleeting moment. The winds been up here and have been having fun learning the ropes. Tell Brian hello for me. I would not be in the place I am now without his friendship and expertise.
Y’all have fun! later, Brian and Patricia
Glad to hear that you guys are getting out on the water…nothing like wind power…Brian says hello back at you too. Good friends are what make the world go around and we’re lucky to have you as one of ours 🙂 Keep on learning the ropes and maybe one day we will run into you out here. Take care Brian.