It Never Rains in Turks and Caicos. It Poured!

After a nice motor sail, the four cats anchored in Sapodilla bay, 5 miles from anything except some second homes built along the shore. We were welcomed by Sarah and John and their 5 children on the boat Leohana. Seems they were on a slow world cruise and were asked to start up a Mormon church on the island, delaying their world cruise for over a year.
On Sunday morning we hitch-hiked to church having no idea where it was or what time it started. By luck, we got a ride, found the church and made it almost on time. We were fortunate to have found an English speaking, younger, humorous priest who performed Sabrina’s reconciliation. He was most impressed by her ability to recall Act of Contrition perfectly. The thought of Sunday Brunch faded as nothing was open. A taxi driver said he would take back to the boat for $5.00. The fare also included the chance to show us just how fast his little car would go in a 40 MPH zone. Answer: 79 MPH. I tried to explain that we weren’t really in a big hurry, we typically don’t ever see speeds over 8mph the way we drive….in a boat.
For days the wind blew from the “wrong” direction and it rained and it rained. While driving a rental car through the flooded streets the kids yelled, “Hey daddy, water is coming in the doors!.” Angie and I had been here when Parker was 1. Other than a lot more second homes, hotels and more traffic nothing had changed in Provo.
Despite everything we could possibly do to leave our land life picture perfect, we had two back-to-back financial debacles that were totally unwarranted. The stress of it all pushed Angie into days of dread and self blame for doing enough. We have our health and that’s something money can’t always buy or fix.
The next weather window was sad and sweet. It was sweet that we could leave. The saddest part was goodbyes to DC and Beach Magic… and the two new kid boats that showed up from Georgetown, Sea-ya-manana and Tantara. We had 15 kids over for a movie night on our last night so say goodbye. It was especially hard to leave Dream Catcher who had been boat buddies with us for over a month. There were tears, gifts and promises of see you later and not goodbyes. This time was especially hard for Parker and Nicole who had gotten very close. Despite a forecast of unsettled weather with potential for 40 knot squalls, we sailed with Leocat to the DR. During a storm at night, the wind generator base broke. I had to take it apart on the roof with a pitching boat in the rain, wind and dark only using one hand! 28 hours later, we were in the DR.

Mayaguana (My A God, I Wanna) Leave!

Beach Magic (the first Manta, from Quebec), LeoCat (Leopard 47 from Quebec), DC and Side-by-Side, all cats with kids, all sailed together on an “exhilarating” wet, rough overnight passage. We first had to bash our way over the top of Long Island and then set sail for Mayaguana at the bottom of the Bahamas. Finally, we were successful in catching not one but two 48” mahi-mahis!
The waters were crystal clear and the men hunter-gatherers from the USA outscored the Canadians, 5 lobsters to nothing. On my last pass around a lone coral head rock, I came face-to-face with the largest lobster I have ever seen anywhere! A stretch of the pole spear band, a big breath of air and down I went to claim the ultimate prize of spear fishing. A perfect shot and a celebratory whoo-hoo at the surface as my fellow hunters jaws dropped.
Sabrina so wanted to spear her own lobster. She took a perfect shot but had the tip deflect off its shell as he shot back in his hole. When we went ashore we saw a fresh pile of lobsters minus only the tails, left by local fishermen. It saddened me to see at least 30 pounds of lobster meat wasted. On one of our outings, Dave on DC also found an enormous lobster. His heart was racing as he settled himself and dove down to take a shot. He speared it only to find out it was a scrapped head that had settled under a rock!
The ladies and the children went ashore to “see the town” and met the unshakable Yule. Yule was the self professed expert of the island. He has been “involved” in every major project on the island including building the roads, the new air strip, many of the houses, and he claimed to be the local fishing expert as well. Now in his 30’s, he is “retired”. They are in need of workers to build the new marina but he won’t work for their wages. Yes sir, for two days of shore activities, Yule was always by our side though we never asked him to join us. We piled in arranged pick up trucks to travel to the islands north shore for supposed “great shelling” and possibly to find a Portuguese glass fishing ball. There were no shells, the water was too shallow for swimming and the glass balls are best found after a hurricane. It was the first place where we felt everyone looked at us as a meal ticket and hospitality was not free.
Yet another “build it and they will come” project is bleeding cash here in Mayaguana. They are building a 2 mile long airstrip here for the next generation of jumbo passenger jets and a huge marina. Attention Cancun and Puerto Rico, Mayaguana’s is going to take all your business with their super runway. Mind you there are no attractions, no great beaches, no visitors, no lodging, no shopping and no boats. Unfortunately the weather kept us here for more days than we had hoped. My a god I wanna leave….pronounced Mayaguana. Finally the gods allowed us to sail down to Turks and Caicos.

Methaphor Dominates

The highlight of the week and our trip thus far was having the honor to race on Scott and Tina’s J-37, Metaphor. A “cruising” J-boat that has been “Scottized” for speed. The in-harbor race was a real test of skill in light wind conditions. We were in awe of the number of strategies employed by Scott, who races on Titan professionally, to move the boat just a little bit faster than the rest of the fleet. Because of his boat and status, Metaphor was assigned a huge handicap disadvantage for the races. This means you can win the race but still lose to a slug in the water when the handicap is factored in. Scott said, "All we can hope for is the wind dies as we cross the finish”, as our winning margin was not large enough to cover the rating. As we glided over the line, the wind just died! The competition, “No Justice” sat, spitting distance from the finish line, stalled in the water. The rest of the race fleet took hours to finish with no wind with anchors deployed to prevent going backwards.
After hugs and kisses and Oma was on her way home after a great week. It was sad to have her go as the week went by so fast! The kids had a fun play date with friends on Sea-ya-Manana and we prepared for the fishing and baking contest for the Around Stocking Island race on Metaphor. With over 50 entrants, individually timed starts eliminated “close calls” at the line. Having the entire mono hull fleet on the course in front of us, Team Metaphor went to work. I could see it now, all the boats would have to sail through the in-harbor cut and then ALL come into the first mark together. Yikes!
I wanted to watch the frenzy of a dozen boats within a few feet of us going every which way. I never looked because I knew that my job at the receiving winch was paramount to avoiding a collision. Listening to people yelling, winches screaming and sails flogging all around really got my heart racing. Our boat was silent and precise as we overtook nearly a dozen boats at the mark. We went on to pass every boat in the fleet and were first over the line. Well the St Francis 50’ that started after us was able to best our time by 12 seconds that day! Adjusted, we lost several hour race by only 14 seconds… amazing how every second counts. Metaphor won blue in several categories including the Regatta overall. Angie’s peanut clusters were a strong contender for the baking contest, losing to tiramisu. Throughout my lifetime I’ve never won any competition (other than bowling) and I have to say this felt good. Our weather window came the very next morning as boats departed in mass. Some returning north to the states and others like us heading south.

Georgetown Regatta Week

Each day of Georgetown Regatta week had planned events and competitions organized by cruising volunteers. Our contribution to the event was a 4 CD compilation of “newer” music that we created for Rockin’ Ron. The events we missed included: a pet parade, coconut harvest challenge, bocce ball, volleyball, softball, ocean beach golf. Participating in Kids’ day, the rowing events, the scavenger hunt, sand castle building, and two days of sailboat regatta racing was plenty. The events were run on a tight schedule with pre-registration required. We found this out the hard way as the kids were not allowed to enter their hermit crabs at the last minute. Tears flowed.
The children showed Oma their tree climbing, rope swinging and fort building abilities. Alvina enjoyed the adult “summer camp” scene with most of the people being her age. We entered the dingy scavenger hunt with DC while the kids had their own team. One problem was discovered from the start, the kids had the same list as the adults (which included getting a cold beer)! We had to negotiate sharing items…like pirate CDs, flares. In Georgetown, wearing a U of M t-shirt got me an unsolicited ride back to the dock from a recent alumnus. After a judge’s conference about our water bucket, we got a respectable 3rd place, missing 1st place by one entry! The kids settled for second with an adult/kid team winning. More life lessons as there was no second place prize.
Barefootin’ it to “Beach Church” Sunday morning gave us a chance to pray for strength for the rowing regatta immediately following. The events did not start well with all of the men’s rowing competitors lined up to start as we pulled up 5 minutes late. I start strong… too strong and pull the rows right out of the holes. No prize in this race for Johnson 1. Parker, by far the youngest of the group, started great until Malcolm rowed into him… he finished at the end of the pack. Again, more life lessons. Angie got third in the women’s rowing, out of 4 competitors, getting beat by a 75 year old woman. This is much harder than it looks. Blind rowing...now this could be our sport..an adult rows while a kid directs. Turn right..whose right, yours or mine! Parker and I got a second place..even after going way off-course. Sabrina rowed with Nicole (DC). Angie watched and yelled from shore as the blind teenagers smacked both girls in the head with their oar. They got a special ribbon for getting injured. More tears…don’t forget this is supposed to be fun!
Sabrina, our go-getter, entered the kayak race as the only girl and 4 years younger than everyone else. She paddled the entire women’s course without giving up and finished last. Angie started out strong in the women’s kayak event but ran out of gas nearing the finish….a respectable 4th. The “13 feet of fun”, Dave (DC) and I paddled for our life. The kayak was plowing through the water with all of the weight. The teenager girls won and the photo finish for 3rd did not go our way. (Our photo clearly shows us taking third… oh well).
For kids day they did GPS treasure hunts, hole digging, crafts, obstacle courses, long jump, and all the kids favorite, the homemade sailboat races. The kids’ came home with lots of ribbons. Parker’s rig used an old foam cooler as the hull and was called “litter box”. Sabrina using a Styrofoam catamaran with Mylar sails won her first heat handily but was unable to get her boat to sail straight in the finals. In the afternoon, 70 local Bahamian children played team games with the cruising kids for a great cultural experience. The adults had a great time dancing to Bahamian Rake-n-Scrape that night.

Emerald Bay, Great Exuma Island

Emerald Bay, Great Exuma Island

With Angie’s Mom, Alvina, (Oma to the kids) flying in for the week, we moved the boat 10 miles north to the Four Seasons/Emerald Bay marina. The brand new, 200-slip marina charged a special rate of $.75/foot including all the laundry you could do. (we managed 8 loads) They even laid out “the Emerald Bay red carpet” in front of our boat. We loved the free shuttle to the market and the sister resorts’ pool and hot tub. The “high season” occupancy rate of the condos and marina was less than 10% while they were still building more units and more amenities! What they really needed to do was complete the breakwall to the marina entrance to stop the waves breaking into the marina. Of course, her luggage and all our “supplies” from the states did not make it! If you can believe it, the taxi driver said he could get the luggage with no claim check or ID. We waited and waited for the luggage to come in the next day and finally called the airport.. no plane for awhile. The kids really wanted to do the Georgetown pet parade with their decorated hermit crabs. Thanks to Exodus, another Manta, for agreeing to deliver the luggage to Georgetown. So we cast off back to Georgetown, sorry to leave the marina life. Oma loved it so much she wanted to go back.

We claim the island

 

An Island of our Own

We “buddy boated” with Dream Catcher to the untouched Jumentos. Everyone got along so well together and it was much more fun to have another boat around in these remote island. The boats were rigged and ready for a sunrise departure and “fishing tournament”. Chaos occurred as we sailed onto shallow water (40’) and immediately had 5 barracuda on the lines. Lines crisscrossed, lures were destroyed or lost and a feeding frenzy of mass proportion ensued. We released 2 barracuda, lost 4 rigs, and brought in a half of a barracuda (i.e. “header”). It seems that 4’ barracudas are bite sized morsels for larger predators of the deep! $50.00 in lures, gone! Dream Catcher landed their first Mahi Mahi, the winning fish. They shared their good fortune and fed us all.

Jamaica Cay was our day’s landfall. On its shore was what was to be a vacation "resort" in paradise. What we found was abandoned semi-trailers and an abandoned building that has been jury rigged by cruisers to catch rain water. On the kids' beach walk, they spotted a crude boat, probably Haitian with food out and everything… but where were the people? There are lots of Haitians in the Bahamas trying to make a life for themselves and not get caught.
Lisa spotted a large bull shark behind their boat so we picked the snorkeling spots carefully with Lisa staying in the boat as a look out.

Johnson Cay:
Our family thought this was one of the most beautiful places on earth. A powder sand crescent shaped beach harbor big enough for only 2 boats. To one side of the bay was a beautiful reef to the other was a rocky hill. . Snorkeling, beach fires, exploring and lounging were the scheduled events of the couple of days we spent there. Before leaving, the children painted and signed a piece of driftwood “Welcome to Johnson Cay” for their art lesson. We later learned that this piece of paradise sold for only $145,000 just a few years ago. If only we had known, we could have had our own island (ha).

Racoon Cay:
We motored an hour north to Raccoon Cay for the northerly protection. That evening we saw a Bahamian walking with a rifle and camo on the shore, which was a surprise. He appeared to be hunting the wild goats and pigs of this uninhabited island. We realized that we were closer to Cuba than Georgetown, Bahamas. Further north we stopped over in search of a blue hole. After bushwhacking a bit we found the overgrown path leading to the blue hole. This one had a soft bottom mushrooming up in the middle with caves extending out the sides. All 8 of us jumped in and had a great swim. We also saw several stacked stone walls of the Loyalists’ past. There are ruins of their houses and field walls throughout the islands.

Buena Vista Cay
Buena Vista Cay to the south had a fabulous cluster of cays and a great shallow reef with a 5 lobster dinner waiting for us next to our boats. On this leg of shallow water we dragged some beat up lures and were able to get a jack and mackerel among all the 4 barracuda we released.
We again met up with another kid boat Aries. Parker and Sabrina practiced trying to spear fish on the south end of the island. As often happens, sharks cruised by for a look and it was out of the water for the families. Flamingo Cay had a large grotto cave we drove our dinghies into, balanced conch shells on rocks for fun and swam around in. Despite the pricks and scrapes we bushwhacked to a hilltop where the ruins of an old house, well, field and cave was located. Numerous times we have seen evidence of Mother Nature winning out over mans attempt to settle this harsh environment.
Seashore shopping has become a fashionable pastime for us. I have a pink shirt from a dive at Lee Stocking Island, a shirt and shorts ensemble from Johnson Cay. Angie picked up a nice white skirt on the shores of Flamingo Cay and the kids build the wildest forts and seashore art from all the stuff the ocean brings in. With all the clothing and shoes (never a pair) we find washed up on shore there must be a lot of em-bare-assed people making there way home from the beaches of the world. “Huh? Well I’ll just walk home naked.”

Parker and Sabrina go diving:
Before leaving we motored out a couple of miles and re-anchored at one of the ocean’s blue holes. We had a fabulous dive as a family using our Hooka system. We all swam from the boat to the rising ring and then descended down the coral laden mouth. We made our way around the interior, swimming under ledges, around coral heads through schools of fish, and did summersaults for fun. Before leaving we arranged some dead conch shells to say HI.