Settle in, folks. I’m cramming our entire two weeks in Turks & Caicos into a single post. Although the Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) cover only 75 miles to the Bahamas 500+ miles, it is very difficult to get around, so we did very little of interest ashore, and there wasn’t much to be done in the water, either. So one post is all it’s worth. I’ll give a little description of TCI, then get into what we did. I’ve labeled the two sections so you can skip one or the other if you like.
Description
The Turks & Caicos Islands are geologically similar to the Bahamas- coral limestone outcroppings, mangroves and turquoise waters. From east to west, the shallow Caicos Bank is bordered by the larger islands to the north of Providenciales, then North, Middle and East Caicos, and by reef to the south. Throw in West Caicos on the western edge and South Caicos on the eastern edge. From South Caicos, travel east across the deep water Turks Island Passage to reach Grand Turk Island, with little Salt Cay and even tinier Big Sand Cay to the south and a little east. TCI comprises 40 islands and cays, 11 of which are inhabited. The total population is around 32,000, with 90% of those residing in the Caicos group of islands, over 23,000 in Providenciales alone. The north side of the northern islands is outlined by reef as well. One can arrive by boat either on the north side or south side of Providenciales, but once arrived, there’s no way to reach the opposite shore without going back out and around the western edge of Providenciales, unless you are a very shallow-draft boat, like 2’ or less. In the past, TCI was known for the production of salt and sisal, and for sponge farming. The remaining local industries include some fishing, as well as some locally grown produce from more fertile North Caicos. Otherwise, TCI relies very heavily on tourism these days, with cruise ships going to Grand Turk.
The Taino and Lucayan Indian peoples populated the islands from the 500s to 800s. Once the Spanish arrived in 1492, they sold the Tainos and Lucayans into slavery on Hispaniola, which both depopulated the islands and resulted in the near extinction of both peoples. The Spanish, French and British dominated the islands in the 16th-18th centuries, bringing in African slaves, but there were no permanent settlements until the Loyalists fled America during the Revolution, some landing in the TCIs. Pirates also used the area as a hangout. The islands were annexed by Britain as part of the Bahamas in 1799. In 1841, 7 years after Britain abolished slavery, an illegal slave ship, the Trouvedore, sank, and the surviving 192 African slaves came ashore to freedom and settled. Their descendants comprise about 90% of the “belonger” population today (ie- not more recent transplants). In 1973, Bahamas became independent from Britain, but TCI remains to this day a British Overseas Territory. They have a governor appointed by the reigning British monarch, and since their 2006 Constitution, a Premier who is the political leader and head of government. You know, the typical colonial empire story. (Thanks to our 2018 Explorer Chartbook of the Far Bahamas with Turks & Caicos for providing all this information. It saved me from using up our data for the research.)
Our Explorations
The alarm went off at 4:45 AM on Sunday, February 26th. We started the coffee, did a quick check of the marine weather, then hauled anchor at 5:00 AM to start our passage to Turks & Caicos (TCI- for Turks & Caicos Islands). We bid farewell to the Bahamas after three years, and watched the sun rise over the Atlantic. Guajira departed an hour after us, knowing they would travel faster than we would and eventually pass us, which they did sometime late morning. We had both had terrible crossings to Mayaguana, where we met each other, and were looking forward to a beautiful, calm, day passage to TCI. We were not disappointed! We had gentle swells that only got gentler the closer we got closer to TCI. At just past 7:00 AM, a fish hit one of our lines and shortly thereafter, Dave landed a good size Mahi that ended up netting us 5 lbs of fillets. Woo hoo! Guajira was graced with a Mahi as well, shortly after us. We were anchored in Sapodilla Bay on the south side of Providenciales by 2:00 PM, Guajira having anchored about an hour before us, at which point they radioed us with information about depths and location. I went up to the roof to remove the Bahamian flag and run up the Q-flag. We decided to clear into the country the following day, so we stayed aboard resting for the remainder of Sunday. (In brief, for those unfamiliar, you are not allowed to step off your boat until you have officially cleared in with Customs & Immigration. At some point I’ll post about the clearing in and out process for cruisers.)
We radioed Guajira Monday morning, and since they had a working phone, they made the arrangements for both them and us to get slips at South Side Marina where Customs & Immigration would meet us for check in. This time we got to return the reconnaissance favor to Guajira, who draws 6’ of water to our 4’. We headed into the marina on half tide rising and reported depths back to them, seeing 5.7’ at the shallowest before high. So they timed their entry for about an hour after us and had no problem getting in. It’s good to have a buddy boat! We had lunch aboard while we waited to clear in. The officials arrived about 1:00 PM and Dave was back on board by 2:00 PM. With the freedom to finally go ashore, Mom & I washed sheets and towels in the marina laundry while Dad & Dave remade the beds. We all took luxurious showers ashore! That night, the four of us, plus Alison and Juan from Guajira, attended a potluck hosted at the marina every Monday night. We met some interesting people, including the past and present owners of the marina. We even saw a Space-X launch!
We spent the next two days exploring Providenciales, the most populated island of the TCI, by rental car. There is practically nothing one can get to by foot from any of the marinas or beach landings, so exploring requires a rental car.
On Tuesday, we checked out the shopping in the Grace Bay area, which had mostly kitsch or high end stuff that has nothing to do with the TCI. We had lunch at the Mango Reef restaurant at Turtle Cove Marina on the north side of the island, then went to snorkel at Smith’s Reef. It was a challenging entry from the beach, so my folks just paddled around near shore a bit. Dave and I swam the short distance to the reef only to be disappointed by mostly dead coral, poor visibility and a few fish and one small sea turtle. People on one of the TCI Facebook groups raved about the snorkeling here, but I’m not sure what their frame of reference was. It was not the same as ours, however. We had been planning to then go snorkel the “Coral Gardens” off Grace Bay beach, but decided it would likely be the same and so did not do so. We had dinner at Bob’s Restaurant at the marina. Alison and Juan had picked up their friend, Glynn, who is crewing with them to Puerto Rico, and they sat near us at dinner so we could chat while we waited for food.
The next day we headed for Northeast Point National Park, the furthest point NE on Providenciales. The paved road became a very dusty but graded, hard-packed dirt road, then a single lane dirt road, ending in a “parking area,” which is really just a couple of bump offs from the little road before it becomes beach sand. From there it was a very short walk to the beach on the Atlantic. We walked northeast toward the point, pretty close to a mile away. My folks stopped earlier, but Dave & I went all the way and took the obligatory pictures at the aid to navigation light. We were treated to gorgeous views! There is an awful lot of resort development going on in an area that is supposed to be a National Park. Makes one wonder whose palms are being greased. After our beach hike, we drove the coastal road back toward town looking for Da Conch Bar restaurant that we’d heard was very good. We found it. It’s on the beach and is entirely outdoor seating under the shade of palm trees. The seating is split between being up on platforms and down on the beach in the sand. Yummy food, too.
We left the marina late Thursday late morning. First, we had coffee with another couple we’d met, Brent and Debora on M/V Change of Pace; they are also heading to Puerto Rico via Dominican Republic. We bid farewell to both Change of Pace and Guajira and headed back to Sapodilla Bay for the night before moving on to West Caicos the following day. That island is on the western entrance to the Caicos Bank. We’d passed it transiting to TCI from Bahamas. We anchored in good sand among the well-dispersed coral heads on the north side of the island. This area is a National Park. There is a lovely, long sand beach and scattered corals. There’s also a would be marina around the north point on the west side of the island, and development of what appears to be a resort, in a National Park. Go figure. We spent three nights here exploring our surroundings in this peaceful anchorage. The coral was, as usual, mostly dead, but there were spots with fish, and one patch of coral not far from our boat had some live coral as well. It was a relaxing few days after our city excursions. We met only one other boat that stopped to say hello; they were also originally from NH! Monday morning, the 6th, we headed back to Providenciales, this time anchoring a little east of Sapodilla Bay, behind Bay Cay. It made for a short cruise to South Bank Marina the next morning for my folk’s final day and night onboard.
We arrived at South Bank Marina about 9:00 AM on the 7th, filled our diesel tank with their clean, filtered fuel, and then took up our spot on the dock for the night. After that, it was all about chores. Mom & Dad worked on packing while Dave & I met the rental car guy in the parking lot and then worked on getting our empty propane tank refilled and on reprovisioning for the next 8 weeks. We stopped at the local brewery so Dave could by a couple of cases of their beer (in cans- yay!), so we just had to sit and enjoy a draft beer. We shared a stout, a type I actually enjoy. We finished our errands, returned to the marina, showered, and took my folks back to Bob’s Restaurant at South Side Marina for a farewell/upcoming anniversary dinner. We played a final round of Michigan Rummy back on Lady before bed.
We got my folks to the airport by 9:00 AM the following morning, Wednesday the 8th. After bidding them farewell, we did a few more errands before we had to return the car for noon. The most important errand was to replace the connection for the propane tank that Dad had noticed was leaking when he put the newly refilled tank in place. Thank goodness he noticed! We managed to find what we needed after several stops and Dave replaced the part back on Lady before we pulled out of the marina mid-afternoon. We anchored off Cooper Jack Point, a bit east of our last anchorage, and there we stayed through Friday, March 10. During that time we did a bunch of boat chores and passage preparation for our upcoming, overnight passage to Dominican Republic. Dave cleaned, sorted and stored our snorkeling gear, spent a couple of hours cleaning our hulls, washed down our decks and made water. I did laundry and prepared various food stuffs for the passage (and beyond), vacuumed and washed the floors, and created our exit ticket for TCI and entrance tickets for DR online. Alison and Juan called us at one point with a bunch of helpful information about Luperón, where they had safely arrived Wednesday morning, the day my folks flew home. Sadly, they would not be there when we arrived, as the weather window that would bring us to Luperón would send them to Samaná.
Dave dinghied ashore to clear us out of TCI Friday afternoon, and at sun-up on Saturday we were underway to Big Ambergris Cay, our final stop in TCI before our passage to Luperón. It was a very calm passage and we were anchored by 2:30 PM. That was enough time to enjoy a snorkel at two nearby coral heads before drinks, dinner, a movie and bed.
Sunday morning dawned bright and calm, so I did yoga on the tramp walkway. We had a hearty breakfast and tended to a couple of final tasks. We’d planned a 12:00 PM departure, but the sun was so good, we opted to leave at 11:00 AM and cruise on solar and battery as long as we could. So we hauled anchor and set off for Luperón. You will have to wait for next weekend’s post to hear about that trip.
Until then, stay safe and take care of each other!
Life on Lady 