The Flamingos at Long Cay

While hiking on Long Cay our breath was taken away as the resident flock of flamingos lifted into the air surprising us with their close proximity. The chase was on then as we spent a goodly amount of time traipsing about the salt ponds in an effort to get a close view of these magnificent birds.

Long Cay, the Bahamas (The Bight of Acklins)

Long Cay is in the Crooked Island district of the Bahamas. Just over one mile wide and 9 miles long it marks the north-west edge of the very shallow Bight of Acklins waters.

The only settlement on the island, Albert Town, fell on hard times with the failing of the sponge and salt industries. A testimony to more prosperous times is the Anglican church, the largest built in the Bahamas south of Nassau (currently under partial restoration). Today 30 residents remain on the island.

We were saddened by the decaying sign at the dock welcoming one to Long Cay "the Home of Prosperity".

We anchored on the southeast side of Long Cay, miles off shore, in 4 feet of water and took our dinghy in past the mounds of conch shells marking the very shallow channel.

A hike along the dirt track to the other side of the island revealed the gorgeous beach off Albert Town. While we were there the wind was whipping the top off the surf as it crashed across the reef surrounding the town.

On the Move - North-west

Anchor to Anchor - March 25, 2010

Big Sand Cay to West Caicos, Turks and Caicos

19 hours - 90 miles

La 21.39.6'N Lo 72.28.2'W

Anchor to Anchor - March 27, 2010

West Caicos, Turks and Caicos to Long Cay, Bahamas (the Bight of Acklins)

27 hours - 137 miles

La 22.34.7'N Lo 74.20.1'W

We find ourselves choosing a different route north than the one we followed south (2007) and planning our passages "around" certain places. Notably we chose to by-pass the Dominican Republic and the banks of the Turks and Caicos.

Pleasantly, this gives us a chance to explore some different locations along the way.

Repairs

While anchored at Big Sand Cay we undertook repairs to the damage we sustained on route.

Barry made a stainless steel bracket and through-bolted it to the remaining part of the goose-neck on the boom with a nylon webbing strap as a safety.

We will seek a facility to weld the goose-neck properly along the way.

The boom-vang snap shackle was replaced and 2 lines were rigged (port and starboard) to use as a jybe preventer in conjunction with the vang.

Big Sand Cay - Turks and Caicos

La 21.11.6'N Lo 71.15.2'W

Big Sand Cay is a giant, completely isolated sand dune surrounded by reef and crystal clear turquoise water.

We spent 3 nights here, all but one by ourselves. We swam to shore a couple of times and explored the "island" extensively. The only structures on shore are 2 abandoned old wells and a non-working light. The wind instruments previously here are now gone. The windward side was a great delight to us as we scrounged through the debris (flip-flops, runners, bottles, plastic jugs, floats, nets, coral and shells). Barry "scored" some lines, hose clamps and a plastic spout. I was happy with the shells and sea glass.

The layer of tiny, round white shells on the lee-side beach give one the impression of bubbles in the sand.

On shore we note a multitude of small lizards that call Big Sand Cay home. As well, we spotted a pair of Osprey, 3 tropic-birds, a barracuda, a shark and a sting-ray. After dark flocks of unidentified small birds "screamed" around the island.

While here we find ourselves thinking of, and missing, Ola and Tom (Blind Faith) and Carmelle and Yvon (Taima) as they were here with us on our way south in 2007.

Whale Watching in the Mona Passage

During our passage from Puerto Rico to the Turks and Caicos we sighted whales on 3 occasions.

The first was in the Mona Passage. The water was still with a long, lazy swell running out of the south-east. On this sighting we found ourselves literally in the midst of 6 humpback whales (4 adults, 2 calves). Two of the adults were sleeping, their fins and tails appears to be periodically waving to us. The other 2 adults were breaching. The 2 calves looked like turquoise torpedoes as they approached us at full speed, on their backs with their white bellies facing up, bubbles streaming off them. Once they reached our hull they made an abrupt 45 degree turn and swam along-side.

We hove-to and watched intently, marvelling at the sound of every spouting, as the pod made it's way around us. It was an amazing experience.

Each whale appeared to be accompanied by at least 12 dolphins. They rode the swell in perfect unison (the Rocketts would be jealous). We had one more sighting of dolphins during this passage.

Also this day we sighted 2 Portuguese man-of-war as we sailed by them on the calm sea. Another hour later a single pilot whale came along-side our cock-pit, popped out to have a look at us then circled Sea Star before heading off.

The next day, as we approached Big Sand Cay, yet another humpback whale was sighted breaching. That made a total of 8 whales, at least 50 dolphins and 2 Portuguese man-of-war clearly sighted during one passage - WOW!

Our Longest Passage Ever

Anchor to Anchor - Boqueron, Puerto Rico to Big Sand Cay, Turks and Caicos

62 hours - 327 miles

At 6 a.m., March 20th, 2010, in hot, still conditions we motored out of the Boqueron bay into the Mona Passage. Our buddy boat "Unchained" (U.S.) would follow behind at noon as they expected to out-pace us. The day would unfold with them experiencing transmission problems and parting from us as they sought repairs in the Dominican Republic.

On day one we switched between sailing and motor-sailing until late afternoon by which time the wind filled in. Our course (325 degrees magnetic) took us northwest across the Mona Passage. As we reached a latitude of 18.35' and cleared Puerto Rico's north shore the sea picked up significantly and we encountered a large ocean swell, out of the east, running behind us. We surfed the swell down-wind, taking turns steering in 3 hour shifts for 230 miles. Our knot meter registered up to 9.5 knots at times. It was a lumpy, bumpy ride. Today we sailed through the 2nd deepest water in the world - the Puerto Rico trench, which is approximately 8 kilometres deep. (the deepest is the Mariana trench in the Pacific)

This was the first passage we've made using our lap-top, hooked up to the GPS, equipped with Ocean Navigator Lite software, as a chart plotter. It worked very successfully along the way and even guided us around the reefs surrounding Big Sand Cay as we approached in the dark.

The wind and swell behind us during this passage made for difficult sailing. As a result of the conditions the snap shackle on our boom-vang blew apart while underway. It wasn't until we were snugly on anchor at Big Sand Cay that we would discover a piece of the boom's goose-neck broken off, laying on the deck. Barry's reaction is that if something hasn't broken we haven't made a passage - that's just the way it is.

We averaged 5 knots over-all for the passage.

We arrived in Big Sand Cay at 8:30 p.m., March 22, 2010, 62 hours (327 miles) after we set out; exhausted, hungry and stiff but definitely pleased with our accomplishment.

Puerto Rico - Cabo Rojo

Anchor to Anchor - Green Beach, Vieques to Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico

26 hours - 105 miles

La 17.55.8'N Lo 67.12.1'W

On March 14th, 2010 we completed our passage west along Puerto Rico's south coast. Light southeast winds allowed us to barely clear 4 knots.

We dropped anchor behind the Cabo Rojo lighthouse which sits on Puerto Rico's southwest corner, projecting it's light out to the Caribbean Sea to the south and the Mona Passage to the west.

A quick row to shore revealed a spectacular white sand beach tucked away on the south side of the lighthouse along with a mangrove restoration area.

We rested overnight, the only boat in the bay, then headed the 6 miles north to join several others tucked in on Puerto Rico's west coast at Boqueron.

Spanish Virgin Islands

Anchor to Anchor - Ensenada Honda, Culebra to Green Beach, Vieques

5 hours - 26 miles

La 18.06.6'N Lo 65.34.6'W

We anchored in 7 feet of calm turquoise water off the palm lined beach on the west coast of Vieques.

Through the night we were treated to an unbelievable jungle chorus of song.

In the morning we swam into shore, walked the deserted beach and collected the most beautiful shells. The sea urchin shells ranged in size and colour - white, yellow, green and even mauve/coral striped.

While on this gorgeous beach, all alone, as we gaze out at Sea Star floating languidly in a small palm lined cove of clear turquoise water, we are reminded that this is the entity of "the dream".

A Hop, S-K-I-P and a JUMP

Plan B

As we grew restless awaiting a weather window to enable us to make our originally planned passage from Culebra to Mayaguana we formulated Plan B whereby we would make our way westward. This would lessen the distance of our passage from the Caribbean Sea to the Bahamas waters (southwest north Atlantic) while passing time as we await the weather window.

We made a short day "hop" (26 miles) south-west to the Spanish Virgin Island, Vieques. Our next move was to "skip" westward along Puerto Rico's south coast (105 miles). Our final move was a "jump" of 327 miles, our longest passage ever, from Boqueron (Pueto Rico's west coast) to Big Sand Cay on the south end of the Turks and Caicos.

Agonizing over the Weather

For quite some time we have given thought to our route north from the Caribbean Sea to the Bahamas. By choice we would make one offshore passage from Culebra to Mayaguana (Bahamas), 500 miles, by-passing the Turks and Caicos.

While in Culebra we agonized over the weather. To make Mayaguana we need 4 days of good conditions but unfortunately the cold fronts keep coming off of the U.S. every 3 days, foiling our plan.

Adding extra aggravation to our situation is that our planned passage would take us through 3 different weather forecasting areas thereby requiring us to mesh them together time wise.

Each morning we positioned ourselves beside our static ridden single side band radio and diligently taped, took notes and attempted to decipher the N.O.A.A. reports: Offshore Waters Forecasts for the Tropical North Atlantic and Caribbean Sea, the Southwest North Atlantic south of 3l degrees north, west of 65 degrees west, including the Bahamas; the eastern Caribbean east of 75 degrees west to the Leeward and Windward Islands; and the Eastern Caribbean from 7 degrees north to 22 degrees north, from 55 degrees west to 65 degrees west.

As well, we listened intently to Chris Parker's 4 broadcasts (Bellamy), Herb (Southbound 2), George (KP2G) Caribbean Cocktail Net and Eric (Trinidad).

After literally hours of daily aggravation we would head into shore with our laptop to double-check our information on-line as well as checking other sources - Ugrib, Wind Guru, and local sources.

Once we amassed the vast amount of daily information, ascertained the sections that all sources agreed upon, we considered how it fit our personal situation.

While in Culebra a viable weather window passed as we anticipated a cold front to cross only to have it stall over the Dominican Republic.

We find ourselves wishing we had some of the knowledgeable CPS folks here to help us reach a decision.

Finally, since the cold fronts kept coming with their rain, thunderstorms, high winds and wave swells, we abandoned our plan for Mayaguana and instead decided to make our way further west in the protected waters along Puerto Rico's south coast to the Mona Passage.

8,000 mile mark Westward through the Virgins Anchor to Anchor - St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Island) to Culebra (Spanish Virgin Island) - 20 miles - 3 hours La 18.18.5'N Lo 65.18.0'W Today, as we passed "sail rock" between two virgin islands, our log clicked over the 8,000 nautical mile mark, (since we pushed off from the dock in Penetanguishene, July 4, 2006). That's a lot of water under the keel! What better place to celebrate this milestone than beautiful, unspoiled Culebra, our favourite island. When we checked in with Customs they issued us a U.S. cruising permit ($19.U.S.), good for one year. While anchored at Culebra we enjoyed an afternoon of snorkelling along the "wall" off the west coast, and did extensive provisioning in anticipation of our passages to the Bahamas. We also enjoyed dinner ashore at Mamacitas restaurant though we had to practically move the eels and tarpoon fish aside to tie our dinghy to the dock.