Map of our trip across the Caicos Bank
After Jettie played with the engine for quite sometime it would not start with even a half a tank of fuel. When she bled off the fuel from the pre-filter, it was slimy so we didn't want to take fuel in the other tank and just waste what little we had if the tank was bad. So we limped into the Turks Islands avoiding Salt Cay (pronounced Key), Cotton Cay and Big Sand Cay under one motor. We could have sailed but we never found the sail tape and it has been quite bumpy still for getting on the bimini with a ton of sail pulled out.
Just before we got to the Grand Turk island, with reefs and islands that were not on our chartplotter (the electronic version of the paper charts) we were nearly out of fuel. (I'll be contacting the chartplotter map company as soon as I verify that they sold me a memory card which should have had data for the Turks and Caicos Islands, so I won't state their name....yet. We have a depth finder but it is crazy that in 2013 someone has not mapped the whole planet. We probably know more about Mars or the Moon that planet Earth! Okay, I'll get off my soapbox...for now.) We have never run the tanks dry or been able to accurately compute the hours per gallon, so we had no idea how close to empty we really were. But if we ran out of fuel in the only functioning motor and with the mainsail still ripped up, we could have been in a world of do-do. So we used our SeaTow subscription. For $168 a year, they will send someone out to tow you or bring you fuel. One trip with fuel or a short tow is $300 so it is well worth it and it even worked in the middle of no where Grand Turk. SeaTow got in touch with Daniel and he brought us 20 gallons of diesel while we dropped anchor in 30 feet of water off the reef so Jettie would not have to bleed the air out of the fuel line if we ran the tank dry. It was a group effort with the boat Prince of Whales, Daniel on Crystal Sea Adventures and Bonefish on the VHF making sure we were safe and taken care of.

We followed Daniel to where he told us to get in about 30 feet of water and drop the anchor. I was at the helm and thinking the depth finder must be broken or wrong, as we were only 100 yards off shore and still in 230+ feet of water. Then it started moving 150, 100, 50, 40, 20... bam. What the heck? We found out we were over a huge reef wall that drops quite a ways down there. At one point the front of the boat was in 30 feet of water and the back was hanging over the deep dark abyss. The light stops going down and looks eerie!

After having a diesel mechanic over to bleed the crap out of the engine fuel line, injectors and filters, we decided to move to another location so Jettie checked the fluids and guess what? Salt water in the saildrive! We knew there was a possibility that it would occur but hoped to change the seals out in Texas, but no, it has to happen in the middle of no where on an island! Well, that is if we can find a place to be able to haul us out. Time to start looking at our options and talking to people.

We stayed in Grand Turk for several days and it was a good thing. Jettie, Joel and I went diving. It was quite interesting. It was the first time for Joel and I. I had a tough time due to not really thinking about having a weight belt on, getting off the dive boat and going into the water. I didn't come back up as easily and quickly as I should have having 12+ pounds strapped to me. If Nat, the dive instructor, would have reminded me of such, I don't think that I would have freaked out like I did when suddenly I found I didn't take a big huge breath and could not figure out why I did not come up immediately. That freak out set the tone for the rest of the dive instruction. Pierre was with me and did my training. I was freaking out and going back up for air, despite the fact that I had an air regulator in my mouth. I had to take my regulator out of my mouth, blow little bubbles, toss the regulator over my shoulder, then put my hand on my thigh, lean over to the right and let the regulator fall over my shoulder, then put it back in my mouth and press the purge button to get the water out of the regulator. Then fill your mask up half way with water, put your head back and blow air out your nose to refill the mask with air. I had to check my gauge and signal the amount of air remaining and also keep track so we could go back to the boat when at a certain level. After I "mastered" all of that stuff, I was to go actually down like forty feet out on the wall. I was so not ready for that. I figured that I was going to panic and want to bolt and go right back up to the surface. Everyone tried to talk me into it but I was determined. I was not going! Have a nice dive! But Nat decided to stay with me and talked me into going in for a bit stating that I had done the hard stuff. So I went in. I grabbed a hold of the anchor line they dropped for us to hold on to. Nat hit my BC (buoyancy control) vest and let the air out and we plunged to the ocean floor. Suddenly I was standing on the ocean floor. Wow! What a trip. I didn't want to let go of the line but after about five or so minutes of standing there, we moved along and went swimming over the coral and looked at the fish. It was like being in the bottom of a fish tank, like one of those air devices that has an old fashioned scuba diver with the air coming out. That is exactly how I felt and I never panicked but the thought that I might stayed on my mind. And they were right. The hard stuff was the training and once under water, there was no real weight to all that stuff piled on your back and hips. I was worried I would tire out quite fast, but it hit me that night. I am glad I went down despite my determination to stay on the boat. Unfortunately, our crappy underwater camera only works to 3 meters or 9 feet. Whatever! I knew that thing was not that good, but 9 feet! So Joel and Jettie tried to take some pics but they were not all that good. I will see if I can clean some of them up and post later.


We were picked up and dropped off at the boat by Blue Water Divers which was great. The boys stayed on the boat for a while and had a few drinks afterward. Then we saw a few charter boats out with some dolphins. We collectively thought that by the time we tried to get out there that they would leave so we did not make a move to try to go out there. Then we noticed they were still there and again collectively decided, why don't we hop in the dive boat and go out there and see if we can see them. Not only did we get to see them but we got to swim with three to five wild dolphins (not JoJo, he is in the Caicos). I was sooooo glad that the crappy little camera decided to work. I got some great videos and pics. I posted some videos on Facebook. I don't think Sailblogs will allow video posts, but I will give it a shot.
Here is a link from Facebook (membership not required): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151668793928523&l=8891195666044300847
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151668777128523&l=687254962866026324



Still pics of the dolphins

We met a family that is delivering a boat from Trinidad to Florida. They were great. Gil, Monica, Nikki, Daan, Luuk and Shush (St George), the dog. They took off in their dingy and went out to see the dolphins too. Even the dog. The dolphins made sure they stayed away from us, but they were interested in the dog. One of them poked the dog in the belly with it's nose. Pierre picked up Shush and gave him back to Monica in the dingy afraid that the dolphin might try to have a snack. Yikes. I think we were out there with ten people and they just swam around us for 30 - 40 minutes. It was amazing. What an incredible end to a wonderful day.

The next night we were invited over to Gil and Monica's for a delicious dinner. While we were chatting Monica yells "whale fish" and everyone turns the direction she was looking. I saw nothing but the back of Joel's head where apparently others saw the splash. Then the kids came up and everyone was standing around looking. Gil says "Come on! Do it again!" and nearly on cue the whale leaps out of the water and kicks over it's tail and makes a huge splash. We could not help but erupt in a huge cheer. It was the first time I saw a wild whale. They stayed around for a while blowing water and air into the air and sneaking out of the water just enough for us to see them, but nothing like that wondrous show of power and agility moments before. Where's the crappy camera when you need it? I need to mount a GoPro on my head!

Well, we figured out that we could not take the safe, deep water route around the north side of the Caicos Islands, but we have to go through the shallow Caicos Banks. (See the top pic our of approximate route across the Pearl Channel) The scary, shallow, coral head, sandbar, coral reef strewn shallow Caicos Banks. The same ones that there is NO DATA on our chartplotter and lots of "area unsurveyed" and "mostly unsurveyed" and "nearly dries" notations on the paper charts. That is the only way we can safely get to the Caicos Marina and Shipyard is via a southern approach. Fun. And it can only be done when the Sun is high in the sky, not overcast or rainy. So what does the forecast say? Exactly what we don't need.


We left Grand Turk and arrived at the bottom of the Caicos Islands late in the afternoon and did not want to go into the Caicos Banks until morning, so we turned around and headed back to the South Caicos Island and looked for the Sea View Marina. We pulled up to the dock and tried to pull to the right side despite the marina's instruction to tie up to the end. We tired both and could not get close due to the current, the wind and only one blasted engine. We were fortunate that a gentleman was on the dock to catch our four lines and pull like hell to get us next to the end of the dock. We would never have gotten tied up if it were not for him. I cannot recall his name but he was an invaluable member of our crew right then!


Now, one would think a marina would charge for docking. Nope. Not here. No water, no electricity, No charge for staying overnight. While Jettie and Joel were out looking for the Customs folks to try to get our visa extended, I bent the ear of the captain of a fishing boat that travels the Caicos Banks. There was not a whole lot there but we did find a good red snapper dinner for $15 a plate at a tiny place with one bartender / cook. Jettie met a guy named Larry and we met him at the diner. He came over the next morning and helped us with getting info on our route.


Dark waters just out side the banks leaving South Caicos

Light shallow waters in the Caicos Banks

The Sun was not very bright as the clouds were gathering and we had to get into the Banks while the Sun was high. The depths started at 16 feet and the cruising guide stated that we should avoid all of the dark spots. So we put two people on the bows to direct the one at the helm. Left, right, go through the middle. We never saw any coral heads but we did see the coral reefs and by 3 o'clock the light was not efficient to see by and the weather looked threatening. The So we made an executive decision that since the chart showed more coral heads, we would do what the cruising guide suggested and dropped the hook (anchor) and stayed over night on the banks. It was a rough night and I worried that we were going to drag our anchor. There is an application on Jettie's phone called Drag Queen, which cracks me up given it is an anchor dragging application and not gay men impersonating women. Anyway, I couldn't use the app as I had not set it when we dropped the anchor. I hardly slept. I kept getting up and checking the Latitude and Longitude that we recorded to make sure it was still the same. It never changed each time I checked but that didn't make me feel any better. Finally the Sun came up and Jettie and I took a dip. It was so rough and there was nothing underwater but a star fish and lots of sand. The
tide had gone out so now it was only 8 feet deep at the most where we were anchored. Wow! Crazy!

Huge starfish surrounded by Parrotfish poop (aka sand)

Underwater pics from the Caicos Banks

It was overcast again and we needed to get going. After breakfast, it cleared a bit and we were on our way. We needed to get into the Caicos Marina and Shipyard before it got too dark. We had the Lat and Long but I think our chartplotter is a little off because we were not where we were supposed to be. I called the marina and he told us to go the opposite direction and thankfully he saw another boat approaching the inlet of the harbor. Bruce said "That boat is in front of the harbor." If he would not have been directing us, I would not have believed it but I saw the boat go in there. Jettie didn't believe it even though I told her I saw a boat go in the harbor. I wish I had a pic because it looks like you are just going to drive the boat right up on the sand. We finally got in there and thankfully there were some folks to take our lines and pull us in to the dock. Boy will I be glad when we have two engines again!

Sunset in the Caicos Marina and Shipyard

I almost forgot to write about this but was reminded by the pictures I took. How could I forget? We had enough trouble just docking along side a dock. Now we were going to need to go forward, the turn to the right and back up in to essentially a boat slip. Plus who allows us to do that with a boat to the right where we have to turn? We told them it was not going to be easy, but I don't think they really understood until they had to go get about five more guys to bring the total to eight guys on the dock to turn us around by hand pulling on lines. Jettie was at the helm and Joel and I ran around throwing lines, extending lines, holding fenders between the boat and concrete and steel walls that the slip was comprised of to keep it from leaving gashes in the boat and Joel fended off the boat from the wall with his brute strength. Once that stressful hour was complete then came the Travel Lift. An Erector Set like frame on wheels with straps that are strategically placed under the boat so that it can be lifted out of the water. After many jostling backwards and forwards, the boat was raised only to run into the wind generator (whom we call Windy). We turned it off and Jamie turned it around so it would not get broken and they managed to get the boat above the ground a matter of inches only. Then when they went to put it on the stands, they could not lift it up high enough so they had to take Windy down for a few.



Dutchess on the Travel Lift

When Jettie and I went back to get a few things out of the boat, we were dismayed to see that the floor boards in the back of the boat were not level. The Caicos Marina and Shipyard had not balanced the boat properly on her keels and the stands and were deforming the hulls. OMG! They could not get anyone back to the shipyard after hours but Bruce tried to lighten the load by adjusting the four stands up higher until they could come back in the morning and lift her back up and relevel her. ::sigh:: There best not be any damage from that mistake or there will be hell to pay as well as repairs to be done.

Well we got bad info about the ordering and shipping of parts. We had to do it ourselves which was not too bad as we had the list from last time. I ordered them with the statement that they would be received the next day and shipped international FedEx the next day. Well, that was not correct. They failed to contact me and let me know that the bellows were not in and then a week later they had not mailed them. Then when they were mailed it was International Economy which equals SLOW. Note to self: don't ever order anything from Marine Parts Express dot com. Nothing express about these folks!


The boat is out of the water, it is too hot to stay on it and we are stuck in a pricey hotel, for way too long pissed off waiting for the slow package. Next note to self: Do not allow the boat to be taken out of the water until the parts are IN HAND! We thought that we had dealt with this problem by ordering it before the boat was taken out of the water.

We could have been stranded in a worse place.

The beach off of the Sands Resort

Do we need an ocean view? Nah, how about a garden view instead? Flowers, trees, grass.




Me and my flower pics.