A few days turned into a week. Everyone in the marina was anxious to go. Two guys on a Dufour 46, Spencer and Matt were delivering their boat to Puerto Rico and decided to leave at 2:00 AM on January 9th.
We thought the weather was good as well so at 09:40 we had slack tide and left the marina with 12 knots south east wind. Leaving the channel was ok but once out we had gigantic swells and 20 knots on the nose. We were unable to make any headway with the sails and the motor so made a decision to head back to Cape Santa Maria. The swells were at least 5 meters and the seas sloppy in between. We logged 52 miles back to Cape Santa Maria and decided to anchor just north of Calabash Bay. The highlight of the day was when we were anchoring. I looked over the bow and there was a dolphin. If I hadn’t looked I could have easily bonged him on the head with the anchor. I started letting the anchor down and he moved about 20’ away but was obviously watching the whole anchoring procedure. As the chain laid out he stayed right beside as it hit the sand. Totally amazing watching him.
The wind was off us but the swells coming around the Cape made for an uncomfortable night so the next night we motored over to Calabash Bay. It was a much quieter anchorage. The wind was still in the 20 knot range from the east so we stayed another night. As soon as it got dark a line of intense thunderstorms started blowing through the anchorage and lasted for 12 hours. Line after line went through overnight making for a sleepless night as the occasional squall brought winds straight into the anchorage, along with rolly seas.
January 13th we finally saw an opportunity to leave and left Calabash Bay at 09:02 am.
We sailed 116.9 miles to Attwood Harbour on the North East corner of Acklin Island. You enter the Harbour through a cut in the reef and anchor in about 8’ of tourquoise water. There is an amazing sand beach. We were greeted by a beautiful four foot marlin who came up beside Parka and hung out in the shade.
After Attwood Harbour we sailed to Mayaguana. It was a 66 mile run so we chose the designated anchorage on the west side of the island as it was the closest. As we approached it was clear that we would have to anchor almost on shore just before the waves broke. That was because we were in over 300’ of water until almost on shore. It seemed too risky so we continued to the northwest corner of the island where a catamaran was already anchored. It was dark when we arrived but enough light to see that we were going to have to drop the anchor very close to breaking waves. The breaking waves on the east side of the island were curling around the point and making large rollers. That combined with breaking, crashing waves a few feet away made for a sleepless night.
We left early at first light and sailed around to Abraham’s Bay. It is a shallow Bay two miles wide and five miles long. It has a reef the entire length of the bay on the east side and the Island of Mayaguana on the west. We anchored closer to the reef for protection from the ocean waves. It was time for maintenance so David dove over the side to change our zincs. Halfway through the job he very quickly exited the water as there was a reef shark close by. Once the zinc was changed we did an oil change and started checking around the motor. The alternator belt was loose and upon further inspection we saw that the bolt holding it in place had sheared off. There was no way to get the sheared bolt out with the tools we had so David made a wedge to hold the alternator in place. There are no mechanics or marinas in Mayaguana so we decided to head to Turks and Caicos. It is a long run so we got up at 2am and left at 3am. The wedges held so we could start the engine and motor about 2 miles out from behind the reef and into deep water. We sailed on a close reach to Sapodilla Bay, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos. We made it just before the sunset and anchored for the night.
At 9:00am on January 18th we motored to South Side Marina and checked in with Customs and Immigration shortly after arrival.
We rented a car as you need to drive for groceries and supplies. The do-it centre had the bolts that we needed and a neighbouring boater had the tool we needed to remove the old bolt.
The grocery stores here are well stocked but at a much higher prices than stateside.
We have been to a couple of restaurants, Groupers and Da Conch Shack. Both had excellent fresh fish.
Da Conch Shack was pretty interesting as there was a guy who walked into the sea towing a kayak then about 75’ off shore he dives down and starts throwing fresh conch into the kayak. In less than 10 minutes he brings in about 30 conch cleans them and off they go to the kitchen. It doesn’t get any fresher.
Looks like we are here for a while as the weather is forecasting rain and high winds.