Today we met up again with an Australian yacht that we last saw at Warderick Wells. It also sounds like we will see them next year, given each of our sailing plans. We keep meeting more people who are doing the same trip as ourselves, heading down towards the Caribbean islands. The planning and strategizing for this continues. There is a good weather window about to open up so everyone is comparing forecasts and getting ready for the off.

As part of our prep, this morning we took a run into South Side Marina for customs check-out, fuel, water, book-swap and laundry. It is a really friendly place run by an English/Canadian chap called Bob who came here 40 years ago and never left. A simple and practical facility for the travelling yachtsman - just our kind of place - definitely on the list for our next run through these parts.

We are now back at our anchorage in Sapodilla Bay ready for a quiet night before tomorrow's early start. There are four or five boats all heading off at first light to start the trek across the Caicos Bank. The picture shows the challenge: we are way, way over on the west, and the bank is a shallow minefield of isolated coral heads, shallows and sandbanks, with the prevailing trade winds in the east. There are some clear safe routes shown in pink on the charts ('the magenta lines') but you still need to keep your eyes firmly open - and with that great, unsheltered expanse, there can be significant wind and chop. Anyway, the plan is to motor down to the SE edge of the bank where there are some good small cays where we hope to anchor for overnight shelter. The following day (Thursday) we will all be heading in our various directions, south and east towards the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico. Progress is a little hard to estimate but subject to winds and currents we will be aiming for Puerto Rico, which is 352 miles from here (at its closest point). We shall also be keeping a good lookout for whales - this is the season when thousands of humpbacks migrate through this area to breed and calve.

Blog posts may get a little thin for the next few days but we will see what we can do.