With some nasty, squally weather headed our way this weekend, and the trades expected to pick up again next week, John and I decided (after our humming and hawing) to get going on the next leg of our journey. We checked the weather and checkrd in with Chris Parker - then decided to make the sail from Boqueron PR, to the Turks and Caicos, rather than make our way to the Bahamas.

So far, as we are approximately 14 hours from the T&C, it has been an eventful trip. For all our prior failed fishing attempts, we almost caught a rather large fish (wahoo?) about 2 hours outside PR, lured in by our tackle and faux squid bait - the fish jumped out of the water in a huge arc, clamped onto our lure, and ate our bait but (alas) didnt get hooked. Out subsequent trawling efforts so far havent picked up anything so no fresh fish....

Our voyage North up the Mona Passage was rather uneventful as our initial 10 knots of winds completely died so we just motored (and took in our sails), carried by the 2-3 foot swell in the Passage. However, as night fell, and we left the Mona Passage, we knew we were back in the North Atlantic (to the East of DR)when, with virtually no wind to speak off, we were still getting confused, choppy seas. Thus we rolled continuously back forth, depsite trying to change our course to correct it. And when I say no winds, I mean it - our flags were limp and our attempt at putting out sails (even the main sail) only resulted in alot of squeaking and bashing of our sails and rigging as they flapped around so we had to take them in - and again just motor. In fact, the only times we have turned off the motor on this voyage so far has been to check and top up our oil for our guzzling diesel engine. We took out and pulled in our sails (mainly the main sail) a total of 5-6 times yesterday - I wish the wind would make up its mind.....

Yesterday's hot, muggy, hazy weather brought with it thunderstorms last night - of rather epic proportions. At one point we had thunder and lightning on either side of us (one storm over the DR, off to our port) but luckily it was so dark that we could see these well in advance and thus altered our route to try and avoid them. Lightning at sea is one thing that really terrifies me - and last night was the worst we have seen so far. While, at first, there was just sheet lightning, this was followed by streaks of fork lightning - so bright that it would light up the skies when it struck the water, with a huge, blinding flash. At one point, the time between the rumbling sounds of thunder and the lightning strikes were so close, the activity must have moved to only 1-2 miles from us. And, unfortunately, the activity didnt let up for several hours so John and I got very limited sleep last night (plus there was significant commercial boat traffic). Needless to say, I was so stressed by the storms that I couldnt eat the lovely steak dinner I had prepared for us.....To top it off, the current moved against through the night so our speed dropped from 8 knots down to 4.5 knots.

Today has been a mixed bag, as we round the DR - the morning started with absolutely no wind, and we were moving along at a snail's pace, then a distant squall sent us 15-23 knots from the E/SE so we again hoisted our sails and were moving along at 7.5-8.0 knots (still also motorsailing). In tandem, the seas really picked up, showing white caps but we rode them nicely under sail. As the far off squall passed, the winds have again changed direction and are now less than 10 knots. Luckily the current is back with us, with our speed back up to 7.5-8.0 knots. But, again, the wind has died to less than 5 knots and then was behind us (but variable) so we again took in our main sail. The good news is that, as the sun is starting to set tonight, the sun is actually peaking out - and is there actually some red sky showing in the distance ?! We also finished off our day with a pod of dolphins coming to swim and play in the bow wave of our boat ! It was beautiful, and there were 2-3 of them that loved showing off with their in-the-air jumps!

We have decided to head to Turtle's Cove, to the marina, on the north shore of Provo, given our lack of a working dinghy. Never been there and dont know much about it so we are taking a chance. Expected arrival time is late Thursday afternoon, fingers crossed. This is going to be an extra haul but this port will be a good jump off point for our next destination, the Bahamas. Unfortunately, with the squally weather hitting the region this weekend, we may need to sit tight for a few days (and also finally get some sleep).