16th December

21 44 N
72 17 W

Weather; sunny, wind 15 to 19 knots SE, waves 3 to 4 feet

INTO SINGLE FIGURES, ONLY 9 MORE SLEEPS!

We spent a great night tucked up in the safety of the "marina" basin, even though there was no breeze as such making the berth a bit hot. We had the hatch only partially open as we thought there was a fair chance of a shower or two during the night which sadly didn't happen so the entire boat continues to be covered in salt and every thing feels sticky and yuk.
We had our routine coffee and breakfast (if you can call raisin bran breakfast - cardboard seems a more appropriate name!) in the cockpit watching the sun make its appearance. It really is lovely to sit staring out at the sun bouncing off the ripples on the beautiful turquoise water with a clear blue sky, white sandy beach and the palm trees waving in the slight breeze with only one other boat in the entire area so no noise disturbing the tranquility, until Gerry starts up the generator of course - well the amp Nazi is just making sure that we have plenty of power for all the things we need to keep running!
Gerry called Provo Radio to find out where we needed to go to complete the official stuff and if we could just Q flag it through as we intend to leave without going ashore here if we get the weather window. Of course the answer was that we did need to check in (we really did know that but it was worth a try!) and although they didn't give us a definitive answer we think the nearest customs office is in Gussy Bay at the cargo port well we hope so at any rate!
We weren't too keen on the idea of moving out of our safe little spot as the wind blew up as predicted and was blowing at 15 to 20 knots out of the SE and had whipped the waves up; the reason we weren't keen to move was that we had to head directly into the wind and waves to get to Sapodilla Bay where we could anchor and then take the dinghy ashore and make the trip over the hill to the next bay where (we hope) customs would be found. At high tide we hauled the anchor up and made our way slowly out through the skinny water at the entrance to the basin. The anchor was covered in thick mud so Gerry let it drag through the water until we were clear of the basin and then hauled it into its correct position on the bowsprit. We motored with the stay sail out for a short time, bashing our way through the waves and hobby horsing like the carousel horses malfunctioning! The best speed we could manage at 1800 RPM was only 4 knots - it was slow painful going! We had a slight change of course as we got close to the channel which would take us into Sapodilla Bay which brought the wind directly on our nose and made keeping the stay sail flying impossible so it had to go away and we continued to just motor, our speed dropping to an agonizing 3knots, it felt like we would never get there. We arrived at the point where we were going to anchor, pretty close to the end of the bay where there is a wreck, we unfortunately had to pick a spot quite a way off shore as the water was too shallow for us in close and with the wind causing us to pitch we wanted to be sure that we had enough water below the keel not to touch the bottom. We set the anchor and then dropped the dinghy into the water which took more effort and arguing than was necessary but we got there in the end. Gerry then went and changed into some more decent clothes and gathered up the boat documentation and our passports, the diesel jerry can and one bag of trash ready to go ashore. It was then time for him to head into shore whilst I stayed on the boat making sure we didn't move anywhere, we have always believed that only one person from the boat can go ashore to check in whilst everyone else remains on the boat until the clearing in process is completed however Marina and Haydn from Passage both went ashore - they must have a lot of confidence in their ability not to drag anchor or drift in high winds than we do!
Whilst Gerry was gone I decided to prepare dinner for tonight, something simple and quick and chose to make tuna casserole. I began and as soon as I had the cans of tuna open Priss appeared and was up on the counter top sniffing at the cans, not for long as I shooed her away. I finished preparing the meal and thought it might be a good idea to give Priss the water that the tuna was packed in plus the bits of fish that were on the sides of the cans, the water looked like broth so I poured it all into her dish and she was into it like there was no tomorrow, polishing it all off in no time. I was very glad to see her finally eat something without turning her nose up, she kept going back to the bowl and having another lick around it so it obviously tasted all right - I know what to give her if she gets picky again in the future. I then cleaned the stern of the boat off - we had coffee grounds all down the back where someone had thrown them overboard and missed (just a clue - it wasn't me!) I then sat down to start typing this blog but didn't get very far when Gerry reappeared. All the formalities were complete, it cost $50 for the 2 of us plus the boat to stay in the Turks and Caicos for 7 days. The jerry can was full of diesel at a cost of $5.40 per gallon and Gerry had managed to bring back a liter of milk but nothing else that we needed.
Along with Passage's crew the decision was made to go back to our safe anchorage at the West Caicos "marina". We re-stowed the dinghy plus all the gear that goes along with it, hauled the anchor in and headed back the same way we had come 3 hours earlier. Going back was much easier to begin with as the wind was now almost directly behind us, still not good enough to sail but we could at least put out our stay sail and motor, this time we were seeing 6 knots so the thought was that we should be back at the "marina" before it got dark. The wind increased as we made the turn and the waves began to roll us from side to side but we were so close it didn't really matter. Just before I took the sunset photos - still no green flash, we passed a group of about 20 very large expensive looking houses on West Caicos which we think were probably condos. Gerry had been told at customs that they were all sitting empty and were going to be pulled down, we think this was part of the development plan that went along with the marina and when the hurricane hit the marina and development of it stopped the houses/condos became untenable so have been left empty. It's such a shame as West Caicos would have been a great place to have a vacation if the development had been completed and not affected by the hurricane (we think it must have been Irma, but don't bank on that).
We arrived at the entrance to the marina and began our turn into it, we were getting pushed down quite badly by the wind which was gusting up to 22knots but we managed to make the entrance without any damage and proceeded into the basin and right back to the same anchoring spot we had left that morning. The basin was still empty apart from us two boats so we had the pick of where to drop the anchor and made quick work of getting settled right back in. Once the engine was switched off, everything powered down and the hatches back open for the breeze we had a cold soft drink and set about finding our Red Duster to fly instead of the yellow quarantine flag. It was then time to heat our dinner up and settle in for the night.