We made it to Provo (Provodentiales, Caicos) a few hours ago! We spent last night in Big Sand Cay and it was lovely, but we were just too wiped to enjoy it on foot. We gazed at it from afar.

The passage started off strong and calm with those lovely long ocean swells and then again like always just before dark the periods got shorter and the swell was confused and really it stayed that way until the end.

I am much better about these things now. I know we aren't going to die, and that the boat is not going to dissolve like a Dixie cup out there, but it is hard in the dark to have the world constantly shifting and rolling. I do love our boat though! I know it is strong and will get us there! We have all the tools. The boat is willing but the flesh is weak!

I had the long night shifts. I do better with night. Spencer though had a very hard time sleeping even though he was able to lie down for 9 hours the first night and 8 the next. During the day the seas would calm back down and I was able to knit together some cat naps that helped me with the long nights, that and chocolate! I am amazed though that all the chocolate isn't all gone though! I did not have much of an appetite the last 3 days. I wasn't sea sick, but it was like my body knew to cool out!

Spencer set the alarm for 5 am this morning and drained a lot of dirty water out of the raycors. There is still a lot of water from when I filled the starboard diesel tank with water last year! Oops! Did I not mention that? Yeah, wrong hole wrong liquid. Not a happy day for the captain! Yeah, right after the new engine, too... anyway we are still cleaning that stuff out I suppose!

Spencer slept like a baby last night and I was awake all night because of the swell. We were on a spit of land in the middle of nowhere and there was wrap around from the east swell and then the winds had already shifted to the north so it was rolly and rocky and I was very worried about the anchor - ever since the drifting episode! The captain said I should have woken him and he would have reassured me but the man had not slept in 2 nights so I wasn't going to wake him! So the upshot of that is that as soon as we weighed anchor and cleared the reefs I went back to sleep and woke up at 10 and we were exactly crossing over into the banks! The beautiful Bahamas blue banks! Spencer had both lines out and almost immediately one hit and it was a Barracuda. There was another hit and it was something that was not on our fish charts. It looked like a white Pompano, like it had come from the deep with bug eyes and it was just weird! As we were trying to figure out what it was the other line buzzed and we had another stinkin' barracuda. He first let the weirdo fish go be free and then set to get the Barry off the line. No sooner had he let it go there was another buzz and I said, "If it is another Barracuda just give up, ok?" He said, "Definitely!" It was a huge 4', you guessed it, Barracuda. That ended our bank fishing. I guess that is what is on the banks. Weirdos and barracudas! We will post a pic of the weirdo. Just please keep the OH, THAT IS THE GREATEST FISH EVER comments to yourselves! Just kidding! You can tell us anything even if it hurts. We can take it. sniff, sniff.

Ok, punchy and need to go to sleep. We are going to get fuel tomorrow after some chores. The wind generator cowel is slipping or something so S is going up the mizzen mast in the am and then fuel filter changes and oil I think and then to Southside marina for fuel.

Oh, Mauri was an absolute trooper on this passage! He hung out with me all night and gently played and licked and slept and ate and pooped and peeed and walked around like we were not even moving! That kid's got his sea legs!

So we will be leaving Monday for Mayaguana and then to Rum Cay and then to Cat Cay and then to great Guana Cay via Dotham cut and then we don't know yet. So we finally decided after this that we are making day hops obviously. We are not passage making lovers. But we are loving living on our boat and cruising!