We pulled up anchor early in Mayaguana. This was risky as we had to maneuver around the coral heads without much light, but it was going to take a full day to get to Provo. As we headed out of the bay, I had the full moon in front of me, and the rising sun behind me. Priceless!
We motored to Provo. No surprise there. 18 knots of wind on the nose and short choppy waves. No one was sick though! It really kicked up as we got about an hour out. The waves changed to be on the quarter. Everything was slamming inside the boat, falling into the sink, on the floor. If it was this bad in a catamaran, I can’t imagine how bad it would have been in a monohull. We were pushing it as the Turtle Cove Marina promised us a guide into our slip if we got there before 6:00 pm.
I have a fading full moon in front of me and a rising sun behind me as we make our way out of Abram’s Bay to head to Turks and Caicos. It was a long day as we had 50 miles to go after we picked our way through the coral heads leaving Abram’s Bay. We motored as we were heading into the wind, and we needed to get to Turks and Caicos before 6 pm, as that is when the Turtle Cove Marina would close. The trip was fine until about 2 hours outside Provo. Tristan spotted a spray of water. It turned out to be a huge sperm whale. The whale came close to the boat and stayed on the surface for awhile. He was huge! We have definitely seen more whales than we have dolphins this trip, which I don’t understand.
An hour out, the waves started hitting on the front quarter, and everything started getting tossed inside the boat. It was a rough last hour, and we cut it close, arriving at 5:45 pm. A guide brought us into Turtle Cove Marina, and thank goodness we had one, because it was terribly confusing trying to get in. Dan and crew had stayed here last year when they brought Alegria to Charleston from the BVI’s. He said the marina hadn’t changed at all, but the island had. Provo was really built up with hotels and houses. What a shock! It was hard to come from sleepy Mayaguana to this. The customs lady was there right after we pulled in, so we were able to clear customs right away. That was great as we were anxious to get off the boat and get something to eat. It had been a long day.
