Thursday 16 May, TCI day 8: Visit Long Bay in Provo, and sail to West Caicos for overnight anchorage…but start the passage to USA instead.
Poor Oana didn’t sleep too well last night. Her leg and foot were hurting and she couldn’t get comfortable. Offers are made to go to the hospital but as expected she declines. She is also determined to go ashore with the dinghy, to finish the tour of Provo, even though she can only walk on the heal of her injured foot.
While discussing today’s plan, a massive thunder cell approaches. We close the hatches and prepare. The squall that proceeds it gusts up to 35kts and we wonder if our anchor didn’t drag a little. But within 20 minutes it’s calm again. The heaviest rain just missed us, we could’ve done with some rinsing of the decks. But looks like Provo was hit hard. After it passes we go ashore and Oana hobbles along the beach to the car. Clearly very uncomfortable.
Our first stop is customs and immigration, as we plan to leave TCI tomorrow. It’s on the perimeter of the South Dock port and can only be got to by driving (or walking) up the roughest dirt road. Interesting that the roads around the luxury resorts are perfect, but the everyday roads the inhabitants have to live with are appalling.
The official in the office is pretty efficient. It costs us $50 for check-out, same cost as the check-in. And we get an official receipts without asking!
From the customs office we drive through town towards Long Bay Beach, on the south side of Provo. The roads are all flooded. So we go from dusty yesterday to white mud everywhere today!
At Long Bay Beach there are lots of land plots for sale and fancy housing along this beach. And the road is just a dirt track. It’s a bit difficult to find a public access to the beach. Eventually, we spot a small path running down the side of fenced land. It’s 150m walk to the beach, or in Oana’s case a 300m painful hobble!
The beach is very pretty. Not too wide, but white sand onto very calm shallow water with an outlook towards the Caicos Bank. Looks like you could walk out into the turquoise water for miles and still not be deeper than waist height. Tempting for a paddle, but of course Oana can not get her foot wet.
We decide this island does have some amazing beaches and pricey luxury accommodation, but the island itself doesn’t seem to have a soul. Or if it does, it’s a rather messy dusty one! Maybe we will see it a bit more if we come back again later in the year. And looking at the pretty beach we see from the cockpit, with very shallow and warm turquoise water, it is tempting to come back.
After some shopping for a few fresh fruit & veg at outrageous prices, we return the car and head back to Cloudy Bay. Bye bye land, it will probably be a few days before we step foot on you again. We will be on the ocean waves till we get to USA. Or at least, that’s the plan.
Last look at the weather forecast while I have WiFi. All looks pretty calm these next few days. But what I didn’t look at was tonight’s forecast…
Just before we lift the anchor to depart, we hear a lot of intense splashing near to the bow. I glance out just in time to see a large Barracuda frantically chasing a silvery fish about half it’s size. Next moment, that same silvery fish is floundering near to the surface, tailless! The Barracuda has clean cut off its tail. Wow! Respect for the sharpness of Baracuda teeth. The Barracuda then comes back, grabs the rest of the silvery fish in its mouth and off it swims. What ferocious predators they are!
By 4pm the anchor is up and we are off across the Caicos Bank to the southern end of West Caicos. There is a nice 10kts breeze and we cover the distance in just under 2 hours. Gentle sail over the beautiful blue water, taking it all in as we are saying good bye. But as we get near, the wind increases from 10 to over 18kts, and unfortunately is blowing directly, waves and all, into our proposed anchorage next to Sandy Point on the SE tip of West Caicos.
As we have our usual late lunch I look at the weather which I saved on PredictWind and sure enough, it was forecast. My bad for not looking carefully enough. I was too focused on the next frames days outlook than this evening’s. So the choices are: stay here in the ever increasing choppy waves, go back to Provo (but we never go backwards) or just leave Turks & Caicos this evening rather than in the morning. At least the wind is good for our westward passage. And we decide for the latter.
Once the boat is tidied up and everything stowed, we set off around the southern tip of West Caicos then turn west. Pointing towards Bahamas, with no particular course in mind. We’ll just let the wind decide where it takes us. So we spend the rest of the evening on a nice broad reach, eating up the miles.
Now that we are on the way to USA, for a summer haul-out, I guess this officially ends this winter season in the Caribbean. As we sail away from our last destination we reflect that we have actually covered quite a bit this season. Antigua to Turks & Caicos, and every island in-between (excepting St Croix in USVIs, which was a bit too far off our track to pay a visit to).