Wednesday 15 May, TCI day 7: Sail from French Cay to South Dock in Providenciales (Provo), and visit Grace Bay. And for the cinema night, Oana gets injured as she falls into the bilge.
Quite a current under us last night. We woke up with the anchor under the boat lying on the seabed right next to the cockpit. Very little wind in the morning. The water is so clear we feel we could step straight off the boat onto the sandy bottom. As we sit and have breakfast we observe several dive boats arriving from Provo. The drop off here must be a key dive site. And that is one good reason to return to Turks & Caicos, to get more dives in.
After another swim in this beautiful water, and flying the drone over us and the Cay, we lift anchor and head NW across the bank and out over the drop off. We have to get passed the Mollases Reef before we can turn north across the bank to Provo.

Over the drop off we start fishing. Our first catch is a big one! About 1m long. Probably the same type as yesterday, the one that was half eaten by a shark. We identify it as a Cero (according to our book). Clearly a predator and near to reef, so quite possibly Ciguatera toxic. So back in it goes.
The next two catches happen both within a minute from putting out the line. Both the same type of fish, Cero, but much smaller. These go back in too. We are getting quite good at removing hooks. And quite good at fishing. 7 fish in 2 days!
After we pass Mollases Reef, where the oldest shipwreck in the Americas was found (one of Columbus’ Caravelles) we head back onto the bank. We stop fishing now because we will only catch Barracudas on the bank.

The wind is a gentle 5kts on the beam so we set the sails. We are only doing 3kts boat speed, but over this crystal clear blue water it’s the perfect speed for ultimate tranquility. And to capture this moment we fly the drone. What a view from up there. It looks like Cloudy Bay is gliding in air because we can see the rudder and keel from the drone. For once, landing is easy in this light wind, which just gets lighter and lighter and the sails floppier and floppier till we are only drifting sideways in the current. So back on the engine for the last few miles to Provo.

We head for Sapodilla Bay, next to South Dock where the customs and immigration are situated. South Dock itself is a typical Caribbean port: semi-organised chaos, surrounded by high wire fences. The adjacent Sapodilla Beach Bay, by contrast, has a nice white beach backed by smart holiday houses. But it’s very shallow and we can only anchor on the outer edge of the bay in very soft sand.
There is virtually no wind and it’s bloody hot and sticky. 32DegC inside the boat. We shower before going ashore but we are sticky again within minutes. This heat is so oppressive, we are missing the cooling trade wind. It was nice to have calm weather over the bank, but now we need the wind back, thank you!

We beach the dinghy and are immediately helped by a local guy who is, as usual, only helping because he wants money or something from us. “I’ll look after your boat”… “I can run you into town”… “ I can get you anything you need”. We are as falsely polite as he is, declining his various offers and wander off to the road. We are melting and all we can see is a long dusty road ahead of us 🙁

But after 100m we come across the small entrance hut to Neptune’s Villas hotel, which advertises tourist information among other things. So in we go… and bliss they have air conditioning. The attending lady kindly calls a rental car company and within 40 minutes our ride arrives. We had thought of just getting a taxi to town, but at $20 per person, one way, the rental car @$45 for a day is half the price, and gives us freedom.

So within one hour from beaching the dinghy we are heading to town in our tiny Suzuki hire car. The first part of the road from South Dock to downtown is certainly not inspiring. Everything is dusty and the usual Caribbean mess everywhere. Just passed the airport we arrive to Downtown. It feels very spread out, without a noticeable town center. We pass through, unimpressed, and head west up the north coast. This is clearly a very local area, poor and untidy housing and a beach to match. We were intending to get to the north tip but when the road turns to dirt we do a u-turn and head back to town.
Out the other side, heading east along the north coast, we take a quick looks at Turtle Cove Marina to see if we like the look of it for next year. The very few boats in were power and fishing boats, no sailing boats. Though the place looks good enough.

From there we continue and arrive at the famous north beaches: Bight Beach first, then onto Grace Bay Beach, which is supposed to be one of the top beaches in the world. It certainly has the ingredients: turquoise water, white soft sand and scrub dunes behind. Very nice indeed, but missing the shady palm trees which we loved so very much on the Dominican beaches.
In the middle of Grace Bay it’s actually hard to find public access to the beach. It is lined with very fancy hotels that have Fort-Knox looking entrances. And if it’s not huge hotels, it’s private houses. All very American looking.
We also discover Grace Bay “town”. A strip of mostly luxury shops that would not be out of place in the Hamptons on Long Island. Thinking of that, this is probably where all the wealthy people from Long Island come to winter themselves. Home from home!

At the east extremity of Provo, by Leeward Creek, we find housing developments in a system of man-made canals. Very much Florida style. When we look at some listed properties in a real estate agent, we are shocked with the price. $1m will get you a 2 bed studio and prices go up from there. It makes Dominican Rep property seem astoundingly cheap. TCI may be British, but is it really any less of a banana republic than DR? Political corruption here is certainly no less than other islands.
While on the subject of prices, we visit a fancy looking supermarket, likely the one all these fancy house owners shop in. $6 for a cucumber! $4 for a small avocado. Tomatoes $6 a pound. Oh, we are sooo glad we stocked up on fruit and veg in Dominican. This place is at least 10x more expensive.

As it’s getting dark we head back to Cloudy Bay, concerned about the safety of our dinghy. When we get our feet wet getting to the dinghy, we both comment how warm the water is. Back on the boat we check the instruments: the water is 30DegC. That’s like a warm bath. Our poor fridges will be struggling to keep cool.
On that very note, I notice the damned breaker for the fridges and freezer has turned off! How that happened we don’t know. But we switch it back on, and to help the compressors I remove the small hatch in the galley floor to give some ventilation.
We often open this when the fridges are working hard, like when we first turn them on. And Oana has always said, “one day, one of us is going to fall down there”. Well, unfortunately, today was the day, and it’s Oana who pulled the short straw.
We were about to watch a movie, so most of the salon lights are off. She goes to the galley to make popcorn and all I hear is a crash of cooking pots, thud and a loud scream! I find Oana on the galley floor in a very unhappy state. She not only managed to put one foot down the small hatch, but both of them, right up to her knees with her feet jamming against bits of the fridge equipment. At first it looked like just a grazed leg, but then I spotted thick blood on the carpet. We traced this to the bottom of her foot that has two big gouges out of it and a cut under the second tow.
To say Oana usually “doesn’t do pain” would be an understatement. But this time she is seriously distressed. Both legs are out of action and one arm, as she knocked her elbow in the fall, so she can’t get herself up. I try to patch her, like she does for me all the time, but she is not a willing patient. And in the end does her own first aid. Then we sit for the planned cinema time (without the popcorn treat), watching a good movie.

This is not a good place to be, starting a long journey. So we go to bed hoping that she can move a bit easier in the morning.
In total contrast to the previous day, this is probably one of our worst days on the boat, well the evening part of it. But although in pain, Oana does end the day joking, telling me that if I really want to kill her, at least don’t do it with booby traps like this!