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Farewell Dominican Republic, we won't forget such a green island, pretty waterfalls, rivers, cheap supplies, kindness of the people, and also the outrageous price of clearances compared to the little harbour commodities offered. We meet some Italian arriving from Cuba and they tell us it is much easier, faster and cheaper to clear in and out in Cuba than in Dominican Republic. So, we'll see ourselves...
At 5.30 pm we sail off of Luperon as the wind blows 25-30 knots to Mouchoir Passage and the Sandy Cays, first of the Turks Islands. We reach this island faster than we wish to and early in the morning offering a paradisiac blue transparant water and white sand. We jump in right away a good way to forget about not being able to swim in luperon.
The swell is heavy so we choose to sail to Little Ambergris, south Caicos as Las Brisas take a deeper route as she get a more important draft, and we go south through the banks. Although it is a nice sail I have to admit it is a little tricky to move through so many coral heads and such shallow water. We ended iin 50 cm water. We take the dinghy even if we can have easily walk to visit the nice mangrove and follow the lagoon which brings you to the other side of the island but through less than 10 cm water. We hardly get in touch with Las Brisas who anchored in between Little and Great Ambergris. After a very calm night in a no man's sea!, we head back to meet Las Brisas but can not make it. They sail to Providenciales Islands, while we decide to sail to Cockburn Harbour.
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Cockburn Harbour belongs to the South Caicos and we manage to get there at 3.30 pm after sailing along Long Cay which is 2 miles long and a good protection from the ocean once you are inside the bay. Before we get in the harbour we pass over a deep wall going from 300 m to 40m and then 4 meters in the path. Very few documentation and charts are issued and here more than ever you have to keep sailing your eyes fixed onto your depth sounder. Water here is so clear you can see the purple seafans and the conches at the bottom. we take shelter right behind long Cay and get in touch with the customs on channel 16. Finally we are told to come to the office. Jean-Luc is nicely welcome and as both the Customs and the Immigration are not close, a canadian couple take him from one office to the other and at last the Immigration give him a lift back to his dinghy! And the cost of the clearance is : 5 usd! Unbelievable difference in between two countries! but true!
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What a lovely peaceful island. The harbour is covered with fishermen boats leaving early in the morning until the evening. They go fishing quite far away in the Banks. They bring their catches to a kind of local co-op. We try to buy fishes from them but they all refuse. The small village is pretty poor and dilapilated. A few houses are built in concrete as most of the others are built with bush material and looks ready to fly with the first hurricane. The inhabitants we meet live in a poverish state and it looks worth than in Dominican Republic as they can not grow anything around. They all wander in the streets or talk to themselves not in creole but in pure english! Here tourism is still far away. A little airport and a merchant ship are the only link with the outer islands. Anyway conversely to the tourists, mosquitoes found the island a long time ago and they seem to appreciate the land and the people and they show up even during the day time, they only rush on board our boat at 5.30 pm! for a nice visit, so polite they are!!
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We spend a few days there, enyoy a wonderful dive on the wall. Weather is not too good at the surface but underwater it is ok. We start on a flat 10 meters dive getting down slowly. We stop at 36 meters. Visibility is surprising and the current slight. Fan corals, sponges are so big I can hide in it. Fishes gather around us and our friends barracudas too, a nice turtle stay with us a little while. The Turks and Caicos are well preserved and is a pleasure to dive. On our way back to the surface and as we go back to the boat the current reverse and thousands of jelly fish take their chance to go inside the bank. Not the right moment to jump in ! After a little while we have a little swim to bring the skeleton of a sand biscuit, so fragile to transport, just to take a picture!
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We move to the southern part of long Cay to be ready to sail to Providenciales through the Banks. Two fishermen advise us not to go from the bay but to go back outside and along Long Cay on the Ocean side to be able to reach the southern part, otherwise we would not have pass, too shallow! Outside the wind blows 30 knots so we delay our departure til the middle of the afternoon and arrive there just before sunset. We try to go ashore to see the piles of dead conchs droped there by fishermens, then walk along the beach until the mosquitoes rush on us!!! It is a shame that such beautiful beaches can only be the property of Mosquitoes!!!
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On may 3rd, we leave Long Cay and its mosquitoes to Providenciales, sailing throughout the Banks and coral heads in a shallow water. We have 42 miles to sail and we rarely have more than 4 meters deep, more often the depht sounder indicates 1.70 m. The Islands can be seen from far away, Providentiales is the last stop before the Bahamas.
Providenciales Islands, and Provo the capitale, are much more developped than Cockburn Harbour. While approching the coast an important tanker and cargo activities is noticed , and houses are every where. We drop the anchor in Sapodilla bay right before a lovely beach and private houses. Some canadian and american sail boats are already there. It is saturday and there no clearance departure is possible before monday. We decide to walk to town.The sun is hot and a car stops after 10 minutes walk. The guy offers to take us to town. He is a director for a Developpment company, while driving he is singing psalms from the radio! Once in Provo we realize everything is closed. Sunday is Sunday! As Provo looks a town coming out from the desert, we decide to head back to the boat and enjoy a swim in the sea. On our way back a bus wants to drop us to Sapodilla bay for 5usd each! No way! Then a lady offers to take us in her car and we accept her lift! She just flew back from New York where she had a great time and did a lot of shopping. The only thing she regreatted was the cost of a bed room and the taxes on dinners at the hotel.
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Back to the sea the swim is more than greatful! We then decide to dinghy up to the lagoon and go right before all the huge private houses. Some are pretty while others really awful. The island is in full developpment. Having daily flights to United States, it is easily reachable. You can even find a Club Med! We manage to find the entrance of the lagoon and fInd out there is a small sail boat inside inspite of the shallow water
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We leave Provo on may 5th, followed by a norvegian sail boat and head to the West Caicos. We have an enjoyable weather and sail to get tothat white and blue ilot. We anchor right before the rocks. A dolphin come along the boat and then disappear. There is a wall right behind the boat and we decide to dive on it. Visibility is not perfect but we dive down to 46.90 m watching at more fishes than in Cockburn. In the evening we are exhausted and do not even notice that the swell roll the boat from one side to the other.
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End of the Turks and Caïcos, where we really enjoye the blue waters, lovely beaches as long as we manage to stay away from mosquitoes, and love magic dives. We have 50 miles to reach Abraham's bay - Mayaguana - Bahamas. The sail is calm while the noise of the fishing line awake us. It take us approximately two hours to bring that big monster on board! The catch of the day is an enormous Mahi-Mahi approximately 30kg. We are set with fish for a while. Sushi, sashimi, à la provençale, colombo de mahi-mahi, etc... We also do some preserves. A good souvenir as the fish is caught in the caicos waters and we have no right to fish at all....
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