Whirlwind

We are in Turks and Caicos now.  What a whirlwind we’ve had this year!

In January we left St Martin for Puerto Rico. After 25 hours of sailing,  we arrived in San Juan (a rogue pigeon that we picked up at sea perched on deck) and spent a few days exploring the largest city we’ve ever sailed into. We renewed our passports, sent mail with the USPS, and enjoyed being in a US territory. I flew to California for a few days, and Paul moved the boat to Puerto Real, so when I landed back in San Juan, we had a 3 hour drive to get back to the boat! I forgot what a large island Puerto Rico is- one of the largest we’ve visited recently. We even shopped at a Walmart, and watched the Super Bowl at an outdoor marina bar.

I loved the west side of Puerto Rico. Beautiful coast lines, with breaking waves, coastal birds, and iguanas lounging. We spent two days together in Puerto Real before leaving for the Dominican Republic, zarpe in hand for the upcoming rigorous DR paperwork to come.  As was our wont, we left in the afternoon and sailed overnight for 26 hours to Cap Cana, DR, docking at the marina there and entertaining 6 official looking customs, immigration, drug enforcement agents, and who knows who to check in officially and “officially”.

After the overnight sail, we needed the rest, so we stayed on the dock for two nights, enjoying showers and unlimited water, as well as the e-scooters, and the marble villas of the marina condos. I could jog the walking path and look for whales in the early morning. Because of our schedule, and also the cost of staying on the dock, we set sail for Samana on a Friday, with our exit despacho in hand.

After checking in at Samana with the Armada (the DR was unique in requiring paperwork to move between ports within the country. We had to acquire “Despachos” to move the boat, which was traditionally a good time to request a “fee”), we had 24 hours to walk around and enjoy the sights. 

The city had a lovely vegetable market and we purchased fresh veg and sandwiches and cheese.  At night, we docked the dinghy on a broken pier and walked the spectacular bridge to the mainland, which was romantic and spooky all at once.

But the real star for us was the humpback whales.  Since leaving Puerto Rico, we were seeing whales daily, if not hourly.  Usually in pairs.  Sometimes breaching, flipping their tails, snorkeling, breathing, diving.  What a unique and beautiful treat to see a pair of humpback whales 10 meters from the boat, to hear them breathing, to see the shine of their skin in the sun, and to have the vision to see their bodies change the color of the aqua water as they sank slowly.  Sometimes in as shallow as 11 meters of water.

On a Sunday, we launched to shore, gave a tip to a grifter to watch the dinghy, grabbed our exit Despacho, and returned to Bluebelle to stow away our lives- exactly one week after we set sail from PR, we set sail from DR, and headed to Turks and Caicos for a meet up with Paul’s friends. 

We had scheduled 1.5 days of sailing, but were met with less wind than expected, and certainly higher seas.  After being slammed by waves for a few hours, we later became becalmed, switching between the two extremes; too much wind and waves, to none. 

Unfortunately, this meant a much longer crossing, delaying our arrival.  We sailed from Sunday afternoon through Tuesday night, finally anchoring after sunset, but still 40 NM away from Provo.  The last 5 hours of the sail had been in 20-30 knots of wind, 2 meter close seas bouncing our boat to high heaven, rattling our teeth. We finally called it and retreated to safe harbor, which significantly improved our spirits.  

I brewed tea and made a hot meal.  Once anchored, we had hot water for a shower and slept for 10 hours, waking up to a calm bright day, in the prettiest water we’ve ever seen.  For the past 2 nights we had been taking turns sleeping, and hearing the waves beat our hulls like a drum while doing it.  “Think not, is my eleventh commandment; and sleep when you can, is my twelfth.”  (words of advice from Stubb). 

Sometimes, the weather decides for us.  The crew was tired and missed sleeping next to each other and whispering sweet nothings.  The hardest part of these longer crossing is the opposite sleep schedules.  I’m sure the navy feels the same.

But now, we are on the move again! Passing by the Turks, and onto the Caicos- hopefully arriving to Provo this afternoon with plenty of sunlight to navigate the shallow reefs and for Paul to meet up with his main-land friends that are flying in for a boys trip.

2024 in numbers so far

• Weeks: 7
• Islands Visited: 6
• Miles Sailed: 675 NM
• Whale Seen: Dozens
• Things Broken: One Batten Receptacle
• Watches stood: 29 *4 hours* probably more!
• Lessons learned: Hot food keeps spirits high even in fierce wind, weather and wind models are hyper local and sometimes tricky, and crew morale is the most important aspect of any sail.

fair winds, etc,

Lindsay and Paul