South Caicos (Cockburn Harbour)

South Caicos - Cockburn Harbour (March 7-14, 2013)

Another great day of sailing brought us to Cockburn Harbour, in South Caicos.

Sailing across the banks

s/v Golightly allowing us a great wing-to-wing photo op

We grimaced as we entered the smelly harbor full of abandoned boats and large fishing boats that were overcrowded with burly men.  Upon reaching the shore, we were met by a group of less than inviting locals.  That is, except for the local hooker with a baby on her hip offering her wares and coaxing us over to her "boys," a large group of men sitting on a porch, who upon her asking them to tell us about a local party we shouldn't miss the next night, proceeded to stare us down never uttering a word.  We turned and walked away deciding it best to not attend the Saturday night social event.

We then proceeded to walk through the town to see what it had to offer and found there to be nothing any more appealing than what we had already experienced...

A ghost town

The only sign of life was stray horses everywhere

A horse in every yard

Yes, a horse in every yard

Then, there was this stud trying to mate with every mare

Where were all the people?

Another deserted street

Someone had mastered the art of graffiti

Guns included

Success...I was "afraid!"

Overlooking part of the anchorage

Our cruising permits for Turks and Caicos ran out, effective March 11. On March 10, we contacted to customs to explain that we would not be able to leave on March 11th due to inclement weather, high winds and dangerously high seas.  We were told they knew of the approaching weather; however, they did not know what to tell us as to how to deal with the weather, but she (the custom's officer) was checking us out and we needed to leave within 24 hours.  So, the morning of March 11, we set out in the less than desirable conditions and, after fighting it for over an hour, decided to take our chances and returned to South Caicos, silently invoking our right of parlay (if there really is such a thing as parlay).  We laid low, didn't use the VHF and didn't leave the boat for the next 67 hours.

Our original plan had been to make it to the Dominican Republic in time to celebrate Jim's birthday.  Seeing that wasn't going to happen, I decided I needed to make a practice run with the oven before attempting to bake his birthday cake so I baked an apple dumpling.

 

Apple Dumpling

The apple dumpling was delicious so it was time to bake Jim's birthday cake.

Happy Birthday, Jim!!!
XOXOXO and Lots of Love!!!

The only man I know that drinks a glass of scotch with his birthday cake, but whatever makes him happy; it is his day. 

Finally, the weather was right to make our move and we headed for Luperon, Dominican Republic.  

In all of our travels, Turks and Caicos is the only place which we have vowed to never return.