Providenciales Turks and Caicos

Providenciales Turks and Caicos (March 1-7, 2013)

We were still blessed with beautiful crystal clear waters as we came into Providenciales, on the west side of the Turks and Caicos Islands.  And YIKES, also met with a maze of large coral heads to maneuver...

The shoreline was quite spectacular as we came through the channel!

Beautiful homes!

Lots of new construction!

Turtle Rock!

AND, our friends, Marco, Deborah and Nicholas on their beautiful vessel, Kiribati... We are here!!!

A lot of celebrities have homes on Turtle Tail.  This beauty below belongs to The Artist formerly known as Prince... (notice the purple driveway to the right)

We would have gotten a better picture of the purple driveway; however, we were being chased away by security as they thought Jim said, "We are terrorists!" when actually he said, "We are tourists!"

As beautiful as The Artist formerly known as Prince's home was, other than the driveway, I found it to be somewhat ordinary and was drawn to the property next door.  Could pink being my favorite color have had something to do with it?  No, this is a most BEAUTIFUL estate...I was in awe!!!

The lower entrance to the property...

Check out the staircase leading to the turret...my dream hideaway!!!

We stayed dockside at the Caicos Marina for a few days and rented a car for some sightseeing before heading to Sapodilla Bay to anchor and stage for our next move...South Caicos. We enjoyed some of the local cuisine while in Providenciales; however, were not sure the chicken was actually chicken as we have never seen chicken with bones that look like those you find in a steak.  Nonetheless, we enjoyed the fare and returned more than once.

The "potcake" dogs that find shelter at the marina would stand watch beside our boat during the night.  Each morning, we arose to have one of them faithfully keeping watch to be sure no one came near our vessel.  And, each morning, we rewarded them with breakfast.

Just after nightfall on our first night in the anchorage, we noticed green flashes of light all over the water.  Taking a closer look, the light would appear as if an eye were glowing in the water, a small worm would swim to the light followed by an intense eruption of bioluminescent streaks forming a somewhat circular pattern and then would disappear.  Fascinated by such a phenomenon, we did some research and determined them to be glow worms performing their mating ritual, which occurs 2-3 days after every full moon in the springtime.  Unfortunately, due to poor lighting, we were unable to capture this fantastic ritual, which is unique to the shallow waters of the Caribbean.  This is a must see for those visiting the islands.

As time came for us and s/v Golightly to head further south, we spent our last evening sharing a great bowl of Deborah's homemade risotto (yes, she made it from scratch) and saying our goodbyes to Marco, Deborah and Nicholas on Kiribati and to Gregory and Cristina on Whisper.

Marco and Deborah playing with Nicholas at sunset
the night before we departed for South Caicos

Marco, Deborah & Nicholas
Great people that really know how to live life, no holds barred!

Gregory, Jeremie, Marco, Deborah & Nicholas

Moving along to South Caicos...

Rum Cay

Rum Cay (February 25-28, 2013)

We were faced with a few challenges when arriving at Sumner Point Marina.  We came into the Marina with 5 other boats.  When the first boat ran aground at the channel marker, it caused a domino effect and we found ourselves aground as well.  Some 15 minutes later, we were free and headed on into the Marina only to find ourselves once again aground in front of the dock.  Several of the boats went aground, the last of which was stuck for 45 minutes before breaking loose.  No worries though, it is a sandy bottom and is only a matter of patience to get moving again.

Dockage at the Marina is free this year as Hurricane Sandy took quite a toll on the island.  Even so, it is still a beautiful place to be.

Bobby, not sure of his position at the Marina, but he keeps everything running, is a great artist and creates sculptures from coral.  They are not simple carvings, every detail is intricately carved.

Welcome to Rum Cay!

Lots of goats roam the roadways

Rope swings?

New construction of Hurricane Shelter/Community Center

A local cemetary

Rachel Ellen (1867 - 1888)

Ocean View Restaurant

You know  you are on "island time" when at 10:00 a.m. the grocery store is not yet open.

"Last Chance" - The local grocery store

We met Kaye at the Last Chance grocery.  A super sweet lady, who appears to be quite an important figure in town as there is also a restaurant and bar named for her.

Our new friend, Kaye, tending the grocery store

 

Kaye's Restaurant & Bar

Due to weather windows, we were only here a few days and did not find time to enjoy many of the activities, especially the exquisite lobstering and fishing that many of our friends did.  As such, this is definitely on our repeat list for our second trip around.

Long Island/Calabash Bay

Long Island/Calabash Bay (February 21-25, 2013)

Jim closely watched for a good weather window and decided it best to make a stop at Calabash Bay to wait out some high winds and surge before heading on to Rum Cay.

We sailed into Calabash Bay along with 3 Canadian sailing vessels: Hali, Vivachy and Trudy Mae and were met with a coastline of beautiful homes, Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort and Stella Maris Resort and Marina.

In keeping humor with our respective roles, the men a/k/a "Hunters," spent the day lobstering while the women a/k/a "Gatherers," hitchhiked into town to while away the day gathering beers and plantains at a local restaurant/bar.  Who had more fun?  We all did.

While the women were quite successful in gathering what we needed for our afternoon happy hour, the Hunters also had a successful day hunting and brought home several lobsters for dinner.

Dinner!!!

Oven roasted veggies

Jim grilled the lobster to perfection, while I prepared what has become my signature dish of oven roasted vegetables.  We then joined our fellow cruisers for a potluck dinner on the beach, which turned out to be a remarkable evening of great food, laughter and great memories.  

This is living!!!

Valentine's Day

Red Shanks (February 14-February 19, 2013)

As we feel couples truly in love find it natural to tell each other "I Love You" many times everyday, neither of us buys into Valentine's Day, what we deem a Hallmark Holiday created as a marketing strategy merely to boost sales and force men to rush to the corner store after work to thoughtlessly grab a bunch of flowers, candy and a card before wearily arriving home only to worry have they done enough.  

On this Valentine's Day, I felt Jim was up for some much deserved extra TLC so I put an extra unexpected loving touch to his lunch and served him heart shaped sandwiches with a salad and cookies.

 

 

The little things in life make it special

Most of our time at Red Shank's was spent in the water, snorkeling.  Close to shore we came upon a large area of beautiful coral, fish and other marine life.  It is quite amazing to be surprised with such beauty.

We would have liked to have spent more time at Red Shank's; however, we were merely waiting for a weather window in which to head to Rum Cay.

Accordingly, as soon as the weather improved, we pulled anchor and headed back up Elizabeth Harbour to Kidd Cove for a day to provision and continue our journey.