Turks & Caicos - briefly

It’s not quite two weeks since the last post…. and we’ve been to and from the Turks & Caicos. We didn’t spend as much time here as we’d hoped because we got a good weather opportunity to head offshore to get to Puerto Rico shortly after we arrived. We’ll have to see more of the T&C when we head back north. The best part of our short time in the T&C was seeing our friends Jim & Heidi! 

As unlikely as it was, our timing matched theirs perfectly and we spent the better part of two days on the beach with them at Grace Bay on the north side of Provo. Happy birthday to Heidi who celebrated her big day during their stay here! We were happy to be able to spend your birthday with you…. and equally happy that you let us shower at your hotel. Heaven.

Skip, Heidi, Madeline, Jim

Almost every year since Skip and I moved to Newport, we've gotten together with our Ithaca friends Rob & Marybeth and Jim & Heidi while they're vacationing on Block Island... so seeing them on the beach seemed normal. The clear blue warm water was a change from Block - as was the absence of Rob & MB. We missed you Rob & Marybeth!!

Jim & Heidi

All the photos on this post are courtesy of Jim & Heidi…. for two reasons. For one thing, the dinghy landing situation at Grace Bay was hazardous to all things not waterproof – like my camera – so I didn’t bring it ashore. There were crashing waves ashore so we anchored the dinghy in about five feet of water and swam in. The other reason is that I once again lost ALL the images on my camera due to some undecipherable file corruption crap. I can't recall the exact readout on the screen but it was something like "there's a curse upon your nikon!". Sigh... I miss film. I’m trying some file recovery software, and if it’s successful I’ll post a few shots another time. In the meantime we’re shopping for a sturdy point and shoot waterproof camera. (Thanks to Jim at Cameras Etc in Delaware for helping me out on the phone.)

Anchor ready!

Skip as sherpa

After Jim & Heidi headed home we took Saralane around to the south side of Provo and anchored in rolly, murky Sapodilla Bay in the company of several boats we’ve met along the way. Everyone was waiting for an opportunity to go either overnight to the Dominican Republic or offshore to Puerto Rico. The Swedish kids, Martin & Johanna on Snowbird were here as well as the Swedish grownups Hakan and AnnaKarin on Unicorn. We also got together with Janice & Bob from Tsamaya (Ithacans!) who we’d initially met in Staniel Cay (swimming pig territory) when they were waiting for a parcel to arrive on the same plane as our solar panels. 

Skip and I hitched around the island one afternoon – we made a pilgrimage to the closest marine store and a grocery store. One of our rides came from a vacationing couple who live right up the road from us back home. They knew some of Skip’s old neighbors…. small world.

Jumping ahead... we’re in Puerto Rico now. Hopefully I’ll have recovered some photos in the next few days to do a post on the trip here. That’ll have to do for now…. hasta luego amigos.