Friday, March 6, 2020

At Sea
21.02.325N
71.19.311W

Both Dale and I were up by 5:15 this morning but were surprised to find the skies somewhat overcast and thus still dark but we were at a high tide; a good time to leave.  So we killed time by eating breakfast and getting out lifejackets and lanyards.  By 5:45 we saw Bob, the marina owner walking towards Winterlude, a large motor yacht that had been in a slip behind us for the entire time we were there.  We had no idea that they were leaving the same day as us, so as they motored by, I asked Susie where they were bound and learned that they were headed back north to Long Island, Exuma.  We waved good bye and then thanked Bob for his hospitality when he came by to help us cast off.  We followed Winterlude out the channel as soon as they had cleared it without mishap and as they turned north, we turned south. 

Crossing the Caicos Bank

As fortune would have it, we saw another catamaran approaching us as we made our way to the southbound waypoint.  Dale spotted that it was another Manta and when they hailed us, we learned that their name was Twocan and they had spent the last season down in the Caribbean and had just left the DR and more specifically Ocean World.  They gave us some advice about Ocean World and reminded us that Luperon was a hurricane hole that might prove a better spot with the predicted 30 kt winds coming out of the north by Saturday evening.  We in turn told them to “hug the reds until you make the turn and then hug the greens” getting into South Side Marina without going aground. 

The rest of the day was without event.  The winds didn’t die down as soon as we had first thought but eventually subsided enough to make a decent transit.  We approached Six Hills island and started hailing Zandolee and Never Say Never with no response.  We made our way through the cut to the ocean and the last island in the Turks and Caicos, Great Sand Cay.  Ahead of us was another catamaran but too far ahead to make out who it might be, and as no one had answered our radio calls only minutes prior, I didn’t think to call again.  They were clearly moving faster than us but as I learned about an hour later, it was Never Say Never.  They told us that Zandolee was about the same distance in front of them, and as all of us were already lined up, we elected to skip the stop at Great Sand and just continue on to the Dominican Republic. 

We’re still waiting for the calm seas that were forecast, so hopefully by nightfall, things will settle down.  As we all know, everything feels worse at night but tonight, we have almost a full moon, so hopefully, it won’t be that bad.