Puerto Rico to the Turks and Caicos Islands,

plus a close encounter with Humpback Whales.

21:28.425N 71:09.495W

27^th February to 1^st March 2015

6518 Miles from Ramsgate by log.

            Today is the 1^st of March and so a big happy birthday to my sister who has once again managed to maintain her three year lead over me in the age race, well done Sue. I noticed that the last blog did not upload any of the pictures correctly and so I will have to revisit that when I get a good internet connection. This one is being sent from my satellite phone and so no pictures I am afraid we should be in George Town by the end of the week where, internet willing, I will update with all of the pictures taken over the last few days………

            With my davits now fully repaired we were all set to go and so as the sun came over the horizon we pulled up our anchor and in company with Right Turn headed out to sea and pointed our noses towards Grand Turk some 345 miles away. This was the longest single trip that Norma and myself have completed without crew and so after much discussion on watch plans etc for the two nights and three days that we would be on passage we finally decided not to decide and to simply suck it and see. As it turned out this was the best policy and we fell into a natural rhythm that best suited our personal sleep patterns: Norma went to bed, and I stayed up for 48 hours!

            No just joking, as it turned out it went something like this, we were both up for most of the daylight hours but did both manage cat naps in the afternoons. After the evening meal I slept from 10 to midnight and Norma took the watch. I went on watch at midnight through to 3 in the morning and then Norma did 3 to 5, I then went back on watch until I got tired which was usually 9 or 10 in the morning, I would then get a couple of hours sleep before lunch. This seemed to suite us very well and with a bit of slippage on the second night we managed to get enough sleep to stay the right side of grumpy on the way over. What did cause a few problems was the swell, the winds were fairly constant at 15 to 20 Knots but we did get several prolonged squalls  registering in the high 30’s. The swell was 7-8 feet and had a very short period which resulted in us getting thrown about like peas in a pod at times, once we cleared land we had expected it to drop but no chance, we had the same sea conditions for the whole journey which did get a bit wearing, see previous blogs on making posh coffee at sea and or Peters comments on using the heads (toilet) to get an idea what life is like living in a tumble dryer. Anyway I wouldn’t want you to get the impression that this isn’t fun so I will add that we both really enjoyed being out there on our own and overall it was a very relaxing and laid back trip. 

            Highlights of the trip:

Day one, as we left Puerto Rico and less than 5 miles into the journey a disturbance in the sea to starboard caught my eye. About 50 meters away a large hump back whale just broke the surface and vented, I know it was a biggy as its’ blow hole was about the size of a large dinner plate. I called Norma and she just managed to get on deck in time to see it vent again this time about 150 meters behind us before we lost it in the swell so no pictures I am afraid.

Day Two: The next encounter was after the second night as we approached Grand Turk. Kate on Right Turn who were about 4 miles ahead of us called up on the VHF radio to say that they had rounded the headland on the 20 meter contour and it had been pretty rough and so I made the decision to give it a wider berth. We turned away from the headland and decided to cross nearer the 50 meter contour, as I turned to cross the shallow patch a huge Humpback Whale surfaced right next to us. It was going the other way and I could see it in direct comparison to Spectra as it went by less than 20 meters away, I would estimate it to have been at least 15 meters long, or in new currency, “bloody big”! Again I called Norma up on deck with the call “W-W-W-Whale”  and she shot up and actually saw the beast this time, quick camera we both said and Norma dived below again to grab the phone. While she was below the whale turned through 180 degrees to parallel our course and dived, its back did a graceful arch before the whole tail, which was wider than Spectra rose in the air and slid below the surface, the top of the tail was black and the bottom brilliant white and I was completely awestruck. Just as the tail disappeared below the surface Norma dashed back into the cockpit with camera in hand, we now have the camera/phone in the cockpit all of the time just in case, but that was our last sighting of the humpback whales for that day.

The Whole Trip: Spectra handled herself superbly throughout, even in winds of over 35 Knots and being given strong side swipes from passing waves she never once gave the impression of being anything other than perfectly safe and in control. We managed a very respectable run of 169 miles over the first 24 hours and arrived as two very happy bunnies.

            At 10am on the third morning we dropped our anchor into crystal clear waters opposite a small village on Grand Turk. The sea shelves so quickly here that I had to push in close to the shore just to find a bottom at all. We finally dropped the anchor after a sudden dramatic reduction on the depth gauge with 1.1 meters below my keel. Putting out 30 meters of chain to hold us in the strong 25 Knot offshore breeze. Luckily for me Right Turn had got there first and so I could use them as a confidence booster as we edged in, always follow a boat with a deeper keel I say, bless them all. 30 meters behind me the sea dropped off to more than 50 meters and 30 meters beyond that the shelf just dropped away into the abyss literally 100’s of meters below. When I went for a swim to make sure that the anchor had dug in, it was like swimming in a tropical fish tank, there were brightly coloured fish everywhere and I was surrounded by coral growing along the fringes of the sand patch that we were anchored in, an absolutely wonderful experience.

            Later that day we gained internet access via a friendly Canadian yacht anchored nearby that kindly shared his wifi code with us, what a star. It took some doing but Norma and myself have now managed to book our visa interviews in Nassau on the 17^th March, progress indeed. Later that day the four of us took our respective dinghies ashore for a bit of an explore and discovered not a lot going on to be truthful. Grand Turk had its heyday producing salt in the giant salt pans that still run along Back Road which you will be pleased to hear is situated just to the rear of Front Road which runs along the beach. That is it really the salt industry is no more and that leaves one garage, a couple of shops and as it was Sunday just about everything shut. The island survives on a few scuba diving operators, as the diving is reported to be excellent, a couple of B&B’s, and the sudden influx of several thousand tourists for a few hours when a cruise ship docks. It is so dependant on the cruise ships that not only do the few shops open on demand but pop up bars appear on the beach when a ship docks and close as soon as it leaves. Having said that it was a pleasant break on our journey and the waters surrounding Grand Turk are truly amazing.

            Tomorrow we head of for another overnight passage up to Mayaguana Island our first port of call in the Bahamas.

PS: we are still looking for some extra crew to come back across the Atlantic at the beginning of June. Three legs of about 2 weeks each, Norfolk Virginia to Bermuda, Bermuda to the Azores, Azores to Cork….anyone interested in all or part? Please drop us a line.

Spectra {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com

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If you want to send normal email pics attachment etc.

Paul {DOT} russell732 {CHANGE TO AT} hotmail {DOT} co {DOT} uk and I will pick it up when I am on WiFi