Traveling Team Fischer

A beautiful sunrise welcomed us to Turks and Caicos, and while we were exhausted, the sun gave us a new burst of energy. After promising each other we would not take on an overnight crossing without proper sleep, or at least significant rest, we made our way to Blue Haven Marina. The plan was to be there for a few nights so we could do some maintenance on the boat, and most importantly, find spare bolts, belts, and such to keep the alternator running.

The marina had recently been repaired from past storm damage, and was beautiful. We saw turtles cruising between boats on a regular basis, as well as too many beautiful fish to count. There was a decent current running through, so the water was always clear and my favorite shade of blue. Dulcinea was by far the oldest and smallest in the slips, and it was fun to see so many beautiful vessels coming and going. Knowing how much work our little girl required, we could see why the floating mansions required so many hands to keep them going. We decided we were OK with being the smallest.

We spoiled ourselves with a wonderful meal before setting off to get our to do list wrapped up. One of my island favorites is conch, so of course I had to have the conch salad. Turks and Caicos has conch farms, so you can always find it on any menu, and it is always very fresh. Years ago, we were lucky enough to spend time on this island with friends and I’m pretty sure we each tried to eat our body weight in conch every day.

After filling our bellies with delicious food, we took a cab into town to try to find parts for the boat at an auto parts store. When we shared with the driver what we were trying to repair, he jumped on his phone to start calling friends and family to help us find what we needed. After buying what we could at our first stop, the driver took us all over the island to businesses we wouldn’t have known to consider, let along find on our own. By the end of the day we had everything we needed, including a few spares and he even took us to one of the bigger grocery stores to make sure we were properly provisioned before setting sail again. To say we love the people in this country is a huge understatement. It was fun to see places we had been to long ago that were still in business, as well as seeing how much has changed over the years.

We were able to get our girl ready to roll with shiny new parts in no time and made plans to head out the next morning. Due to too many moving parts over which we had no control, we weren’t able to depart until the afternoon. This meant the ideal conditions we were supposed to enjoy had changed, and after a couple miles of confused 6+ foot seas, we decided to turn around and try again the next morning. We anchored in a protected spot by the marina and tried again early the next morning. Conditions were perfect, and we made excellent time to our next stop, which was an old resort/marina in West Caicos that was under reconstruction, and allowed anchoring in the basin. It was a beautiful place to wait for the next weather window.

After a few days, we had a big enough window that allowed us to cross the Caicos Banks, then on to Big Sand Cay stopping for a night at Big Ambergris Cay along the way. Big Sand was beautiful and a bit crowded with others preparing for their crossings to the Dominican Republic. We found a nice protected spot to prepare ourselves for the crossing, too.

Everything we read advised to set out late afternoon to ensure enough time for an arrival after sunrise. One of the reasons for this is the number of fish traps around DR that cannot be seen in anything other than bright daylight. Our experience on Turks and Caicos had improved our outlook on this adventure so much that we were excited to be heading to a new destination, even if we had to travel at night again. The forecast was promising and winds cooperated enough that we could purely sail for a nice chunk of the crossing, instead of motor sailing the whole way. Conditions ended up being a bit spicier than forecasted (I feel like we say this daily), but everything was going pretty well. We had our system down for shifts at the helm, and the full moon provided us with more visibility than we’ve ever had at night. I made the mistake of peaking to our starboard to see how much the moon was illuminating for us, and saw waves at almost eye level. Which meant they were at least 8 feet tall and not what I needed to see at that point, so I vowed to keep my focus on the horizon during my shifts at the helm, eager to see the lights of the DR.