Wednesday, March 25, 2009

On rout to Turks and Caicos

TJ and Ted joined us in San Juan just as planned, and with minimum delay, we
set sail for the Turks and Caicos. We were thinking that it would be a 3 to
4 day passage, but we look like we will arrive a lot faster. I think our
average speed will have been over seven knots.

We are about 3 hours from what we hope is a safe anchorage where we will
drop a hook and spend the night, then proceed to meet Dana in Provo.

I think we saw seas in the 12 foot range, but they were steep and sometimes
uncomfortable. We got pretty wet on what is a fairly dry boat.

On the way, we caught a large dorado (I think about 4 feet), TJ reeled him
in, and we filleted him and ate a big chunk of him for supper yesterday, and
froze the rest. He is quite tasty.

We had a flying fish fly onboard and hit the steering wheel and made it ring
like a bell.

We also had the excitement of relaying messages to the coast guard about a
local fishing boat that was burning out of control offshore. The crew was
found on a tender about a mile from the burning vessel; all were accounted
for, and were being returned to their home port by a good Samaritan. Once
again, the SSB as a tool for calling for help was a disappointment, or I
should say, the Coast Guard's monitoring of the emergency frequency was
disappointing. We eventually got satellite coverage, and called them on the
phone.

I hope this anchorage works out, or we may have to heave too offshore and
wait until morning to anchor.

ttyl