Monday 1st January 2007
Turtle Cove Marina.
Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands.
21 47.136 N
72 13.602 W
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE
WE WISH YOU ALL HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.
As you already know we didn’t see the new year in and surprisingly the dock was very quiet – I guess most of the people here are old fuddy duddies. So just to begin the new year off on the right foot Gerry decided that he needed to go up the mast to see if he could find a cause for the wind indicator working intermittently. I was not a happy bunny as I had to haul him up the darn thing. Anyway there we were at the cra
ck of dawn, well 08.00hrs actually, playing silly idiots up the mast, having gone to the top Gerry brought the wind indicator back down with him to have a good look at it. I was not impressed as it meant that I was going to have to haul him back up there a second time to replace it. Needless to say there was nothing visibly wrong with it – so it got a good drowning in WD40, a test run in front of the air conditioner fan (worked perfectly) and then it was time for a repeat performance of hoisting the elephant up the mast. I insisted that he took the camera up with him and take a few photos, which he did – it almost appeased me but I assure you it is the very last time I’m doing the mast haul – we WILL get a self hauling bosun’s chair no matter what it costs. So now my arms were aching and my temper was a bit short (imagine that!), after a short recovery period we decided to go out somewhere for the day, I wanted to go to the beach for a while so we packed our swim gear and then Gerry said “I wonder if the bus is running today, we could go and get the re provisioning over with today”. He then set off to the marina office – a demountable shed – to enquire, returning a few minutes later with the news that the bus would be running and the supermarket was open. He also bought tokens for the bus, so much for the beach! The backpack can out of the cupboard and we headed off to the bus stop where we waited and waited and waited. We were reassured by a few locals that the bus would come – at 10.15, 10.30, 10.45, 11.00 at which point we gave up and began to walk – 3 miles of flat to begin with then uphill at the end with a head wind to keep us cool. We made it into the supermarket and loaded the trolley with the vegetables, fruit, bread and rum that we desperately needed (NO CHOCOLATE PLEASE NOTE!), paid the bill which was on par with what we would have paid in the USA and loaded up the backpack for the return trip – 3 miles, downhill to begin with and then flat with a following wind to assist us. The round trip took us 2 hours which we thought was OK but we ache a bit from all the hauling and walking. With the shopping unpacked I bought up the subject of the beach and got a murderous look – guess th
at wasn’t going to happen! Gerry said he was going to see if he could get the customs officers down here to clear us out so that we can leave first thing in the morning. So here we are waiting. We managed to have a chat with my sister, mum and Sue via the skype internet phone which was great, everyone else we tried there was no reply – sorry you missed out! We are going ashore for dinner tonight – it’s the last chance I’ll have for a while so I’m making the most of it.
Our plan for the next few days is to head to the other side of the island to Sapodilla bay then on to Big Ambergris and then Sandy Cay, and as far east as we can make it. Undoubtedly it will be a few days until I have internet access again so you’ll have to be patient and keep checking.
Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands.
21 47.136 N
72 13.602 W
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE
WE WISH YOU ALL HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.
As you already know we didn’t see the new year in and surprisingly the dock was very quiet – I guess most of the people here are old fuddy duddies. So just to begin the new year off on the right foot Gerry decided that he needed to go up the mast to see if he could find a cause for the wind indicator working intermittently. I was not a happy bunny as I had to haul him up the darn thing. Anyway there we were at the cra
ck of dawn, well 08.00hrs actually, playing silly idiots up the mast, having gone to the top Gerry brought the wind indicator back down with him to have a good look at it. I was not impressed as it meant that I was going to have to haul him back up there a second time to replace it. Needless to say there was nothing visibly wrong with it – so it got a good drowning in WD40, a test run in front of the air conditioner fan (worked perfectly) and then it was time for a repeat performance of hoisting the elephant up the mast. I insisted that he took the camera up with him and take a few photos, which he did – it almost appeased me but I assure you it is the very last time I’m doing the mast haul – we WILL get a self hauling bosun’s chair no matter what it costs. So now my arms were aching and my temper was a bit short (imagine that!), after a short recovery period we decided to go out somewhere for the day, I wanted to go to the beach for a while so we packed our swim gear and then Gerry said “I wonder if the bus is running today, we could go and get the re provisioning over with today”. He then set off to the marina office – a demountable shed – to enquire, returning a few minutes later with the news that the bus would be running and the supermarket was open. He also bought tokens for the bus, so much for the beach! The backpack can out of the cupboard and we headed off to the bus stop where we waited and waited and waited. We were reassured by a few locals that the bus would come – at 10.15, 10.30, 10.45, 11.00 at which point we gave up and began to walk – 3 miles of flat to begin with then uphill at the end with a head wind to keep us cool. We made it into the supermarket and loaded the trolley with the vegetables, fruit, bread and rum that we desperately needed (NO CHOCOLATE PLEASE NOTE!), paid the bill which was on par with what we would have paid in the USA and loaded up the backpack for the return trip – 3 miles, downhill to begin with and then flat with a following wind to assist us. The round trip took us 2 hours which we thought was OK but we ache a bit from all the hauling and walking. With the shopping unpacked I bought up the subject of the beach and got a murderous look – guess th
at wasn’t going to happen! Gerry said he was going to see if he could get the customs officers down here to clear us out so that we can leave first thing in the morning. So here we are waiting. We managed to have a chat with my sister, mum and Sue via the skype internet phone which was great, everyone else we tried there was no reply – sorry you missed out! We are going ashore for dinner tonight – it’s the last chance I’ll have for a while so I’m making the most of it.Our plan for the next few days is to head to the other side of the island to Sapodilla bay then on to Big Ambergris and then Sandy Cay, and as far east as we can make it. Undoubtedly it will be a few days until I have internet access again so you’ll have to be patient and keep checking.
Labels: Turks and Caicos Islands
posted by SV Orpailleur at 12:16 p.m.
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