What do these 2 things have in common – you’re being woken up by them while anchored at Cockburn Town, Grand Turk Island. Grand Turk has the small island flavour that makes you feel welcome. The island is the national capital for the Turks & Caicos and it has a thriving cruise ship industry! It’s great we were able to visit this special island. How we got here is a bit of a story (typical sailing!!).
Our plans changed when we started our crossing to Big Sand Cay. The wind direction went from east northeast to east southeast which made it very difficult for us to continue to head to Big Sand (which was south east of us). So we quickly changed course to head directly to Grand Turk which would allow us to use this new wind direction a bit (a motorsail). Unfortunately that wind direction didn’t last but we’d already taken down our sails and were committed to our new destination. It was a slog!! We were going mostly into the wind and waves and both were strong! We had a fast moving rain storm where the winds piped up to 25knots on the nose but after it passed, we had a reprise from the wind, dropping to about 12knots. All in all it was a long 23nm but we made it in before 2 pm.
The anchorage on Grand Turk is right at Cockburn Town – a lovely island town that hasn’t really been negatively impacted by the huge cruise ship industry. We’re anchored fairly close to shore where there are lovely beaches and a few little resort places. We spent Friday (Jan. 31) doing some grocery shopping and then walking around the town. We easily found the donkeys (not sure if they are like the swimming pigs of the Exumas – a tourist attraction – or if they are just allowed to roam freely) hanging out on the beach. We walked the main waterside street and chatted with some of the locals. One man told us all about the church he belongs to (we had left the dinghy on the beach infront of the church) and the places he had travelled to! At one point in our conversation, Mark said we were headed to the DR and the man asked if he could come with us 😳!
We spent the afternoon of January 31 finding the customs and immigration office so we could get some info on doing our clear out 24 hours before our departure. We walked up to the Ministry of Border Control and they told us to head to the commercial dock (near the cruise ship pier) and find the customs warehouse. Okay back in the dinghy! We headed to the south end of the island (only about 2nm away) and landed on a very nice beach close to the cruise ships. It was a short walk to the customs warehouse but boy was it weird! We weren’t sure if it was the right place – small white building with 2 closed garage doors. And at the back, a small door with a large window – no sign! We were at the right place and were told we could clear out on Saturday morning. Excellent – with that settled, we dinghied back to our area (north of the cruise ships) and had a relaxing late afternoon drink at a little restaurant near the touristy shopping area. I guess the cruise ships were all done for the day because we had the place to ourselves!
On Saturday morning, Mark went back to the custom warehouse and cleared us out!! It took over an hour (computer problems and some confusion from the officers) but we’re now good to leave. We spent the rest of the day getting things done for our sail to the Dominican Republic. I made chili and did some laundry. And we both read our guide books for the DR and Puerto Rico.
It’s now Sunday, Feb. 2. We’re making water right now so we don’t need to when we reach the DR. Mark is doing engine checks and I’ve got a few things to take care of before we leave (like doing this blog!). We’re planning to leave here tonight around 5pm and if the winds are favourable, we’ll continue directly to Ocean World Marina at Puerto Plata or Luperon (about 100nm). Where we land will depend on the wind and how far to the east we can sail. If all goes well, we’ll be in the DR by mid morning on Monday. We also have a back-up plan. If the wind isn’t great, we’ll stop at Big Sand Cay tonight (it’s only 17nm south of here) and wait until Monday night to continue across to the DR. Got to have back-up plans in this sailing business!
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 