19:02.7N 066:39.8W

 

We left Tortola at 9:30 this morning to do the 550 mile trip to Mayaguna island, which is the nearest of the Bahamas.  We are going to sail past Turks and Caicos because it is only a short hop further on to the Bahamas and it saves all the hassle of checking in and out of another country.

 

Since it is only Andrea and I onboard now, we resolved to take it easy and goose-wing the twin genoas for these downwind passages, rather than struggling with spinnakers.  That resolve lasted all of one hour, as we plodded along at 5 knots, looking at five days to make the passage.  Up went the parasailor, giving us an extra knot of speed and a more acceptable journey time.  Since then the wind has increased to a steady 20 knots, perfect parasailor conditions, and we are cruising along at 8 or 9 knots with a bit of surfing up to 10 or 11.  Feels good.

 

We haven’t had much success with our fishing recently, but we decided to put out the lines and have a go.  This time it only took a couple of hours to hook one, and fortunately it was a sensible size that we could land without getting bruised in the process.  We had fish and chips for dinner and there is enough in the freezer for three more meals.

 

  

The fish, which we believe is a Spanish Mackerel