Parrotfish Poop, Potcake Pooches, Unexploded Ordinances and Cakes and Tacos!21:44.19N 72:15.47W

Tenacity47
Wed 20 Feb 2013 00:06
Our once thoughtfully conceived plan to  sail directly from St Thomas to Florida via the Old Bahama channel was scrapped in favor  sailing to  Culebra, (part of Puerto Rice)  then sail  North through the Bahamas. The change of plan was  due to several nasty cold fronts, otherwise known as “Northers”,  blowing through the area.  We were soon convinced that the Old Bahama Cannel  may not be the most comfortable or safe way to go being as how it’s February and these Northers tend to blow through often this time of year, and can be really nasty.
Culebra was a  few hours away, and we anchored in Ensenada Honda, and originally  hadn’t planned to go ashore, but did. And once ashore we fell in love with the place!!   Such a welcoming  small town feel. Quite Spanish,  laid back and full of character.  There are lots of cruisers hanging out and a good mainland  U S “ex Pat” population, even though it is a U S Territory.  There are no big stores, just 2 small grocery stores,  mom and pop style, a library,   a barber shop, a bakery, a few gift shops, a dive shop near the ferry landing, a few small hotels, some funky restaurants, a gas dock, a marine hardware store, a church, many roosters, several cats and a few horses.  Nothing new and out of place. But there is a well maintained brightly painted orange lift bridge over a tiny canal that apparently was built for two fishing boats. We never did get the full history of this bridge but we did enjoy it’s unusual character.
 
We did visit  Culebra’s biggest tourist attraction, Flamenco Beach, and besides loving it’s incredible beauty, we also fell in love with the dozens of cats who live there and are friendly with people. We also visited a great little museum and learned that  The U S Navy used Culebra as a bomb testing area for many many years, causing so many locals to leave, and then later the locals  revolted,  and after much  talking to the US Government, the Culebrensans got their island back and got the U S Navy to pull out and leave them alone!!!!     But, we did see signs to watch your step due to “Unexploded Ordinances”.  Made the walk to another beach more of an adventure indeed.
 
We left Culebra planning to head to  Mayaguana in the Bahamas, and hopefully arrive there before the next big Norther that was scheduled to arrive in a few days with a vengance. But it was looking like  we weren’t going to make Mayaguana so we headed to the Turks and Cacois islands.  This was a ballsy decision because we have no charts for the Turks and Cacois, and we discovered that  our GPS does not have detailed info for this place either. All we have is a cruising guide that has very little visual info.  So we contacted Bob Pratt at South Side Marina in the town of Providenciales,  also known as Provo, on the island Cacois.    Bob  guided us in with specific way points and advice to anchor off of French Cay over night so we could arrive to South Side Marina in the daylight. Anchoring off of French Cay was very weird, we were surrounded by open ocean, but in 15 ft of water!! We could see the bottom in the moonlight!!  And we could hear whales but not see them!!!  We had a nice quiet evening but still held watches throughout the night.
In the morning we saw French Cay, and it is just a very low small strip of beach!!!
We then followed Bob’s way points in and were tied up in a safe slip  in plenty of time to  meet Bob , check in with immigration, go for a walk,  trade a few books, start laundry and meet the neighbors at a daily informal “Happy Hour” under the cabana.
We learned that pretty much all the other boats in the marina were doing the same thing we were, waiting out the bad weather,  which came in later that day and stayed  for 2 days.  We rented a car and toured the island and even though it was chilly and cloudy, we found the island of Cacois beautiful and friendly.
We noticed that there are these dogs everywhere. EVERYWHERE, and that look sort of alike, same size, medium to large,  similar shape, sort of shepherd like with down turned ears, many brown, some black and tan, some pets and most wild. short but thick hair, and sort of friendly and very street smart.    Turns out these dogs are called ” Potcake Dogs” a mixed breed  dog that over many generations have become their own breed and are named potcake after a traditional island food that the locals would feed  to the dogs.   Now there is an overpopulation problem and the local government is beginning to deal with it. Many folks are trying to adopt them as pets. The few we met  were very sweet and I think they would be awesome pets!
One thing we found fascinating about  Cacois is it is made of Coral. And unlike all the other  islands that we have been visiting, that erupted from the sea  s volcanoes, the island of Cacois emerged as the sea receded away. It is low and scrubby, the water is brilliant turquoise and in some places as clear as a swimming pool!    It is a wonderful island!!
The name Cacois means “String of Islands” and the neighboring island Turks, is named after a cactus flower that looks like the red Turkish hat called a Fez.  I guess an island named “Fez” isn’t as appealing.
BUT by FAR,  the best bit of new info we learned about this place,  is  that  for MILLIONS of years, parrot fish have been eating coral  with their sharp teeth.   Imagine, parrot fish, eating coral for millions of years.   Lots of coral, lots of hungry parrot fish.  And then,  the parrot fish poop out the coral , and it comes out like sand.   So for millions of years, this is what has made up the sandy beaches of the island of Cacois. So the sand that we’ve been walking on is really FISH POOP!!!   Beaches made of million year old fish poop.     Which is........
Better than  walking on Potcake Pooch Poop!!