Welcome to the Turks and Caicos, a set of sandy shored islands, with clear shallow waters. Right now, we are in Providenciales, one of the Caicos islands. Between the Turks and Caicos and the last blog, we have been to the Dominican Republic, which we stayed in for 8 days.

 

We spotted a whale doing some tail tricks on our pleasant overnight sail to the Dominican Republic, where I did a night watch with Dad and Kerry with Mum. To stock up with water, fuel and electricity we stayed in Porto Bahia Marina, a lovely marina filled with swimming pools! There were 2 infinity pools we could go to and regular did, pretty much every day.

 

The Wi-Fi was also a bonus, so we managed to buy a few Kindle books and I managed to call some of my friends via Skype. Kerry and I also made some friends who were also staying in the marina: Rebecca and Demi who were French Canadian, but luckily spoke quite good English; Owen and Lauren who were French and Kieran who was South African. We had lots of fun swimming in the pools and playing hide and seek in the marina buildings. On the 3rd March we hired a car and drove to Las Terrenas, a large town where we could do some shopping. The town was very lively and just by a beach, which was filled with tourists. Furthermore, the roads were so crowded with motorbikes and parked car, it was difficult to navigate! We also had lunch in a restaurant that was the home a family of German Shepherds!

 

Then on the 7th we set off of the Turks and Caicos, which was another overnighter. This time I went with Mum, the earlier watch and Kerry did the later watch with Dad. The sail was uneventful, however we did catch 2 tunas and dissected them for science! We managed to name most of the organs. Unfortunately, just before we arrived in Cockburn Harbour, where we would anchor, in South Caicos, it started raining really hard! The next day however, the sun was shining and we went on land to check in with customs. The town was sadly, quite littered and most of the houses where not very well built. Despite this, the locals where very friendly and we managed to find out some good snorkel spots, which we explored in the afternoon. We spotted a southern stingray, a nurse shark, lots of fish and a rather aggressive damsel fish! Damsel fish are small, territorial fish who nip any animal or snorkeler who comes near them. I got bitten by a little damsel fish, but their teeth are small and I don’t have a scratch from it.

 

After 1 night in French Cay, a nature reserve island, we anchored in Sapodilla Bay, in Provo. Both the sails to these islands were very shallow and we were constantly on the look out for ‘the black spots’ (the reefs that look dark when seen from above water and we had to avoid as they would be very shallow).

 

 

Sapodilla Bay is famous for the engravings that date back to 1812, that were left by people said to have been shipwrecked on the island. It was amazing to look at the carvings that had lasted over 200 years!

 

 

We did our food shopping in the main town. We also checked out of the Turks and Caicos because tomorrow we leave for the Bahamas! Kerry and I have been looking forward to the Bahamas seen we heard about the swimming pigs that come and paddle to your dinghy in search of carrots! We will also be meeting our friends Bob and Barbara on Long Island, in 4 days time.

 

So, until our next blog,

Farewell!

Robyn