Mayaguana

Mayaguana was our first stop in Bahamian waters and needless to say, we were psyched! Mayaguana is a decently sized island just dropped down in the middle of nowhere Caribbean! It has everything you could ask for, beautiful white sand beaches, the most aquamarine waters, great beachcombing, grouper filled reefs and of course Kalik! (Bahamian Beer)
We had only intended to stop there for a few days to explore this distant and sparsely populated island although the weather ended up having a different idea.
Our first full day there was picture perfect, water so blue and so clear you could easily see 50ft down, not a cloud in sight, not a wave in the bay, it was just perfect. We went spearfishing, got some fresh fish (and exercise) and made our way back to the boat. I wanted to paddleboard and check out the beach but Adam wasnt done spearfishing , “this reef was epic”, so he dropped me off and unbeknownst to me left a fish head dangling from the back of our boat. The bay was like bath water and beautiful conchs, sea biscuits and sand dollars lead my paddle board into shore. As I made my way back I saw a shark circling the boat, unaware of the fish head tied onto the boat I booked it back onboard just as he began to attack his prey.

For the full video, (which is worth the watch) check out Alyssa’s Instagram: alyssa33188

Good god, joke well done sir, touché!

That afternoon the winds picked up as we were prepared for them to do. We had set a second anchor down anticipating the 35kt winds and aware of the surrounding reefs. As we hunchered down and finished off a few bottles of wine the winds raged outside and we caught up on our downloaded movies (from Netflix, what a miracle!) and while a bit overserved decided to paint our galley (kitchen)… somehow this turned out pretty nice and entertained us for the day!

Though as the days began to pass and the winds remained violent and the bay extremely univiting we got bored of our movies, wine, and frankly, each other. We ventured into land in full foul weather gear, (for those of you who don’t know what that means, it’s basically the equivalent of a snow suit but for rain). It was amazing how the wind was refreshing on land when out on our boat we felt like we were stuck in the beginning scene of Wizard of Oz. We quickly found the only bar on the island and befriended the bartender Tika (and her whole family). She agreed to give us a full island tour which turned out to be 4hours of getting stuck in sand banks, getting gas (because the only gas station is only open on certain days) and grabbing a quick beer with her friend on the other part of the island. The island has three settlements, Abrahams Bay (where we were anchored off of and what is considered the “big city” of the island), Pirates Well (named after the ancient well there built by pirates and still fabled to have pirate treasure stored deep down in it) and Besty Bay (“where the old people live”). We had read that the island had about 300 people though as she counted them off she said it was more like 175ish and throughout the day I think we met at least half of them. The island was unlike anywhere I’ve ever been, it is completely dependent on a mailboat which comes hopefully every two weeks but in the case of hurricanes or bad weather the mailboat may be absent for months, when which the island has to band together. There are two stores on the island, one however is closed for the time being and the other is the front of a woman’s house, it has few odds and ends and the bag of sugar when you need it, but you pay for its full transport from Nassau! The one restaurant on the island is Big Regs based out of Big Reggie’s house. He was sweet as could be, welcomed us in, sat us on the couch, turned on the tv and let us charge up our electronics as he cooked up whatever he was having for lunch that day as well! It was cracked conch for lunch and we were full for days!

As our windswept days continued we daringly ventured out for swims which resulted in lots of salt water in our bellies, very sore muscles and beautiful shells! Adam soon befriended our bartender friend Tikas boyfriend Willy, they traded boat work and as he put in time on helping Willy rebuild a boat, Willy came down and helped us work on our dingy motor. By the end of the second week we were being greeted with hugs on the street as we walked into “town” and began to really understand why these born and raised islanders loved their island much. The winds had died down enough so that we had a weather window so it was time to say goodbye to the sweet faces of Mayaguana. We gifted Willy and Tika a loaf of bread, promised to stay in touch and picked up (both) anchors, On to the uninhabited Plana Cays!

Ah it’s so easy to fall behind on these updates! But luckily, we should be able to catch up to present day quickly

Last we left off we had just made landfall in Grand Turk after our first big passage, 5 days at sea had been a challenge but dropping anchor was a fantastic feeling made all the better from the trials.

Grand Turk is a lovely place with one big downfall, head to town on the wrong day and you’ll be one among thousands as the cruise ship drops its load of half day tourists.

After anchoring off of Grand Turk we high tailed it in to the “dingy dock”.. which really was just a couple of columns and a few planks. Eager to touch land again I scurried up the planks and accomplished what we like to refer to as my first pull up. Once on shore we were met by swarms of cruise ship people buying all the straw bags and bright mumus the island girls had to offer. Nothing against a fun cruise but when an island is overrun like this it tends to lose its charm. But thankfully the throngs thinned out and the charm quickly returned. After realizing we weren’t just late for getting back to the cruise ship, the islanders were much more welcoming and made fun company over a couple Turks head beer.

As we began to wander Grand Turk, taking in the beautiful, colorful buildings and reading about all the history we began to feel how different this island was from our “home base” the Virgin Islands. Though we were already amazed at how flat and shallow these islands were in comparison, once on land we could really see the coral and limestone make up of the island that gives it and the way of life in these islands such a different feel. Some of the older homes have plaques on the front of the house much like up east in the states, stating when it was built, who lived there and what their profession was. The charm of the island was not lost on us. Though the buildings are all ocean front and seem to be built from a big city’s scrapes they have weathered more hurricanes and are still standing the test of time that many modern day builds are not. Grand Turk being the business center of the Turks and Caicos had its fair share of activity for being a some what small isolated island. We found ourselves lost in the maze of the old buildings, salt ponds, winding cobble streets and friendly islanders as we headed to look for lunch and wifi. Our eager parents back home were (in)patiently awaiting our news of land fall and we were eager to tell them of our tales of the sea!

We found ourselves a beautiful dive shop with pricey food and settled for a $20 pizza, fresh water and wifi. After regailing our parents with our stories, (pretty sure my mom was near tears) we left go back to the boat to do a little exploring via dingy!
Unfortunately, once we got wifi we saw that the upcoming weather wasn’t too rosy and was a big blow coming in three days. That changed our plans as we had to get to Provo to catch a flight home for the holidays and that was a two day run over the treacherous Caicos bank, hard enough to navigate in perfect weather yet alone in a 25 knot winds screwing up the visibility. So with the crummy weather forecast we moved up our timeline, skipping some beautiful islands south of grand Turk and departing the next day for Provo. We did sneak in one sunrise scuba dive on the Turks wall before heading out on the first leg to Provo.

The wall in Grand Turk is really spectacular. The shore slowly deepens out from about 1ft (for like 100yards) to about 20ft then it dramatically plumets to 7,000ft. We dove the wall for about 45mins intending to do a shallower 60ft dive but we both seemed to be pulled down a bit deeper by all the life around 80ft or so. The coral and sea life was so alive and so abundant we could’ve stayed down there for hours.

Due to our weather restrictions it was time to make our crossing through the Turks Passage and into the Caicos bank. The Turks and Caicos are shallow laying islands separated by deep ocean troughs. So the Turks passage is a very deep 25 mile water corridor that separates the two Turks islands from the 40 some Caicos islands, it is most well known as a highway for mating humpback whales. With only spouts to watch out for we enjoyed the sail. No luck with the whales but anchorage for the night was worth the crossing.

We made it to a small cay right on the edge of the bank and waited out the night to get the best sun light for coral head dodging in the morning. Six Hill cay is actually two small islands a couple hundred yards long, they’re nicely positioned on the southeastern side of Caicos bank, making it the perfect stopping point with a heck of a view!

We’d arrived with enough time for a snorkel so we loaded up in the dingy to explore. We spotted a cave that begged for some exploring as well as a middle coral cut through the two islands. Meanwhile, another boat had pulled in and had the same idea as us, snorkeling the channel between the two islands.

Another boat is cause for an introduction in these parts so we idled on over. We actually startle the couple pulling up in our dingy as they snorkel around. They quickly apologize (needlessly) for being startled, explaining that they had seen a huge shark while anchoring. Adam and I not too intimidated by the shark went for a snorkel to check out the beautiful coral ledges that were leading up to our little safe haven for the night.

By the time I had completely forgotten about the shark and had gone into full on shelling mode finding some beautiful treasures from the sea when suddenly low behold the 10ft bull shark came over to check me out. Thankfully he was about as interested in me as I was in him and he slowly meandered on and adam essentially carried tachycardic me back to the boat! Our snorkeling was at an end so we moved on to cave exploring. This was a bit different as well, the cave turned out to be littered with old conch shells. There must of been thousands of shells and they’d been there so long that they had melded into the walls and floor of the cave. Giving the cave a feel the pirates of the Caribbean films would’ve been jealous of. In fact, the only other thing we found in the cave was the head of an old pick axe. Conspiracy theories abounded, pirate treasure below our feet or an abandoned sailor surviving on conch?!

Back on the boat, we studied the charts again as the sun went down, by the next morning we were all set for an early start across Caicos bank. The Caicos bank is a very shallow 1-12ft deep bank that stretches about 50 miles across and the Caicos islands form a crescent around its east side. All routes across have to pass sections of shallows, lose your way and you’ll find yourself surrounded by reefs. We’d left grand Turk early so we’d have good weather for this portion. Our passage through the Caicos bank was uneventful and downright beautiful, the sun was perfect, the ocean was calm and the coral heads gave us no trouble. Climbing the mast for a better view, the colors of the bank seemed to go on endlessly, the incredible blue green water was so clear you could watch sting rays and dolphins for miles.

We settled in to our Provo anchorage and met up with our friends from the night before to tell them we had found their shark! A wonderfully sweet couple from Abu Dubai who overserved us some sundowners and then let us eat all their beautiful chicken and vegetable dinner. Easy to get carried away in good company on a beautiful night. (Thank you so much Niclas and Laurie)!

Our next day brought us more adventure in the most unexpected way. We headed to shore via one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen, white sand and beautiful shallow clear water for what seems like forever. Once on land we began walking to the store which we were told wasn’t “too far.” Just as we were realizing how incredibly hot land is at high noon a car pulled over and asked if we wanted a ride. Of course we take any chance to ride with strangers and jumped in. Shirley, as we got to know her over the next two hours proceeded to give us a full island tour, stopping for a beer, showing us famous Grace Bay and bringing us to the best chicken wing spot on the island. Her generosity and chicken stop recommendation were unparalleled. Though from what we gathered the locals of the TCIs are all very friendly and are eager to help you out or point you in the right direction.

The locals of the islands are 90% descendants of former slaves. The Taino Indians who first inhabited the islands never survived their discovery from the European world, those who weren’t sold off as slaves, died of diseases. The islands previous income was prodominently conch and lobster farming but now has become dependent on tourism and banking thus making them more than happy to show you around but for the most part you better be ready to shell out $40 for a cab ride. Providenciales more commonly known as Provo is the most populated island and has one of the busiest Caribbean international airports (i.e. Why we came there for our Christmas flight home).

Our few days leading up to our flight home to see our families were busied by boat work, cleaning up and closing the boat down and before we knew if we were on a plane to Florida and then Chicago for Christmas! Being away from our families is tough on me, I am very much a homebody and could spend all day snuggling my mom and my dog (if they both would let me) so I was eager to get home.

A week is never enough and our now chilled bodies made our way back to the airport with extra bags thanks to Santa’s generosity! All of our bags full of new gear (I think we made West marine’s Christmas quota) arrived with us, and we hailed a taxi to the beach by our boat.Thankful to see our trusty girl bobbing along in the anchorage our nerves were calmed and we were excited to get back to the boat! I sweet talked the local jet ski rental into giving Adam a ride to Heritage. All appeared well on board although he didn’t have much time to take it in, I was still waiting with all our gear in Chicago clothes on the beach, getting strange stares from everyone in their swimsuits. He lowered the dingy, and reported it started right up after only 20 pulls! He finally came to my rescue and we were back home to our boat.

Took a little while to settle into the rhythms of boat life again after the amenities of the US but eventually it came back like riding a bike. We did some boat work, and explored chalk sound. A wondrous inland salt lagoon with endless water 2 ft deep alternately sliced between mangroves and splayed into vast bays. It was the perfect spot to explore by dingy and Paddleboard!
New Years was coming up and we had some boat work that needed some amenities. So we checked in quickly to bobs south side marina. Quiet little marina with a heck of a boche court.Was a great spot to grab a beer, watch a sunset and get a humbling lesson in Boche from Bob himself. New Years Eve was a blast, both literally and figuratively with a big bonfire and too close fireworks on the beach!

Didn’t make any resolutions yet but did manage to finish the boat work which has us all ready to go into some very remote islands in the Bahamas. I’m writing to you now from West Caicos after a fun snorkel without a soul in sight for miles. The boat is ship shape and ready to make the days run into our first stop in the Bahamas, Mayaguana Island. A big island with approximately 350 people living on it. Hopefully one has some Internet and we’ll keep you posted as the adventures continue!