A quick update from Turks and Caicos

Hey there! We are currently in Cockburn Harbour, South Caicos. Terrible name. Makes me not wat to go swimming. We are waiting for a good window to cross down to the DR. Not the doctor, the Dominican Republic. We probably could have gone already but who likes waves? We are taking it real slow right now and enjoying the scenery which at this point consists of an overturned sunken boat resting on rocks and a rusted barge sunk at the dock. Oh well.

We are travelling with SV odin, a PDQ36 cat. I know who would have thought? I mean a buddy boat? Us? And to top it off it's a Cat. I'm not a catamaran fan because every time I'm on one I want one. Bonnie and Not Clyde (Craig) are fun to hang with and we are going the same way so what the hell. I'm just really surprised they put up with me this long, though I am being a good boy. As long as I keep things like coffee and beers in moderation things will be fine :)

So we left Provo and heading across the Bank and Provo Radio calls the sailboats leaving the harbor. Hey, that's us! Odin checks in and they just wanted to know what the hell we thought we were doing leaving the harbor without telling them. Oopsy. So I call them and they replied with the name "Kelly in the Hole" instead of Kelly Nicole. Really? Who would name a boat Kelly in the hole? He must have wondered the same thing so he asked us to spell it. I could not rattle off the Phonetic alphabet like Odin did, (show offs) but he got it figured out. The only phonetic alphabets I know are Whiskey Tango Foxtrot... over!

We spent a gorgeous day motoring across the Caicos Bank to Cockburn Harbour. Debra conquered one of her fears on this trip by not hitting a coral head along the way. I was pretty happy about that too. Deb was really gripping that wheel tight at times and I think the stress got to her because she was pretty much toast after we dropped the hook. Here, have a beer Dear. I whipped up a linguini in butter sauce with spinach to help us relax. Worked. Nothing like a plate of creamy pasta to settle things down after a long day.

Providencia was nice but our anchorage was far from town. Hoping this will be different here and we can walk around a bit. We like exploring new towns, especially the non-touristy towns. This is the first time Debra locked up the companionway. I was surprised by this but she must have read something that told her it was a prudent thing to do. I have a feeling this is how it will be from here on out.

Kelly Nicole performed well but we did have our share of malfunctions. Our topping lift came apart at the Harken block. The tiny shackle blew apart I guess or the pin came out. Found the pin on deck but the shackle is gone. Had a replacement. Our newly installed Whale pump to empty the holding tank failed. We just installed this the past summer. Didn't even last 8 months. It's probably the joker valve but it's not going to be pretty getting at it. Good thing we have another head. Not looking forward to this particular task. Doesn't it seem like I spend a lot of time in the shit?

I realized recently that a lot of blog readers do not keep up with our facebook postings so I will be doing more blog posts so that the anti facebook group (good for you guys) know what we are doing. When we are away from wifi I can only update through the Iridium go, and it's pretty easy. The facebook folks will get our tweets and the blog readers will get the sat phone email updates. Sorry for no photos but it just takes too damn long and the pics are reduced in quality. I will try to keep the post less wordy, though I'm currently failing at that task.

Well it's time to go. The tea is working and it's time to test the forward head function. TMI I know but this whole blog is TMI and you should be used to it by now. By the way, I'm in my boxer shorts.

Apparently the place we decided to drop the hook is on the direct path for the fishermen as they leave in the morning. Nothing like boats doing 25 knots about ten yards off your stern and bow. I should pop out on deck in my boxers and give them the bitch wings.

Cheers!
PJ





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