Turks and Caicos

Our sail from the D.R. to the T&C’s was a fast broad reach. We arrived at French Cay, the outer edge of the Caicos Banks at 6:00 a.m. after Ron spent a couple of hours hove to waiting for light to cross the Bank. The Bank surrounding the Caicos averages about eight feet deep spotted with coral heads and this is why we needed daylight to pick our path through the twenty miles to get to Provo.

The blues and greens of the water here are absolutely amazing similar to the Tobago Cays but far more expansive. The clouds over the islands take on a green hew reflecting the large lagoons below. Our plan is to only stay here briefly before we head to the Bahamas.

Today we ventured off in the dinghy for a 35 mile round trip to Little Water Cay, a preserve for iguanas. Here we were given a guided tour and some interesting facts about iguanas. Next stop was the only Queen Conch farm in the world for a tour of the operation. Over 40 million conch are harvested annually in the Caribbean, with 3 million coming from the T & C’s. This farm markets about 1 million annually, exporting most to Florida. They also reseed the local banks with a ½ million each year.

Next stop the Bahamas