Sunday, February 21, 2010

Jamaica !

We left Provo, Turks and Caicos on Thursday morning for our longest passage yet, 350 miles in 55 hours to Port Antonio, Jamaica. And what a trip it was! The first day, we sailed out the Caicos Bank past West Caicos and then South past Great Inagua, the last Bahamas Island. We had great wind on a broad reach and flew at up to 7.5 knots. By Friday morning, we were in the Windward Passage between Haiti and Cuba. The wind continued to blow all day Friday at up to 35 knots. With a reefed genoa and mizzen (jib and jigger) we flew past Cuba and Guantanamo Bay, but about 50 miles off shore.

Port Antonio is one of the most beautiful harbors I have ever seen. We are definitely in the tropics now, very lush with lots of mountains after months in the flat Bahamas and Turks and Caicos. The locals are very interesting. This morning, a dread-locked local rowed over on his bamboo raft and we bought some neeseberries (sp?) and coconuts for $100 Jamaican. Don't be alarmed, this is only about $1.15 US dollars. The Erroll Flynn Marina is quite nice and not expensive, only $.75 (US) per foot per day. And yes, Erroll Flynn's widow actually still lives nearby.

We plan to go to the Cayman Islands where Matt and Shannon will join us to sail to Central America. We hope to cruise the Bay Islands of Honduras, Belize, Cozumel and Cancun. Then we are considering returning to the states (Texas) and having the boat trucked out to CA before hurricane season.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Awesome post! That night passage sounds like a blast!

What's this truck and Panama Canal crap? I thought you were going around the Horn? ;)

Did you see that BMWO brought the America's cup back to the US?

Good luck with the engine.

dan

Denis said...

Hey mon you are doing great!

Sounds like a wild ride but now you are in paradise!

Get the engine fixed, eat some berries and drink some rum!

Marg & Steve Colquhoun said...

Hey you guys, what a ride you have had. We are so happy that you are safe and sound in Jamaica. If the same thing happened to Steve and I, I think we'd go bald, since we are already very grey! Wishing you all the best and enjoy hearing you on SSB every now and then getting help from our Chris Parker. He comes to George Town on Saturday and after our son and his girlfriend have gone home, we shall start our journey south to Trinidad. We wish we had met you earlier and had more time to enjoy your company. . but the world is small and we may meet up again on the "high seas"..lets hope not so high.

Anonymous said...

aaaaargh matey - you need to man up and sail that little dinghy to Cali and forget about all that landlubber trucking nonsense. Glad your keeping her afloat and having some fun sailin the world. Don't take any wooden doubloons - Let us know when you get to bikinibottom - I have a friend there I want you to look up - ark ark ark - cheers - LG

Unknown said...

Sounds like the trip continues to be amazing. It wouldn't be an adventure without at least a few slightly worrisome moments! Glad to hear you've made your next port. Wishing you clear blue skies and a brisk wind at your back!