Caribbean Cruise
    Wow, what a great trip this is!!!  We left George Town on Friday , March 23 for Long Island (Bahamas). By Saturday we were in Clarencetown and had another nice dolphin fish and a wahoo!!  With a front coming and winds predicted to  clock around, we left in the afternoon for Crooked Aklins or Mayaguana. A perfect clocking of the winds made a great night sail - we never even adjusted the sails except to put one reef in the main. 
     Mayaguana is much more sparsely populated than many of the islands we have seen. We only slept in Abrahams Bay and left at first light for Turks and Caicos. 
     Another great sail to Sapodilla Bay. The distressing part of the whole deal is that we haven't bought fuel since George Town (almost 300 miles ago) and we could use a top off of fresh drinking water. The distress comes from the fact that the fees to clear customs are $50 for us and $50 for Roxy. Another $50 to clear out and if we stay longer than 7 days, another $300. I wanted to hang around and do some snorkeling in these beautiful waters. Of course fishing is out too because the outdated material we have says that fishing licenses are $200 for the vessel and another fee for each person!  We stayed a couple of nights, got fuel & water, then beat a path east. Next stop Big Ambergris Cay on the eastern edge of the Caicos Banks. Numerous deep coral heads is a good description (from the chart).  By the way, if you ever come this way, have other navigational tools besides Garmin Chartplotter - leaves a lot to be desired!  
     Two nights there and the opportunity to cross to Big Sand Cay arose. We crossed in about ten or so knots of wind that died off about an hour before we got there. Another beautiful beach for Miss Roxy to swim and play on. Winds stayed at light and variable all night - three other boats in the anchorage here. Nothing like George Town!!  Renaissance came in just before sunset - small world - we have mutual acquaintances with the same make of boat (Vagabond).  
     During the night, there was something flying about 1/4 mile west of us that was either birds or bats. Made a whole lot of racket!!  No sign of them after daylight. Water so clear here I could read the mint date on a quarter on the bottom some 15 feet away. And by the way, the water is much warmer here than even the Bahamas. 
     We are ready to take off for Dominican Republic as soon as we get some wind. This will be about a 78 or so mile trip - with current, about 18 or 19 hours to Luperon or another coastal town. Looks like a Gennaker day when the wind goes NE like predicted.