We have made it to Turks and Caicos! One more jump to the Dominican Republic sometime next week and we will be ready to settle down for awhile. We have decided to stay in the DR for now instead of crossing over to Aruba due to the fact that the DR has an excellent “hurricane hole” in Luperon and that trip will be much easier than the crossing to Aruba at this time of year. We enjoyed our last week in the Bahamas and saw many places that we most definitely would not have ventured if we weren’t on a boat. We spent most of the week in the “Out Islands”. They are named the “out islands” because they are so remote. We determined they are named the “out islands” because all of the young people want out! We spent a couple of days at Crooked Island and met some wonderful people. We had lunch at THE local restaurant on the island. When we walked in, the owner said, “You can eat now because I am having a large gathering at 12:30 today”. We looked around the restaurant at the seating for about 14 people and gathered that on an “out island”, fourteen is a large crowd. We had a choice of fish or chicken. When she brought the plates, we had more food than we had seen since leaving the states! Fish, rice, mac and cheese, salad….and then she brought out pie! Any day with pie is a good day! We then asked where the local grocery store was located and she said, “Just down the street. I will drive you there.” Since the entire town was no more than one square mile, we figured we could just walk but it was a very sweet offer! We then moved onto Aklin’s Island. There was one house on the island that we could see. We had the entire bay to ourselves that night and the stars were amazing! Then….on to Mayaguana. Sigh, Mayaguana. When we checked into the Bahamas on June 15th, I asked the customs person if we could check out of the country at the port in Mayaguana. She said, “Of course”……
When we set out to Mayaguana to check out, we went over in our dinghy. The water was very rough that morning so we were both soaked when we arrived. Even our poor little Covid masks were so soaked that I could wring the water out of them. We were greeted by a large sign that declared that Mayaguana was no longer a port of call. We decided to walk into town to the administrative office because we had been told by other boaters that they would take the checkout papers. We walked down the slightly paved road to the building cleverly labeled “Administrative Office”. When we walked in, the man said, “You have to stay outside….my thermometer is not charged yet.” Bill was a bit confused as to which thermometer he was referencing, but being a Speech Pathologist, I am able to interpret meaning without really having any reference so I immediately realized that he could not take our temperature for Covid purposes so we had to stay outside. He then informed us that to turn in our checkout papers, we needed to go to the administrative offices…..um……So, we were directed down the street. THE street. There were only two streets that met at a crossroads so not to difficult to navigate. As we were walking, we stopped by the local store…..closed. We tried to stop by the local bar to buy a couple of beers (Bill’s supply ran out and since he refused to pay $65.00 a case in Georgetown, he was hoping to be able to get at least a couple for the road!)……closed. When we arrived at the administrative office, cleverly labeled as “District Council”, the woman informed us that she could not take our checkout papers and we would have to go to a different island. Well, we both knew that wasn’t going to happen considering that our check in papers were sitting on top of the filing cabinet stacked three feet high in West End still! Before we left, Bill asked if there was anywhere he could buy a couple of beers to go. “Yeah, of course. Go down the street, turn left and it’s the first house on the right. Ask for Debbie or Junior.” Sounded easy enough…..on the way, we met a man who asked where we were going. “To Debbie’s house for some beer,” Bill replied. “Oh, Mon. You’d better let me come to. Debbie got a mean dog. Don’t want you to get bit, Mon!” Needless to say, we let him tag along! Upon arrival at Debbie with the killer dog’s house, we sadly found that Debbie had gone out the airport for “plane day”. We were informed that “plane day” occurred every Monday and the locals went out to the airport to watch the plane land. Then, Tuesday was “mail boat day” so everyone would go meet the mail boat. I am not sure what they did the other five days of the week but I am assuming they all met at Debbie’s house to drink a lot. Thus, our reasoning for the true definition of “out island”. We decided at that point, Mayaguana had given all it had to give so we set out for Turks and Caicos….if you ever think you can sneak into Turks and Caicos undetected, you may want to rethink that assumption. We arrived in T&C waters around 1:00am. We tried to hail the customs office several times but had no response. We already had written permission to be in T&C so we just continued on our way. Shortly, we were greeted by a police boat speeding out toward us to find out who we were and why we were entering the country without hailing the customs office….it was a far cry from the Bahamian file cabinet system. Once they asked us a few questions, we were all set and ready to enter. So, now we wait for a good weather window to cross over to the DR. I hope you all had a happy Fourth of July! I greatly missed the fireworks!
1 Comment
Rebecca Smith
7/14/2020 02:35:45 pm
Hey! So good to hear from you! Everyday that passes I become more jealous of you! Y'all jumped ship here at the right time! Keep the posts coming!... pictures too! ❤
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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