June 4, 2016 Lazy Bones Update: Turks and Caicos Islands and

On June 4th, at 8:00 AM, eleven years and almost four months after we began our circumnavigation, we crossed our outbound longitude while underway from Gun Cay in the Bahamas to Ft Lauderdale, . We have now circled the globe having traveled more than 40,000 miles, all at an average of 6 miles per hour. It’s definitely a slow way to see the world, but a very interesting and highly rewarding way.

Our last update left off with us setting sail on April 26th from Puerto Real, Puerto Rico, for the 325 mile sail to the Turks and Caicos Islands via the legendary and sometimes treacherous Mona Passage. The “Mona” is a 90 mile wide area between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, long known for its strong and shifting currents as the turbulent exchange of waters takes place between the Atlantic Ocean and the Sea. Contributing to this dangerous area is the Puerto Rican trench, the deepest hole in the Atlantic Ocean. The passage has regular and often impactful seismic activity, and fast forming storm cells.

We experienced constant rain squalls our first day out, and a big swell made for a jerky, uncomfortable ride. Three other boats near us decided to turn around and head back that afternoon. We stuck it out with our friends Mark and Jennifer aboard their Nordhavn, Starlet. After about twelve hours, the weather and seas calmed down and the ride was much smoother. We caught a nice mahi-mahi the next day, which restored our faith in fishing.

The Turks and Caicos Islands is an archipelago of eight main islands and more than three hundred smaller islets southeast of the Bahamas. They consist primarily of low, flat limestone islands and islets with extensive marshes and salt ponds that are home to over 170 species of birds. The name Turks is derived from the indigenous Turk’s Head red “fez” cactus and the name Caicos is a Lucayan term “cayo hico”, meaning string of islands. You won’t find any mountains, waterfalls, or jungles on these islands, but you will be delighted to find about 230 miles of white sand pristine beaches, crystal-clear warm waters full of marine life, and friendly locals, who refer to themselves as “belongers”, who welcome expats and visitors alike to their beautiful islands.

The Turks and Caicos are truly one of the hidden gems of the Caribbean. They are a tropical getaway far removed from the hustle and bustle of modern life. The total resident population of this British overseas territory is under 50,000, with about half of them living on the island of Providenciales, commonly called Provo. This island is home to beautiful Grace Bay Beach, with luxury resorts, shops, and restaurants. The rest of the islands are sparsely populated, very laid-back, and are a paradise for relaxing and getting away from tourism and development.

Grand Turk Island, with a population of less than 5,000, is home to sleepy Cockburn Town, the capital of the Turks and Caicos since 1766. Buildings date back to colonial times, and wild donkeys roam the streets at times. North Caicos is the island with the lushest vegetation and was formerly covered with cotton plantations, but is now home to large flocks of pink flamingoes. Middle Caicos is the largest island, with extensive swampland attracting a myriad of wildlife, yet with a population of less than 200. South Caicos is the fishing and scuba diving capital of the islands. East and West Caicos are uninhabited, though we heard rumors that a resort is in the planning stages for West Caicos.

We arrived at 9:00 AM on April 28th at Cockburn Harbor on South Caicos Island, the closest place to check in coming from Puerto Rico, along with Mark and Jennifer aboard Starlet. Jeff and Mark went ashore to see customs and to pay the $50 cruising fee for one week. We all went back in around noontime to buy SIM cards and enjoy a lunch of grouper and conch. After lunch we moved Lazy Bones to Long Cay where we anchored in ten feet of absolutely clear water for the night so we could get an early start in the morning across the banks.

The banks of the Turks and Caicos are an extensive shallow area, averaging about eight feet deep. They are approximately forty miles long from east to west, and sixty miles long from north to south. The water is crystal clear with a white sand bottom, so it is absolutely amazing, like being in an endless swimming pool. The banks are surrounded by the exceptionally deep water of up to 12,000 feet of the Atlantic Ocean, so you can imagine the dramatic walls that are part of this unique ocean phenomenon.

At 9:30 AM we motored west across the banks with Starlet for 36 miles to French Cay. We traveled with as little as two feet of water under our keel, requiring a constant lookout for the occasional dark area that indicated coral, which could possibly need dodging, but we found the depth was fairly consistent, even over the dark spots. It takes some getting used to traveling in such shallow waters, but this is what we would face through most of the Bahamas, too, so it was good practice. We kept watch on the water visually and with the depth sounder, enjoying mile after mile of pristine aqua water all to ourselves.

We anchored in fourteen feet of water next to French Cay, a small island on the edge of the banks, designated as a bird sanctuary. Our charts indicated a drop-off of 6,000 feet and then 12,000 feet not far from us. Mark and Jennifer came over for happy hour and to discuss plans. They are avid divers, and Mark is a professional underwater photographer, so they would be off the next morning to take advantage of the incredible marine life along the walls and reefs beyond the banks.

The Turks and Caicos provide some of the most spectacular diving on the planet. They have one of the longest coral reefs in the world and some of the most impressive walls of coral in the Caribbean. Divers are rewarded by the abundance of turtles, rays, schools of colorful fish, humpback whales, and the occasional shark for some excitement, which, as you can see from their photo, Jennifer and Mark are keen on sighting and photographing.

We headed up on the inside of the banks to Molasses Reef for a lunch stop, then on to Sapodilla Bay on the main island of Provo, where we anchored in eight feet of water. We heard that this bay was a popular place to check into the Turks and Caicos, but there were no other boats, no dock, and no sign of anyone on shore, so we were glad we had checked in at South Caicos. We decided to stay aboard, relax, and enjoy the peace and solitude of this pretty bay.

We wanted to explore Provo by car, so we headed six miles east, dodging large coral heads along the way, and anchored outside of South Side Marina in seven feet of water. It was quite windy and choppy due to a large cold front in the Bahamas northwest of us. After lunch we decided to go on into the protection of the tiny marina, where we knew we could leave Lazy Bones safely while we explored the island the next day. The marina staff helped us squeeze in and side-tie to the fuel dock after which we walked up to the “cruiser bar” for happy hour drinks, but it was deserted. We decided it must be a bit late in the season (May 1st) for most boaters in the Turks and Caicos.

Enterprise brought us a car the next morning and we drove around Provo, with our first stop at the Caicos Conch Farm, the world’s only conch farm, with over sixty acres of conchs in different stages of development. They raise the conchs, which are basically giant sea snails, from inception, managing each stage of their development. The farm produces three million conchs a year. None of the conchs they raise are sold locally, so that the local fishermen can make a living finding and selling conch. Instead, about 500,000 conchs from the farm are exported to Florida. Others are repopulated into the local waters. Unlike the low survival rate of conch in the wild of only ten percent, the farm has achieved a ninety percent success rate. All phases of the process are done in an eco-friendly environment. The grand finale of the tour was the opportunity to meet and hold Sally and Jerry, the friendly resident conchs who extend themselves almost all of the way out of their shells to take a look at all the tourists.

Continuing our tour around the island, we drove along the northern coast where all the big name resorts line beautiful Grace Bay Beach. We stopped at the Regent Village to visit some art galleries and have a nice lunch. We drove on to the Blue Hills, where we visited “Da Conch Shack” on the beach. The cooks wade into the water to get fresh conch and prepare it however you like it--cracked conch (battered and fried), grilled conch, conch salad, conch fritters, conch burgers, conch tacos, conch chowder, etc. It reminded us of the scene in Forrest Gump where he recites all the many ways you can serve shrimp.

We continued on to the Chalk Sound National Park, where we drove around the three-mile-long beautiful blue bay, studded with countless tiny islets. Before heading back to the marina, we stopped at the well-stocked IGA supermarket. After returning the car, we left the marina and motored back to Sapodilla Bay for the night. The weather forecast for the area was looking a bit foreboding, so we decided to work our way around to Turtle Cove on the north side of Provo. We stopped halfway and anchored for the night in front of the Amanyara Resort, which purports to have bungalows for as much as $23,000 a night. Like everywhere else, the place was deserted.

The next day we motored around the northwest point of Provo, entered the bight through Sellar’s Cut, and weaved our way through the coral heads to anchor just east of the Turtle Cove Marina. As soon as we dropped the anchor, JoJo, the resident bottle-nosed male dolphin who has been greeting sailors for thirty years, came up to say hello, circling the boat several times. We were told that the sound of the falling anchor chain attracts JoJo. After securing the boat, Jeff grabbed his snorkel and mask to swim with him, but JoJo must have decided that we had taken too much time and headed off in search of another boat. We heard that JoJo also loves to escort dive boats and sometimes, if he’s in the mood, swims around with the divers and snorkelers. We were not so lucky to have that experience.

Weather forecasting has always been a challenge. In this particular case, the forecast was for severe thunderstorms coming from the northwest the next few days with as much as sixty mile-an-hour gusts. It looked like a beautiful day at the moment, but we saw the imminent storm on the Passageweather website and had listened to Chris Parker’s forecast on the SSB radio, so we decided to be prudent and go into the marina. They escorted us through their narrow cut with only one foot of water under our keel. Starlet and their friends on another Nordhavn were already there to greet us.

The Turks and Caicos charge a $300 cruising fee for stays exceeding one week, so we were anxious to leave the next day to avoid the payment since we needed to keep moving as hurricane season was approaching. However, the weather forecast continued to show severe thunderstorms in our path. Starlet decided to leave that day, and they never encountered the bad weather we were trying to avoid. We waited for squalls that never came. We finally departed the next day to anchor out for an early morning departure on May 7th. The customs officer was very nice and, due to safety issues in leaving earlier, did not charge us the $300 for the extra two days. We always believe it is better to be safe than sorry, but this weather forecast had definitely been a perplexing one. Had it been earlier in the season, we would have stayed and explored much more of what the Turks and Caicos has to offer.

It had been very difficult to get a straight answer on where you have to check into the Bahamas. We opted for the closest and first port of entry, which was Abrahams Bay on Mayaguana, some 64 miles northwest of Provo. We went through the west entrance of the bay (the east entrance is too shallow) and motored our way another five miles in seven to eight feet of water to get as close as we could to the government landing to check in. A lot of boats aren’t able to check in here due to this long and shallow entrance. We spoke on the radio with Scully, a local who has been greeting cruisers and tourists for a long time. He told us that the BTC (Bahamas Telecom Company) was closed for the weekend, so we couldn’t get our SIM cards. It was only Saturday, so we decided to stay aboard and check in on Monday. Knowing what we know now, we would have just stopped for the night at Abraham’s Bay and checked in further up the road to avoid waiting for BTC and customs to open.

On Monday morning, Jeff made the very long, wet, and bumpy dinghy ride in choppy seas and 20-25 knot winds from the anchorage to the government landing. The water is so shallow that even the dinghy touched bottom several times. Scully rode his bicycle down to the dock and escorted Jeff to the customs building where he checked into the Bahamas and paid the ninety day $300 cruising fee and purchased SIM cards for the Bahamas. We decided to motor the five miles back and anchor at the west entrance of the bay for an early morning departure to Atwood Harbor at Aklins Island, 64 miles away.

Atwood Harbor was deserted, except for four nurse sharks that kept us company as Jeff rigged up a line from the stern to our anchor bridal in order to point the bow into the swell that had managed to work its way into the bay. It worked quite well in reducing rolling, and we avoided having to put a stern anchor out like we usually do.

We motor sailed another 66 miles to Clarence Town on Long Island and anchored next to one other boat in ten feet of water behind the reef. The town is the capital of Long Island and is one of the safest harbors in the “Out Islands”. The peaceful, quiet waterfront has a small marina and the Outer Edge Grill restaurant. We met a couple from Florida who spend the whole season here on their boat every year and we sat down with them to chat and have our first taste of Kalik beer. They highly recommended the cracked conch and the fish tacos, so we enjoyed both. We

asked if it was safe to go swimming here, but they said the local fishermen have a cleaning station nearby, so it is not advised. After dinner we walked up the hill to the stunning white twin-towered church of St. Paul and St. Peter, designed by Father Jerome, and climbed up to the top of the bell tower for a great view of the bay.

We motor sailed 35 miles to Rum Cay and weaved our way through the coral heads to anchor, with not another boat in sight despite it being a popular spot. It was very shallow and quite rolly, so we picked up the anchor after an hour and headed for Conception Island yet another 21 miles away. We caught a mahi mahi along the way which made for a great lunch of poisson cru (raw fish marinated in lime juice then mixed with diced tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and onions, plus coconut milk). We spent the night just outside the entrance to the inner lagoon and the next morning we took the dinghy across the sand bar to explore. We saw a few turtles zip by as we startled them, but it was pretty quiet otherwise. We went at mid tide, but high tide would have been better, as we got stuck several times trying to navigate the sand bars in the shallow creeks and Jeff had to get out and pull us.

We sailed up to the northwest corner of Conception Island and anchored near two other boats in absolutely gorgeous aqua water, which reflected the light in such a way to make all of us look like we had been painted aqua all over, including our masts. Jeff was just about ready to jump in for a swim when one of the many resident sharks came up to greet us. Even though it was just a nurse shark about six feet long, Jeff decided he had a few projects to do before we took off. We sailed 25 miles west to Calabash Bay on the northeast side of Long Island and met up again with Starlet. Calabash Bay is a popular, large anchorage, with guaranteed stunning sunsets and a cruiser-friendly resort and restaurant ashore.

Our next destination was the , with over 365 cays, most uninhabited, and some owned by celebrities such as Johnny Depp, David Copperfield, Faith Hill, etc. The water here is some of the prettiest in the world and comes in every shade of blue and green, with beaches of powdery pristine white sand. restaurants are known for terrific Bahamian home cooking, including fresh snapper, cracked conch, macaroni and cheese, and peas ‘n rice. George Town is the capital and largest town on the mainland, with its pink and white government buildings, supermarket, and the Peace and Plenty Hotel and Restaurant overlooking Elizabeth Harbour.

Four-mile-long Stocking Island lies one mile off George Town, and is home to the famous Chat N Chill Bar and Grill. It is a lively open-air restaurant and bar that attracts hundreds of cruising boats during the January-April season. They have a large white sand beach, lots of picnic tables, volleyball, board games, , etc. They also have a conch shack right on the water where you can get fresh conch salad. People come from all over to their famous Sunday afternoon pig roast, which is not to be missed. Many boats come and spend the entire season at Stocking Island and George Town to enjoy the friendly and fun cruising community.

We anchored in front of the Chat N Chill and took the dinghy to the beach. There is no dock, just a rope running along the beach to tie your dinghy to. We went into the bar and ordered two Smashes (rum punches) and some barbequed ribs. There were no empty tables inside, so we asked if we could share a table with another couple, Kim and Tara. Come to find out, they also have an Irwin 54, named Major Attraction, only three hull numbers apart from Lazy Bones. This was the beginning of a great friendship that made our stay in the Bahamas so enjoyable.

On Sunday, May 15th, we took the dinghy the mile across Elizabeth Harbour and explored George Town. At 1:00 we headed back to Stocking Island and met up with Kim and Tara at the pig roast at the Chat N Chill. We were late in the season, so there were probably only about fifty people there compared to the hundreds that come in high season, but both the food and the company were great. Later in the afternoon we had a progressive happy hour and toured each other’s boats. It was a lot of fun to see the similarities and the differences between the two boats. We got some great ideas, of course.

Kim and Tara live in Ft. Lauderdale on Major Attraction and cruise different parts of the Bahamas for a month every year, so they were a wealth of information. We were excited to join them for the journey from George Town back up to Florida. Their experience was invaluable, and we learned a lot during our time with them.

We left Stocking Island and sailed 36 miles up the coast of Great Exuma Island to Rudder Cay. Kim and Tara are avid explorers with their dinghy. Jeff went with them for a tour of the area and to snorkel the underwater piano and mermaid sculpture, where Jeff and Kim took some great photos of each other playing the unique piano. This was followed by a quest for grouper, using a Hawaiian sling. In short order Kim had speared two grouper and we were invited over for dinner. Tara is an amazing cook and Kim is a great bartender, so we had a great evening together.

The next leg of our journey took us 30 miles up to Big Majors Cay, with the famous swimming pigs on the beach looking for handouts. Not long after anchoring, we all headed to the beach to feed the pigs. Tara knew what the pigs were like and had a big plastic bowl of food for them, which she placed inside a shallow cardboard box on the beach, so they wouldn’t dump it over and get sand all over everything. Gayle, on the other hand, had put our food into a big baggie to hand feed the cute little pigs. Well, the dozen pigs that greeted us were quite large and fairly aggressive, so they came after Gayle with no manners whatsoever. After almost attacking Gayle for the food, she gladly traded Jeff the food for the camera. They must have thought the camera was a candy bar, because they still wanted what Gayle had in her hand until Jeff finally enticed them away by throwing food at the pigs.

The largest pig decided he wasn’t getting enough and oinked his way right up to Jeff and took a big bite, hoping to get the entire bag of food. In the process, he managed to bite Jeff’s abdomen, devouring the button and the zipper tab to his shorts in the process, causing them to start sliding down his legs. Jeff could not stop laughing as he grabbed his shorts and pulled them up, noticing that his friend had left a souvenir bite mark. As one friend said, it’s a good thing Jeff wasn’t about three inches taller!

We took the dinghy to Staniel Cay Marina, a popular destination for yachts, with a nice restaurant, an airstrip, colorful bungalows, and three grocery stores. We picked up an island map at the yacht club and walked around and up to the village to find the grocery stores, which were all very tiny and had little in stock. Kim and Tara had advised us that we needed to go to the restaurant by 3:00 to make a reservation and choose what we wanted from the menu, so we followed their advice and were glad we did. It seems to be the norm in a lot of the restaurants in the Bahamas to reserve by 3:00 and eat around 6:00 or 7:00. Many of them are closed by 9:00.

In the afternoon Kim and Tara took Jeff by dinghy to Thunderball Grotto, which appeared in the James Bond film by the same name. They snorkeled the grotto and saw lots of colorful fish. As you might recall from the last update, Gayle had a long-term shoulder injury and was not able to get back into the dinghy, so she had to pass on snorkeling. At 5:30 we all went back into Staniel Cay for happy hour and a delicious four course dinner.

We followed Major Attraction for 17 miles to Cambridge Cay, where we picked up a mooring, though we could have anchored. After snorkeling the Aquarium and a drug plane wreck, followed by a tour of Rocky Dundas, Compass Cay, and Little Pipe Cay, we all hiked Cambridge Cay and had a great view, including that of both boats below us.

Another 11 miles further brought us to Warderick Wells, where a mooring is required by park regulations. Our mooring was on the far side of the cay and we had a boat on the mooring in front of us and one behind us as we approached. We had to make a 180 degree turn to get to the mooring, fighting a very strong current. The sun had disappeared behind a big cloud and we couldn’t see the water clearly. As we made our turn we came to a halt and were quite stuck on a sand bar. The park ranger came to our rescue, putting a line on our bow and pulling us off, after which we secured the mooring. Once the sun came back out, we saw the sand bar and it was clear that that we needed to approach from the other side, but all was well and the bottom of Lazy Bones was okay, so another lesson was learned about waiting for the right light, especially in such shallow water.

We went ashore, paid our mooring fees at the ranger station, and hiked up to the blowholes and to Boo Boo Hill, where we could really see just how shallow the waters are in the banks below us. It was a great hike, but very hot in the middle of the day. We went back to our boats to cool off and relax followed by a mahi-mahi dinner for four aboard Lazy Bones.

We sailed 19 miles up the road to Shroud Cay and anchored south of the lagoon entrance. We all went by dinghy through the winding creek inside the lagoon to the ocean side and enjoyed happy hour on the beach. We hopped into the natural whirlpool for a little excitement before heading back to the boats.

Norman’s Cay, only 9 miles away, was our next stop, where we anchored just north of Macduff’s Bar and Grill. A morning of hunting for grouper proved fruitless. The sky turned dark and stormy in the afternoon and the anchorage became very rough, so we stayed aboard and worked on boat projects.

The weather cleared by morning, so we sailed 9 miles to Highbourne Cay, anchoring outside of the breakwater to the yacht club. We took both dinghies about two miles over to Allans and Leafs Cays to see the iguanas that come down to the beach for a handout. They are herbivores and eat leaves, flowers, and some fruit in the wild. Gayle had brought romaine lettuce, which they ate, but they seemed to prefer Tara’s bread. We stopped at the yacht club for lunch on the way back, walking to the end of the pier to see over a dozen resident nurse sharks swimming around waiting for the fishermen to come in and clean the day’s catch. They are about six feet long and look pretty ominous, but apparently they don’t seem to mind if you want to join them for a swim, which Tara’s niece had done. We weren’t nearly so brave.

Our next big stop was our 36 mile run to Yacht Haven Marina in Nassau, the capital of Island. The city has a history of attracting hustlers for centuries, from pirates and rum smugglers in the past to offshore banking and gambling today. It is a major cruise ship destination, attracting over a million visitors a year with duty-free liquor, jewelry, perfume, and cigars. But there are also some good museums, historic buildings, and restaurants just a few blocks off the main street. Downtown is a bit grittier than you might expect, and tourists are warned about crime and violence, especially at night.

We took advantage of being in a marina to wash Lazy Bones before heading up to the Poop Deck Restaurant for dinner with Kim, Tara, and their friends Jim and Peg. The next morning we all walked to Paradise Island to see the Atlantis Resort, with its upscale hotels, restaurants, casinos, and 140 acre waterpark. We walked back across the bridge to explore downtown Nassau by making a right turn and walking for quite a while past many

closed, rundown buildings. Downtown had a lot of colonial pastel buildings, the straw market where Gayle bought some baskets, and the rake and scrape sculpture, symbolizing the use of a carpenter’s saw which is scraped with a screwdriver and is accompanied by the accordion and goatskin drum to produce the traditional dance music of the Bahamas. During the day downtown seemed safe, but we would not recommend it at night.

When leaving Nassau we had to take a slight detour to exit around the island because out mast was just a bit too tall to go under the bridge. We sailed 43 miles to anchor between White Cay and Devils Cay, a great spot with lots of turtles popping their heads up for a look around. We all hopped in the dinghy to go to Hoffman’s Cay to walk the trail through the jungle to the Blue Hole. Jeff and Kim took the exhilarating jump off the

cliffs about thirty feet above into the blue hole, which is about 100 feet deep. It was a refreshing to cool off during the heat of the day.

Our next day’s adventure was to visit Flo’s Conch Bar on Little Harbor Cay by dinghy. It’s best to call ahead of time and arrange a meal, as it is fairly isolated and they appreciate a “heads up”. Chester, the owner and cook, served up some fresh cracked conch, fish, coleslaw, and peas n’ rice while Lovely, the bartender, poured some pretty mean rum punches.

Kim and Tara decided it was time that Jeff had a real lesson on how to get conch and grouper. Tara drove the dinghy and dragged Kim and Jeff behind, with the rope in one hand and a spear in the other. When they spotted something, they would let go. Jeff found a conch, but it was too young, then another, and it was the right size. Kim speared a grouper, then a snapper. Tara made a conch salad and Gayle made poisson cru for a celebratory lunch.

After four days it was time to move on, so we headed 23 miles to Fraziers Hog Cay and picked up the two moorings at the Berry Islands Club that Kim had arranged. The club was under renovation, but they were agreeable to having us join the owners the following night for a dinner of fresh fish and conch. Strangely enough, the owners were not there the next night, and the cook asked us if we had brought the fish and conch!? We don’t know why they would ask that. They presented us with a makeshift dinner of canned vegetables, rice, and boiled meatless ribs. We’re still not sure what happened with the communications, but it certainly wasn’t what we expected.

At 6:00 AM we left for Gun Cay, motoring in flat, calm water for 82 miles. We arrived at 6:00 PM and anchored off the east side of Gun Cay. The next day we took the dinghies to the upscale resort at Cat Cay for a look around. On our way back, we stopped at Honeymoon Bay and played with the friendly sting rays. This was our last day in the Bahamas, and we treasured every moment of it.

For several days we had been monitoring a tropical depression that was turning into a hurricane. Fortunately, the depression moved north and we were clear for the next few days to make our way across the Gulf Stream. On June 4th, we left Gun Cay at 6:00 AM for the Royale Palm Marina in Dania, Florida, right next to Ft Lauderdale. We headed 20 degrees to port from our direct course to allow for the current that would carry us north. At times we had an extra boost of two knots as we crossed the Gulf Stream.

On June 4th at 8:00 AM at latitude 25.3812 N and longitude 79.3915 W, Lazy Bones crossed her outbound longitude which began 11 years and almost 4 months earlier on February 11, 2005. Lazy Bones has completed a circumnavigation, having traveled over 40,000 miles in the process and having anchored and spent the night at more than 850 different locations. While we have yet to make it back to where we started from, we have lapped our longitude. In 2005, we had sailed all the way from Los Angeles to Panama. If you look at a map of the world, you would see that to reach Panama, we traveled almost 3,000 miles east from Los Angeles. Panama is directly below Florida; hence we crossed our outbound longitude.

At 2:00pm, we arrived at the Royale Palm Marina in Dania, Florida. Kelly Carver, who had maintained Lazy Bones when we bought her back in 1999, was there to greet us and help us into our slip which he had arranged for us in advance. Now, 17 years later, Kelly is once again in charge of the much needed maintenance of Lazy Bones, getting her back into top shape for her next adventure.

This past voyage was the first time that we have been gone almost the whole year, having flown from L.A. on July 9, 2015 back to the boat in Spain. We traveled more than 6,500 miles from Spain to Gibraltar to the Canary Islands, to the Cape Verde Islands, across the Atlantic to the island of Martinique, and up through the Caribbean Islands to Florida. We realize now that we prefer six months on the boat and six months at home, allowing us time to be with our family and friends back home.

With that in mind, our plans are to remain on the east coast of the U.S. for a while. Starting in January 2017, we will sail back to the Bahamas to see the islands we missed and possibly visit as well. In the beginning of May we will head up the east coast probably as far as the top of the Chesapeake. We will then head back down south ending up somewhere in Georgia for the rest of the hurricane season. The following year will most likely be going on to Long Island Sound and on up into Boston and then Maine for the summer.

We welcome your e-mails and would love to hear from you. Please e-mail us at: [email protected]. Attachments and travelogues are always welcome. Thanks!

If you want to track us, use the following link: www.shiptrak.org and enter our call sign WA6CZL to see our most current route.

Jeff and Gayle SV Lazy Bones

Lazy Bones - Puerto Rico to Ft Lauderdale, 2016

NM Depth Destination: lat. W.long Comments

To: Below Keel 30 3 Puerto Real, PR 18 04.38 67 11.53 at anchor 324 Underway from Puerto Real, PR to Cockburn Harbor, T&C 0 10 Cockburn Harbor, Long Cay, T&C 21 29.30 71 32.01 at anchor 4 10 Long Cay, South end, T&C 21 27.42 71 34.48 at anchor 35 8 French Cay, T&C 21 30.30 72 12.29 at anchor 16 3 Sapodilla, T&C 21 44.56 72 17.23 at anchor 4 1 South Side Marina anchorge, T&C 21 45.44 72 13.73 at anchor 3 1 South side marina, T&C 21 45.64 72 13.44 marina 5 3 Sapodilla, T&C 21 44.54 72 17.25 at anchor 19 21 Amanyara resort, West Coast provo, T&C 21 49.94 72 20.45 at anchor 13 4 Turtle Cove Marina anchorage, T&C 21 47.25 72 12.79 at anchor 3 3 Turtle Cove Marina , T&C 21 47.14 72 13.59 Marina 3 4 Turtle Cove Marina anchorage, T&C 21 47.25 72 12.79 at anchor 64 3 Abrahams Bay, Mayaguana, East anchorage, BHM 22 21.43 72 59.07 at anchor 5 3 Abrahams Bay, Mayaguana, West anchorage, BHM 22 19.93 71 01.93 at anchor 64 4 Attwood Harbor, Acklins Island 22 43.26 73 52.94 at anchor 66 5 Clarence Town, Long Island BHM 23 05.85 74 57.40 at anchor 34 3 Rum Cay, BHM 23 38.38 74 50.54 at anchor 23 12 Conception Island, Mangrove entrance, BHM 23 49.28 75 07.53 at anchor 3 9 Conception Island, North West Reef, BHM 23 51.16 75 07.27 at anchor 25 5 Calabash Bay, Long Island, BHM 23 39.21 75 20.46 at anchor 26 13 Stocking Island, Chat and Chill anchorage, BHM 23 30.99 75 44.44 at anchor 36 7 Rudder Cay, BHM 22 52.29 76 14.54 at anchor 30 6 Big Majors Spot, Staniel Cay, BHM 24 10.90 76 27.64 at anchor 18 8 Cambridge Cay, Bell island 24 18.22 76 32.49 Mooring 11 10 Waderick Wells, BHM 24 23.61 76 38.11 Mooring 19 5 Shroud Cay, BHM 24 31.69 76 47.78 at anchor 9 5 Normans Cay, BHM 24 36.80 76 49.41 at anchor 9 12 Highbourne Cay, BHM, dinghy to Allans and Leaf Cays 24 42.78 76 49.88 at anchor 36 12 Nassau, Yacht Haven Marina 25 04.55 77 19.01 Marina 43 9 White Cay, Fowl Cay, BHM 25 36.70 77 44.36 at anchor 23 9 Frazier Hog Cay, Berry Island Club 25 25.40 77 50.13 Mooring 83 7 Gun Cay, BHM 25 35.19 79 17.91 at anchor 18 Crossing longitude, circumnavigation 25 37.43 79 30.11 underway 40 1 Royale Palm Marina, Dania, Fl USA 26 03.54 80 07.98 Marina