En Route to Puerto Rico!

The next day we headed for Puerto Rico! A 2/3 day journey over the sea.

Every time I was on watch, I swear there was something trying to run us over. Believe it or not, this photo below is a cruise ship and literally blocked out the sky when it went past. It had so many lights on board, I lost sight of all the stars. 

The next day I had a tanker getting pretty close too. 

Daryl also did some fishing and we caught a nice Mahi Mahi!

Daryl, our registered hunter gatherer! 

Finally caught sight of Puerto Rico!

Heading to Puerto Rico!

Once the weather forecasts were in our favor, we worked our way across the Turks and Caicos bank and anchored off one of the most eastern islands. Tomorrow we will set off on a two day passage to Puerto Rico!!!

Mum and I anchoring the boat. 

A giant starfish I found under our boat!

Mum's Birthday!

We spent mum's birthday at the Turks and Caicos Islands, so we hired a car and went inland a little. We found a real cafe with proper coffee and had a fantastic lunch too!

We also had a birthday party on board with all the other live-abourds, what a great night!

Birthday lunch!

A stunning beach we found on our travels!

Turks and Caicos!

We headed off to the Turks and Caicos Islands where we stayed about a week, sheltering from the weather. 

The island was a bit of a mess, with old sunken boats lying everywhere! However we managed to get some much needed diesel for the boat with a little difficulty!!

Mooring up to get some diesel on the tanker quay.

There were quite a few waterspouts around, not a friendly sight!

However, we did some exploring around the island and found some really nice beaches!

Mum and I swam ashore to this beach, where we found 2 kiwis enjoying the sun! In the middle of nowhere!!

Mum doing some exploring!

Another beautiful day!

The Mermaid & The Piano!

One early morning we set off to find this unique sculpture at the bottom of the sea. As you can imagine it was hard to find! We jumped overboard quite a few times before we found the right bay, but it was worth the patience! 

David Copperfield, the famed musician, owns the whole island of Musha Cay and got this sculpture commissioned personally. What a find!

A beautiful sculpture at the bottom of the sea.

Mum diving down to take a closer look.

Beautiful and unique idea!

Looking up to the surface.

Not quite as elegant as the mermaid but I tried!

Georgetown - Hike up the Hill!

Mum and I decided to take a hike up one of the surrounding hills and the view was amazing! Its hard to get over how clear and blue the water is here, I doubt I'll ever take it for granted!

View from the top!

Mother and daughter.

The beach we moored at was amazing as well. 

Georgetown!

We made our way onto Georgetown, where we saw more boats than we had during our whole trip put together! All the boats anchor off an adjacent island to Georgetown, and at night with all the anchor lights on we look like out own star constellation! 

Georgetown itself was fairly quiet, but they had a supermarket with fresh fruit and vegetables, a luxury in these parts of the world! They also had a yellow school bus! 

The dingy quay especially for all the yachties that make their way here! 

Georgetowns main road in peak hour.

Iconic American yellow school bus!

All the yachts anchored in the bay.

Mum enjoying the beach.

We also enjoyed feeding and stroking the stingrays. A little scary at first but you got use to it!

Staniel Cay - Saying Goodbye to Dane!

 We moved on to the neighbouring island, Staniel Cay, where I had to say goodbye to my partner Dane. He was heading off to see his friends in Seattle, was sad to see him go! 

Fairly casual airport, no baggage counter, security check or cafe's! Present your ticket and your off!!

We also went snorkeling in Thunderball cave, where they filmed the James Bond movie, great little dive but unfortunately none of our photos came out very well! 

Big Major Cay - Pig Beach!

We decided to stop off and visit Big Major Cay which is home to "Pig Beach". 

Wild pigs inhabit this island and come running / swimming up to your boat for food!! As you can imagine this has become quite a tourist attraction and we didn't want to miss out either! 

Mum and I on the beach.

 A great experience and lots of fun!! 

My First Shark!

My first time snorkeling with a shark! 

It was just a baby really, but good size to start with. 

Spotted Eagle Ray.

Warderick Wells, Exuma Cays.

Warderick Wells in the Exuma Cays was one of the most beautiful places we went. We moored off the island for a few days, enjoying the water and snorkeling all the amazing reefs in the area. We saw sharks, spotted eagle rays, loads of fish and sea turtles! 

Most cruisers who visit the island climb up Boo Boo Hill, to the highest point of the island and leave a piece of drift wood with the name of their boat engraved on it. So naturally we didn't want to miss out!

Friday night is party night! After zooming round in the dingy inviting everyone to a beach party, we headed to the beach to meet everyone! Had a great night meeting all the cruisers and feeding the Hutia, a small rabbit like animal that came out to eat all our left over nibbles!