Saturday 19th Monte Christi Dominican Republic

Thursday 17^th Cockburn Grand Turk

Well I have had a relaxing time here, except for the odd time at night in gusty winds worried about the anchor dragging. The town of Cockburn is sprawled over a large area with allot of building going on and abandoned, most unused land is covered with a thorn scrub with a number of wild ponies and donkeys wandering about. Swimming around the boat in the crystal clear water is lovely, with lots of fish about, I went over to a buoy about 100m away (used by dive boats) and found the wall, it drops off from 5m to 255m!

Cockburn at sunset

Cockburn town

Coral Head nead anchorage

Turks Head Cactus possible that islands named after it

View of Cockburn from 'highlands'

Saturday 19^th Monte Christi Dominican Republic

 

Having checked the forecast I signed out of Grand Turk on Thursday 17^th and lifted the anchor on Friday morning at first light, expecting to take about 30hours in winds of 10 to 15 knots; in fact once I got out the winds were blowing 15 to 20 gusting 25, so we arrived at the entrance to the bay of Monte Christi in 19 hours anchoring at 2am (averaging a little over 5knots) fortunately the bay is open and depth is a useful 4-6m well in. Having set the anchor, stowed the sails and raised the Dominican Republic’s flag and yellow flag for clearance, I went to sleep. On waking I had breakfast and washed and shaved, then inflated the dingy and was about to mount the engine when I saw a boat approaching with one guy in uniform and another with an AK47 since I was half expecting a visit from the powers that be I was not worried and sure enough they were from the Marina de Guerre (Coast Guard) and Drug Enforcement, having got the necessary form filled and my wallet lightened they went on their way and I fitted the dingy engine and went ashore in search of Customs and Immigration. I was met at the Sports Fishing Club dock by a useful guy who after tying the dingy up, took me on his scooter to his house where he called immigration and a friend to interpret, I did not need to get clearance from immigration as long as I had my passport with me at all times; he then took me to the local supermarket, returning to his house where his sister showed me where I could get wifi, and back to the dingy. On board the wind picked up in the afternoon, so redid the connection for the bow navigation lights, hopefully they will work now.

At Anchor off Monte Christi

Coming ashore