A Different Perspective - by Ken Fickett

It has been a very interesting experience to track “Sea Glass” on SPOT and reading the Blog as she has made her way south. As the builder of Sea Glass, friend of the owner, employer of Eric, and father of Travis I have a seriously vested interest in seeing them all arrive successfully.

It was probably nearly four years ago that Travis and I were at Oshkosh for the biggest air show on earth when we discovered the SPOT Trackers being given away with the purchase of a one year service contract. That contract was pretty cheap, about 80 bucks or so as I recall, and I was hooked. Now I had real time info on exactly where a unit was and knew that the person carrying it could also trigger a “help” call if necessary. Trips such as the one Sea Glass is on have been much more heartburn-free than in the past.

Eric kept everybody pretty much up to speed on the trip until his departure from Sea Glass in the Turks and Caicos. Eric was replaced by Travis, my son, and that began the long wait for a reasonable weather window to head to the Dominican Republic. At the same time one of my old friends, Barry Terry, a retired British official with a bunch of ocean passage experience (and a DR resident), was contacted to help with making the passage and smoothing any potential issues with Dominican Customs and Immigration. That’s as good a team as you can get for this kind of trip. After nearly ten days of waiting, the guys finally got the weather window they were looking for and slipped around the west end of the Turks and Caicos headed south to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

The SPOT system tracked flawlessly and it was nice to know at least the boat was moving along well. While in Provo (Turks and Caicos), Travis had been able to get the ICOM Single Sideband radio completely up and functional. This brand new weapon in Sea Glass’s communication arsenal allowed the guys to send and receive emails without being hooked up directly to the internet. They were also able to receive weather “faxes” from the radio that kept them abreast of moving fronts and sea conditions. A satellite phone was also available to connect them anywhere in the world and also to confer with Chris Parker, the very notable Caribbean weather forecaster and route planner.

Thirty-something hours later, Sea Glass arrived at Puerto Plata at the new Ocean World Marina (the marina showplace of the Dominican north coast.) In short order Mike and Fred were reunited with their wives who had flown into the DR in order to complete the trip with the guys. Clearing Customs, a great dinner, one night at the dock and it was off at 5PM the next day to make the long trip to Puerto Rico. Closely skirting the northern DR coast at night helped with sea conditions allowing Sea Glass to slide east past Samana and into the Mona Passage.

A few hours into the Mona Passage, typically one of the nastier crossings and also known for being one of the most heavily trafficked passages in the Caribbean – mostly in illegal immigrants going from the DR to Puerto Rico – the SPOT showed Sea Glass making a hard right hand turn. The turn caught my attention instantly as I watched the SPOT track unfold. But then SPOT went “dark” with no signal for several hours and my anxiety level clicked up a few notches. Finally the little orange icon popped up on the screen well south of the last signal and I blew a breath of relief.

From there on it was pretty basic; turn left at the south western tip of Puerto Rico and head East to Salinas on the south coast of PR. They dropped anchor in Salinas Harbour and began a Keystone Cops routine with Customs that I am going to leave to someone else to explain that was actually there.

Cell phone communications with Travis were excellent for much of the trip and the same was true in PR. That having been said it remains a mystery as to what went on when the guys tried to clear Customs, but it apparently precipitated a trip to “downtown” for Barry – the only “foreigner” on board. I hear that the food was great and all was well until everyone returned to the boat and discovered that the air conditioners were all inoperative. Just when I thought all was well and I was sound asleep, at 11:35PM, my phone rang and it was Travis asking for advice on troubleshooting the system. I guess whatever I said made sense to him, or not. Regardless, he called me back at midnight (gee thanks son!) to tell me that the A/C was now operational and all was well.

The next day the Sea Glass crew was off to Culebra, an island a little east of PR and one of the Spanish Virgin Islands with a colorful history. At this point the trip became a tour of the islands that Michael had come this far for. Caribbean Islands just a stones throw away from each other – one more beautiful then the next.

It has been great fun tracking the guys and talking when possible. My son, Travis, has been excited about the opportunity Michael gave him to come along and has managed to one up his “old man”. Congrats to all for a job well done.

Parting Company...Chapter 2

Eric all packed and waiting for the taxi

Sunday, May 9, 2010. Eric returned home today after helping us with a wonderful cruise from Green Cove Springs, FL to Provo. We thank him for his good company and patience helping two senior citizens trying to learn how to do it right. Sea Glass has not yet continued on her journey as we are waiting for a favorable weather window. We are also waiting for Travis to join us on Tuesday. He will be fine-tuning the electronics as we continue our cruise to the BVIs. As we wait, we take care of household maintenance and enjoy the tropical sun and breezes. Cell service and intermittent Internet are available so we also get the opportunity to catch up on news from home and extend long distance Mothers Day wishes. Tomorrow, we explore the island and hopefully report back on points of interest. There are supposed to be some beautiful beaches and state parks not too far from here - well, I guess on a 38 square-mile island, NOTHING is particularly far. But we’ll find out.


Sea Glass tucked in to wait out the weather

Monday, May 10, 2010. We heard from our weather router, Chris Parker, this morning. The news is that we should plan to stay in place for one week unless we want to deal with 10-12’ swells. We don't. So we rented a car for the week and are practicing driving on the wrong side of the road. I can think of worse places to get stranded.

Provo? Eh, not so much.

Tiki Hut at Turtle Cove, Provo

Sea Glass at her slip in Turtle Cove Marina

So, here we are tied up at Turtle Cove Marina on the north coast of the island of Providenciales (Provo), Turks & Caicos Islands, British West Indies. I have always heard what a phenomenally beautiful place this is – a real “don’t miss”. And I guess if we had not just toured some of the most beautiful islands of the Bahamas, I might feel that way too. But quite frankly, so far it plays a distinct second fiddle to places like Staniel or Highbourne Cays in the Exumas or even Little Harbour and Hope Town in the Abacos.

At some point in the recent past (maybe before the American economy collapsed?) there was a bunch of money pumped into construction here, with upscale shopping “town centers”, incredible condos and luxury hotels.  Pretty much looks like an offshore version of Boca Raton, if you ask me. Of course, most of those beautiful storefronts and condos are sitting empty with “for sale or rent” signs on them. We walked around a very upscale shopping area today – and there were probably only 8 other tourists doing the same. Sad.

Then there are the dive boats. I guess there must be some incredible diving here, because there are about 10 dive boats in just this one marina! From a 110’ liveaboard gonzo dive boat – the “Turks & Caicos Aggressor” to a fleet of 35-footers, and even one “semi-submarine” - whatever that is - glass bottom maybe?

Still, the ocean waters are beautiful (when you can see them through the forest of condos) and the people seem friendly enough. The Tiki Hut and Sharkbites Bar are hoppin’ and the temperature is perfect. So, I am definitely not complaining here!

Unfortunately, my ”summer camp” ticket is about punched out and I have to fly back to reality tomorrow. Michael and Fred will be here in Provo for at least a few more days waiting for a weather window to allow them to cross to the Dominican Republic – next stop on the agenda. Hopefully, Great Harbour’s I.T. guy (and Ken’s son) Travis will be flying in to take my place as excess baggage aboard Sea Glass. One of his primary responsibilities will be to get the brand-new and very expensive Single Sideband HF radio to work properly and receive e-mails, weatherfaxes, etc. I have certainly failed miserably in my attempts to figure it out thus far.

Michael will be taking over blogging duties. So, from now on, I will just have to experience the trip vicariously like all of you reading this. Oh well. It has been a fantastic trip and I am sure it will only get better as Michael and Fred travel along the coasts of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Spanish Virgin Islands and on to Tortola. Thanks for everything Michael.

Island Eric

Passage to the Turks & Caicos

Our Mahi doesn't fit into the cooler!

We dropped our lines at the very unexciting Exumas Docking Services docks in George Town, Great Exuma and headed out the notoriously tricky southeast channel. We were looking at about a 35-hour run to get to Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos before the forecast rough weather socked us in.

After clearing the Exuma reef opening, we set our course to take us past the tip of Long Island (Cape St. Marie) and on past Rum Key, Cat Island, Little San Salvador, Samana, Acklins, Crooked Island, Mayaguana, and finally, across the Caicos Passage to Provo (Providenciales), the major island in the Turks & Caicos chain, where we would stage for the big crossing to the Dominican Republic.

We really had planned to spend a night at Rum Cay. Why? Because we hadn’t been there, of course - and because, well, who DOESN'T want to visit a place called Rum Cay?  But, because we were running a bit behind schedule we decided to try to make it all the way to Provo in one shot. Plus, our weather router was telling us that we had fair cruising weather until Saturday night, then everything was going to go bad for the better part of a week. We definitely didn’t want to become stranded on some no-name cay without working phones, computers, 50-amp power, or nice bars.  Now, our weather router, Chris Parker, was also telling us that we should plan our route to pass NORTH of the Samana Cays in order to avoid some forecast higher seas, but, again, I ignored his advice and charted the much more direct course, which would take us SOUTH of Samana.

At first, the weather was pretty benign – 2’-3’ sea quartering on the bow and a nice gentle ride. But, about one in the morning, the seas just past Acklins started to pick up - right about where Chris told us they would.  So we dealt with a harsh ride right into the teeth of the seas for the rest of the night, with the wind and waves dying down just a bit at daybreak.  However, as Chris warned, the rest of the passage would turn out to be anything but comfortable.  Next time, I vow to heed the advice of our professional weather router!

We had excellent luck with our fishing, however:  Just past the tip of Long Island, we caught a nice, big Wahoo. We took some pictures and reluctantly released him back in to the sea. I just couldn’t figure out how we were going steak this big fish with the tiny knives we had aboard the boat. Plus, Wahoo doesn’t keep very well and freezing it doesn’t help the flavor either – what we were really looking for was that elusive Mahi Mahi.


Decided to throw this beautiful Wahoo back...

So, Fred changed from our red and black Wahoo Slayer lure to a pink Mahi lure and a couple hours later he horsed a very nice 15 lb. cow aboard. The fish sure made a mess of the cockpit with all the thrashing, but I finally got it into a cooler of ice for a while so I could gut, skin and filet the now dead fish. We ended up with 10 substantial filets and bagged them in threes, kept one bag out for dinner in Provo and froze the rest. We were done fishing for this trip!

We only saw a couple boats on our journey– three sailboats passed very closely to us just before midnight and were gone into the night. But we did log quite a bit more cool wildlife. The phosphorescence in the water that was stirred up by our bow wake was phenomenal. It truly looked like the frothy, churning wave was on fire. Beautiful.

Then, about halfway across the Caicos Passage, we passed a large school of black Pilot Whales. Alas, it was so rough and we were so mesmerized by them, by the time we got a camera out they were gone and past us. They were followed closely by a big shark (Oceanic White Tip, I think) that swam right under our bow in the crystal clear water.

Lastly, as we approached Provo, a school of tiny porpoises surrounded us. I am not positive of the species (pretty sure that they were Harbor Porpoises) – but they were cute as hell.

Back to our travels: As we passed to the south of Mayaguana, the seas notched up to about 4’ or so. Still very doable, if a little uncomfortable, but as we passed the tip of Mayaguana this afternoon and entered the 35-mile-wide Caicos Passage, the wind piped up and we were getting rocked continuously by 6’ beam seas. Ugh. Falling off to port or starboard would have worked okay, but we didn’t have time. We needed to be at the entrance to the very tricky, coral head-strewn, mile-long channel into Turtle Cove Marina on the north shore of Provo before they closed at 6pm so they could send a pilot boat out to guide us through the coral.

So, we were stuck dealing with really uncomfortable beam waves for about 5 hours. Let me tell you, these babies were flat rocking our world. We were all really ready when it was finally time to dock, check in with Customs, have a few coldies (wait, no, the coldies came RIGHT after docking), shower, and pay the local marina rats to wash the salt off of Sea Glass for us.

We cooked up a mess of those very fresh Mahi filets along with some baked potatoes and salad. A veritable feast. Now it’s off to the Tiki Bar here at the marina for a beer - maybe two, but we are all completely exhausted, so it might just be the one this time!

George Town

Michael and Fred at the Peace & Plenty bar

Beautiful Anglican church in George Town

Today began as most recent days have: Alarm clocks go off at 6, we muddle through our engine room checks, boot all the electronics up, warm up the diesels, cast off and head south at 6:30am. A beautiful morning evolved into a beautiful day as we crossed from the shallow Exuma bank into the Atlantic Ocean and continued south for George Town – our last stop on the Exumas chain.

Today was “fishing day”. It seemed we hooked a fish every half hour or so. Of course, after a few barracudas and large mackerels, we were kind of hoping for something that we could filet for dinner.  Yeah, we could have kept a big mackerel – but no - we wanted a decent-sized Mahi. It just didn’t happen today. We did have something big hit the lure and strip out a bunch of line. But he jumped half out of the water once and shook the hook. Still not sure what he was – but I couldn’t reel him in! So, we will continue our quest for fresh fish filets on our journey tomorrow.

Anyway, we cruised in to George Town, capital of the Exumas, at about 3:30pm and tied up next to one of the rickety docks at Exuma Docking Services. It’s not very picturesque here at the “marina” – but it was easier than anchoring, putting the dink into the water, and going into town that way. Literally hundreds of cruisers winter here in George Town every year.  They crowd nearly all the available anchorages and have their own little cliquey society with bingo games, volleyball, pot luck dinners, etc. Although the water is beautiful, the town sure ain't much to look at.  I'm really not sure of the whole appeal when the rest of the Exumas are fabulous.

Anyway, Fred bought some new fishing lures to help snare the elusive Mahi Mahis, Michael went to buy some internet time, and I cut my finger open on the door jamb of the pilothouse. Of course, we all still managed to meet up at the Peace & Plenty bar at the very pink Peace & Plenty Hotel. A few cold Kalik Lights (do you notice a recurring theme here?), some interesting conversation with Lermon, the bartender, and several seriously inebriated customers – and it was time to wander into the dining room for dinner.


The view from our dinner table at the Peace & Plenty

Dinner was nice and the view was terrific. But, we were all bushed and so headed back to the boat before 8. The plan for tomorrow is to rise at our usual witching hour, cast off, and head non-stop to the Turks & Caicos – at least a 32-hour trip. We have been forecast fair winds and calm seas for the next few days, so it is time to put some serious miles behind us. We expect to make landfall at Providenciales around noon on Friday. So there won’t be any blog updates until then.

Finally, I just couldn't resist adding another swimming pig pic!

Pigs, grottos and...paradise found

Sea Glass at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club docks

Fred & Michael enjoy a coldie at Staniel Cay's funky

little bar after the run south from Highbourne Cay

We reluctantly left the beautiful Highbourne Cay Marina at our usual ungodly hour of 6:30am. Our plan for today basically consisted of running down the shallow, western "banks" side of the northern Exumas to Staniel Cay. I had heard so much about Staniel over the years that I really wanted to stop there. Besides, there was no way we would make the additional 60 miles into Georgetown during daylight. So it was an obvious place to stop, right?

We docked at Staniel Cay Yacht Club in early afternoon. I have to tell you, I absolutely love the Abacos, but I have never seen water so crystal clear as that of the Exumas. Everywhere you look - it looks like a screensaver! Can't wait to see how cool the purple underwater lights on Sea Glass look tonight in the clear seas.



Sea Glass' underwater lights reveal a resting nurse shark

As soon as we got tied up, we watched the fish cleaning guys tossing scraps to about a dozen hungry nurse sharks. Then we made a bee-line to the bar/restaurant for some ice cold Kalik Lights and lunch. In that order. Staniel Cay Yacht Club is exactly what you think of in your mind's eye when you think of a Caribbean Beach Bar. Cheeseburgers in paradise. Oh yeah.

On top of the beauty and total laid-back-ness of the place, there are also some pretty cool sights to see. So after lunch we launched the dink and went exploring - with apple chunks and spray cheese (I'll explain in a minute.)

Big Major's Spot is a medium-sized island about a quarter mile from Staniel. We circumnavigated the island, stopping once to let Michael and Fred go swimming in the unbelievably clear water.  But what we were really looking for was about 3/4 of the way around the island on the west side. The famous swimming pigs.

I really haven't a clue how the chubby little oinkers ended up on this desolate island, but there are about 10 of them and they swim like Labrador Retrievers. In fact, if you don't come to them, they'll swim right out to your boat and complain loudly for you to toss them some goodies. Hence the apple chunks. We were suddenly very popular with the pigs. Then we ran out of apples and - like strippers when you run out of dollar bills - they headed off - to another dinghy full of gullible tourists like us!


The famous swimming pigs of Big Major's Spot...

...or were THESE the famous swimming pigs?

I'm confused.

Staniel's other major claim to fame is that it was the site of location shooting for the 1964 James Bond movie, "Thunderball". A REAL James Bond movie - with the REAL James Bond - Sean Connery. One of the locations they used is this very cool grotto inside of a small island about a half-mile from the marina. Now known as Thunderball Grotto, you can swim into the underwater entrance or enter through an above water "crack" between two boulders. I chose to enter through the underwater entrance, of course.

Fred wasn't too keen on the grotto because he can't see a damn thing through a non-prescription dive mask - and he hates to swim with fins. Well, fins were not just an option here, they were mandatory, with about a three knot current ripping past the cave. Then, neither pair of fins we had on the dink fit Michael's feet either - so it was just me going it alone with the grotto and the legendarily aggressive fish within.


Inside Thunderball Grotto - VERY James Bond

The seriously aggressive fish in the grotto

The grotto is unbelievable, with a soaring 50-foot ceiling covered with stalactites and pockmarked with holes that let sunlight stream inside. Around the perimeter are various small and large entrances at water level or below. But did I mention the aggressive fish? Hence the aerosol cheese whiz. Once again I was very popular with the locals. The cheese put all the resident Damselfish, Sergeant Majors, Queen Angels, Gray Angels, Spanish Hogfish and various Snappers and Groupers into a feeding frenzy. Right in my face! I mean, Damselfish are aggressive enough without spray cheese - but I am sure that this stuff must be the fish equivalent of "crack" - so they'll do anything to get it.  They even seemed to be trying to knock the container out of my hand.  Even if I did drop it, I am not sure how they would have gotten the cheese out - what, with having no opposable thumbs and all.

We got back to Sea Glass in time for some coldies on the flybridge, then took showers to get ready for dinner at the Yacht Club at 7. Now, I am supposed to mention Fred and Michael's wives that we are really roughing it on this trip.  Heck, the power is out right now as I write this. So, to Elsie and Ginger: Michael and Fred want you to know that this is a lot of work and not at all fun. Ahem. Sure.

Our plan for tomorrow is to finally cruise down to Georgetown and drop the anchor for a day so we can regroup and decide on the best plan for the next several legs of our voyage. I'll write more then!

Exuma by any other name...

The beach at Highbourne Cay Marina

Eric & Fred hangin' at Highbourne Marina (notice cold Coronas in hand)

Eagle Ray swimming out from under Sea Glass


We slipped our mooring and bid farewell to Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera at 6:30am. Our route plan for today included a 40-mile run down along the west coast of Eleuthera - and then punching out into the deep waters of Exuma Sound for the 35-mile crossing to Staniel Cay, Exumas. Once again, you gotta be sure to have a backup plan in case your primary one doesn't work out!

The first part of the trip went pretty much as we expected - 2' wavelets on the bow and gorgeous turquoise waters. Michael even put the fishing line out - but all he caught in the shallow bank waters was a small Barracuda. The excitement started as we passed Cape Eleuthera and started our crossing for Staniel.

At first, the 3-4' waves quartering on the bow were just a minor annoyance, but by now it was midday and the winds and seas were starting to pipe up. We were registering consistent 30-35mph winds and the waves quickly built to 5-6'   Michael and Fred were looking at me to come up with a Plan B pretty quickly, since none of us were really fans of the idea of "toughing" it out for the next 6 hours.

So, I glanced at the charts and suggested we make a 90-degree turn to starboard and head for Highbourne Cay Cut. If this point of sail was still untenable, we would give up for the day and run back to Cape Eleuthera to wait for better weather. Fortunately, this turn put the seas almost on our stern, just slightly quartering. Anyone who knows Great Harbour Trawlers knows that this is the kind of sea they like best.

Our 4-hour ride in to Highbourne Cay was very comfortable and uneventful until a large Mahi took the lure we were dragging and headed back towards Eleuthera with it. Fred and Michael did a yeoman's job horsing the big fish up to the cockpit so we could attempt to land him. Unfortunately, we don't have a gaff on the boat, so I had to wire him in by grabbing the leader in my gloved hand and flipping him up over the doorsill and into the boat. Man, I was already tasting those fresh, sweet filets that we would cook on the grill tonight.

If you scroll back to the top of the page, you will notice that of the pictures I chose to illustrate this entry into the blog, there is no picture of a large Mahi ready to filet. That's because he managed to rip the hook off the crimped wire leader just as I had him on the coaming of the boat. Damn. No fish tonight. Oh well, we just had to "make do" with a chicken that Michael roasted up perfectly in his Nuwave magic cooker.

But back to the crossing: We came through Highbourne Cay Cut uneventfully and as we entered the harbor at Highbourne Marina, we were all immediately struck by the beauty of the place. It is one of the nicest marinas I have ever seen - with crystal turquoise waters, a cute little office/store and lots of cool critters cruising around the harbor waters. I didn't get any pics of the nurse sharks that were greedily gobbling up thrown fish scraps at the fish cleaning station. However, I got some pictures of a pair of Eagle Rays that glided back and forth around Sea Glass for about ten minutes.

So, as so often happens, a change of plans ends up working for the best. We plan another dawn departure tomorrow and we should tie up at Staniel Cay around lunch time. That will give us a chance to do some exploring and maybe even snorkel Thunderball Grotto. But right now it's time for Mrs. Kraft's favorite little boy to get some shut-eye. I'll report back tomorrow.