Sailing to Santiago de Cuba

Leaving Molasses Reef on Great Inagua

Our studying of the weather forecast prompted us to leave Great Inagua on Wednesday 30 January, a day earlier than we had originally planned.  It would be around a 200-mile passage and so, working on the basis that that would take us a day and a half, we left Molasses Reef at 1000hrs so that we would reach Santiago de Cuba in daylight.

Our first sighting of the eastern end of Cuba

Punta de Maisi

The unusual 12-20 knot northerly wind was the reason for our early departure but that meant that we had fabulous fast sail and we actually averaged 7.6knots over the whole passage.  Our route started with a 50 mile south-southwesterly leg which took us past the eastern end of Cuba, Punta de Maisi.  As we entered Cuban waters we called up the Guarda Frontera on the VHF radio but got no reply so, as per the guidance, we made an information call letting them know our intentions.

As dusk fell, we had passed Punta de Maisi and the next headland along, Punta Caleta, and turned onto a more westerly heading to track along the south coast. By now the wind was up at 20 knots and so we put 2 reefs in to make life easy overnight.  On the new point of sail, even with the reefs in, we still bowled along at 7 knots and with Georgina (our windvane) steering it was a very easy passage.

A little over half way between Punta Caleta and the entrance to Santiago de Cuba is the controversial American base at Guantanamo Bay; on our chart marked as “Cuban Land illegally occupied by the USA”.  As you can imagine, there is a large prohibited area around the base which stretches about 3nm out to sea, so our route took us further offshore than the straight line ‘ideal’ track to ensure that we did not upset any gun-toting protection force.

The beautiful hills on the eastern south coast of Cuba

There are quite high hills on the eastern end of Cuba and these created a bit of a wind shadow.  As a result, we had a 3-hour window from midnight where the wind was down below 10 knots so we motorsailed to keep on our timeline for arriving in daylight.  By 4am we were sailing well again and come dawn the troublesome hills became a spectacular backdrop.  Looking at the lack of development and rugged hills it was clear why this end of Cuba has for years largely been cut off from the western end of the island.

At dawn we hoisted the Cuba courtesy ensign which was quite a poignant moment for us.  It had taken a reasonable amount of planning and preparation to visit Cuba and it felt good that we had managed to make it happen.

The morning’s sailing was quite gentle and so we used the time to run the water maker and clear the backlog of dirty laundry.  I’m not sure if the extra windage helped BV on her way but we arrived in port with all of the laundry clean and dry.

El Morro Santiago de Cuba coastguard station

Just east of the entrance to Santiago de Cuba is the El Morro coastguard station.  We had already made several calls to the Guarda Frontera informing them of our progress and intention to check in at Santiago but so far with no replies.  With El Morro in sight we tried again but again with no success.  Half an hour later though, they called us.  Comms were difficult but we understood that we had to call the Santiago pilot before we entered the harbour and also the marina.

Approaching the entrance to Santiago de Cuba

As we approached the entrance to Santiago de Cuba we adjusted our speed to fit in between 2 arriving cargo ships, dropped our sails and switched on the engine.  As instructed, we called up the Santiago pilot; we think that they act as a sort of harbour master.  Having firmly stated that we did not need a pilot service to get into the harbour, they approved our approach as far as the marina at Punta Gorda.

The entrance to Santiago de Cuba overlooked from the right by the impressive Castillo del Morro

The navigation advice in our guide book for entering Santiago de Cuba stretches over 5 pages (one of which is a chartlet) and gives a blow by blow series of steps to get the mile as far as Punta Gorda.  We’re not quite sure why, the channel is 13 metres deep, well-marked and there is only one real turn of just 30 degrees to get from the entrance to Punta Gorda.

Castillo del Morro high on the right, the Punta Gorda Marina is just visible left of centre, and between the 2 are the distinctive smoky red and white towers of an industrial facility, more about which I’ll explain later

Castillo del Morro

But the simple pilotage meant that we could enjoy the views.  On the right of the entrance is a high cliff stepped down with the different fortification levels of the 16^thcentury Castillo del Morro (or more accurately Castillo San Pedro de la Roca) that guards the entrance and approaches. It made for an excellent end for our passage and arrival into Cuba.  The El Morro castle was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982 and having seen it close up, it was now definitely on our list of must visit locations.

Approaching the Marina Marlin Punta Gorda

Our clearance was as far as the state-run Marina Marlin Punta Gorda and no further.  It was here that we needed to formally arrive in Cuba and I have to say that we were wondering how complicated it would all be.  However, as soon as we were in sight in the entrance, we were called up by the duty manager, George, and we were looked after fantastically.  George gave us clear directions on where we were to moor and came out to the quay waving a white handkerchief to make it even more obvious.  We tied up on the quay at 1300hrs on Thursday 31 January.

Moored up on the marina quay to complete the arrivals procedures

George’s English is excellent and having warmly welcomed us to Cuba he instructed us that the medical, customs and immigration staff would be along shortly.  Once they had finished with us, we were to report to George in his office so that he could tell us everything we needed to know as first-time arrivals in Cuba.

The medical and customs officers joined us on board to take our temperatures (we proved not to be a suffering from fevers) and to start the paperwork.  We then moved into their office to complete the rest of the documentation and to have our passports checked and photographs taken by the immigration officer.  Interestingly our visas were provided later by George, but then stamped by the immigration officer, and the fee added to our marina bill [Ed:  cost approx. £75 each as opposed to £25 each had we arrived by air, harrumph!].

After an hour of officialdom we moved into George’s office for a briefing on ‘the rules for cruisers in Cuba’: outboard motors must be removed and locked to the yacht at night; dinghies need to be lifted out of the water every night; no Cubans are allowed on board; and any guests must be cleared in through the marina; we were at the limit of how far we could go into the harbour; no dinghy excursions are allowed in a commercial port except to get to and from the marina if your yacht is at anchor.  However, as well as the official rules, George also explained the country’s 2 currencies to us (one for tourists and one for locals) and checked our understanding by waving different bank notes at us which we had to identify.  He also explained how we could get into the city using the local ferry, where we should exchange money, advised that we avoid the black-market peddlers of rum and cigars, and generally gave us a crash course in how to successfully start our time in Cuba.  It seemed like a lot to take in but it all proved to be very helpful advice.

At 1510 we fired up the engine again and moved 100 metres away from the marina and anchored (approx. 28CUC per night in the marina vs 10CUC per night at anchor).  Safely anchored as far away from the nearby bar’s blaring reggaetón as we could get [Ed: what happened to Cubans listening to traditional son and samba-dancing music?] we cracked open beers and toasted our successful arrival in Cuba.

Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

Great Inagua Bahamas

Leaving Grand Turk (the cruise ship dock is at the right of the picture)

Having cleared out of Grand Turk, we took our leave of the Turks and Caicos at 1310 on Sunday 27 January.  There was a brisk 20kt southeasterly wind; perfect beam reaching conditions for the start of the passage down to Great Inagua. With 2 reefs in the main and genoa we averaged over 7knots until shortly after midnight, when the wind dropped and we needed to raise full sail.

Great sailing and a glorious sunset

It was great sailing and with the decent breeze we made excellent progress, clearing most of the reefs by sunset and with only one small heading change required after dark.  The sunset was a glorious one.

Other than letting out the reefs and the wind dropping light enough to force us to motor for a few hours around dawn, the overnight passage was uneventful.  Nicky was on watch at dawn and prepared breakfast before taking her turn in the bunk.  A little late in the day (fishing is usually best at dusk and at dawn) I trailed a line and was rewarded at 1130 by the sound of the it screaming out.  Happily, Nicky heard my shouts for some help on deck and slowed the boat down enough to allow me to fight the monster on the line. And the swordfish I had hooked was seriously large.  It was so powerful that at one point I was genuinely concerned that it would swim off with all my line!  It took over half an hour to get this fella to the stern and hoisting it on board was almost more of a struggle – getting into a sword fight is always a bad idea!

The pictures aren’t pretty but the meat was fantastic!  Having killed the fish we let it bleed out behind BV before I took off all the prime fillets.

Swordfish butchered, and with a fridge full to bursting, I returned the less choice cuts to the deep

I think my fishmongering (butchering!) skills need a bit of work but I filled the fridge full of prime swordfish fillets and there was still plenty of meat left on the carcass.  We didn’t really expect to be able to eat all that I had taken off the fish so we didn’t feel too bad about returning the excess to the deep and some other hungry fish.

Great Inagua light

By about 1315 we were off the southwest corner of Great Inagua in a 15kt southerly with 1m high wind-blown waves. The main town on the island, Matthew Town, is on the west coast and the anchorage off it is open to all directions other than east.  Stopping there was not looking like a sensible option.

Passing Matthew Town, Great Inagua. The Haitian sailing boats were 
rolling around inside the small harbour and even the cat looked uncomfortable

We continued up the coast to the town. The island is extremely steep to on this shore and we had a great view of Matthew Town from the 10m contour line but the wind-blown waves and swell made the open roadstead untenable, even had we planned to stay on board: trying to get ashore to check in didn’t look at all safe.  There is a small harbour in Matthew Town but it is wide open to all points westward and our Bahamas book gives severe warnings about it, particularly about swell getting into the harbour.  Indeed, as we passed by we could see that the masts of several Haitian fishing boats, and of an American catamaran, in there were waving around wildly.  So we went with Plan B and sailed a few miles further north to anchor in Man O’War Bay.  This was perfectly sheltered in the prevailing conditions and we anchored in 8m over beautiful sand on dead flat, turquoise water.  Perfect!

There were 2 other yachts in the bay. One, was quite a long way off, close to the Morton’s salt plant, the other, Lucy Alice, was relatively close to where we had anchored.  Lucy Alice was flying an OCC burgee so we popped over in the dinghy to say hello, offer them some swordfish (how were we going to eat it all?) and ask them about checking in.  Our electronic map (maps.me) shows roads/tracks from Man O’War Bay to Matthew Town; could we reasonably walk there?  Unfortunately, Ian is allergic to fish, so our offer of swordfish was turned down, but we were invited on board for a beer and spent a couple of hours with him and Glenda mostly talking about Cuba, from where they had just come, and gaining some useful hints and tips in the process.  Unfortunately, Ian and Glenda hadn’t been able to get ashore on Great Inagua to check in so our queries on clearing customs went unanswered. Instead they were planning to head north to Abraham’s Bay on Mayaguana later that same evening to clear into the Bahamas there.  So, we returned to BV and an hour later wavedLucy Aliceon her trip north before settling down to the first of many excellent swordfish meals.

Continued below

Man O’War Bay, Great Inagua, Bahamas

Early in the morning of Tuesday 27 January, having topped up the main fuel tanks with 20 litres from one of our deck jerry cans, we motored south from Man O’War Bay and anchored off Matthew Town.  We got the engine on the dinghy, glad that we had moved very early, before the wind and waves had built, and then took the dinghy into the small harbour.  It’s quite an impressive facility, assuming that you don’t feel the need for decent shelter from the sea, with 2 large ramps, good concrete walls with plenty of rings and bollards on 2 sides (though one side looks as if it is reserved for police/customs vessels) and 2 or 3 strong wooden piers for yachts.  We left the dinghy tied behind the large catamaran on one of the wooden piers, chatted to the crew briefly, and set off to find the Customs and Immigration offices.

The building marked on our map as Customs & Immigration turned out to be a private house but the lady there was very friendly and pointed us in the right direction [Ed: we’re probably not the first people to have stopped by looking for officialdom!].  The offices we wanted were a few hundred metres further down the road in a large warehouse-style building, with Immigration at one end of the building, Customs at the other end and a liquor store between the 2.  The Immigration office was closed so we started with Customs, discovering a good-sized office with 4 officers sitting at desks and another 4 or so hangers on lounging around, all of whom were in the middle of a long and hilarious conversation.  We explained that we had arrived the previous evening but had been unable to get ashore to complete the formalities and that we planned to leave the day after next to spend 6 weeks or so in Cuba before returning to the Bahamas for an extended stay. Given the problems we had had with getting ashore at Matthew Town we asked to check in and out at the same time. This latter request was met with some resistance by the officer dealing with us but, happily, her immediate superior pointed out to her that since we would be retaining our cruising permit there was no reason why we shouldn’t check in and out at the same time.  Great relief!  We asked about Immigration and the senior officer, somewhat surprised to hear that the Immigration office was closed, called his equivalent and assured us that he would be with us soon.  We paid our dues (US$300) for a Bahamian cruising and fishing permit (valid for 6 months and permitting us exit and re-entry within 90 days) and then repaired to the liquor store to await the arrival of the Immigration team, make some additions to the cocktail cabinet and hide from the ferocious mosquito population.

The Immigration team took a while to appear but the liquor store proved a useful refuge for the duration and the Immigration formalities were quickly dealt with.  On our way back to the harbour we spotted a Bahamian Telecoms Company shop and bought a BTC SIM card for our phone which, we were assured, would remain valid for the next 3 months.  Great news!  Now we had internet access for our time in Great Inagua and we would also have internet and phone access as soon as we arrived back in the Bahamas after we had visited Cuba.

As we passed the government harbour en routeto find Great Inagua’s food shop(s?), we saw that a motor yacht had arrived and was being refuelled.  This was excellent news as it meant that we could get our jerry can refilled and not have to carry it the mile or so from the island’s petrol station.  We had to wait a while and I had to return to BV to fetch our funnel (the fuel bowser’s diesel nozzle was too large to fit into the filler of our can) but we got our jerry can refilled with diesel.  That meant that BV was absolutely topped up with fuel, which was just what we wanted before heading to Cuba where supplies can often be scarce.

We set off again for the food shop and at the internet hotspot outside the library bumped into Casey Kimberley, one of the crew on board the catamaran in the harbour.  We had a long chat with her and heard all about the Wharram catamaran that she and her other half (Shaun, another of the crew on the cat) are in the process of building, as well as of their experiences on this trip as crew from the Bahamas to Panama.

We eventually got to the shop much later than we had expected, only to find it much emptier than we had expected. Our Bahamas book says that Matthews Town is a Morton Salt company town and that, consequently, ‘Great Inagua benefits from much better provisioning options than any of the other Bahamian out islands’.  It’s a relative thing: ‘Much better provisioning options’ doesn’t mean ‘good’. This was a shame as one of the main reasons for stopping in at Great Inagua and going through the faff of clearing in (given that the wind conditions weren’t really playing ball enough to do a proper explore ashore) was to top up our food stocks prior to arriving in Cuba.  Researching sailing in Cuba, Nicky had repeatedly read that food shopping there can be very difficult.  The island is prone to shortages and whilst one shop may have good stocks of, say, cooking oil, another will have no cooking oil but will have good stocks of, say, tinned tomatoes.  She had also read that fresh fruit, veg and meat take some hunting down.  Having eaten most of the fresh food that we had bought in St Martin and Culebra she was keen to replenish those stocks and to buy a few last minute ‘just in case we can’t get this in Cuba’ items, such as some more strong flour.  Unfortunately, the shopping expedition wasn’t a roaring success (except on the beer-front!). There was virtually no fresh fruit and veg because the provisioning boat hadn’t been in for the best part of a week but we managed to buy more onions and potatoes and, after much hmmm-ing haa-ing, we also bought the last honeydew melon in the shop (for US$8!  Fresh food is costly in the Bahamas.)  On the store cupboard front we bought some more flour for making bread (flour, like eggs and potatoes, is said to be difficult to obtain), beer (utterly crucial!) and topped up our orange juice stocks (for vitamin C).  Shopping complete, we headed back to BV wondering just how bad provisioning was likely to be in Cuba.

View of southwest Great Inagua from our anchorage between the island and Molasses Reef

By the time we got back to her, BV was bucking up and down on her anchor.  The wind, as forecast, had gone round to the northwest so she now sat on a lee shore with metre-high wind-blown waves making life very uncomfortable.  Clearly, a return to Man O’War Bay was not a sensible option (also a lee shore) so we moved around to the reef strewn southwest corner of the island and worked our way inside Molasses Reef.  The bay here is very gently shelving and shallow a long way out, so we ended up anchored a long way from the shore.  There was still a little swell coming in from the south but, with the main body of the island between us and the waves coming in on the northwesterly wind, it was far more comfortable than sitting at anchor off Matthew Town [Ed: this confirmed by the crew of a yacht we met later on that had spent that night anchored off Matthew Town!] and we had a very peaceful night.

Great Inagua’s a very flat island and so, despite being a very long way from the telecoms mast which is located between the town and the airport, we still had an excellent BTC signal and were able to check emails and download the weather forecast from the internet easily. Studying the forecast, we decided that it would be better to leave for Cuba a day earlier than we had originally planned and, with that in mind, we made preparations for a mid-morning departure for Santiago de Cuba the next day, Wednesday 30 January.

Molasses Reef, Great Inagua, Bahmas

Grand Turk

When you bring a private yacht into the Turks and Caicos (T&C), you have to decide whether to temporarily import the vessel for up to 7 days (cost US$100 – US$50 on arrival and US$50 on departure) or for up to 3 months (cost  US$300 – US$50 on arrival and US$250 on departure) [Ed: in contrast, the people on board the yacht can stay for up to 3 months with no charge]. Ideally, we would have wanted to stay for about 2 weeks but the cost wasn’t worth it for the additional time. And, unfortunately, T&C Customs count the days of the yacht’s visit as calendar days (not, as we had hoped, 24hr periods) with your arrival day being day 1 and your departure day being, say, day 7.  We had arrived on Monday 21 January so our day 7 was Sunday 27 January.  Clearly, this brought with it the added complication of our having to check out on a weekend with the commensurate out of hours charge.

Anchored off Grand Turk cruise ship pier (ahead of BV).  Note the many bars lining the beach and the plethora of sunbeds and beach umbrellas. It seems that many cruise ship visitors do their Grand Turk beach stop here, no distance from their floating hotel. To be fair, it is a beautiful sand beach and the water is a fabulous colour, it’s just that it’s backed by the island’s generating station and right next to the commercial dock

A green turtle welcoming us to the anchorage

Our book on the Bahamas states that Customs and Immigration at Grand Turk are located close to the cruise ship dock, about 3nm up the coast from where we were anchored.  Since we would be sailing past this part of the island en routeto Great Inagua we decided to move BV, rather than take a very long, hot walk.  It was an uneventful motor  along the coast into a 15kt southeasterly wind, though the day was very much a tale of 2 anchorages.  We left a flat calm anchorage, well protected by the reef and the lie of the island, and found the recommended anchorage for access to Customs and Immigration exposed with a good sized swell rolling through it (unsurprising I suppose given that this anchorage is almost on the southeastern tip of the island).  Getting the engine onto the dinghy to go ashore was ‘interesting’ and the beach landing had potential for being very wet, though we managed to time the approach through the waves OK and ran the dinghy, on its wheels, pretty much straight up the beach.

BV as viewed from the shore.  Note the colour change in the water from pale yellow-blue (under 2m deep), through turquoise (3-8m deep), to deep blue (20m+ deep).  Here the drop-off from 8m deep to about 20m is very abrupt.  We dropped the anchor in 8m but BV’s stern was in about 15m

There was no cruise ship on the quay (a shame, as the anchorage would have been a lot more protected had there been one in) and the beach bars, presumably bustling on a cruise ship day, were all closed up with no-one in sight.

Left and top right: We saw a small group of donkeys wandering along the edge of the road as we waited for the Customs and Immigration officers.  Bottom right: our local shadow

We wandered through the bars to the main road (dusty tarmac, one car, lots of donkeys) picking up a shadow (stray dog) on the way.  There was absolutely no sign of Customs or Immigration, which were supposed to be in this area, and we were beginning to feel somewhat at a loss as to where to go next. Happily, we then saw a lone workman busy fixing a long line of screening material to a fence, presumably to disguise the fact that the buildings on the other side of the fence were still ruined following the 2017 hurricane.

The new Customs and Immigration post at the commercial dock

The workman pointed us further down the road to the commercial dock complex and after a 5min walk we arrived at the entrance to the dock and the brand new Customs warehouse (no mistaking that!). There was no-one in, despite the fact that there was a commercial vessel loading on the freight quay.  Happily, there was a duty officer in the commercial port’s gatehouse and she called the duty Customs officer for us.  We waited in the shade of a tree for about 30min, thanking our lucky stars that we had fortuitously chosen to check out just as a freighter was finishing loading.  Had we been an hour later perhaps the port’s duty officer would have been away from the office, contactable only by telephone.  When we had checked in at South Caicos, the impression we had received was that there were Customs and Immigration officers at their posts every day of the week.  Perhaps that is the case in South Caicos but it isn’t in Grand Turk.  Next time we will get contact telephone numbers in case we need to leave out of hours.

The next slight shock was the out of hours charge.  We had expected to pay an additional US$15 to check out out of hours.  What we hadn’t realised was that we needed to pay US$15 to each of the Customs officer andthe Immigration officer…..  Paperwork and payments complete (and we had to wait by the tree again for the Immigration officer as the Customs officer was keen to do her bit in the office and then hightail it off to church) we took a little more of a wander along the road towards the airport.

Friendship 7 – John Glenn’s splashdown capsule

Outside the airport is a memorial to one of the big events in T&C history – the splashdown of John Glenn’s Friendship 7 capsule on 20 February 1962 in the waters off the T&C. Depending on the book you read the capsule on display might be the original or a replica.  Either way it’s very small.  It looks enormous in the photos but in reality it is just big enough for a person.  I can’t say I’d fancy being cooped up in that in freefall through the atmosphere but I suppose that the size of your craft is irrelevant at that point, provided that you get through alive.  Brave people, astronauts.

As part of the Mercury space programme, John Glenn (Lt Col) was launched into space from Cape Canaveral and became the first American to orbit the earth, doing so three times in about 5 hours. Having been recovered from the sea by the USS Noa, and transferred to the USS Randolph, Glenn was brought to Grand Turk for a medical and a debrief before being flown back to America accompanied by US Vice President Lyndon B Johnson.  Grand Turk is understandable proud of the part it played in the space race and, until relatively recently, still had a substantial American presence on the island in 2 separate locations, both related to NASA’s space programme – one of the perks of being a rocket scientist?

Governor’s Beach [Ed: estate agent photos – there’s a large rusting wreck of a freighter on the beach, just out of shot!]

Returning towards the dinghy we spotted a sign for Governor’s Beach a beach behind a building that had, at one point, clearly been the Governor’s residence on the island.  We had some time to spare so we thought that we’d take a look and were rewarded with a beautiful beach [Ed: complete with rusting wreck of a freighter, out of shot].

Back to the dinghy for a propane cylinder refill run

As we retraced our steps to the main road, Nicky spotted what looked to be a propane bottle filling station, with several people gathered around chatting and drinking beer…….and with a powerful smell of propane on the air.  We had a nearly empty propane bottle on BV.  Would they, could they, refill it for us?  It became clear that the team was working on a problem with the filling apparatus (hence the powerful smell of propane?) and that they had nearly finished the job (hence the beers?) but if we could get the bottle to them within about 45min, it could be filled.  So, we trotted back to the dinghy at the double, zoomed out in the dinghy, picked up the cylinder and hightailed it back to Governor’s Beach.  There was much less swell here than on the beach on which we had previously landed and it is closer to the new Customs and Immigration post than the other beach too.  Definitely one to be noted for the future.  By the time we had returned to the filling station, the beers had been sunk more deeply and the all-pervading smell of propane was noticeably reduced too. In less than a minute our cylinder was replenished and with profuse thanks (they refused payment) we were ready to return to BV and ready for an early afternoon departure to Great Inagua, 130nm to the southwest.

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands

Diving in Grand Turk

Saturday 26 January dawned bright and a little breezy, perfect for a day’s diving.  Anchored on the shelf behind the reef we were ideally placed for diving on Grand Turk’s world famous wall/drop-off and, as it happened, we were conveniently located for some of the most well-known dive areas.

Dive site 1 – The Anchor (named for the Admiralty pattern anchor close to the dive boat mooring buoy).  Top left: Nicky over the anchor in about 9m. Bottom left: The Green turtle that met us as we descended.  Right: the wall is covered in corals and teems with fish.  The top of the drop-off is at about 9m depth and we estimate the bottom of the wall is at about 50m, perhaps more.  Being PADI Open Water qualified our limit is 18m

We had decided to do our morning dive at ‘The Anchor’, a site named after the old Admiralty pattern anchor lying on the sand at the top of the wall, close to which the dive boat mooring is located.  And, wow, it’s an impressive dive site.  The water is incredibly clear and when we first entered the sea we both took one look down at the anchor and thought that it would make an ideal safety stop – which it would do if only it were located in about 5m rather than in nearly 10m! As we got our bearings a turtle swam past in a very stately fashion and then disappeared off over the edge of the wall. We followed, at slower pace.

Wow!  Wow!  And wow again!  Whilst the wall here isn’t one of those which just plunges to the abyssal plain, for us it’s still a very impressive drop-off.  And the number of corals and reef fish is incredible.  The pictures don’t really do it justice at all.

Barrel sponge

We swam out along the reef to the south at about 18m and then retraced our bubbles higher up the wall.

Queen angelfish

We saw clouds of fish including many that we haven’t seen before.  Our favourite of this dive had to be the beautifully coloured Queen angelfish all neon blues and violets and fluorescent greens and yellow.

Another huge shoal of Blue chromis

But we also saw hundreds, if not thousands of Blue chromis, bright blue clouds of the fish almost wherever we looked.

Garden eels in a large sandy area close to the anchor.  These funny little creatures look a bit like a thin covering of turtle grass……right up until they sink down into the sand when you get a bit too close.  When you move a safe distance away they pop their heads back up again

Reluctantly, after about 30mins at around 15m we ascended to the top of the wall and spent 5mins or so exploring around near the anchor before beginning our ascent to the surface ‘proper’. In a sandy clearing not far from the anchor we found a small field of Garden eels, creatures we haven’t seen for a long time.

Nicky above the anchor

Even though we had to do the 5m safety stop hovering around well above the anchor, rather than swimming around close to it as we had originally hoped (that’s the danger of looking through crystal clear water!) because of that crystal clear water we had a great view of the anchor and of the passing traffic of fish; the safety stop time just flew by.

Catamaran tour for cruise boat visitors with a short snorkelling stop at ‘The Library’, site of our second dive

We took a couple of hours’ break for a bite to eat and to change air tanks before heading back to the reef and ‘The Library’ a dive/snorkelling site popular with tripper boats.

Right: Bluestriped grunts (black tails) and striped Sergeant majors with Common sea fans, Brain coral, Corky sea fingers and Sea rods

As it turned out, Nicky’s sinuses decided to play up as we descended so, although we did get down to about 15m and worked our way along the reef for a short distance, she was mutch more comfortable at near snorkelling depths and, coincidentally, the best views were at 5m or so.

Sergeant major with Grooved brain coral (below the Sergeant major), Giant brain coral (middle foreground and middle mid-ground), Elliptical star coral (left of mid-ground Giant brain coral), Mustard hill coral (left of the Common sea fan) and 2 or 3 clumps of Green cactus coral (foreground below Common sea fan and left mid-ground)

We found it to be another fabulous site. We saw masses and masses of coral and huge shoals of all sorts of reef fish.  Just as in the morning, we saw here fish we had not seen before.

Top left: White grunt (I don’t know why it’s called that as it’s mostly blue and yellow!).  Bottom left: Blue tang.  Bottom right: schooling White grunt

Once again, the water was just so clear and because I took most of the pictures in relatively shallow water where there’s good light, the clarity of the water is more apparent compared to some of the pictures from the morning’s dive.

Top left: Blue parrotfish and a Bluestriped grunt.  Top right: Silver porgy.  Bottom: Schooling Bluestriped grunts with Grooved brain coral (centre), Stoplight parrotfish (left of brain coral) and Banded butterfly fish (right of brain coral)

Right: Pillar coral

Because we spent most of the dive at relatively shallow depths, we were able to stay down for much longer – getting an extra 15mins in the water compared to the morning’s dive.

Clouds of fish everywhere!  We couldn’t believe how many fish we saw

Even so, it was hard to tear ourselves away from the fabulous sights, even though we have been feasting our eyes the teeming reef for nearly an hour by the time we surfaced.  We both agree that, for the sheer variety and profusion of reef life, the 2 dives off Grand Turk are by far the best dives we have yet completed.

Back at BV we, sadly, returned to normality.  Cleaning, drying and stowing the dive kit takes a surprisingly long time and with that job in progress we needed to decide how best to go about checking out of the Turks and Caicos and work on our plan for the passage to Great Inagua.

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands