#TBT - Turks and Caicos 2002

We're in the process of moving into a new house in Las Vegas at the moment. Whenever it gets too crazy, we take a deep breath and think back about where we were in March in years past. The Turks and Caicos come to mind when we think about March 2002. We had finally broken loose from the hold of the Bahamas and we were heading to the Dominican Republic. The Turks and Caicos were on the way and well worth the stop.

We didn't have a website then. I kept a handwritten journal and I was just getting into photography. We were also really just getting into the cruising life. Everything was new and exciting. We were venturing just a little further off the beaten path. We stopped first in Provo (Providenciales), the largest island in the Caicos, and did a bit of exploring on foot. Provo is known for its luxurious resorts, its diving and its upscale tourism. Though we appreciated its beauty, it was far too touristy for us.

We moved on to the Turks and anchored off Grand Turk Island. Here we found what we were looking for … few tourists (except us, of course), an interesting history, and lots of exploring to do. We visited the tiny, but informative Turks & Caicos National Museum where we learned lots about the island from its curator.

While in the museum garden, I spotted two male lizards apparently having an altercation over a female or territory, I suppose … perhaps both. Their dewlaps were extended, and had they not been tiny critters, they might have looked ferocious. We were told that these anoles were endemic to the Turks & Caicos and that we would see endemic anoles in most of the Caribbean islands. To this day, it's one of my favorite photos.

We wandered down Front Street along the shore, admiring the houses, but one notable observation was that all of the houses had walls, gates and fences. According to poet, Robert Frost, “Good fences make good neighbors!”, but come on now on such a tiny island, is this really necessary?

It appears that if locals want to have a garden it is necessary, otherwise donkeys eat your yard. Donkeys? Lots of them! As very tangible reminders of the salt-raking industry of Grand Turk’s past, donkeys still roam freely on the island and can be seen most everywhere. The island’s official donkey keeper rounds up the equine vagrants about every six months and corrals them on a “ranch” in the northern part of the island. If adopting a donkey appeals to you, this would be a great place to find one. Providing a good home is the only criteria for ownership!

We wandered from one end of the island to the other. The Grand Turk Lighthouse, which was cast in iron in England and transported and reassembled in 1852 overlooking Northeast Reef was a good spot for a picnic.

The Bermudian Saltrakers were the first to commercially produce salt in the Turks and Caicos by evaporating sea water in a series of salinas or salt ponds. Salt played an important part of the islands' economy until the 1960's. The salinas still occupy a huge area in Grand Turk and Salt Cay, and are reminders of this history. The old, now decrepit windmills once used to pump water between the salt ponds, were particularly scenic.

There are more than 40 islands in the Turks & Caicos, only 8 of which are inhabited. Had we been a bit more seasoned cruisers, we would have explored more, but we didn't. We were anxious to move on. We've learned through experience to slow down and appreciate each place more. Guess we'll just have to go back some day and do a better job of exploring.

Want to learn more about the Turks & Caicos? Check out this website.

FAQ - What about check-in rules & regs?

We are asked frequently how we know what to do when we check into each new country. The answer is … we don't know until we do a little research. We've discussed the question of check-in procedures before, but it's worth re-visiting. Even if we've checked into a country in the past, we still check to make sure there haven't been any changes. As I'm researching what to see and do in each country, I also check to see what the check-in procedures are. All countries require proof of citizenship (passports) with at least 6 months left before expiration. All countries require boat documentation and clearance papers from your last port. For sure, you'll complete at least one or two forms when you arrive, sometimes many more … in duplicate, triplicate ... sextuplicate even.

“Advance” is the critical word when it comes to learning about check-in procedures since some countries require advance notice of arrival. Australia, New Zealand and Fiji come to mind as countries which require you to notify them officially of your arrival date with associated stiff penalties if you do not comply. Additionally, not every port in every country is a POE (Port of Entry). It's easy to check what the requirements are on-line, download necessary forms and make the appropriate notifications before you leave your last port. Many countries have yacht check-in procedures clearly stated on-line, but Noonsite is an excellent place to start looking for updated check-in procedures.

Customs and Immigration … sometimes in the same location, usually not … are most often first on the list for check-in although some countries like New Zealand and Australia have biosecurity checks right on the quarantine dock before anyone else is allowed aboard and before you're allowed to debark. Customs checks in your boat; Immigration checks on the crew (you!). Then there's Port Authority or the Port Captain and perhaps the Navy (like in Chile) and/or maybe a Health official. If you have pets, even more specific rules apply. Chile, for instance, also requires an e-mail or radio call to the Chilean Armada upon entering their territorial waters and daily thereafter until you reach your point of entry. Hard to know this if you haven't checked out the requirements in advance. Check it out before you go.

Also, things change. Rules and regulations are “fluid”, so it's important to check just before departing your last port. An example of inadequate prep was our recent arrival in Trinidad. We hadn't checked into Trinidad in more than a decade, but I had a fairly recent cruising guide on board and I thought this would suffice. What I didn't realize was that it was necessary to pull up to a specific dock at the Crews Inn Marina for completing all check-in procedures. My bad! Luckily, I was able to email Gentry from the boat. She looked up the procedures for Trinidad on Noonsite, emailed them to me and we complied accordingly.

You can't be expected to know all the rules/regs for every country, but you are expected to learn about them before you go and then follow the rules. Some countries and officials are lax and forgiving; some are not. Some officials are sticklers for detail. The idea of checking-in to a foreign country always seems a bit daunting in the beginning. It's a dragon, of course, (and usually a drag), but once you handle it a couple of times, it just becomes a part of your cruising life … and another story to share.

New House Superstitions

When we began packing for the move to the new house, Mary reminded me that we needed a new broom. A new broom … really? The old one seemed in good shape. Mary assured me you left your old broom at the old house and promptly went out and bought a new broom for the new house. Of all the houses we've moved into over the years, I'd never heard of this tradition/superstition. Being a sailor and having always kept with all our nautical traditions, however, I figured I'd better look into it. I certainly didn't want to piss off any house gods. Sure enough … bringing an old broom into a new house was bad juju … you brought any bad luck you'd experienced (and old house dirt) with it. We rode the new broom to the new house. It worked perfectly.

Interestingly enough, the previous owners had left their old broom behind. I've obviously been living in the dark regarding brooms all these years.

Delving a bit further into new house traditions, I found a few more with which we needed to comply. For instance, don't move on a Friday. Yikes! That would be like leaving on a passage on a Friday. We even moved up the closing date by one day, so we didn't sign the final purchase papers or receive our keys on a Friday. Geez … everyone knows that one!

If we were Wiccas, like my sister for instance, we would have also had a house cleansing and blessing ritual, but we opted for something a bit more simple. Instead, I sprinkled salt on the doorstep when we entered the house for the first time after it was ours. Salt is evidently solid protection against bad luck and keeps the evil spirits out.

A couple other superstitions we didn't feel as strongly about …

• It’s bad luck to carry a hoe into the house. If you do it by mistake, carry it out by walking backwards through the same door — it’ll reverse the bad luck. Hmmm ... we put the hoe in the garage with no thought to bringing it into the house.

• Stuff fennel or an herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves, into your keyhole or hang it over the door to protect your home from witches. Interestingly enough, Wiccans also suggest this and many of them are self-proclaimed witches. Go figure! Doesn't matter … fennel and yellow-flowered, feathery herbs were in short supply on move-in day.

• Paint your front porch blue to ward off ghosts. They'll think it's water and thus, you'll confuse them. Nah, no blue porches for us. We'll have to chance it.

• Never put shoes on a dresser or table. Now this is reputedly a Jewish tradition which makes sense. It's just not cool to put your shoes on the table … any time.

• According to a Norse superstition, placing an acorn on a windowsill will protect a house from being struck by lightning. This is the desert … no acorns, but we do have lightning. I've got to think about this one.

• Never pound a nail after sunset, or you’ll wake the tree gods. No trees in our yard … only cacti and we reckon the cacti gods might be okay with nail banging. We'll keep the noise to a minimum.

All in all, I think we did okay. I'm feeling like the house has some good energy and the new broom works well.