Refuelling in Turks and Caicos

We thought the marina had fuel facilities – and it kind of did... If a megayachts wanted thousands of litres of fuel then a fuel lorry would deign to visit. This meant that our tiny 3 or 400 hundred litres had to piggy back on one of their deliveries.

On Monday morning, Alex had a poorly tooth and Chris took him to the dentist (who did a great job at a very low cost!) On the way, the dock master told Chris that a delivery would happen just as he should get back from the dentist. The delivery lorry couldn’t get to us, we had to get to the dockside to meet it. This meant some really nifty manoeuvring out of our berth in 20kt winds – not easy at the best of times, or in a rush in case the lorry decides that your paltry fuel requirements aren’t worth their while. As we approached the dockside, all nicely fendered, it became obvious that we needed fenders some way above our deck to protect the boat from the high, concrete mega yacht wall. So in a tide race (the tide rushes through the cut at about 2kt) and 20kt of wind, we had to reverse into a temporary berth with a post in the middle of it and a concrete wall just beyond it. Jamie and I found it hugely stressful, but Chris managed to get us in without incident – despite our Cassandra like cries.

We refuelled and given the direction of wind and wave, decided to stay put until the weather got better.