17th to 19th April 2021
We anchored at South Port after our sail, in the early evening. Within about 20 minutes Arthur had identified more fish species than we could count, from the small coral reef we happened to be anchored next to. We spent the evening in a relatively relaxed fashion intending to check in the next morning.
In the morning I went to check in with customs and was told to wait for cargo ship to dock at the commercial port as that’s when the customs officer would be present (it was out of hours). Unfortunately, the cargo ship was piloted by a new captain, or at least I hope it was a new captain, as it took them several attempts to dock at the port. So that took about 2 hours, although at least the kids were entertained watching the ship circle and then reapproach the dock repeatedly.
After checking in with customs, immigration and the health service, who kindly gave me a lift to the ATMs (only cash was accepted here), we were officially registered in Turks and Caicos. And we don’t have to worry about paperwork until we leave the country. Which, after needing a dispacho to move even the three miles to Cayo Leventado in the DR, is quite a relief.
Later in the day we thought we’d take a walk from near the cruise ship terminal around a nearby salt pond. However due to COVID, the cruise terminal was closed. And they had put up fencing all around, so it took us probably 20 minutes just to get off the beach. We had a wander along the nearby salt pond, which the kids found fascinating. We harvested a little salt and we saw many interesting small creatures and plants.
