Hi there Cruisers. past, present and future friends 

Welcome to the new style of our (moderately) regular news letter which, for the future, will be published solely on our web site and no longer sent individually by e mail. We are proud to say that the number of e mail addresses of past guests at the marina now exceeds our capacity to write individually- although we will of course continue to reply to anyone who writes back to us.

So far as Simon and Charlyn are concerned, our 2010- 2011 season is about to come to an end as we will be returning to our barge Joli Coeur (blog address jolicoeurbarge.blogspot.com) in Burgundy at the end of March and will not return until the beginning of 2012. However Bob will continue to welcome you all here at Southside and will continue with our regular daily “Happy Hour” under the gazebo as well as with our weekly barbeques during the season on Thursday evenings.

Yet again we are enjoying a very busy season with many old friends returning to the marina as well as first time visitors. In particular this year we have had several cruisers making long stays and treating the Turks and Caicos islands as a destination, rather than just a temporary stop on the way from Florida to the Caribbean ( or of course vice versa). In particular we have welcomed Eldon Hiebert on Stardust who stayed for three months, Nigel Beresford on Karibela who took several crews to relatively unexplored corners of the islands to dive and snorkel – and who has promised to write an account of his adventures for publication in the next edition of this news letter and Ed Close and Deb on Ariel at Home who stayed for a month and will be keeping their boat on the hard at Caicos Marina and Shipyard during the summer.

At last there are some updated cruising guides and charts available to  those of you exploring these waters for the first time. The ones with TRULY up to date information (provided that you purchase the latest edition) are “A Cruising Guide to the Southern Bahamas” by Stephen Pavlidis and the Explorer Chartbook Fifth Edition for “The Far Bahamas with Turks and Caicos”. The Wavy Line Charts by Bob and Jane Gasgoigne, easily available in USA as well as here at the marina, continue to be the definitive paper charts for this area and are totally reliable. Also the Noontide Web Site was updated only a year or so ago. Sadly Bruce van Sandt’s “Gentleman’s Guide to the Thorny path” has not been updated for many years and continues to give the impression that the Turks and Caicos are not much worth a visit - hopefully that will be corrected before too long.

Our daily Cruisers’ net is still going strong. For those of you who have not yet been here, we broadcast every morning at 7.30 am on Channel 18(US), giving check in, shopping and other activity information to new arrivals, a local weather forecast as well as passage forecasts for the voyages north and south whenever we know that cruisers are leaving. Our coverage includes the popular anchorage at Sapodila Bay, as well as the Marinas at Turtle Cove, Caicos Marina and Shipyard and here at South Side Marina. During the morning net car rentals from leading companies on Provo can be arranged (even for delivery to Sapodilla Bay) and taxis (expensive!) can be booked.

Finally, our Bar and grill is still work in progress. It is a very big investment for us but will get there sometime in the future. Watch this space!!

We wish you all a very pleasant second half to the cruising season. Charlyn and I look forward to returning next year.

Fair Winds and Calm Seas

Simon