9 May, 2018

Following Columbus Expedition IV
Crossing the Columbus Passage to Great Sand Cay
9 May, 2018

Had a less choppy crossing of the Columbus Channel. We reached Grand Turk in record time and decided that Great Sand Cay might offer us good protection from the wind. Here we arrived at an early 4:30 in the afternoon and found that where the sandy part of the island between two rock mounts had been breached in several places by recent hurricanes Irma and Maria, the sea had already begun to pile sand up in the cuts, making the island whole again.

Anchored securely for the night, we shall be ready for a sunrise start tomorrow to position ourselves to see and photograph what Columbus and his men saw the morning of Friday, 12 October 1492. We shall see Bartolomé de Las Casas’s Seven Islands of the Banks of Babueca east of Caycos, and Piri Reis’s 1513 Three Landmarks as they appeared to the relieved Iberian mariners more than five hundred years ago.

Respectfully submitted,

Josiah Marvel sent: 10 May 2018