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After eight hours at Sea, Captain Mike and his crew had reached the roughest part of the journey.  Once around the tip of Long Cay they were in the open seas of the Columbus Passage.  Exhausted from the long day, they held on as the boat pitched and rolled.   Captain Mike gripped the wheel and continued on...
Reaching the South Caicos dock at about 4:30pm, they tied up... opened the cooler... and toasted their safe arrival with a couple of rum 'n cokes. Captain Mike spoke briefly with the captain of the sailboat that had followed them around Long Cay.  The sailboat captain's wife had enough of the rough seas and refused to sail the next day... she flew to Grand Turk instead.

Sea worn and tired they left the boat to find lodging and a meal, stopping at the hotel closest to the harbor to find a room for the night.  Captain Mike couldn't find his wallet and wondered if that was what flew out the window during one of the rolls the boat took.  Both Captain Mike and Ollie had checkbooks but no identification and the hotel didn't want to take their checks.  China Mike said he didn't mind staying on the boat.  Somehow during the conversation the hotel staff found out that Ollie was the owner of Salt Cay Divers and they were ready take his check for the rooms.  By then the decision had been made to spend the night on the boat.
Finding a small local restaurant at the end of the pier, the guys sat down to a well deserved meal of beans, rice and fish. By 8:00pm, Captain Mike and crew returned to the Beachcomber to get some rest. The wheelhouse of an LCM is not know for its luxurious accommodations... it measures about 6feet by 8feet with two wooden storage benches and a metal floor with a trap door to the engine room. The average height of the four men is 6' tall.  There are no cushions, pillows, blankets, inflatable mattresses...

 
Coral slept on the 4 foot bench seat behind the pilot's seat, Ollie slept on the 5 foot bench opposite him, China Mike slept on the metal floor in the middle and Captain Mike slept outside on some bags of dirt wrapped in plastic to keep the rain and wind off of him.  At about 4:00am the rain started to come down... Ollie checked on Captain Mike sleeping on the bags of dirt out on the deck, woke him briefly to suggest they leave since no one in the wheelhouse was getting much sleep.  Groggily, Captain Mike said no... they'd leave in the morning, rolled over, pulling the plastic more securely and went back to snoring peacefully.