Puerto Rico coastline

We arrived in Buequeron, Puerto Rico on Saturday at 4am after a relatively easy trip along the north coast of the Dominican Republic and through the Mona Passage. We sailed and motor sailed with Spray. We were really lucky with the wind and waves. A few other boats arrived a few hours after we did. After a few hours of sleep, we left for Ponce, The wind was directly on our nose and the sea a bit rough so we motor sailed to "Gilligan's Island" which was a calm and beautiful anchorage. We could not get off the boat since we hadn't cleared in.

The next morning we went to Ponce and cleared in with customs. On Monday morning we finished the clearing in process and in the afternoon, went to SEARS(!) where we bought a sump pump and other hardware. The sump pump replaces our anchor washdown pump and will also serve as a secondary emergency bilge pump in the unlikely event that water would be coming into the boat. We also went to "Cash and Carry, a warehouse type of store to buy provisions.

Spray in full sail

Yesterday we motor sailed and sailed with Spray to Salinas, a smaller town, and anchored in the mangrove-lined harbor. Lutz and Krina will help us with some maintenance and sail issues. Nothing major. We will stay here for at least a week, depending on how our boat projects go.

It's interesting to be in a US Territory. We both pointed and exclaimed, "Look!" at a white US Postal Service truck the rolled by delivering mail. The shape and color of the road signs are familiar but all in Spanish. From asea, Puerto Rico looks like a lush, green country, which we look forward to exploring.

Right now we're at a panaderia (bakery) using the wifi, so our internet connection is limited now. We hope to find a better solution soon. 

Luperon 3

Titi and Friend  - We've bought several bags of peanuts, coconut cookies and peanut cookies from these two.  So cute!

The past few days, we've enjoyed the sights here in Luperon.  I've taken various photos and videos which I hope to be able to post now.   If I'm not able, then when we next go into town.

Home Run

On Saturday afternoon we watched part of a baseball game.  You can't hear it in the video, but beneath the announcer's play-by-play, recorded salsa music is playing to add excitement to the atmosphere.  The announcer says, "Lineaaaaaa!" (line drive) then, "Safe!"

On Sunday we went to the beach to see the Easter festivities.  Food and alcohol stands dotted the walkway to the beach.  Even though it was only 11:00am when we arrived, the music began.  Music - loud music - is everywhere.  We had a nice plate of fried chicken, tangy potato salad, rice and fried sweet plantain. 

Photo Sitting

Here are other cruisers we've met.  The woman in black is Lynn, a single-handler from Tennessee and as salty as they come.  She's spent a lot of time here in Luperon and had many a story to tell about what it's really like.  Right before the waitress snapped this photo, much to my surprise, the woman in white wiggled onto my lap.  She happens to be the agriculture minister to whom all cruisers must pay $10 along with the other $10 and more to the other directors.  (All told, it cost $103 to check in to the D.R.)  She also has a food stand at the beach. 

Beach at Luperon

The following are sights and sounds on the streets of Luperon.

Waiting for the next weather window to head east toward Puerto Rico, hopefully next week.

Luperon.2

4/5/12

Early in the morning the day before yesterday, we got a call on the VHF, “Wayward Wind, Wayward Wind, Plane to Sea.”  Don and Janis were calling.  They entered the D.R. just east of the Haitian border and, given their friendly Texan ways, had befriended a D.R. couple who were giving them a tour of the island by truck.  They told us to look up the hillside to a green building from where they could see our boat.  We saw them waving from the little lookout tower.  So exciting to hear from them and see them, if at a long distance.  They would bring their boat to Luperón the next day.

Dave and I busied ourselves with repairing the sail.  One piece of webbing had torn completely and another was about to tear.  Krina had given me some webbing and thread and said, “I think you can do it yourself.”  So in the morning calm, we sewed the new webbing in.  Very satisfying.

Yesterday morning, Plane to Sea arrived and anchored nearby.  We took them into town and at lunch they told us of their adventures.  They arrived in the D.R. four days before us and have had a good time seeing the land and visiting some of the towns.  We had the lunch especial of Creole Chicken.  It was tasty. 

As I’d heard from another cruiser about a good dentist, I wanted to get my teeth cleaned and a crown checked out that was giving me some problems.  Janis wanted to do the same.  We got in with Doctora Karla at 4:00 that afternoon.  There is a small waiting room with many waiting.  Behind the locked door is the exam/office/supply combo room.  While you are in the chair, people knock on the door and come in and out.  I got used to it.  The cleaning seemed pretty normal.  For me, the crown looked OK but I needed some fillings, which she completed without novicane though she offered it if I wanted.  Didn’t need it.  The total bill – cleaning, x-ray, fillings – was $150. 

The town is getting ready for the Easter holiday festivities.  Businesses will be closed so we’ll take care of assorted tasks today.  We are really enjoying the D.R.

Luperon!

4/1/12

Today we wake up after a calm night’s sleep in Luperón, Dominican Republic.  On March 29, we left the West Caicos harbor and had a good sail to French Cay in the southwest Caicos.  Again the wind would not allow us to easily make Luperón.  French Cay is a deserted patch of sand and grass flanked by reefs that provides protection from the southeast winds and most of the swell though we did do a fair amount of rolling that night.  Fortunately we slept well.

Early the next morning, we noticed another boat had quietly anchored nearby in the night.  We pulled anchor and along with Spray were bound for Luperón.  Celtic Rover and Azaya headed east across the shallow Caicos Banks banking for protection from the swells.  They planned to anchor at Ambergris Cays that night then make their way to Luperón from there.  The winds were supposed to be from the east and even though we would have six-foot swells, we decided to go for it. 

Now we are glad that we did.  We had good sailing and were able to stay on course for most of the day.  The seas settled down to four feet, so not bad.  We were pleased that Wayward Wind was doing so well pointing into the wind.  Usually Spray does better than us when we’re pinching it, but this time we passed Spray.  Later in the afternoon, the winds shifted more a bit south, so we tacked.  We were in touch with Spray but lost contact as we were farther apart.  We put in a second reef and sped up to 6.5 to 7 knots.  The seas were rough and Dave went through a squall during the night while I slept.  We had some waves over the bow and unfortunately some sea water entered the cabin because the flaps over the zippers on our battered dodger have flapped apart.  So today we have some clean up. 

Bad news.  Dave found a cockroach onboard.  We’ve been careful, but it happens.  Today we’ll set up our defense against the critters (if you see one, you know there are more) of boric acid and sugar “cookies.”   Also will try to find some roach hotels in town. 

Good news.  Right after we left French Cay, we got a call from the midnight arrivers, Tanqueray.  They were also coming to Luperón and had left about 25 minutes after us.  They said that they’d met our friends, Don and Janis on Plane to Sea, on the Crooked Islands who were well and continuing on their course to Great Inagua.  We wish them fair winds.

On Friday afternoon, a sailboat, Methusa, passed us heading northwest probably enjoying, for them, the favorable wind and seas.  They gave us a call to find out about clearing customs in Mayaguana.  We asked them about the same in Luperón.   They said that when the commandante came on board to check them in and look inside the boat, he picked up a package of cookies, so the sailor offered him some cookies and then some wine.  He said that the commandante did not ask for these things, but the sailor thought it might be a good idea to soften the process.  Methusa gave us a lot of good information about the entrance to the bay such as the swell height and how to avoid the reefs.

I came on watch around 1:00am.  Before Dave went below to sleep, I got to practice my radar use as there were two ships and a sailboat in view.  We also saw a circular blob that we took as a squall.  We turned to avoid it and decided to tack anyway.  I think I need to hone my tacking skills as we didn’t seem to be making much headway.  Around 5:00am we turned on the engine and motor-sailed the rest of the way in.  After sunrise the hazy outline of mountains came into view and an earthy smell materialized.  So exciting! 

We came through the shallow channel just fine into the extremely protected bay one mile in that is surrounded on most sides by mountains.  We were surprised to find what looked to be about thirty boats anchored and moored inside.  There was plenty of room for anchoring and Spray soon anchored nearby.  Not long after anchoring, a skiff motored up with a plain-clothed driver and a clean cut young guy in camouflage attire.  This was the commandante who would check in our boat.  The driver was also the translator.  The commandante filled out papers and took a cursory look inside the boat.  No problema.  No money exchanged.  While inside, the only thing that the commandante commented on was a winter squash, which he picked up.  “Calabasa,” he said, then replaced it in the basket.  The two left with a friendly adios.  Thinking back to Methusa’s cookie offering, I wondered afterward if the commandant’s picking up the squash was my opportunity to offer it to him.  Interesante.

It took us some time to put down the dinghy and tie up the main sail, which we noticed needs a small (we hope) repair.  We will ask Krina about this.   Even though we hadn’t taken our showers, we thought we’d best get over to immigration before 5pm.  Lutz waved us over to Spray and asked us to come aboard for a sundowner.  We said we were on our way to immigration.  He said he’d told the commandante that he would visit immigration in the morning and convinced us (which wasn’t difficult) to do the same and come aboard to relax.  Krina prepared hot tea and rum with a little sugar.  Did that hit the spot! 

Surprisingly it’s not hot here but warm, a nice temperature, and very humid.  We’re so excited to be here.  Though the Bahamian people are nice and the water is beautiful, the land is flat and monotonous.  It was so exciting to see mountains covered with lush greenery.  Also the Bahamas are geared for tourists, which means there are often good services.  The Dominican Republic is not such a huge tourist destination although I read that tourism makes up one third of its income, mostly from Europeans and Canadians.  (Industry and agriculture make up the other two thirds.)  We’re looking forward to meeting the locals and exploring Luperón and beyond.    

West Caicos Marina

03.28.12

As Dave and I were on deck pouring five gallons of diesel from the jerry jug into the fuel tank, two bearded guys dinghied over from neighboring boats.  Bruce from Sacramento and Axel from Alaska and their wives are on Celtic Rover and Azaya.  They, along with a couple on Kalibrie were heading south to Luperón.  They’d been listening in on the conversations on the VHF between Lutz on Spray and us.  (Dave always says the VHS is like the old party line telephones of yesterday because you can switch channels to listen in on others.)  Bruce and Axel were interested in our departure timing and possibly going together.  We told them to speak with Lutz as he has more information and experience with this route than we had.  On the afternoon of the 25^th, we all decided to motor to the west end of Abrahams Bay for an easy early morning exit for Luperón, Dominican Republic the next day. We were all settled when some time after dark, a voice came over the VHF from a boat that was about a mile off.  We could see his mast light.  He asked about the entrance between the reef and the bay.  Bruce told him that if he followed the route on his chart, he would avoid the coral heads.  He came in with no problems and anchored behind the five of us.

The next morning we five boats left after confirmation of the weather from Chris Parker.  We were about a mile out when we heard last night’s new arrival request any weather information.  He’d woken up and saw that all of us had departed and wondered if we knew something that he didn’t know.  No, we were all simply going to the same place at the same time.  He must have thought it was a good idea because he showed up the next day a bit after we’d all anchored. 

We didn’t, however, make it to Luperón.  The wind was good but did not clock around soon enough for us to sail and keep our SE course, so we decided to go to Plan B and break up the trip by stopping in the Turks and Caicos to wait out the upcoming blow.  We went a little farther north than we’d planned but found an extremely protected harbor called West Caicos Marina.  Like many other marina projects in the Bahamas, for whatever reason, this marina was under construction and unfinished with no sight of any work underway.  The harbor was an excellent place to pass the few days of strong winds.  It was small so two of the boats rafted up together and we rafted up with Spray.  It’s fun to do this for a few days because you can visit your friends more easily and also share things when needed.  We have our humongous Yanmar generator, so Lutz ran his extension cord over and plugged in so he didn’t have to run his portable generator, which actually they don’t need so much because they have solar panels to top off their batteries.  Lutz showed us how to tie a line from our bow to his anchor chain so the pull on the chain was equal.  Later we also dropped our anchor as extra insurance.  So far the winds are just 20 with gusts of 25, but we are barely swaying because of the protection from the 8 foot swells outside in the ocean.  We hope to leave tomorrow.  It seems that we rarely have ideal sailing conditions, and tomorrow will be no different.  Other than high swells, at least they will be behind us.  The wind should be OK, but not great.  We hope we can sail without the motor at least for several hours.

We did not go on the island because other than the defunct marina, there was nothing within walking distance nor did we need anything.  We did not have to check in and nobody bothered us about doing so.  We were happy to be there as the winds gusted to 25 and although just outside the harbor the swells were 8 to 10 feet, it was calm inside with no rolling at all.