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.