Heading South!

We left George Town in the Bahamas with 13 other boats on February 26th. There is something comforting about that many friendly boats in near proximity to you especially as night closes in and people radio each other to check in and check positions and conditions. We had a phenomenal sail for the first few hours. Then as each boat rounded the northern point of Long Island, we kept hearing reports of stronger winds and much bigger seas. The fleet began to break apart. A couple boats decided to turn back to George Town. A few decided to head back into the lee of the shore on Long Island. As it became increasingly obvious that we were going to have to divert north around an island we had planned on heading south of (which would add close to 35 miles to our trip) we decided to tuck in behind Conception Island along with two other boats and rest and wait for the wind to veer more southerly. We had a lovely 8 hour rest, took naps, had a nice dinner, did some small repairs and felt ready to go back at it at 10 pm when we all left again. We still had to bash into wind and waves, but the wind did finally veer around a bit to make it more comfortable in the wee hours of the morning. We pulled into the Turks & Caicos only two hours after the boats who had not stopped for the eight hour rest so we had definitely made the right decision!

Sunrise is a welcome sight after a long night watch.

We had low expectations for the Turks & Caicos. We had heard about problems with taking dogs there, problems with immigration authorities, limited sailing grounds, and not the friendliest people. Our experience, in contrast, was quite positive. The country has focused on land-based tourism with many houses and resorts to rent. It is, however, expensive with a nice dinner for 2 in the $100 range. Most cruisers visit this country for a place to anchor between legs of a passage to the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico. That was our plan, but weather kept us there a bit longer than expected. We had to wait a week for the next weather window (the theme of this cruising season as you know). We did rent a car and were able to get some needed supplies, do laundry and explore a bit with our friends Dean and Nina and Riggs’ best friend Mango. Of course, we sampled some ice cream! It was the most expensive ice cream I have ever eaten I think ($10 for two scoops) and to tell you the truth, it was just mediocre. We also enjoyed getting to know the people on the other three boats from our original contingent from George Town (S/V Altitude Adjustment, S/V Saint Somewhere, S/V Imiloa).

There is a lovely public beach in Sapodilla Bay, Provodenciales where we were anchored for the week and we spent some time relaxing with friends there. We had a really fun evening at Las Brisas restaurant with all of the other George Town boat people. The Turks & Caicos people are so service oriented and friendly without you feeling like they have their hand out. The country itself didn’t seem to have a lot of personality to us. It just seems like a nice resort area with beautiful beaches and water, but that’s not what we are looking for in our cruising experience. So it was a pleasant, but expensive stop. I don’t feel the need to go back, but wouldn’t hesitate to stop if we needed to.

View from top of Sapodilla Hill overlooking our anchorage

Government dock where you go to check in

There were inscriptions in rocks at the top of Sapodilla Hill from sailors as far back as the late 1700s.

One very sobering thing we saw were several boats from Haiti that had been filled with people trying to get out of Haiti in the hope of a better life. These boats were not sea worthy and they still had the people’s clothes and meager possessions in the boat. It is very sad to think about how desperate people in some countries are for a better life that they will risk their lives to escape their homeland in the hope of being accepted in a new

country.

Boats that had been confiscated by Turks & Caicos Navy carrying Haitian refugees. Clothing and belongings were left on the boats. The Navy uses radar to monitor all boats coming and going from Turks & Caicos and you have to radio in to identify yourself and explain your intention or risk being boarded with spotlights in the middle of the night.

We finally got a weather window and all five boats left at 6:30am on Friday, March 6th on another overnight passage bound for the Dominican Republic (DR). We sailed, but also had to run the engine as the wind strength and direction would not get us to Luperon before conditions worsened and the next front rolled in. It is pretty annoying to “sail” with the engine running for 24+ hours, but sometimes that is what it takes to keep moving and to be comfortable. Running the engine at low rpms gives you a boost of speed so you can power through the seas rather than rolling around in them when the wind is light.

We had hoped to see some humpback whales who are breeding in this area from December through March. No luck, but one of the boats may have hit a sleeping whale. Where we were sailing it is very deep so your depth sounder reads “---“. The woman was on night watch and saw the depth sounder indicator go quickly from --- to 40 ft to 8 ft and then there was a bang, the boat shook and the mainsail fell down. The halyard that holds the sail at the top of the mast was shredded. They will probably never know for sure if they hit a sleeping whale, but once they get back to clear water they will dive and take a look at the bottom.

DR countryside near Luperon. There is lots of agriculture here. A truck with locally grown fresh produce comes to the marina three mornings per week.

As we approached the DR in the morning light on Saturday March 7th, the view of the mountains surrounded by clouds and mist was so different than the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos which are very low, dry limestone islands. In contrast the DR has mountains as high as 10,000 ft and the hills are covered with lush green foliage. We could smell cow manure, burning and dirt about 10 miles offshore! Riggs kept sniffing and looking around, disappointed to just see water all around still. When we got outside the harbor, we radio’d for a guide boat to lead us into the channel (free service!) and asked for a mooring ball. At first we were told there was one ball left, then once we got into the harbor we heard there weren’t any left, then a Dominican in a small skiff came by speaking rapid Spanish (Papo) and we were told to follow him. Sure enough, there was one ball available in the middle of a very tight field of boats. The guys in the skiff helped us tie up to the mooring ball and we paid our fee of $2/day! In contrast, mooring balls elsewhere are $25-$30/night. This was our introduction to the inexpensive living here in the DR! We later heard that someone saw Papo remove another sailboat that was tied to our mooring ball and tie that boat into the mangroves that line the harbor so that we could have this ball. Apparently no one is living on that boat right now, but we did wonder if there was an agreement to leave it on the mooring!

Papo and his nephew. They do so much more than maintain the moorings. They will also bring you 5 gal jugs of reverse osmosis water (can't run watermakers in harbor) for $1 each, fill up your jerry jugs with diesel fuel and return them to you, take your laundry somewhere to get done, bring you things from town, do boat work for very low prices...pretty much anything you could ask for! A cruiser could get very lazy here!

We met all of our friends from the other four boats at the marina to have lunch and then took tuk tuks (small three wheel motor cycles with a back seat for two people-well three people and a dog in our case) into town to check in with Customs and Immigration. We had to move from room to room in mostly non air-conditioned trailers to visit with Immigration, Customs, Port Authority, Department of Agriculture and someone else who I can’t figure out what they did. The officials spoke little English and we speak little Spanish so it was challenging but fun. The total fees were about $130.

Customs and Immigration Check In

After that we had to all hike up a hill to the Navy Commandant and fill out more paperwork. We had heard the navy usually comes out to the boat to check it, but we were one of ten boats who arrived that day so they were happy for us to come to them. We had to show a picture of our boats and text it to them so that they can identify us in the harbor which was a request we weren’t really prepared for. Between the five boats we scrounged up pictures we had taken of each other so all was well.

Local fishing boats near the dinghy dock

After that experience, we were thirsty as you can imagine so we stopped at a local bar and listened to some beautiful local music by four gentlemen who sang wonderful harmonies and played guitars. After that we headed for brick fired pizza at a restaurant with a French chef. Delicious and cheap and we overlooked the busy street watching all of the activity and listening to the sounds of a Saturday evening in Luperon. Ah, we felt like we had arrived!

The streets of Luperon

As we write this we are still in the harbor of the town of Luperon in the DR. This is an amazingly protected harbor, known as the best hurricane hole in the Caribbean, but it is also very crowded with boats. They have run out of moorings, but there are so many moorings that there really isn’t much space to anchor anywhere. A mooring is a line that floats on the surface and is typically attached to a heavy iron or concrete block on the bottom. We don’t like moorings because you can’t really see what condition the hardware is in. We are, however, on a mooring here and really too close to other boats around us.

The DR is very beautiful with lush green foliage, decent soil for crops, and very nice people. But it is a 2nd world country. In contrast, the Bahamas, while clearly not really a 1st world country, have figured out how to get pockets of “first worldness” in key places to maximize the cash extraction from tourists, boaters and expats. The DR has not mastered that game – it is WISIWIG – what you see is what you get – much less of a tourist destination and more of a genuine country where people live their lives as they have for a long time. There are more motorbikes than cars, lots of animals running around, and some sketchy looking police. I still think Luperon sounds like some terrible disease. It seems, however, that General Luperon is the DR’s General Washington.

Driver safety is a concept that has not reached these distant shores yet. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t catch on anyway. We’ve seen small motorbikes with 4 people on them, one with three people and a propane tank and some with 1 or 2 people and lots of chickens. I suspect those rides didn’t end well for the chickens. If I were a chicken here I’d work really hard at learning to fly while I still had my head attached.

Haitians on motorcycles carrying bananas in from the fields

I know this will be shocking for you to read, but we are waiting for another weather window so we can move down the DR north coast to the port of Samana where we will then wait for a window to cross the Mona Passage (sort of like another gulf stream – strong currents and rough waves in the middle of the ocean). We may also see whales in Samana which would be awesome. Once across the Mona we will be in Puerto Rico and will make our way along the south coast to the US Virgin Islands which is our goal for the hurricane season. Once there we can move from one beautiful place to another with day sails. That will be a nice change. Mary Beth is particularly excited to get there. She has dreamed of sailing in the Caribbean for much of her life!

The long-term plan is to leave the boat in St Thomas for the summer and fly home. However, COVID 19 may change those plans. It is possible we will have to stay in the Islands through the summer if we are unable to fly home due to travel restrictions. We are also a little worried that we might reach a port and be denied entry due to restrictions. Many of the islands have a few cases from cruise ship passengers. We are monitoring this as best as we can with limited media and communications access.

Thanks for reading!

Mary Beth and David