March 2004
 

22-21.891N
072-59.197W

Anchored
Abraham's Bay
Mayaguana, Bahamas

Friday, March 26

We grabbed the weather window out of Luperon, arriving here Monday knowing that the weather window would close.  It did.  By Tuesday noon, winds were out of the north east at 25, gusting to 35, no time to be on the open sea.  It has been that way every day since.  

Imagine, please, what does one do in this immobile jail cell?  Solitaire.  Reading.  Movies.  (One of the benefits of a closed weather window is high winds in the anchorage.  The winds drive the wind generator that gives us plenty of electric power for turning on the VCR, using the microwave, even vacuuming the floor.  However, this is no consolation against the boredom.  The waves are so rough in here that we do not even want to go ashore.  Fortunately, John cleared in just in time, Tuesday morning.  Three hundred dollars.  Yep, The Bahamas gets good revenue from cruisers, with the highest entry fees in the southwest north atlantic and the Caribbean.

One bit of luck:  Eric and Teri are just a hundred yards away, commiserating with us by radio.  We had dinner the first night, traded books and videos, and put away some guy punch.  Fun.  



19-53.992N
070-56.939W

Anchored
Luperon, Dominican Republic

Friday, March 19
A Trip to Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo's colonial district ranks with the best, like San Juan, Charleston, even Jekyll Island.  Our hotel, El Nader, was occupied by Pizarro and Ponce de Leon, and certainly others of lesser renown.  The pillars and walls date to the 1500s.  The entrance to our room was a two door monster maybe 15 by 15, and the ceiling had to be 30 feet over our heads.  Though our room number was 31, we doubt that 31 rooms exist, maybe 20, and we were on the top floor, the second, not the third.  

Carlos, a professional tour guide, took us under his wing at the Pantheon, a large mausoleum for the DR's best.  He walked us everywhere, fast and furious.  We finally slowed him down by offering a beer over which we learned he is a fifth-sixth grade teacher and a superb student of history.  Good fellow to know.  And we walked, and walked, and walked:  the walls, forts, casinos, restaurants, the shopping center on El Conde, El Asadero Argentino (steak house), a fine Italian place, and a Pizza Hut Pizza followed by wine in our room.  

Island transportation systems continue to impress.  The air conditioned bus with large but firm seats left on time, arrived on time, and left again on time, and Chichi's lost hat was returned to her on the return trip, three days later.  The cost of a ticket for the five hour trip was $3.00  per person each way.  Can't  beat that.

Our newest friends are Eric and Terri aboard Penina, who will stop by tonight for the famous Guy Punch.  They, like ourselves, are heading north, perhaps with us as early as Sunday.  We suspect we will see a lot of this couple.  They have had a fine six years on the sea, and are planning to sell their boat later this year to go back to "real life."

Luperon Harbor has its unique social life.  The  big event for us was the St. Patrick's Day party on the beach, all day, with five roasted pigs, lots of rice, and special dishes brought by cruisers.  Over 800 cruisers and locals attended.    The harbor net is only two days per week, plenty for our blood, but anyone with an idea comes on channel 68 any time to announce the daily special , kareoke night, or meringue lessons.  Rosa, Bruce Van Sant's wife (pictured on the cover of the latest edition) organizes trips, always with a big welcoming smile.  This is one of the harbors that people  remain for months, even years.  We can see why.



Tuesday, March 10

Sailing requires wisdom, a slight improvement on common sense.  By leaving Boqueron last Friday, instead of waiting until Saturday or Sunday, we proved a lack of wisdom.  Sure, the weather forecast looked OK, but not great.  Sure, the harbor was OK, and so was the first three hours.  BUT, on passing some magic point planned by The Great Computer in The Sky, winds picked up to 25, with gusts to 40, and waves around ten feet our higher.  Safe, but not pleasant.  When we arrived in the little harbor near Escondido, DR, we were exhausted, and poor Pachamama never has seen so much salt on her delicate stainless.  Of course, lack of wisdom is a function of hind sight.  Possibly, the weather might not have improved, and we might not be here now.  We might still be waiting in Puerto Rico.  Who knows.  Anyway, we sailed most of the trip with only 1/3 of the main and a tiny piece of Genoa, often making 7 knots with so little canvas.  By noon Saturday, it was time for a rest.  We put down anchor in 30 feet about 100 yards off a delightful beach called Puerto El Valle.  The commandante, Pablo, and his friends Pablo and Caesar Jackson saw the yellow flag, came out to great us, and checked us into the country by making notations in a notebook that cannot possibly survive another week.  Having no idea yet about the value of money, John gave the three a $20 bill for their "service."  Then

WE GOT TAKEN  (still, it was fun)

The comandante suggested we come to the beach for a lobster dinner.  The other Pablo picked us up at 4:30, getting us to the beach by timing the waves.  Comandante Pablo led us on a tour of the beach, then back for dinner, arranged for about six people, not just the two of us. We sensed the need to include his wife and the other Pablo.  We had a great time talking to them, until we saw the bill, which we could evaluate only later on arriving here and learning the exchange rate and general prices.  At El Valle, we paid 600 for a beer, barely 50 here.  We paid $20 for the boat taxi, probably no more than $5.00 here.  We gave them the suggested exchange rate of 39;  here 48.  We spent almost $80 for service and food that should have cost less than $30.  Did we have $30 of extra fun.  Maybe.  John thinks so. The food was terrific. But Chichi remains angry.  

We left El Valle Sunday noon, having, at first, a great sail.  By midnight or so, the wind said good bye, and we motored slowly.  If we had motored at average speed, our arrival would have been before sunrise.  We were down wind most of the time, with minor tacks, providing a pleasant platform for most of the trip.  John learned that the main must be all the way out for downwind.  Upon trying to slow the boat by pulling the main toward the center line, it back winded constantly, including one jibe that could have been dangerous in higher winds.  A good lesson.  Unless the main is all the way out, a minor shift in wind will catch the back side, forcing it to swing violently to the other side.  At least he was smart enough to have a preventer attached.

Our entrance to the harbor was made anxiety free by Mike who came out to meet us and to lead us in.  Apparently, without Mike, two or three boats a week go aground and/or anchor poorly producing drags into other boats or into shore.  We spent the rest of the day recovering, clearing in, walking the town of Luperon, and sharing drinks at the marina bar.  As we walked into the bar, other cruisers immediately recognized neophytes, and invited us to their table.  Among the person at the table was one of The Caribbean's heroes:  Bruce Van Sant, author of "The Gentleman's Guide to Passages South," the book we used to guide us here.

18-01.305N
067-10.617W


Anchored
Boqueron, Puerto Rico

Wednesday, March 3


For fault of a phone call, we almost were fined $5,000, the fee from United States customs for boats that do not report immediately.  For most of that day, however, we had no phone.  When the phone worked, we called immigration instead of customs.  No answer.  So, we'll do it tomorrow, right?  On Monday, Presidents' Day, the officer said "I'm a nice guy, but next time . . . . "

We anchored two nights at Ponce, relaxing and seeing a movie, but one phone call changed our lives in Puerto Rico.  Chichi remembered to call her friend, Dr. Nini Bermudez, who vacations "somewhere in Puerto Rico."  Nini called back, and we moved the next day to her town, La Parguera, and to the Club Nautico where Ivan Lopez and his staff made us feel at home until we left yesterday for Boqueron.  

Nini and her husband, A.B. Webb, helped us at every turn.  They came out in their boat to guide is through the reefs, and later to help us find a lost fender.  They invited us to dinner at their home, escorted us to three meals at restaurants including a wonderful Academy Awards Party, and chauffeured us to Mayaguez where we picked up a rental car.  Here is a list of other experiences we have had in Puerto Rico:  the wet forest, a beach at Cabo Rojo, another beach at Guanica, the carnival celebration at Ponce, three nights in San Juan visiting the town, its forts and its fun.  One night the Compania Turistico sponsored a music/dance performance by a superb local group, and another night we went to the Boraquen Brewery, a restaurant, to hear Roger Steffan lecture about the life of Bob Marley.  We stayed at the simple but clean and welcoming Plaza de Armas hotel in the center of Old San Juan and next to the Department of State of Puerto Rico.  The Secretary of State arrived while John walked by, but His Dignity was not ready to negotiate a treaty with John.  John, of course, is willing to negotiate anything.

Chichi was impressed  by the cleanliness of all of Puerto Rico and especially of Old San Juan.  Her favorite experience was touring the fort at El Morro, a huge facility with  walls 20 feet wide and 100 feet tall.  It is a  National Historic Site, with good reason.  Some compare it to The Great Wall of China because the fort is connected to a system of walls that surrounds the city.  Others  believe that the engineering is similar to The Pyramids.  Many buildings have been restored.  Chichi visited Fortaleza, historic home of The Governor.  A home of Ponce de Leon and a museum for Pablo Casals are close by, but  lack of time and energy caused us to pass them  by.  

Puerto Rico is large by our island standards, perhaps three times the size of any other Caribbean island we have visited.  (Hispanola, next for us, is even larger, and Cuba is the biggest of all, with one coast line almost 900 miles long.)  Perhaps a third of the people here, and 99 % of service personnel, speak English.  The highways look like U.S. interstates.  A first class postage stamp is 37 cents, and  the island has zip codes.  Most U.S. based cellular phones systems operate here, relieving us of the $1.50 per minute fees charged by our satellite phone company, Iridium.  Libraries and book stores have internet connections.  Walgreens, KFC, Burger King and MacDonalds, J.C. Penney and Sears, Walmart, Home Depot, and so on, all are here.  This is The United States with the icing of a marvelous Spanish tradition.  

We also had the good fortune to again encounter our friends Alan and Katherine (s/v Squiz, see link on this web site). They anchored for a time at La Parguera, and are our neighbors in this anchorage.  They plan to leave Friday or Saturday for The Turks and Caicos.  We will be about two weeks behind them because of our planned visit to The Dominican Republic, about 200 miles west of here and 100 miles south of the Turks and Caicos.  We last saw them in Trinidad from which they went north while we went west.

As this is written, Nini and A.B., and their friends John and Doris, are beginning a one week charter in The Virgin Islands.  This is the first ocean live-aboard experience for Nini and A.B.  We spent two fine evenings with the four of them, once on Pachamama, and once watching the Academy Awards.  The Great Seaport of Indianapolis certainly produces its share of recreational sailors.

Next report from Luperon in a couple of weeks.