Friday, January 24, 2014

Luberon, Dominican Republic....we have arrived. Mountains surround this hurricane hole harbor. We are here with about 30 other boats, some with cruisers on them and some empty. The harbor waters have a reputation of being very dirty, so no swimming. However, I was able to see the rudder of our boat.


 Our trip from Provo started at noon on Monday, January 20th. We planned to stop at French Cay to anchor for the night. But the winds were right and we were sailing along great....we were well rested and eager to continue. Winds continued all night and seas were 4 to 5 feet. Close reaching, we tacked twice, once as the current began to carry us West, then again as we closed on Mouchoir Banks. The boat was pitching into the waves, so it wasn't a comfortable sail but we were sailing with no engine which was very nice. In all we sailed for 38 hours. Shifts went well and we ate when we were hungry. At 2:00 am on Wednesday January 22 with the lights of The Dominican Republic shoreline in sight, the winds died, so we turned on the engine and headed for Luperon. We waited for sunrise then entered the harbor just as the Wednesday morning Cruisers net was starting. We introduced ourselves and met Popo in his dingy to guide us to his mooring ball....$2 a night.

 By 9:00 am we were boarded by 4 Customs officials, the head guy named Richard. He asked us how many on board. Will responded 3 plus the dog. Richard said, "So you have 4 passports?" Will replied we didn't have one for the dog. So Richard said, "I will have to take the dog if he has no passport!" Haha...His first prank pulled on us. After paper work was filled out, Richard and two others came below to search the boat. We guess they are looking for fire arms. He pulled up cushions, opened closets, pulled up floor hatches, and then turned to Will and showed him a gun. He said, "Is this yours?" Will said no it wasn't his. Richard laughed and said, "I forgot--it is mine!" Our second prank from the prankster! We paid them $20 and off they went!

 We left shortly in the dingy for immigration. In all we made four stops...three inside the same small trailer....paying a total of $113.00 in entrance fees. Then off we go into what looked like a small town in Mexico! We walked for about eight blocks past little shack houses, little stores and restaurants, open air markets, flowers and watched lots of motor scooters zoom up and down the streets. We found an open air restaurant that suited my liking, and had a marvelous meal for less than $10 which included grouper, octopus, and a Presedente beer.





We have spent many hours in the town of Luperon hanging out at local cafes with internet.  The pace is very laid back and slow.  The sounds are of scooters, children crying, and hammering of  tin roof repairs.  There are many dogs wandering around, but they are not aggressive.  




Jamie has really enjoyed this life style and enjoys his meals at JR's cafe.  We spent hours and hours here and even spent our evenings here.  We had dinner with our friend Sylvio whom we met back in Rum Cay.  







We will leave tomorrow and head along the north coast of the DR.  Jamie plans to leave us in Sosua and spend time wind surfing.  He will fly back to Cananda from there.  Will, Bentley and I will continue on to Puerto Rico





Sunday, January 19, 2014

Provo....we made it here on Friday morning at sun rise.  It was a 14 hour trip into the waves, but the winds were light, so not too bad of a trip.  The full moon was in and out of the clouds which gave us visibility during the night.

As we entered into the Caicos Banks, we flew the mandatory yellow flag, which means we are new to the area. Jamie stood watch on the bow sprit for hours watching for coral heads....large chunks of coral that are near the surface.






We will check into Customs and immigration at the marina.  We found a marina called South Side which is tucked  inside of a mountain.  There is a large red house that looks like a castle. You can see the masts next to the white roof. This is the first marina we have been in to since West End on November 19th.



Turks and Caicos are in the Bahama island chain, but they are their own country. They have so many more amenities  than any of the other Bahama islands....especially a fully stocked grocery store.   I bought okra, bok choy, and grapes.....things I haven't seen since leaving the states.

The marina is clean, quaint and quiet.  The painting is inside the laundry room, and the bathroom is carved out of the mountain.












Bentley enjoyed his stay here as he was never on a leash and could explore as he so desired.   Can you find him?



Hint?.....he is on the roof!


We plan to leave here tomorrow and head straight to Puerto Rico.  The winds will be light and from the north!   Could take us up to five days without hitting land.  So we will check in again once we are there!

Miss you all.
Couldn't post this on the day we left Mayaguana , but here is sunset as we left on Thursday, January 16th.



Our trip so far from Miami to Mayaguana is shown by the heavy dark line.  It was almost three months ago today that we left Miami and all the amenities that are there.   However, our adventures
continue.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

My, my, my....Mayaguana!  We have been here for 9 days and are hoping that the winds will finally shift out of the east and calm down so that we can move away from here.  Yesterday's winds were consistently 20 - 28 knots. The temperature is in the low 80's.  Will's brother Jamie said last night that this place is a turquoise cage.

Jamie did spend one night ashore here and met Reggie the local grocer, chef, inn keeper and bar owner.  Only thing about his bar is he doesn't serve alcohol.



We know we shouldn't complain, but there is really nothing here except water.
The beaches are a good 20 minute dingy ride (remember seas are rough) and then a 20 minute walk across the shallow banks to shore.  The beach is rocky and filled with treasures that have floated from some where.  I did find at least 10 floats, but the captain has a limit on how much stuff I can bring back to the boat with me.



The grocery store is so sad.  The only produce available was shriveled up potatoes and onions with roots.  One item I needed was butter, but there wasn't any.  No cheese no milk no meat.  Not to mention any fruit!!  There are lots of coconuts in the trees and places to rest as you walk around town.



There are six boats here besides us, but they haven't been a very chatty boating crowd.  Will started a morning net at 9:00 AM and most of the boats will check in with their boat name, but only one other boat would join as regularly for morning discussions about weather and what to do in Mayaguana.   All have stated, however, that they are so ready to be on the move again.  It will be like a large convoy exiting Abraham's Bay, hopefully today.



We are going to head to Turks and Caicos.  Not sure what we will find there, but they are not part of the Bahamas, and we believe the economy is much better than here.  

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Crossing to Mayaguana!!!

We left San Salvador on Monday January 6th at 11:00 PM.  We spent the morning in town saying thank you and good bye to the many wonderful people who had helped us during our 10 days of anchorage there off of Cockburn Town.  We stocked up on groceries, diesel, and cash!

11:00 PM (11/6) -5:30 PM (11/7).....We motored SW to the point off San Salvador then turned ESE.  The waves were 4 to 6 feet and the wind was 15 knots, and we were heading straight into them.  We were going that way to take advantage of the winds that were to change to NE during the early morning hours.

5:30 PM (11/7) -10:00 AM (11/8)....Finally the NE winds at 15 to 20 knots arrive.  Just as we put up the main and jib sails,  the engine stalls.  No worries, we are sailing now in 6 foot seas making 6 knots.  At midnight the winds died down to 10 knots.  This made it difficult for us to stay on our line as we were facing an adverse current.  At 5:30 AM Will cleared the fuel line and started the engine.  The winds increased at this time, and we needed to motor sail to make our direction,

10:00 AM (11/8) - 10:30 AM (11/8).....The engine stalls again, but Will was able to change the fuel filter and prime the fuel lines, successfully.

10:30 AM (11/8 - 1:00 PM (11/8)..... Motored sailed in 20 - 25 knot winds and up to 10 foot seas.





Anchor set by 1:30 PM at northwest corner of Mayaguana, and we all draw a sigh of relief.

38 hours and 143 nautical miles.

We all shared turns on watch with the auto helm on, but Will did most of the watching!  We ate very little food, mostly saltine crackers and granola bars.  We drank lots of water.  Sometimes it felt like the insides of our bodies were jiggling like jello and our bodies were sore from bouncing around in the cockpit.  It was hard to be below as the boat swayed side to side with the waves.

However, sailing vessel Varua handled the winds and the waves like a true sailboat should.  Our friend Morris would be extremely proud that Captain Will and crew mate Jamie wore their life preservers and secured their life lines every time they worked with the sails.

Admiral Bentley made it through this ordeal with flying colors.  He snuggled with anyone trying to get some sleep.  He rocked side to side as we did when in the cockpit, and did his bodily functions on the deck with his life preserve on and secured with a leash.

3:00 PM (11/10)......96 hours (4 days) later anchored in Abraham Bay, Mayaguana  Bentley finally makes it to shore!









Sunday, January 5, 2014

Will's brother Jamie just flew in from Toronto, Ontario, Canada and will be with us on the boat for about three weeks.  Now all we need are some favorable winds, and we will be sailing south!  Who knows where we will be in three weeks!!??


Saturday, January 4, 2014

What a difference the wind makes!  We have had north winds recently and  that brings huge waves.  They looked like the waves you see in Hawaii but they don't break on sandy shores near us.  They break on reefs and rocks.  Today we couldn't get into the marina because of those breakers, so we took the dinghy into the government basin.  Club Med is located on the north shore, so all their dive boats are also tied up in the government basin.  We needed to return the car rental from yesterday by 10:30 and just as I jumped onto land with Bentley, Will asked me, "Did you bring the car key?"  No, I had not.  So he took another dinghy ride back to the boat, which was another 20 minute ride.  We were able to get to town for grocery as we had thought the supply boat had come in, but it didn't make it.  So car returned on time!  Back at the dinghy we were anchored by one of the Club Med dive boats, and they allowed us to use their boat to get into our dinghy.  Pulling the anchor was impossible, so a cute little young girl dove in to help retrieve it.  She wore a mask and had air from tanks on board their boat.  She freed us and now We are back on the boat, rolling side to side with the waves, but they are subsiding.
Tomorrow Will's brother Jamie arrives to help us sail further south in unknown territories to us.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Just took a cold shower and washed away the salt and sand from our day's adventure.  We did the tourist thing and rented a car!  We picked the car up at the marina and adjusted to having the steering wheel on the right side. We will try to remember to drive on the left side of the road.  We dropped our laundry off with Audrey in town and promised to be back at 4:00.  We drove around the island for 6 hours and walked up at light house, had Bahamian fried conch for lunch, walked a beautiful Atlantic Ocean beach with lots of washed up treasures. We saw a monument to Columbus, and an old castle.   Back on the boat by sunset, and ready to relax if winds don't clock around as they are predicted.  Trying to keep up my New Year's Resolution to write every day, so pictures and more details later!



















Thursday, January 2, 2014

Happy New Year!  I hope it will be a good year for everyone especially my two girls.
Kara in Connecticut and Carly on Hilton Head.  I miss them both very much and vow to be with them next year for Christmas.  Wonder where our boat will be in a year?!

Christmas was on Rum Cay and was as quiet as the island.  We went to Kaye's bar
for a luncheon provided by mostly winter residents in the area.  We ate ham, turkey and the local favorite rice and beans.





The bar was built by Delores Wilson who was born on Rum Cay and moved to Nassau when she was fourteen.  She returned to Rum when she was in her thirties and lives there today with her two daughters who manage the bar for her now.  Delores will turn 81 on January 24th, and she was truly a beautiful lady that touched my heart.  She gave me an autographed copy of the book she wrote when she was in the hospital about 10 years ago.  It is called Rum Cay, My Home tells about her early years on the island being raised by her grandmother, and her later years helping the island get a road and a dock!



We have been delighted to have a water maker on board since we left Jacksonville, and during our stay at Rum, Will discovered a small drip in one of the elbows.  So he tightened it and....pop!....it broke off the membrane unit.  We didn't lose any water, but until we get a new part there will be no water making.  Of course, there is no where on Rum Cay to find any water or a kind of part like we need.  We did meet Bobby who once owned the marina on the island, and he took Will to his machine shop to hunt for a part, but no luck.  Bobby is a white man whose parents built a home here many years ago.  He is a multi talented man who flies planes, carves statues out of brain coral and now that his marina is closed, he has taken up gardening with his girl friend Gro (unusual name but sweet lady originally from Norway). While on Rum Cay there were three other sailboats coming and going.
One sailboat was a single hander from Canada, Sylvio on Avanti.  He was our neighbor in the anchorage and we enjoyed spending time with him before he departed on Christmas day.  The other boat was crewed by Captain John and his crew mate John...that was easy to remember.  And then we met a couple that just arrived on a catamaran named Twiga...which is South African for giraffe.







The day after Christmas is Junkanoo day.  The Bahamians make their costumes themselves and use flour and water to paste paper mâché strips on tee shirts and jeans.  We were lucky to be able to watch their performance.  The Junkanoo starts at 5:00 am and they travel throughout the town going to different homes to collect money to through a party after the first of the year.  We were able to watch them as they came down the road to the marina.

Junkanoo


We left for San Salvador on Friday, December 27th.  It was a 35 mile trip and we had good winds to get us there.  We were 1/2 mile from shore and the water depth is over 500 feet deep.  We found a nice anchorage near the down town area south of a marina called Riding Rock.  If the wind changes direction it will be too uncomfortable in surges from the ocean, and we may have to tuck into that marina.
We came to this island in hopes of finding our part for the water maker.  We hope to be able to buy water until the water maker is fixed, and we need a bank.




San Salvador is the cleanest island we have found in the Bahamas.  It has an extra long runway at the airport that brings many people from Canada, France and Italy to Club Med at the northern end of the island.  The people here are as friendly as we have found throughout the Bahamas, and everyone is so willing to help us find that little replacement part for our water maker.  Truly, everyone we stopped to ask tried so hard to help us.  One man named Michael who owns the grocery store even spent a morning driving us to the bank, to Club Med's machinery shop, and the electrical plant...which is where we finally did find one!

So on New Year's Day Will worked on replacing the new elbow, and we now have a full tank of water.  We were so surprised to see Twiga arrive on New Year's Eve and we spent our evening with them on their boat.

Happy New Year.  I have a New Year's resolution and that is to write everyday on my blog.  I may not be able to post pictures.  I have been keeping a journal throughout our trip, and I am hoping this will become my new journal